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+91-44-42271500
vrf@snmail.org
+91-44-42271500
vrf@snmail.org
The ultimate goal of research at RadheshyamKanoi stem cell laboratory is to combat ocular diseases through regenerative medicine. Regenerative Medicine encompasses several scientific disciplines such as stem cell biology; immunology and transplantation biology; biomaterials and tissue engineering in addition to clinical research. The primary focus of the lab is to understand the fundamental properties of stem cells and to utilize them for regenerating ocular tissues to preserve and restore vision.
| Name & E-Mail | Designation |
|---|---|
|
Dr Krishnakumar S
drkk@snmail.org, drkrishnakumar_2000@yahoo.com |
Professor and HOD of Ocular Pathology Deputy Director-Research |
|
Dr Nivedita Chatterjee
Email: drnc@snmail.org |
Principal Scientist |
|
Dr P Sowmya Parameswaram
drpsowmya@snmail.org |
Senior Scientist |
| Ms Aishwarya Murali | Research Fellow |
| Vidya Gopakumar Ms Ambily Vincent Ms Suganya Annadurai |
PhD Students |
| Vinoth | Lab Attender |
Corneal diseases and trauma rank the most important cause of blindness in India, next to cataract and glaucoma. The corneal blindness can result due to issues related to any of the following three layers: epithelium; stroma and endothelium. At the RadheshyamKanoi Stem Cell laboratory, the blindness due to the issues in corneal epithelial layers have been addressed using limbal stem cell and cultured oral mucosal epithelial cell transplantation. Research in the lab also has identified skin tissues of the patients to be an autologous source of cells to repair the corneal epithelium. However, there are currently no alternative to corneal transplantation for problems related to corneal stromal layer. Hence, research is being pursued in identifying alternative source of cells that can be used for generating corneal stromal keratocytes and to bioengineer corneal stroma.We have devised protocol for converting cells in the skin tissue (termed dermal fibroblasts) into corneal stromal keratocytes. These cells which we term as transdifferentiated corneal stromal keratocytes (TDCK) synthesize Type I collagen (prominent extracellular matrix protein) and FACIT collagen (specific for corneal stroma) which are required for proper stromal organization, which are lost during corneal diseases and trauma. Our experiments, suggest that the dermal fibroblasts could be used for treatment of corneal stromal diseases.
Retinal degenerative diseases are one of the main causes of severe vision impairment and irreversible blindness. Although retinal regeneration is widely demonstrated in fishes and amphibians; it is greatly hampered in the mammals. This forbids activation of endogenous stem cells and necessitates exogenous supply of cells for effective retinal regeneration in humans.Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are renewable source of stem cells that have the potential similar to human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to differentiate into almost all the cells in the body, however they do not suffer from the limitations such as ethical concerns and immune rejection. In the lab, we have generated and characterized iPSCs from skin fibroblasts of healthy individuals. We are optimizing the protocols for differentiating them towards retinal cells including retinal pigment epithelial cells, which in future can be utilized for cell replacement therapies.
Most degenerative diseases of the cornea and retina which leads to incurable blindness are inherited.One of the important reasons for paucity in formulating effective drugs and approaches to cure these inherited diseases is the lack of effective disease models that can recapitulate normal disease mechanisms. Induced pluripotent stem cellsby virtue of being autologous have attributes to serve as patient specific disease models. The capacity of iPSCs to model disease comes from two-fold property of the cells, (i) to retain the genetic component of the patient during in vitro reprogramming and lineage-specific differentiation and (ii) capacity to differentiate into specific cell lineage by recapitulating developmental mechanisms. In the lab, we are interested in utilizing patient specific iPSCs and genome editing strategies to create disease models for corneal and retinal diseases. These disease models will be useful in exploring the early events and molecular mechanisms involved in the disease and aid in drug screening and formulating effective and safe targeted therapies.
We are interested in looking at the stem cell potential in retinal Muller glia. Glial cells, particularly activated glia are known to de-differentiate and revert back to a stage where they can give rise to neurons. Our work with Muller glial cells has shown changes in pathways involved in pluripotency, lineage and differentiation. We are working to manipulate the critically changing pathways by small molecule inhibitors and testing for possibility of differentiating Muller cells into neurons.
| S.No | Items | Company |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CO2 Incubator (2) | New Brunswick |
| 2 | Laminar flow hood (2) | Thermo Electron |
| 3 | Water bath | Nuwe |
| 4 | Cooling Centrifuge | Eppendorf |
| 5 | Microfuge | Labmate Asia |
| 6 | 37 degree Incubator-shaker | Orbitek |
| 7 | Refrigerator | Samsung |
| 8 | -20 Freezer | Hitachi |
| 9 | -80 Freezer | Thermo Electron |
| 10 | Cyclomixer | Remi/Medox |
| 11 | Fluorescent microscope with phase, digital camera | Olympus/Nikon |
| 12 | pH-meter | ThermoElectron |
| 13 | Magnetic stirrer | Scigenics Biotech |
| 14 | Cell cryopreservation liquid N2 unit | ThermoElectron |
| 15 | Platform-shaker | Scigenics Biotech |