Cell & Stem Cell Research

Biography

Biography: Michael D West

Abstract

Human pluripotent stem cell lines display the potential to cascade through all primary germ layers and hence, all human somatic cell types. This pluripotency has led to the prospect of using working cell banks of pluripotent cells to generate previously rare and valuable cell types on an industrial scale. The striking capacity of of pluripotent stem cells to form organoids in vitro, a property not typically seen in adult-derived cells, may reflect the unique regenerative potential of somatic cells before undergoing the embryonic-fetal transition (EFT). The demonstration that pre-EFT embryonic progenitors can be robustly clonally expanded is leading to a facile comparison of the transcriptomes of embryonic/regenerative cells and their adult counterparts. The identification of markers of EFT such as COX7A1 expression, opens the door to the deliniation of the molecular pathways regulating the biology of EFT with potentially profound implications for novel quality control assays useful in the manufacture of pluripotent cell-derived therapeutics, but perhaps more importantly, methods for inducing tissue regeneration in vivo, as well as new insights into cancer biology. Examples of the utility of this biology in the context of the manufacture of embryonic brown adipocyte and vascular progenitors, as well as well as in modulating iTR for therapeutic effects in age-related degenerative disease and cancer will be discussed.