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.
Stem Cells
‘This can be changed’: Verona family carries on daughter’s fight to end vision diseases
A recent story on Channel 3000 highlights the efforts by the family of Kenzi Valentyn to raise money for vision research in their daughter’s name. Waisman investigator David Gamm focuses on using stem cells to …
Waisman’s stem cell research into Down syndrome gives family hope
It’s not a cure for Down syndrome that Dave Witte and Cristina Delgadillo want for their 5-year-old daughter. “Olivia is our daughter and we love her, and we love her because of who she is. …
David Gamm, MD, PhD – Slide of the Week
Numerous protocols have been described that produce neural retina from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), many of which are based on the culture of 3D organoids. While nearly all such methods yield at least partial segments of highly mature-appearing retinal structure, variabilities exist within and between organoids that can change over a protracted time course of differentiation.
Five questions for Su-Chun Zhang, forger of stem cells
Su-Chun Zhang, a Waisman Center investigator, was the first person in the world to craft human brain cells both from human embryonic stem (ES) cells and later from induced pluripotent (iPS) cells. In a recent interview …
STEM CELLS @ 20
Twenty years ago, a seminal discovery by researchers at UW-Madison introduced stem cells to the world. Since then, this new tool has transformed science and opened new doors for translational research. Stem cells are undifferentiated …
UW researcher using stem cells to create ‘spare part’ for blindness
To mark the 20th anniversary of the stem cell discovery at UW-Madison, the Wisconsin State Journal featured a series of stories on stem cell research, highlighting the work of Waisman Center investigators David Gamm, Anita …
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.
Years after promise of stem cells seemed to be fading, clinical trials underway
A story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reflects on the history of stem cells and its future direction. Two decades after the first stem cell breakthrough, the promising biological discovery is beginning to take steps …
Mutation in common protein triggers tangles, chaos inside brain cells
In a study published today, Waisman Center investigators Su-Chun Zhang, Albee Messing and colleagues point to new understandings of the broad range of effects that result from the GFAP mutation impacting astrocytes — important supporting …