The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has released the ISSCR Standards for Human Stem Cell Use in Research, an international collaboration aimed at enhancing rigour in preclinical research and ultimately strengthening the pipeline of therapies for patients.
Phenomics Australia scientific leader Professor Christine Wells was part of this international panel of experts who drafted new quality standards for the publication of stem cell research, looking to improve the reproducibility and therefore translation of these cell and tissue models.
The standards were released this week after extensive community consultation, together with some resources to assist researchers as they plan and submit data to the leading stem cell journals. These include recommendations for minimal information to accompany a stem cell study, and handy checklists of the types of data and assays that should accompany the establishment of a new stem cell line, tissue, or disease model.
This document identifies quality standards and outlines basic core principles for the laboratory use of both tissue and pluripotent human stem cells and the in vitro model systems that rely on them. Overall, the emphasis of this document is creating a set of recommendations that, when taken together, establish the minimum characterization and reporting criteria for scientists, students, and technicians in basic research laboratories working with human stem cells.
Read about the standards here, or go straight to the checklist resources here.
