FWO-SB-Scholarship: defining the molecular basis for liver cell differentiation deficiency in human pluripotent stem cells (FWOSB35)

Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) are cells which are able to transform, or differentiate, into nearly all cell types of the human body. This makes them very interesting in the field of regenerative medicine, which aims to cure a variety of diseases, such as diabetes, by injecting these cells into patients. This is achieved by manipulating cell signaling to push the cells towards a certain cell type. We aim to use hESC, which are unable to transform to liver cells, to further study the genetic basis of this differentiation. Often, hESC will genetically mutate during growth in a laboratory, and these mutations will sometimes lead to small numbers of cells which can no longer differentiate correctly. We will isolate these cells, and fully analyze them using state-of-the-art genetic testing. This testing will allow us to determine exactly which mutations are preventing the cells from differentiating correctly, and could lead to advances in our understanding of liver cell differentiation. This could also have clinical application by improving current liver cell differentiation techniques, and eventually the creation of a process which removes mutated cells from treatments bound for patients, which could otherwise result in the generation of tumors.

Keywords:Stem Cell

Disciplines:Animal morphology, anatomy and physiology