Therapeutic/Technology: Exploring stem cell mechanisms
Non-coding RNA as tool for the active control of stem cell differentiation
Stem cells are multipotent, meaning that they can develop into any cell type of the human body. Biomedical applications propose that, after introduction into humans, stem cells could replenish damaged or lost cells in human bodies and thereby cure human diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. One prerequisite for the success of the biomedical […]
Transcriptional Regulation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Embryonic Stem (ES) cells can be grown indefinitely in the lab and can be turned into any cell type of the human body. Because of these properties, it may one day be possible to use ES cells to generate cell types in the lab that can then be transplanted into patients that need them. This […]
Sources of Genetic Instability in Human Embryonic Stem Cells.
The constant exposure of cells to endogenous and exogenous agents that inflict DNA damage requires active repair processes to eliminate potentially mutagenic events in stem cells leading to cancer. The same agents menace early human embryos with DNA damage that can ultimately lead to mutations, cancer, and birth defects. In vitro, human embryonic stem cells […]
Labeling of human embryonic stem cells with iron oxide nanoparticles and fluorescent dyes for a non-invasive cell depiction with MR imaging and optical imaging
Non-invasive imaging techniques for an in vivo tracking of transplanted stem cells offer real-time insight into the underlying biological processes of new stem cell based therapies, with the aim to depict stem cell migration, homing and engraftment at organ, tissue and cellular levels. We showed in previous experiments, that stem cells can be labeled effectively […]
The Immunological Niche: Effect of immunosuppressant drugs on stem cell proliferation, gene expression, and differentiation in a model of spinal cord injury.
Our understanding of the effect of immunosuppressive agents on stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the central nervous system is limited. Indeed, even the necessity for long-term immunosuppression to promote the survival of stem cells grafted into the “immunoprivileged” central nervous system (CNS) is unknown. Grafting multipotent stem cells into the injured CNS often results […]
Role of HDAC in human stem cells pluripotentiality and differentiation
Stem cells are able to develop into most of the specialized cells and tissues of the body and therefore have the potential to replace diseased cells with healthy functioning ones. It is the hope of the scientific and medical communities that the use of stem cell based therapies to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, […]
Endodermal differentiation of human ES cells
The goals of this proposal are to investigate endodermal differentiation and proliferation in human ES cell cultures. Endodermal cells give rise to the epithelial lining of the respiratory and digestive tract as well as to the liver and pancreas. The future treatment of diseases such as type I diabetes using stem cell therapy relies on […]
A Chemical Approach to Stem Cell Biology
The aim of this project is to screen large collections of small molecules to identify molecules that allow one to propagate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in cell culture under defined conditions in an undifferentiated, pluripotent state. The chemical structures of any biologically active small molecules will be optimized with respect to potency, selectivity and […]
Functions of RB family proteins in human embryonic stem cells
Nearly one out of every two Californians born today will develop cancer at some point in their lives, and it is likely that one in five persons will die of the disease. We propose to study the mechanisms of action of the RB gene, which is mutated in a broad range of human cancers, including […]
Mapping the transcriptional regulatory elements in the genome of hESC
The human embryonic stem cells (hESC) have the remarkable potential to replicate themselves indefinitely and differentiate into virtually any cell type under appropriate environmental conditions. They accomplish this through regulating the production of a unique set of proteins in the cells, a process known as gene regulation. While the genes encoding these stem cell proteins […]