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Jennifer J. Brady
Microbiology and Immunology
Bio-X Skippy Frank Fellow 2010/2011
Professor Helen M. Blau (Microbiology & Immunology)
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) can be produced from virtually any somatic cell by the overexpression of a few transcription factors, constituting a medical breakthrough, yet iPS generation is slow and inefficient because the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Heterokaryons (interspecies multi-nucleate fused cells) activate pluripotency genes rapidly and efficiently, enabling the discovery of key regulators governing cellular plasticity such as Activation Induced Deaminase (AID), an enzyme involved in mammalian DNA demethylation. Heterokaryon high-throughput ChIP and RNA-sequencing and sophisticated bioinformatics are being used to identify novel genes and regulatory mechanisms in the AID-mediated reprogramming process to enhance the derivation of iPS. |
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