Cell Culture Core

Directors - Ruth Halaban, Ph.D. (melanocytes), Martin Kluger, Ph.D. (endothelial cells), Leonard Milstone, M.D. (keratinocytes)

The Cell Culture Core serves several main functions. It is a cost-effective, time-saving resource for a) freshly cultured and immortalized skin cells and skin equivalents; b) genetically modified skin cells; c) specialized media; d) antibodies and molecular probes for detection of skin specific markers. In addition, it is a center for: a) information and advice in cell culture techniques; and b) development of new techniques applicable to skin research, such as optimizing procedures for efficient gene delivery into fastidious cells (endothelial cells and melanocytes) and tissue engineering that can be used for wound healing. The latter function is performed in collaboration with the SCID mouse/Human Xenograft Core and the Tissue Aquisition & Analysis Core of the YSDRCC. The core provides:

1. Primary cultures of normal human skin cells (melanocytes, keratinocytes, fibroblasts and endothelial cells) from healthy donors, as well as malignant, mutant and other abnormal cells from the same patient or different patients;
2. Primary and immortalized mouse cells;
3. Genetically modified mouse melanocytes keratinocytes and fibroblasts;
4. Co-cultures, e.g., keratinocytes/melanocytes, fibroblasts/melanocytes, fibroblasts/keratinocytes; endothelial cells/keratinocytes; and various combinations thereof;
5. .Skin equivalents
6. Large volumes of cells for specified procedures such as the construction of cDNA libraries, analysis of genetic alterations, global gene expression by microarrays (mRNA), protein purification, proteomics, identification of cell surface proteins
7. Advice and hands-on training for the growing of cells especially those that have so far proven fastidious, such as CTCL and melanocytes from primary melanomas from the radial growth phase.

Cell Order Form [Word document]