TOPIC: “Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery”
SPEAKER: Shuibing Chen, PhD | Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, N.Y.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
4:00 p.m.
Skaggs College of Pharmacy, Room 325
Background: hPSCs
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide unlimited starting material to generate differentiated cells that can be used to build a functional organ. Essential to this pursuit is an efficient way to differentiate hPSCs into specific types of mature cells. Cell-permeable small molecules that can modulate the function of specific proteins provide a convenient and efficient approach to controlling stem/progenitor cell fate. Our laboratory has an in-house chemical library containing 6,000 chemicals, including kinase inhibitors, signaling pathway regulators, natural products and FDA-approved drugs, and a protein library containing 400 growth factors. Using high-content and high-throughput screening approaches, we have identified a series of small molecules that control stem cell self-renewal, differentiation, and reprogramming. In addition, we have identified small molecules that direct hPSC differentiation into certain cell types, including pancreatic endocrine cells, pancreatic ductal epithelial cells, cardiac SA nodal cells, trophoblast cells, and colonic organoids. Using hPSC-derived cells or organoids, we have established several in vitro and in vivo platforms to study the role of genetic factors and environmental factors in the progression of diabetes, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and virus infection.
Host: Wei Wang, PhD, Director, Drug Discovery Program, UA College of Pharmacy
For future seminars, please go to:
http://www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/academics/graduate-programs/seminars
CONTACT: David Bishop at bishop@pharmacy.arizona.edu
University of Arizona College of Pharmacy
Skaggs Building, Room 325
1295 N. Martin Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85721