The Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium (ISCC) is a team-science initiative established by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 2009 and renewed in 2014. The ISCC is governed by a Steering Committee (SC) to coordinate and facilitate research activities for the overall program and to ensure synergy and efficiency.
The ISCC Coordinating Center is housed at City of Hope in Duarte, California and the Research Projects are housed at 9 institutions across the nation: Baylor College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Columbia University, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Stanford University, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine (UCLA) (partnered with the VA Greater Los Angeles),University of California, San Francisco, and University of Michigan.
Mission Statement and Goals
- The mission of the ISCC is to advance the understanding of intestinal epithelial stem cell biology during development, homeostasis, regeneration and disease. The immediate goals of the ISCC are to isolate, characterize, culture and validate populations of intestinal stem cells; answer major questions in stem cell biology of the intestinal epithelium; and accelerate research by making information and resources available to the research community. Long-term goals include: 1) laying the ground work for therapeutic manipulation of the intestinal epithelium 2) contributing to the greater understanding of stem cell biology through knowledge of the intestine as a model stem cell-driven system. Our ultimate vision is to develop novel therapies targeting intestinal stem cells and their supportive niche to regenerate and rebuild the human intestine.