Speaker:  Patrick Sachs, Ph.D. College of Health Sciences, School of Molecular Diagnostic and Translational Sciences, Old Dominion University

Title: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Technology for Regenerative Medicine, Human Disease and Development Modeling

When: 9:00 AM, Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Where: 1st floor conference room, IRP II

Abstract:Through the expression of four transcription factors, either through viral or non-viral transfection methods, normal somatic cells can be “reprogrammed” back to a pluripotent state. These induced pluripotent stem cells are identical to their pluripotent counterparts, embryonic stem cells; however, they share none of the ethical concerns surrounding their procurement. As these cells can be created from any somatic cell, from any individual, this opens up the possibility of generating many different cellular-based systems including: large-scale autologous cell therapies, disease models, and the study of human embryonic development.  These cells thus have the potential to revolutionize the ways we research and treat injury and disease.