Isolation, self renewal and characterisation of multipotent stem cells from the periodontal ligament
1st Supervisor: Professor Francis Hughes
2nd Supervisor: Professor Lucy Di Silvio
Description of project
The periodontal ligament (PDL) is unusually rich in multipotent mesenchymal stem cells. This raises the possibility that PDL stem cells obtained from extracted teeth could be a useful source of stem cells for both dental and other tissue engineering applications. We aim to investigate the isolation of PDL stem cells derived from extracted teeth, investigate the self renewal of these cells in vitro and the conditions required to maximise in vitro expansion of them, and to determine their differentiation potentials. PDL cells will be isolated and stem cell populations will be enriched by sorting by cell surface marker expression using flow cytometry.
Sorted cultures will be continuously cultured in defined media. At each passage increase in cell numbers will be determined, and an aliquot replated for further culture. The remaining cells will be tested for persistence of stem cell characteristics ( eg Stro-1 +ve /Alk phosphatase –ve) and persistence of differentiation potential by culture in various differentiating media followed by investigation of expression of differentiation markers by q-PCR. In addition clones obtained by limiting dilution of PDL stem cells will be derived and tested similarly for self renewal and differentiation potentials.
Duration of project: 3 years
Contact for further information
Professor Francis Hughes
Email: francis.hughes@kcl.ac.uk
Research Topic: Periodontology
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