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Daniel Besser: "Signaling mechanisms in pluripotency and reprogramming"

Wann 19.10.2009
von 11:15 bis 12:15
Wo FRIAS Seminarrarum, Albertstraße 19
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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.