Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neuromuscular disease in which patients gradually become paralyzed due to loss of motor function. Many genetically inheritable mutations have been linked to ALS; however, the majority of ALS patients are considered sporadic.
iPSC
Stem cell project to create new model to study brain development and Down syndrome
Waisman Center researchers are creating a new approach to study how changes to brain development in the womb result in intellectual disability in people with Down syndrome.
Masatoshi Suzuki, DVM, PhD – Slide of the Week
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) present exciting opportunities to study disease processes in vitro. Advances in bioengineering allow us to differentiate cells in a system more relevant to their native environment in order to observe naturally occurring phenomena.
May is ALS Awareness Month
May is #ALSAwarenessMonth and Waisman investigator Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, uses stem cells to uncover the cause of ALS with the hope of developing treatments and therapies.
New gene editing tool driving stem cell services and discovery
A new gene editing service provides researchers on campus with genetically engineered pluripotent stem cell lines derived using CRISPR-Cas9. The UW-Madison iPSC Reprogramming and Human Stem Cell Gene Editing Service is co-operated by the Waisman …
Randy Ashton, PhD – Slide of the Week
Transplantation of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived neurons into chick embryos is an established preliminary assay to evaluate engraftment potential. Yet, with recent advances in deriving diverse human neuronal subtypes, optimizing and standardizing such transplantation methodology for specific subtypes at their correlated anatomical sites is still required.
Masatoshi Suzuki, DVM, PhD – Slide of the Week
Human induced-pluripotent stem cells are a promising resource for propagation of myogenic progenitors. Our group recently reported a unique protocol for the derivation of myogenic progenitors directly (without genetic modification) from human pluripotent cells using free-floating spherical culture.
Anita Bhattacharyya, PhD – Slide of the Week
Generation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Unaffected Neonatal Skin Cells – We have generated and characterized iPSC clones from three unaffected, neonatal individuals using non-integrating episomal reprogramming plasmids expressing OCT4, SOX2, LIN28, KLF4, and c-Myc.
Randolph Ashton, PhD
Human pluripotent stem cell-derived neural organoids provide unprecedented potential to recapitulate human brain and spinal cord tissues in vitro. However, organoid morphogenesis relies upon cell-intrinsic self-assembly of biomimetic tissue structures in the absence of normal developmental constraints and morphogen signaling centers.
A decade after stem cell feat, research ramps up
A decade after scientists announced the development of induced pluripotent stem cells, Waisman investigators, including Su-Chun Zhang and David Gamm, continue to use these cells to research and develop potential therapies for several disorders and conditions, such as ALS, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, and macular degeneration.