Timeframe: 2025 – 2026
Goal: Model development
Principal Investigator: Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD
Study overview: Cell line models and patient-derived xenographs (PDXs) are important tools that researchers can use to study disease. For FLC research to move forward, stable, reliable,patient-derived cell lines that truly represent the human disease are needed. While multiple FLC models have recently been developed, additional model development remains a priority for the FLC community.
Previously, the Bardeesy lab developed a FLC cell line model (FLX1) that shows molecular and biological
faithfulness to the human disease. However, the model is slow to grow and requires a high level of care by the investigator. In this effort, the Bardeesy lab will use a systematic approach to identify among a set of FLX1 derivatives (including very early passage models) the most robust FLX1 derivative and to expand it under standardized protocols, providing a model with uniformity, integrity, and reproducibility.
They also plan to work with two additional, new PDXs and associated in vitro cultures that showed initial promise but were confounded by the presence of competing murine cells. Early passage materials from these cultures will be carefully recovered, purified, expanded, and tested, potentially providing additional models.
If successful, this effort will:
- provide robust and well characterized stocks of FLX1 cells that can be distributed to interested FLC researchers, and
- develop new cell lines for studying the disease.