Daniel Besser: "Signaling mechanisms in pluripotency and reprogramming"
| Wann |
19.10.2009 von 11:15 bis 12:15 |
|---|---|
| Wo | FRIAS Seminarrarum, Albertstraße 19 |
| Name | Britta Küst |
| Kontakttelefon | +49 (0)761 203 97418 |
| Teilnehmer |
Universitäts öffentlich |
| Termin übernehmen |
vCal
iCal
|
Dr. Daniel Besser
Max-Delbrück-Center (MDC), Berlin
Signaling mechanisms in pluripotency and reprogramming
Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are pluripotent cells, which can proliferate indefinitely and are able to form most cell types. The focus of our studies is the maintenance of the pluripotent state in human ESCs. We found that the Activin pathway is active in pluripotent hESCs and blocked upon differentiation. Pluripotent cells require this signaling regulating a specific subset of target genes. In addition, the BMP pathway is in the off-state in pluripotent cells and activated upon differentiation. Moreover, it has been shown that somatic cells can be reprogrammed by expression the four transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, to a pluripotent state. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) are very exciting new cell populations for stem cell research and efforts in our lab are directed to optimize the induction of pluripotency. A novel finding is that the regulation of cell shape plays a significant role in the formation of iPS cells.
