Hepatocyte Transplantation
Project leaders: Oliver Beetz / Felix Oldhafer
Hepatocyte transplantation (HCTx) is a promising therapy option for the treatment of numerous inborn and acquired liver diseases. HCTx is much more cost efficient and a less invasive procedure than conventional liver transplantation. Furthermore, the method of cell transplantation enables the opportunity of pre-Tx modification of hepatocytes by technologies such as gene therapy. Unfortunately, the promising results obtained in animal models could not be successfully transferred into clinical application in man, yet. The aim of our project is to evaluate the immunological aspects of HCTx in murine and porcine models in order to establish new strategies for efficient cell transplantation with optimized long-term outcome.
Isolation, Culture and Cryopreservation of Primary Human Hepatocytes
Project leaders: Felix Oldhafer / Oliver Beetz
Large quantities of primary human hepatocytes (PHH) are required for basic research and clinical applications. In addition, they represent a valuable tool used in pharmacotoxicology. In conclusion, the demands for PHH continuously increase while their supply is insufficient due to limited cell sources. The aim of our project is to evaluate alternative sources of liver tissue for the isolation of high quality primary human hepatocytes. Furthermore, we are interested in innovative concepts for long-term cell culture and cryopreservation of PHH in order to optimize the supply with liver cells for further use in vitro and in vivo.