Southern California Stem Cell Seminar Series

This month Professor Jacob Hanna will present "Ex Utero Embryogenesis: Naive Pluripotent Stem-cells-derived Embryoid Models (SEMs)"

Hybrid - Auditorium seating and Zoom

Seminar Speaker: Jacob Hanna, MD, PhD, Professor of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor at Renewal Bio Ltd in Rehovot Isreal. 

Event Host: Alysson Muotri, PhD

Professor in Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine

Co-Director, UC San Diego Stem Cell Program

Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine

Event Co-Host: Evan Snyder, MD, PhD

Professor in Human Genetics 

Program Director for Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; 

Sanford Children’s Health Research Center 

The SoCal Seminar Series is back with in-person participation with breakfast before the talk.

Hybrid participation with in-person seating in the Duane Roth Auditorium and simulcasted via Zoom for virtual participation. 

Talk Summary 

"The identity of somatic and pluripotent cells can be epigenetically reprogrammed and forced to adapt a new functional cell state by different methods and distinct combinations of exogenous factors. The aspiration to utilize such in vitro reprogrammed pluripotent and somatic cells for therapeutic purposes necessitates understanding of the mechanisms of reprogramming and differentiation and elucidating the extent of equivalence of the in vitro derived cells to their in vivo counterparts. In my presentation, I will present my group’s recent advances toward understanding these fundamental questions and further detail our ongoing efforts to generate developmentally unrestricted human naive pluripotent cells with embryonic and extra-embryonic developmental potential. I will expand on new avenues for utilizing custom made electronically controlled ex utero platforms and optimized conditions for growing natural mammalian embryos ex utero for extended periods capturing both the gastrulation and organogenesis until advanced stages, for better studying of stem cell transitions during embryogenesis and organogenesis. I will detail how the latter platforms offered an exclusive technical platform to demonstrate and unleash the self-organizing capacity of mouse naïve PSCs to generate post-gastrulation organ-filled whole synthetic embryos with both embryonic and extraembryonic compartment ex utero. Collectively, I will be highlighting prospects for new platforms for advancing human disease and developmental modelling."

Things to know

• Registration and breakfast start at 9 am on the terrace of the Duane Roth Auditorium (Off the second-floor terrace, behind Bella Vista Caffé).

• Virtual Participation: The Zoom link for virtual participation is https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/95780022234

Presented by the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

If you are a researcher and are about to publish a high-impact work, please contact stemcells@ucsd.edu to inquire about openings in the series.