Manipulation of adult bone marrow derived stem and progenitor cell population. Dynamics in suspension culture

Summary form only given. Hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic (mesenchymal) stem and progenitor cells are typically present in vivo in close association with each other. A major bottleneck in the use of these and other adult human-derived stem cells for therapeutic applications is the recognized inability to use them to generate sufficient numbers of functional cells. Manipulation of the culture microenvironment through growth factor supplementation, adherent cell culture, and/or co-culture on adherent feeder cells, have been the predominant approaches in studies attempting to adult derived stem cells. While promising results have been obtained, it is becoming clear that novel methods and approaches must be developed to understand the fundamental mechanisms that regulate adult stem cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro. Ideally, bioprocesses must be designed to specifically target progenitor cell growth while incorporating positive and negative feedback from potentially dynamic mature and maturing cell populations. This presentation reviews our progress towards the design of suspension culture systems for the growth of hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.