The 100 billion cells of the brain and nervous system control every aspect of the human body, including heart rate, appetite, emotion, memory, immune response, and more. Cells of the nervous system are well specialized and rarely undergo mitosis once differentiated. Neuroscientists study the evolutionary, cellular, functional, molecular, and medical issues of the nervous system. They are at the forefront of research into the mechanisms that cause brain disease, cancer, and loss of function of neural cells and pathways, and are developing and testing new therapies to treat or cure these debilitating disorders.

At ATCC, we support your neuroscience research with authenticated cells and biomaterials you can rely on for your research. As you develop and test innovative protocols and therapeutics in fields such as neuronal development, neural degeneration and regeneration, neurogenetics, neural excitability, nervous system disorders, circulatory disease, neurotransmitters, neuroendocrinology, neuropharmacology, neurotoxicity, and neuroimmunology, we offer the following products for testing and assay:

Neural progenitor cell lines

ATCC also offers a complete system of normal and Parkinson’s disease tri-lineage–capable neural progenitor cells (NPCs), lineage marker–labeled NPCs, and expansion and differentiation media. Work with differentiating or terminally differentiated neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes much sooner and yield faster results.

• Neural progenitor cells (Parkinson’s disease)
• Neural progenitor cells
• Neural progenitor expansion kit
• Dopaminergic differentiation kit

Neurobiology research tools

• Tumor cell lines
• Tau protein FRET biosensor cell line
• Neural progenitor cells: Normal and Parkinson's
• Normal and disease iPSCs
• Schwann cells
  

Neural tissue-derived cell lines

The ATCC collection has many neural cell lines, representing the normal and diseased tissue of multiple species such as neurons and the supporting cells of the central and peripheral nervous system.

• Astrocytes and astrocytomas
• Brain-derived cell lines
• Brain cancer cell panels

hTERT NTAP Schwann Cells

In partnership with the Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program (NTAP) we offer hTERT-immortalized wild type NF1 and neurofibroma-derived cells harboring NF1 mutations. These are highly genotypically characterized tools for research in drug discovery and therapeutics. With generous support from NTAP, the purchasers of these cells are eligible to receive up to 100% reimbursement from NTAP.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation LRRK2 Cell Lines Collection

ATCC has been selected by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to provide vital cell lines to academic, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology organizations committed to speed a cure for Parkinson’s disease. We have available macrophage cell lines, including wild-type LRRK2, LRRK2 knockout, and human LRRK2 T1348N (GTPase-dead) knock-in, to advance the understanding of Parkinson’s disease and further drug development toward new therapies for the millions living with this disease.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation SNCA Knockout Isogenic Cell Lines Collection

ATCC is also providing isogenic, CRISPR genome-edited iPSC lines that harbor a triplication, duplication, two copies, single copy, or complete knockout of the α-synuclein (SNCA) gene.

This panel of iPSCs was derived from a donor with an SNCA genomic triplication. The cells were CRISPR-engineered to harbor SNCA frameshift mutations that produce functional knockouts for the alpha-synuclein protein. These lines give Parkinson’s researchers tools to study the effects of varying alpha-synuclein expression levels. Neuroscientists can use these cells to investigate the effect of dosage of the SNCA gene in neurodegenerative diseases.

These cells have been highly characterized by the depositing laboratory and authenticated by ATCC. This panel of isogenic cells are a powerful tool for screening drug candidates that target the SNCA mutant or rescue its phenotype.