EJP RD Training: Pluripotent stem cells for rare disease research: banking, data, application

The European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) brings over 130 institutions (including all 24 ERNs)  from 35 countries to create a comprehensive, sustainable ecosystem allowing a virtuous circle between research, care and medical innovation. One of which is this 4-module training on pluripotent stem cells for rare disease research.

Biological samples can be used as valuable starting materials for generating cellular models of disease. This can occur, for example, by generating induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from cells and tissues, and then differentiating the iPSC lines into specific cell types for disease modelling or drug screening. Advantageously, iPSC lines can be generated from any individual, are a renewable cell resource, and can be used to produce cell types that are difficult to access or obtain from native tissues (e.g. specialised brain cell types). In the present biobank training, EJP RD aims to provide an overview on how human pluripotent stem cells can be used as research tools.

See the prelimiary programme here. Read more about the learning objectives and speakers here.

Registration is open until 27 September 2021 here.