Stage of Program: Basic Research and Discovery Stage Programs
Genetic Encoding Novel Amino Acids in Embryonic Stem Cells for Molecular Understanding of Differentiation to Dopamine Neurons
Embryonic stem cells have the capacity to self-renew and differentiate into other cell types. Understanding how this is regulated on the molecular level would enable us to manipulate the process and guide stem cells to generate specific types of cells for safe transplantation. However, complex networks of intracellular cofactors and external signals from the environment […]
Molecular mechanisms involved in adult neural stem cell maintenance
The adult brain contains a pool of stem cells, termed adult neural stem cells, that could be used for regenerative purposes in diseases that affect the nervous system. The goal of this proposal is to understand the mechanisms that promote the maintenance of adult neural stem cells as an organism ages. Understanding the factors that […]
Trithorax and Polycomb methyltransferase complexes in cell fate determination.
The physiological template of our genome, called chromatin, is composed of DNA wrapped around histone proteins. In the process of development the genome is interpreted in a way that is dynamic, and yet, often heritable, to produce different specialized tissues and organs. A substantial portion of information that is required for proper interpretation of the […]
A Novel Engineered Niche to Explore the Vasculogenic Potential of Embryonic Stem Cells
Cardiovascular diseases account for an estimated $330 billion in health care costs each year, afflict 61.8 million Americans, and will account for more than 1.5 million deaths in the U.S. this year alone. A number of these diseases are characterized by either insufficient blood vessel growth or damage to the existing vessels, resulting in inadequate […]
Genetic dissection of mesodermal commitment to the hematopoietic fates.
Genetic dissection of mesodermal commitment to hematopoietic fates. Hematopoietic cell transplantation is the gold standard for cell-based therapy and is routinely used to treat a wide variety of blood disorders and cancer. A major limitation exists, however, in finding donors whose immune systems are compatible with those of the patients requiring transplantation. The recent creation […]
Oral and Craniofacial Reconstruction Using Mesenchymal Stem Cells
The overall goal of this proposal is to explore a new stem cell-based treatment for major defects in the orofacial regions resulted from burns, physical injuries, genetic diseases, cancers, infectious diseases, and recently, bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaw (BONJ), using the patient’s own stem cells obtained from the oral cavity known as orofacial mesenchymal stem […]
Reprogramming of human somatic cells back to pluripotent embryonic stem cells
The ability to dedifferentiate or reverse lineage-committed cells to pluripotent/multipotent cells might overcome many of the obstacles (e.g. cell sources, immunocompatibility and bioethical concerns) associated with using other ES and adult stem cells in clinical applications. With an efficient dedifferentiation process, it is conceivable that healthy, abundant and easily accessible somatic cells could be reprogrammed […]
Reprogramming of human somatic cells back to pluripotent embryonic stem cells
The ability to dedifferentiate or reverse lineage-committed cells to pluripotent/multipotent cells might overcome many of the obstacles (e.g. cell sources, immunocompatibility and bioethical concerns) associated with using other ES and adult stem cells in clinical applications. With an efficient dedifferentiation process, it is conceivable that healthy, abundant and easily accessible somatic cells could be reprogrammed […]
Noncoding RNAs in Cell Fate Determination
The human body is composed of thousands of cell types, which all came originally from embryonic stem cells. Although all these cell types have the same genetic blueprint, different genes are active in different cells in order to give each its distinctiveness. The process by which the genes remember whether they are in liver, brain, […]
Curing Hematological Diseases
The primary aim of this project is to develop treatments for incurable diseases of the blood and immune system. X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (X-SCID) and Fanconi anemia (FA) are two blood diseases where mutations in a single gene results in the disease. XSCID, more commonly known as the “bubble boy” disease, is characterized by a […]