ESI Core Research laboratories
The Core laboratory facilities and offices are located in the recently renovated tenth floor of the southwest wing of the Erasmus MC Faculty Building (Ee 1000 – 1020) within the Dept of Cell Biology. These facilities currently house over 20 research scientists and are equiped for standard molecular biological techniques, cell isolation and manipulation. Beyond these basic facilities, specialized infrastructure and core facilities accelerate stem cell research within the ESI by providing resources and services that are beyond the means of the individual research labs. Infrastructure, including culture facilities (Ee 1085), PI and PII culture facilities and radio-labelling laboratory are shared with the Dept of Cell Biology. Imaging facilities (confocal microscopes, etc) and the Erasmusm MC Biomics and Genomics Facilities are available to ESI investigators, and are conveniently located in the Erasmus MC Faculty Building. The EDC is the central animal facility for Erasmus MC, and transgenic and blastocyst injection support is provided through Dr. Alex Maas and John Kong a San, Dept of Cell Biology.

Flow Cytometry Core Facilities
Essential to stem cell research and tissue regeneration is the ability to sort and analyse individual cells within a mixed population of cells. Flow cytometry is pivotal to the isolation of stem cells which are normally very rare.  The ESI facilities (Ee 920 and Ee 1004) house the latest sorting equipment and include a Becton-Dickinson FACS Aria (funded by BSIK-SCDD) and a recently acquired FACS SORP Aria (funded by ZonMW and Erasmus MC). The FACS Arias sort up to 25,000 cells/second and can analyze 70,000 cells/second. The SORP Aria is custom built and includes five lasers (UV - 355 nm; Violet - 407 nm; Blue - 488 nm; Green - 532 nm; Red - 633 nm). Up to 17 fluorescence parameters can be simultaneously measured and up to 4 populations can be collected at one time. A FACScan is available for analytical work and it is the goal of the ESI to obtain a 5 laser LSRII analytical flow cytometer in 2010 through funding of NIRM by the Dutch Economic Ministry. The cytometry facility is directed by Reinier van der Linden, an experienced flow cytometer operator with expertise in sorting stem cells from various mouse and human tissues.
 
Appointments for cell sorting are booked via an online web agenda, following an intake interview with Reinier van der Linden.
Hands-on training flow cytometry and data analysis is available for interested users. A one-day theory course on flow cytometry is organized one/two times per year by the Flow Cytometry Users group. Registration for this popular course is required.
Offline data analysis is possible with computers in room Ee 1002 and Ee 1007. In addition, you may book time with us to prepare data for publication.
Contact Reinier van der Linden at: r.vanderlinden@erasmusmc.nl (704-3490)

iPS and ES cell Core Facility
ES cells and iPS cells allow the study of human stem cell development, differentiation and disease progression. Since future cell transplantation therapy will be most effectively implemented under conditions in which the donor cells are completely matched to those of the patient, long-term strategies include the development of patient specific ‘induced pluripotent cells’. The primary goal of this core facility is to provide ESI scientists and other faculty with pivotal services to efficiently and effectively conduct fundamental and translational research with iPS and ES cells.
Core Facility Services:

1. Maintenance and quality control growth of human ES cell lines.
2. Training in ES/iPS cell growth, characterization, transduction and differentiation.
3. Generation of iPS cells from patient material. Following an intitial period for establishment of the facility, the generation of iPS cells is on a fee-for-service basis for the medical community of Erasmus MC. 

Dr. Mehrnaz Ghazvini is the manager-technical director of the facility. Her position and the core facility is supported through the ESI Open Call award provided to Dr. Joost Gribnau. Dr. Gribnau serves as the scientific advisor for the facility. A new technical assistant will be hired to facilitate the rapid production of iPS cells for the enthusiastic Erasmus MC community. Appointments for iPS cell generation from specific patient material or mice are made through Dr. Ghazvini. Following an intake interview, scheduling for iPS generation and for iPS cell culture traiing will be arranged. Contact Dr. Ghavzini at: m.ghazvini@erasmusmc.nl

Erasmus MC Cleanroom Facility for processing of cellular products for clinical application

Description of cleanroom facility
The Erasmus MC cleanroom-facility for processing of cellular products for clinical application is operational since 1999. The facility is located within the Dept of Hematology at the 13th floor of the Erasmus MC faculty building. The cleanroom facility consists of a ladies- and a gents-changing room (1354, 1356) at the entrance, a sterile disposables storage room (1358), a large and a small hematopoietic stem cell processing lab (1351a and 1351 b) connected with the central hall through a single lockroom (1351) and three separate fully equipped clean rooms (1357a, 1359a, 1361a) for the ex vivo culture and genetic modification of cells, which are each connected with the central hall through a lockroom (1357, 1359, 1361). The surface area of the large stem cell processing lab is approximately 50 m2, the small stem cell processing lab is ± 20 m2, and the three ex vivo culture/genetherapy labs are ± 16 m2 each. All cleanrooms and associated lockrooms are qualified as cleanroom class C. The 3 ex vivo culture/genetherapy cleanrooms are qualified for genetic modifications at ML-I and ML-II level. The entrance to the cleanroom facility is restricted to qualified personnel and regulated through a personal badge. All ex vivo procedures required for clinical cell- and gene-therapy in the Erasmus MC will be performed in this central Erasmus MC cleanroom facility.

Supervision, management and operation of the cleanroom facility
The Transplantation Laboratory of the Dept of Hematology (headed by Dr. E. Braakman) is responsible for the supervision, management and administration of the cleanroom facility. A comprehensive quality management system is operational in the Transplantation Laboratory ensuring that all applicable quality and safety rules are met. It includes: internal audits; registration of errors, accidents and adverse events; validation of key equipment and procedures; maintenance of supplies, reagents and equipment, calibration of equipment and participation in external proficiency testing programmes. There are written policies regarding testing, processing, storage and transport of cell products and for cleaning and environmental monitoring of the cleanrooms. The Transplantation Laboratory Hematology has successfully achieved accreditation by CCKL, the Dutch organisation for the accreditation of laboratories in health care and by JACIE, the European Joint Accreditation Committee of ISCT Europe and the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). The lab has also obtained a license as tissue establishment (Orgaanbankerkenning) by the competent authorities in the Netherlands (Ministry of VWS) in the framework of the European Directive 2004/23/EG and the Dutch law WVKL”.

Current activities in the cleanroom facility
The staff of the Transplantation Laboratory Hematology processes more than 100 autologous - and approximately 65 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell grafts and 10 TC-T cell products per year.  Currently, in the cleanroom facility, guest staff members of the Department of Medical and Tumor Immunology (P.I. Dr. C.H. Lamers) expand and retrovirally transduce autologous T cells with chimeric T Cell Receptors from patients with renal cell carcinoma. Guest staff members from the Dept of Lung Diseases (P.I. Dr. J. Hegmans) generate autologous dendritic cells for the clinical protocol “Dendritic cell based immunotherapy combined with low dose cyclophosphamide in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients.