Australasian Microarray & Associated Technologies Association, AMATA

Matigian, NA, Chalk, AM, Beckhouse, A, Cecil, R, Vitale, A, Mellick, G, Mackay-Sim, A and Wells, C National Center for Adult Stem Cell Research, Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia.

Research into the molecular mechanisms of the disease processes for neurological disorders is hindered by lack of access to the affected brain tissues or the lack of contextual relevance of commonly used cells of non-neural origin such as fibroblasts and blood lymphocytes. Human Olfactory Stem Cells (hOSCs) are an easily accessible source, with neural origin, which can be obtained from a wide variety of donors, including those with neurological disorders. We present transcriptome data (Illumina Beadarray, Agilent miRNA, Affymetrix Exon arrays, Capped Analysis of Gene Expression (CAGE) and whole genome genotyping) from patient-derived hOSCs. We show that this integrated data can characterise these donor-derived cell lines compared to other published datasets of neuronal cells, stem cell and neural tissues and that we can retain the unique patient characteristics through the culturing process. Additionally, we can elucidate differences between disease and non-diseased states, for two distinct neurological conditions, Parkinson Disease and Schizophrenia, indicating that these cells provide a more relevant alternative to tissues of non-neuronal origin, without the disadvantages of the post-mortem brain.