The Children's Discovery Institute's commitment to interdisciplinary research is represented through large grants to establish cores of expertise and resources to speed discoveries.  Services within these cores may be accessed by primary investigators with the Children's Discovery Institute and researchers across the Washington University campuses.

The Airway Epithelial Cell Core (see below) was established in 2007.  New Cores being established in 2008 include a Pediatric Brain Tumor Data Bank, a Viral-vector-based RNAi Core, a new Affymetrix Workstation Core, a Proteomics Core, and a Cilia Research Core.

Airway Epithelial Cell Core

Primary culture of airway epithelial cells is a valuable model for the study of lung disease and has been crucial for understanding the biology and therapy of cystic fibrosis, a major genetic lung disease of children. Cells in these cultures are differentiated into ciliated and secretory types, providing a vital model that can also be used for research in asthma, respiratory virus infection, and other childhood lung diseases.

The goal of the core is to provide primary culture airway epithelial cell preparations from human and mouse for use by investigators studying basic epithelial cell lung biology and therapeutic strategies for lung diseases in children.

Resources:

• Primary culture airway epithelial cells from wild type and genetically defined strains of mice
• Primary culture human airway epithelial cells from normal and affected donors (Use of human cultures requires IRB approval.)
• Quality control procedures for all cultures
• Cell lines used in lung biology research
• Media for primary airway cell culture
• Training of investigators in culture methods
• Consultation for analysis of gene expression and cell manipulation

Contact:  314.362.8920
Allow 3-4 weeks for primary culture
Core location: 9938 CSRB (Clinical Science Research Building)
Scientific director: Steven Brody, M.D., 314.362.8969