Abstract

Stem Cells in Drug Discovery: Current trends and Emerging Challenges
Hygeia J. D. Med. Vol.2 (1) 2010, 1-13

Type of Article
Review

Authors
*Senthil Kumar Pazhanisamy1 , Vinu Jyothi2

Affiliation
1 .Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA.
2 ^.Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, School of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA.

Received Date
14/07/2009
Publication Date
05/08/2009

Abstract

Current development in stem cell research ultimately revolutionizes the way drug discovery and development will be directed in the future and also paves the way for innovative cell based therapies in regenerative medicine. The unique and exquisite feature of both embryonic and adult stem cells can be harnessed to continually derive human somatic cell types in vitro which otherwise is difficult to generate from other sources. Recently, enormous attention has been directed towards the identification, generation, characterization and application of hESCs-derived tissue precursor cells. Such potential resources and strategies provide unparalleled opportunities in disease modeling, drug discovery, drug development, toxicology, safety assessment, and cell replacement therapies. This review illustrates underlying mechanisms by which stem cells are being exploited by various chemical compounds to generate potential cell models for both biopharmaceutical research and regenerative medicine. Here we also summarize various strategies and differentiation techniques for dissemination of stem cell population ex vivo.