Collaborations
Tom Soh
The Thomson lab has collaborated with the Soh lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) for the past 3 years. We currently have an Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) contract at UCSB to develop a high performance, disposable separation device, called HR-MACS, based on micromagnetics and microfluidics and apply the system to the purification of rare cells for cell transplant therapies. We are working with a 4 gene reprogramming mixture into mesenchymal cells derived from human ES cells to identify and optimize human reprogramming genes. HR-MACS will be critical to retrieve the rare reprogrammed cells from the complex cell mixture, and the microfluidic chip will be customized for high recovery of the target cells.
In addition to the AFIRM project, we are also collaborating with the Soh lab on rapidly generating affinity reagents for isolating rare cell events.
About Dr. Soh
Dr. Soh received his B.S. with a double major in Mechanical Engineering
and Materials Science with Distinction from Cornell University, and
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Prior to
joining UCSB in 2003, Dr. Soh served as the technical manager of MEMS
Device Research Group at Bell Laboratories and MEMS R&D group at
Agere Systems. His current research interests are in analytical
biotechnology, especially in high-throughput screening, directed
evolution and integrated biosensors. He is affiliated with the
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies and the California
Nanosystems Institute. He is the recipient of the MIT Technology
Review's "TR 100" Award (2002), ONR Young Investigator Award (2004),
Beckman Young Investigator Award (2005), and the ALA Innovator Award
(2009).
WEBSITE: www.engr.ucsb.edu/sohlab
Funding
Principal Investigators: H. Tom Soh and James Thomson
Project Title: High Purity Magnetophoretic Sorting for Transplant Therapies
Source: Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine
Bing Ren
We have collaborated with the Ren lab at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research for the past 3 years. We are currently collaborating U01 contract entitled "The San Diego Epigenome Center." This 5 year award brings together researchers from UCSD, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the University of Wisconsin, and the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The collaboration is studying the epigenetics and transcriptional regulation of pluripotent stem cells and cells that have differentiated to several different lineages.
About Dr. Ren
Dr. Ren received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Ren's laboratory
is interested in understanding how the complex gene regulatory networks
in mammalian cells control cellular proliferation and differentiation.
The research is divided into two general areas: 1) the development of
genomics and bioinformatics tools that allow genome-wide identification
of regulatory targets for transcription factors; and, 2) the
application of these tools to study transcription factors that play
critical roles in tumorigenesis. Projects include: 1. molecular
characterization of c-myc transformation of Burkitt's lymphoma; 2.
molecular characterization genetic programs in acute myeloid leukemia
(AML); 3. development of human and mice promoter microarrrays to map
transcription factor targets; 4. studies of gene regulatory networks
controlling human cell cycle. Approaches involve DNA microarrays,
genome expression analysis, mammalian cell culture, mice models, and
molecular biology techniques.
WEBSITE: bioinformatics-renlab.ucsd.edu
Funding
Principle Investigator: Bing Ren
Co-Principal Investigators: James Thomson, Joseph Ecker, Wei Wang, Michael Zhang
Project Title: The San Diego Epigenome Center
Source: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
David Gamm
The Thomson lab has collaborated with the Gamm lab for the past two years. We currently share a Foundation for Fighting Blindness grant aimed at creating single gene disease models from iPS cells. By understanding the behavior of these cell types in vitro and in vivo, we hope to optimize strategies to delay or reverse the effects of inherited and acquired eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.
About Dr. Gamm
Dr. Gamm received his M.D., Ph.D. from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin. His research focuses on inherited and acquired eye diseases that culminate in the degeneration of photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The expansion and targeted differentiation of human stem and progenitor cells in vitro provide an essential source of biological material for modeling retinal development and potential cell-based treatments for these debilitating diseases. The aims of our laboratory are to 1) investigate cellular and molecular events that occur during retinogenesis and 2) provide cells for use in rescue or replacement therapies for retinal degenerative diseases.
WEBSITE: www.waisman.wisc.edu/FACULTY/gamm.html
Funding
Principal Investigator: David Gamm
Co-Principal Investigators: James Thomson, Eric Pierce, Ray Lund, Derek Hei
Project Title: Customized iPS Cell Therapy for Recessive Monogenetic Retinal Degenerative Disease
Source: Foundation for Fighting Blindness
Igor Slukvin
The Thomson lab has collaborated with the Slukvin lab for the past 7 years and has co-authored several high impact publications including two in the prestigious journal Science (see publications). Dr. Slukvin is Co-PI on a Program Project grant led by Dr. Thomson. This grant is investigating the pathways involved in self-renewal, differentiation and reprogramming of human ES cells. Dr. Thomson and Dr. Slukvin also collaborate on a Charlotte Geyer Foundation grant to study reprogramming and hematopoietic differentiation of human pluripotent cells.
About Dr. Slukvin
Dr. Slukvin received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Kiev Medical Institute and is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Wisconsin. The main focus of Dr. Slukvin's research is to establish the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into the hematopoietic progenitors and mature blood cells in order to understand molecular mechanisms of early hematopoietic differentiation and to provide a novel source of cells for bone marrow transplantation, transfusion and cancer immunotherapy.
WEBSITE: stemcells.wisc.edu/faculty/slukvin.html
Funding
Principal Investigator: James Thomson
Co-Principal Investigators: Igor Slukvin, Josh Coon, Lloyd Smith
Project Title: Determinants of Self-Renewal, Differentiation, and Reprogramming of hESCs
Source: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Josh Coon
About Dr. Coon
Dr. Coon received his B.S. degree from Central Michigan University, his Ph.D. from the University of Florida and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia. His group’s overarching goal is to be a catalyst in the evolution of the rapidly developing field of proteomics and to use these technologies to address fundamental problems in developmental biology.
Website: www.chem.wisc.edu/~coon/
Funding
Principal Investigator: James Thomson
Co-Principal Investigators: Igor Slukvin, Josh Coon, Lloyd Smith
Project Title: Determinants of Self-Renewal, Differentiation, and Reprogramming of hESCs
Source: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
