Kannika (Nok) Siripattarapravat, DVM, PhD

PhD, May 2010

Email: siripatt@msu.edu

Kannika Siripattarapravat, aka Nok, is a faculty in the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Kasetsart University, Thailand. Nok is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology program here at Michigan State University. Nok joined the CRL team after receiving prestigious scholarship from the Thai government. Dr. Siripattarapravat is interested in stem cell research, its rapidly evolving techniques, and its intended promises. Her dissertation will focus on the cellular reprogramming in Zebrafish.

Nok received her degree in D.V.M. in 2002 from Kasetsart University were she also obtained her M.S. degree in Veterinary Pathology. Her thesis and research experiences were on the recombinant protein expression and its use as a diagnostic tool. Following graduation she worked as an instructor in the Department of Pathology at Kasetsart University. In addition to her was responsibilities in teaching and research, she worked on developing special diagnostic services. She dedicates and strives to be a good veterinarian and teacher, and to excel in research. In the future, she would like to be a resource person for practicing veterinarians and also a mentor to educate veterinary students, hoping they too share her excitement about their field of study. Nok is working towards being an able diagnostician to benefit the animals in Thailand as Thailand needs individuals who are creative in research, who can generate projects to be applied to their needs at home. She would like to serve the country needs and accomplish her goals as well.

Neli Ragina, PhD (2010)

Assistant Professor of Research, Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

E-mail: Neli.Ragina@med.usc.edu

PhD work in the CRL:
Neli first entered the Genetics Program at the Michigan State University in the fall of 2003 and was officially accepted as a PhD candidate in the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory in December 2003. Her project focused on expanding differentiation potential of Cyno-1 cells. Cyno-1 cells are parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells derived from a non-fertilized Cynomolgus macaque egg. The aims of her project were:

1. Downregulate the expression of H19 in Cyno-1 cells

2. Determine the extent of in vivo differentiation in H19 downregulated Cyno-1 cells.

Masters' degree:

Neli acquired her Master's degree in Molecular Biology with an emphasis of Clinical Chemistry from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Bulgaria in 2002. During that time, Neli worked at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria, where she further developed her interest in gene expression and regulation.

Awards:

2002 First award for oral presentation, International Congress of Medical Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

Publications from CRL:

§  Ragina NP, Schlosser K, Knott JG, Senagore PK, Swiatek PJ, Chang EA, Fakhouri WD, Schutte BG, Kiupel M, Cibelli JB Down-regulation of H19 improves the differentiation potential of mouse parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells and Development, 21(7), 1134-1144 (2012).

§  Ragina NP, Cibelli JB. Chapter 3   Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells in non-human primates. Trends in Stem Cell Biology and Technology, Baharvand, Hossein (Ed.) 2009; ISBN: 978-1-60327- 904-8

§  Pablo J. Ross, Ramon M. Rodriguez, Amy E. Iager, Zeki Beyhan, Kai Wang, Neli Ragina, Sook-Young Yoon, Rafael A Fissore, and Jose B.Cibelli  Activation of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos by PLCZ cRNA injection. Reproduction, 137(3), 427-437 (2009).

§  Pablo J Ross, Neli Ragina, Ramon M Rodriguez, Amy Iager, and Jose B Cibelli  Polycomb gene expression and histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation changes during bovine preimplantation development. Reproduction. 2008 Dec; 136(6):777-85. Epub 2008 Sep 10.

§  Amy E. Iager, Neli P. Ragina, Pablo J. Ross,  Zeki Beyhan, Kerrianne Cunniff, Ramon M. Rodriguez, and Jose B. Cibelli.   Trichostatin A Improves Histone Acetylation in Bovine Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Early Embryos. Cloning and Stem Cells, Volume 10, Number 3, 2008

Tak Ko, MS

Graduate Research Assistant/Lab Manager

(March 2003 - present)

Email: kotak@msu.edu

Tak is the Laboratory Manager/Research Assistant of the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory (CRL). His main project is “Reprogramming of somatic cells to make stem cells”. In addition to running a laboratory Tak takes care of numerous lab maintenance duties as well as most of the molecular biology work including qRT-PCR, RT PCR/PCR, Southern/Northern/Western Hybridization and construction of expression vectors in mammalian system. He also performs other research duties involves animals and human Embryonic Stem Cell culture that are being processed in the CRL and differentiation.

Tak received his Masters of Science degree in Microbiology (in the field of molecular biology and Genetics) from Michigan State University. While at MSU, Tak worked in the area of cloning and characterization of the aod-2 alternative oxidase regulatory gene of Neurospora crassa. Physiological analyses of fungal mitochondrial respiration. Another project involved cloning and nucleotide sequence of the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase-gamma of Neurospora crassa. (Genebank Accession # AF111068).

His previous research experience was at the University of Michigan where his main research project was the investigation of the bone preosteoblast's requirement for an unidentified bone accessory cell, which allows us to culture purified populations of bone precursor cells in vitro, and microspicules forming on the bones.

Shashanka Murthy

Research Assistant

murthys5@msu.edu

Sebastian Canovas, DVM, PhD

Posdoctoral Fellow

(July 2008 – present)

Email: scber@msu.edu

Sebastian is a postdoctoral fellow from the Program for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine of Andalucia, Foundation "Progreso y Salud", in Seville, Spain. Dr Canovas received his DVM in 2002 from the University of Murcia (Spain), where he worked for six years (2003-2008) in the research group, Physiology of Reproduction. in 2005 he completed his Master's degree in Biotechnology of Reproduction in Mammals, and in 2007 he earned his PhD from University of Murcia (Spain). During his PhD thesis research he studied gamete interaction in human, pig, and cow, and the role of oviduct-specific glycoprotein in polyspermic fertilization. Following completion of his PhD, Sebastian worked in the production of transgenic animals using sperm-mediated gene transfer technique until July 2008, at which time he joined Dr. Cibelli's laboratory. His research is now focused on understanding the mechanisms of nuclear reprogramming and differentiation. To elucidate these mechanisms, Sebastian uses in vitro fertilization in cattle and induced pluripotent (iPS) cells in human as models. Specifically, he studies the role of sperm RNA in cattle development. Also, he is developing methods for enhancing the efficiency in the production of safe iPS cells to use as disease models. Sebastian hopes these studies will help lead to cures of diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and other rare disorders, which are specific objectives of the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies.

Gabriela Saldana

Purchaser/Fish Room Manager

saldanag@msu.edu

Marie-Claude Senut (MSU-Wayne State)

Research Scientist

senut@msu.edu 

Marie-Claude Senut is a visiting research scientist in the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory. She earned her PhD at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI, France) and held a tenured research position at INSERM where she studied the mammalian cholinergic systems during aging and in Alzheimer's disease. She then moved to the University of California San Diego, and then worked at the Salk Institute, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University. Her research interests are in the study of the mammalian central nervous system and its plasticity in response to injury/disease in the adult and during development. In 2010, she joined the Dr. Douglas Ruden laboratory at Wayne State University and is working at the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory on experiments aimed at understanding the biological mechanisms of lead (Pb) neurotoxicity. Her research focuses on examining how exposure to Pb results in neural impairment by determining the effects of Pb on DNA methylation profiles and neuronal differentiation of embryonic stem cells.

Steve Suhr, Research Professor (PI)

Research Assistant Professor
(August 2006 – present)
Email: suhrs@msu.edu

Dr. Suhr earned his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California-San Diego, The Salk Institute, and the University of Michigan prior to joining the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory in 2006. His primary interest is in the use of advanced cell and animal models to develop novel therapies for human neurological and neuromuscular diseases that currently have limited effective treatments such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and traumatic brain/spinal cord injury.  In the CRL, his group is exploring the potential of "indirect" and "direct" reprogramming methods to respecify cellular identity.  One area of current focus is a better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the conversion of cell phenotype, and to determine if all cells have the same capacity for reprogramming.

LEFT: An iNC immunostained for the mature neuron marker synapsin I, produced by infection of adult human skin fibroblasts with the factors ASCL1, POU3F2, and ZIC1.

RIGHT: An iSMC produced by infection of human fetal lung fibroblasts with myogenic transcription factors. Red immunostaining shows the muscle marker alpha-actinin.

Dr. Jose Cibelli, Professor

Departments of Animal Science & Physiology

Email: cibelli@msu.edu

Dr. Cibelli currently holds the position of Professor of Animal Biotechnology at Michigan State University. He heads the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory in the Departments of Animal Science and Physiology since 2003. From 2010 to 2017 he was also the Scientific Director of LARCel, a laboratory of cellular reprogramming dedicated to generate human pluripotent cells under GMP conditions for preclinical studies in Andalucia, Spain. From October 1999 until December 2002 he was the vice president for research of Advanced Cell Technology, a stem cell company in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Dr. Cibelli is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers in the area of cellular reprogramming using oocyte-driven protocols. Dr. Cibelli together with his colleagues, were responsible for the generation of the world's first transgenic cloned calves, the first stem cells by nuclear transfer in bovine, the first embryonic stem cells by parthenogenesis in primates and the generation of the first cell line of iPSCs using oocyte factors alone. His work has been published un numerous scientific journals including Science, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, PNAS, Cell Stem Cell and JAMA. He has testified about his work in public forums sponsored by the US Food and Drug administration, the USA National Academy of Sciences, Canadian House of Commons, the USA Department of Agriculture, the United Nations Commission for Human Rights and the British Royal Society. 

Dr. Cibelli is also a Member of Scientific Advisory Committee for the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon. He serves as a Trustee of the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation and has served in the International Committee of the 'International Stem Cell Research Society', the Ethics Committee of the 'American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy', the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group of the 'California Institute for Regenerative Medicine' and the Associate Director of the Andalucian Program of Advanced Therapies also in Spain, a government sponsored program running clinical trials in cell therapy under guidelines from the National and European Medicine Agencies. 

In 1998 he graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a PhD in Reproductive Biology, and in 1989 from Universidad de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina with a DVM degree.