HS02 - Thomson Hub Site

Dr. Thomson has conducted pioneering work in the isolation and culture of non-human primate and human embryonic stem cells—undifferentiated cells that can proliferate without limit and have the ability to become any of the differentiated cells of the body. Human ES cells are broadly enabling research tools that allow unprecedented access to the cellular components of the human body, with applications in basic research, drug discovery, and transplantation medicine. Dr. Thomson directed the group that reported the first isolation of embryonic stem cell lines from a non-human primate in 1995, work that led his group to the first successful isolation of human embryonic stem cell lines in 1998. Dr. Thomson's group has subsequently been involved in demonstrating the developmental potential of human ES cells in lineage-specific differentiation (such as blood, trophoblast, neural tissue, and heart) in collaborative efforts with U.W. physician-scientists. The current focus of his laboratory is on understanding how ES cells can form any cell in the body (pluripotency); how an ES cell chooses between self-renewal and the initial decision to differentiate; and how a differentiated cell with limited developmental potential can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent cell.

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