Stage of Program: Basic or Applied Basic Research (DISC1 and many 1.0 Projects)
hESCs for Articular Cartilage Regeneration
Mobility is critical for human social interactions and quality of life. In the aged mobility is progressively impaired due to painful joints. The articular cartilage in the joints is damaged. The long-term goal of our research is the utilization of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) for cartilage formation and therefore, regeneration of articular cartilage. Stem […]
Improving microenvironments to promote hematopoietic stem cell development from human embryonic stem cells
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) have been used successfully to cure various life-threatening blood diseases. Yet, matching HSCs are not available for every patient. Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) may provide an unlimited source of HSCs for therapeutic use. However, hESC derived hematopoietic cells do not develop properly in those culture conditions that are currently used, […]
In Vitro Differentiation of T cells from Human Embryonic Stem Cells.
White blood cells are the main players of human immunity in defense against infection. Defects in CD4 T white blood cells, for example, can lead to the devastating infections observed in AIDS patients and patients with a genetic immunodeficiency syndrome (“bubble boy” syndrome). A normal immune system can recognize and attack pathogens but not “self”. […]
Trophoblast differentiation of human ES cells.
Human embryonic stem (ES) cells have the potential to form any cell type, but ironically, the first cell lineage to form during development still represents a surprising challenge. The first cell type to become specialized is an epithelial cell that later defines the boundary between the embryo and mother for the formation of the placenta. […]
Gene regulatory mechanisms that control spinal neuron differentiation from hES cells.
More than 600 disorders afflict the nervous system. Common disorders such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and autism are well-known. Many other neurological disorders are rare, known only to the patients and families affected, their doctors and scientists who look to rare disorders for clues to a general understanding of the brain as well as […]
Modeling Human Embryonic Development with Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Stem cells have entered the public consciousness as “cells that can do anything” and have been hailed as a panacea in the fight against disease, aging and cancer. Unfortunately, we have only scratched the surface in understanding these cells. Some of the things we think we know are that: embryonic stem cells hold great promise […]
Cellular epigenetic diversity as a blueprint for defining the identity and functional potential of human embryonic stem cells
Human embryonic stem (ES) cells have the capacity to self-renew but also give rise to other cell types. How this capacity is regulated and what factors determine one fate over another is an active area of research. This is because by understanding the decision making process the a stem cell goes through, we might be […]
Optimization of guidance response in human embryonic stem cell derived midbrain dopaminergic neurons in development and disease
A promising approach to alleviating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is to transplant healthy dopaminergic neurons into the brains of these patients. Due to the large number of transplant neurons required for each patient and the difficulty in obtaining these neurons from human tissue, the most viable transplantation strategy will utilize not fetal dopaminergic neurons […]
The APOBEC3 Gene Family as Guardians of Genome Stability in Human Embryonic Stem Cells
The successful use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as novel regenerative therapies for a spectrum of currently incurable diseases critically depends upon the safety of such cell transfers. hESCs contain roughly 3 million “jumping genes” or mobile genetic retroelements that comprise up to 45% of their genetic material. While many of these retroelements have […]
Generation of forebrain neurons from human embryonic stem cells
The goal of this proposal is to generate forebrain neurons from human embryonic stem cells. Our general strategy is to sequentially expose ES cells to signals that lead to differentiation along a neuronal lineage, and to select for cells that display characteristics of forebrain neurons. These cells would then be used in transplantation experiments to […]