CBE Research Report Spring 2014 | Page 10

ANALYSIS OF HUMAN MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL METABOLIC HETEROGENEITY DURING EXPANSION Yijun Liu1, Nathalie Muñoz2, Teng Ma1, Timothy M. Logan2 1 Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Florida State University, 2525 Pottsdamer Street, Tallahassee, FL 32310 USA 2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306 Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are a primary cell source in cell therapy for a wide range of diseases. However, bone marrow derived hMSCs are intrinsically heterogeneous and comprise subpopulations that differ in their proliferation, multi-potency, and functional properties. The conventional cell culture techniques used in producing hMSC for clinical studies lead to a gradual loss of the multipotent subset and cellular senescence. Understanding hMSC metabolism is important in designing an approachable strategy for hMSC expansion while maintaining their therapeutic potency. In this study, a GC-MS-based Y]X