ANNOUNCEMENTS
Stem cells are body’s raw material through which the foundation of every tissue and organ of our body is laid. They present an exciting area in research and medicine because of their ability to give rise to all the cells of the body and repairing any damaged tissue. Among all the stem cells, Hematopoietic stem cells are responsible for the process of hematopoiesis through which all the blood cells of our body- erythrocytes, lymphocytes, platelets etc., are derived. HSCs, like other stem cells, have the unique ability of self-renewal and differentiation into mature blood lineage cells. This special property of HSCs is highly exploited in HSC transplantation therapy. But even after decades of research, the factors influencing these changes and imbedding these special properties in HSCs are still a mystery. Because of their rare population in bone marrow, HSCs are difficult to identify and isolate. Therefore, cell surface markers are used to identify these HSCs. But because no unique marker is present for HSC identification, a combination of cell-surface markers needs to be standardized and used for their identification. Also, it is important to understand the migration pattern of HSCs to investigate the factors that affect their mobilization. Therefore, this project deals with the standardization of cell surface markers for HSCs using immunohistochemistry techniques on E14.5 C57BL/6 mouse fetal liver sections and the techniques to understand and standardize the initial mode of HSC migration over ST2 cell layer to later observe the migration pattern of HSCs under the influence of certain factors such as VEGF-C, Saracatinib etc., by isolating the HSCs from bone marrow of C57BL/6 mouse and sorting them via FACS.
Keywords: HSC, cell-surface marker, FACS, standardization, immunohistochemistry
