The Stem Cell Assay Laboratory has as its main focus the processing, cryopreservation and functional assessment of stem and progenitor cells present in samples of living tissue. Here is the link to the SCA requisition and instructions. For more information or any concerns, please contact the Section Head.
Phone: 604-675-8000 local 7746
Fax: 604-675-8146
Most of the current clinical (DAP approved) workload deals with blood and marrow samples on which standardized diagnostic assays are performed to determine the frequency of colony-forming cells (CFCs) present, whether the colonies of mature cells produced appear normal, and whether the generation of colonies of mature erythroid cells requires the addition of erythropoietin. These tests are part of the quality assurance of clinical transplants and aid in the diagnosis of patients with hematological disorders, particularly polycythemia vera and some other myeloproliferative diseases where a loss of erythropoietin-dependence is a feature of their erythroid CFCs. Serum erythropoietin levels are also performed on a routine clinical basis to aid in the diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with these disorders. All clinical procedures are performed under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Weng, the Acting Medical Director with the assistance of Dr. Connie Eaves who is the Laboratory Director.
The staff of this Laboratory also have extensive expertise and SOPs for live cell banking and cell distribution according to approved protocols and this Laboratory is also the repository for all cells collected as part of the recently established Hematology Cell Bank. In addition they have an active live mammary tissue banking function and can perform a number of SOP-based technical procedures including: cell phenotyping, immunomagnetic cell separation, vector-mediated gene transfer, quantitative RT-PCR, and the quantification of very primitive blood progenitors using the longterm-culture-initiating cell assay.