National Institute of
General Medical Sciences

October 18-19, 2011

Workshop Summary

This workshop was held to enable NIGMS grantees working on human embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to meet and discuss recent research findings and to identify and explore the problems, challenges and opportunities of these exciting research areas. Among the 69 attendees were 63 NIGMS grantees and 6 NIH staff members. Most of the grantees were members of five Program Projects for Basic Research on Human Embryonic Stem Cells or three newly-awarded Program Projects on the Basic Biology of Pluripotency and Reprogramming.

The talks and posters focused on four broad areas of hESC and iPSC research: pluripotency and self-renewal, technological approaches, differentiation mechanisms and epigenetics and reprogramming. Following one and a half days of scientific presentations, the workshop concluded with a lively discussion that focused on three areas which are critical for the future of this field.

• Biological questions: What does it mean to be a stem cell? Has the core circuitry of pluripotency been defined, and how do we know when it is complete? Are there different pluripotent states, and how dynamic and heterogeneous are they? What is the significance of bivalency (promoters marked with both activating and repressive chromatin modifications) in pluripotent cells? What are the similarities and differences between in vitro generated cells and their in vivo counterparts? How mature are in vitro derived cells? What is the relationship of ESC to somatic stem cells or germ cells-are there common mechanisms or common genes? What is the relationship between pluripotency and cancer? What can we learn about chromosome biology and mitochondria by studying ESC and iPSC?
• Technical issues and needs: quality control for cell lines and data; rigorous assays for pluripotency (teratoma assay/-score-card-); efficient and safe reprogramming tools (new vectors and/or small molecules); effective differentiation protocols for many different lineages; methods to ensure immune tolerance; reporters and lineage tracing techniques for human cells. How can we identify fully reprogrammed iPSC? What is the relationship between hESC, iPSC and cells of the embryo? How stable are the genome and epigenome of hESC and iPSC, what level of alteration is acceptable for clinical use, and how do we assess risk? How does natural human variation affect clinical use of these cells?
• Needed supporting technologies and resources: suitable animal models for testing therapies; human trophoblastic stem cell lines; gene expression atlas for early post-implantation stage primate embryos; antibodies against all human proteins; access to engineering, clinical translational support, instrumentation and trained personnel for -omics approaches and bioinformatics; non-destructive analytic tools; technological improvements to enable metabolomic and mass spectrometry analysis of small numbers of cells.

The full agenda and list of participants are below.

Agenda

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Natcher Conference Center Room F1/F2

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Natcher Conference Center Room F1/F2

Workshop Participants

(Contact information as provided by the participants)

Kazu Murata, PHD
Stanford University
Lil Pabon, PHD
University of Washington
Center for Cardiovascular Biology-UW
815 Mercer Street
Seattle, WA 98109
Email: lmp@u.washington.edu

Xinghua Pan, PHD
Research Scientist
Genetics
Yale University School of Medicine
PO Box 208005
New Haven, CT 06520
Tel: 203 589 1087
Email: xinghua.pan@yale.edu

Kathrin Plath, PHD
Associate Professor
Biological Chemistry
UCLA School of Medicine
615 Charles E. Young Drive South
BSRB 390D
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Tel: 310-2068688
Email: kplath@mednet.ucla.edu

April Pyle, PHD
MIMG/BROAD STEM CELL
UCLA
UCLA/Department of MIMG/BROAD STEM CELL
277A BSRB
615 Charles E. Young Dr. S
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Email: apyle@mednet.ucla.edu

Mahendra Rao, MD, PHD, PHD
Director NIH CRM
NIAMS
NIH
50 South Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892
Email: mahendra.rao@nih.gov

Allan Robins, PHD
Acting CEO
Viacyte, Inc.
111 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30602
Tel: 706-613-9878 ext.158
Fax: 706-613-9879
Email: arobins@viacyte.com

Hannele Ruohola-Baker, PHD
University of Washington
815 Mercer Street
Seattle, WA 98109
Email: hannele@u.washington.edu

Tom Schulz
Associate Director of ES Cell Technology and Scale Up
Viacyte
111 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30602
Email: tschulz@viacyte.com

Deirdre Scripture-Adams, PHD
Research Biologist
MIMG, UCLA
UCLA Hematology Oncology BSRB
Room 18811
Attn: D. Scripture-Adams/ZACK
615 Charles E. Young Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90095-8348
Tel: 310-406-4799
Email: deirdre@ucla.edu

Bryce Seifert
Graduate Student
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, BCM 505
Alkek, N1020
Houston, TX 77030
Tel: 713-798-1273
Fax: 713-798-1230
Email: seifert@bcm.edu

Maria Sierra, PHD
Post-doctoral fellow
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology
UCLA
615 Charles E Young Drive South
BSRB 457
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Tel: 310-206-0620
Email: msierra@ucla.edu

Jiao Sima
Graduate-student
Biological Science
Florida State University
319 Stadium Drive
King Life Science Building, 3070
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295
Tel: 850-980-1481
Email: jiao@bio.fsu.edu

Amar Singh, PHD
Post-doctoral Associate
Biochemistry
University of Georgia
500 DW Brooks Drive
Paul D. Coverdell Center, Room 276
Athens, GA 30602
Email: singha@uga.edu

Igor Slukvin, MD, PHD
University of Wisconsin
Stephen Smale, PHD
Professor
Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics UCLA
6730 MRL, UCLA
675 Charles E. Young Drive South
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1662
Tel: 310-206-4777
Fax: 310-206-8623
Email: smale@mednet.ucla.edu

Lloyd Smith
University of Wisconsin
Zhou Songyang
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030
Email: songyang@bcm.edu

Abdenour Soufi, PHD
Post-doctoral
Cell and Development Biology
University of Pennsylvania
1046 BRB II/III building
421 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6058
Email: asoufi@upenn.edu

Kran Suknuntha, MD
University of Wisconsin
1220 Capitol Court
R 104
Madison, WI 53715
Tel: 608-335-8949
Email: suknuntha@wisc.edu

Michael Teitell, MD, PHD
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,
Pediatrics
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
675 Charles E Young Drive S, 4-762 MRL
BOX 951732
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Tel: 310-825-9744
Fax: 310-267-0382
Email: mteitell@mednet.ucla.edu

James Thomson
Director of Regenerative Biology
Morgridge Institute for Research
330 N Orchard Street
Madison, WI 53715
Tel: 608-316-4348
Email: jthomson@morgridgeinstitute.org

Michael Tiemeyer, PHD
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
University of Georgia
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
University of Georgia
315 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30602
Tel: 706-542-2740
Fax: 706-542-4412
Email: mtiemeyer@ccrc.uga.edu

Hengbin Wang, PHD
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Kaul Human Genetics Building 402A
720 20th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35294
Tel: 205-934-5286
Fax: 205-934-0758
Email: hbwang@uab.edu

Qin Wang
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030
Email: qmwang@bcm.edu

Sherman Weissman, MD
Professor
Genetics
Yale University School of Medicine
PO Box 208005
New Haven, CT 06520
Tel: 203-737-2281
Email: sherman.weissman@yale.edu

Lance Wells, PHD
Associate Professor
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
University of Georgia
UGA, CCRC, 315 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30605
Tel: 706-202-8522
Fax: 706-542-4412
Email: lwells@ccrc.uga.edu

Korey Wilson
Graduate Student
Biology
Florida State University
1517 Mayhew Street
Tallahassee, FL 32304
Email: kwilson@bio.fsu.edu

Joseph Wu, MD, PHD
Associate Professor
Medicine
Stanford265 Campus Drive, G1120B
Stanford, CA 94306-5454
Tel: 650-736-2246
Fax: 650-736-0234
Email: joewu@stanford.edu

Young-Sup Yoon, MD, PHD
Emory University
101 Woodruff Circle
WMB 3309
Atlanta, GA 30345
Email: yyoon5@emory.edu

Pengzhi (Palmer) Yu, PHD
University of Wisconsin
330 North Orchard Street
Room 4316
Madison, WI 53715
Email: pyu2@wisc.edu

Jerome Zack, PHD
Professor
Medicine/MI&MG
UCLA
AIDS Institute
615 Charles E Young Drive South
BSRB 173
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Tel: 310 825 0876
Email: jzack@ucla.edu

Ken Zaret, PHD
Professor
Cell and Developmental Biology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
BRB II/III, Room 1056
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: 215-573-5813
Fax: 215-746-8791
Email: zaret@upenn.edu

Marion Zatz, PHD
Program Director
Genetics and Developmental Biology
NIGMS/NIH
45 Center Drive, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892
Tel: 301-594-0943
Email: zatzm@nigms.nih.gov

Thomas Zwaka, MD
Associate Professor
Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, BCM 505
Alkek, N1020
Houston, TX 77030
Tel: 713-798-1272
Fax: 713-798-1230
Email: tpzwaka@bcm.edu