Allan B. Dietz, Ph.D.

The goal of this study is to collect adipose tissue from healthy and disease patients to understand the biology and potential therapeutic use of mesenchymal stem cells. Adipose collection occurs under local anesthesia with an abdominal biopsy that collects about two grams of fat. The fat is used to isolate and grow mesenchymal stem cells. These function of these cells will be tested for their therapeutic potential.

The purpose of this study is to collect adipose tissue from patients undergoing elective surgery, or from healthy volunteers, test the donors to assure that they comply with all regulatory aspects required of healthy donors, expand and test mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), and bank them for future use.

The purpose of this study is to collect, isolate and culture progenitor cells.  To determine optimal methods for isolation, culture, transfection, and differentiation of these cells with potential therapeutic uses.  To act as a central resource for the investigation of these cells for researchers at the Mayo Clinic.

The purpose of this study is to create a protocol that can be used for collecting and studying umbilical cord tissue cells from healthy donors, and using these cells and their derivatives in clinical trials.

The purpose of this study is to test and validate the micro- flow immunomagnetic chip for capturing rare cells from peripheral blood, and to provide enough preliminary data to support further development of this technology.