We work towards understanding the mechanisms of cellular reprogramming that governs the transformation of a somatic cell into a pluripotent one. We identify regulatory genes and gene products that govern the state of pluripotency. We use this knowledge to generate human isogenic pluripotent stem cells and to improve the efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer.
Our Team
Dr. Jose Cibelli, Professor
Departments of Animal Science & Physiology
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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. 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 one of the pioneers in the area of cloning with transgenic somatic cells for the production of animals and embryonic stem cells. Dr. Cibelli together with his colleagues, were responsible for the generation of the world’s first transgenic cloned calves, the first embryonic stem cells by nuclear transfer and the first embryonic stem cells by parthenogenesis in primates. This was followed by publications in Science, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, PNAS and JAMA. He has testified about nuclear transfer and stem cells 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 and the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
Dr. Cibelli also serves as the Associate Scientific Director of the ‘Program for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine of Andalucía’, Seville, Spain; the International Committee of the ‘International Stem Cell Research Society’, the Ethics Committee of the ‘American Society of Gene Therapy’ and the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group of the ‘California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’.
Bradly Alicea
Graduate Research Assitant (July 2009 - Present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bradly came to the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory in 2009 to study the dynamics of cellular reprogramming. Cross-trained in computational and biological techniques, his interests are in evolutionary and dynamical systems, micro-, bio-, and human-machine technologies, computational/systems biology, and the interface between neuromuscular systems and biophysics. Of particular interest are opportunities for academic and business collaboration that involve technological innovation. Bradly's research website is located here: http://www.msu.edu/~aliceabr/research.htm . Any questions are inquiries can be directed to Bradly's email address above.
Marcelo Goissis, MS
Graduate Research Assistant (August 2008 – present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Marcelo graduated from University of Sao Paul, Brazil in 2005 in Veterinary Medicine. In 2008 he completed his Master's Degree in Animal Reproduction at the same university with the thesis "Use of extracellular matrix (MatrigelTM) for establishment of porcine embryonic stem cells and expression characterization of pluripotency related molecules" under the supervision of Dr Jose Antonio Visintin. In August 2008, Marcelo started his PhD studies in Animal Science at Michigan State University, performing research on cellular reprogramming in the bovine model under the supervision of Dr Jose Cibelli. Throughout his training Marcelo gained skills in bovine herd management, transrectal ultrasonography, radioimmunoassay, cell culture, flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, porcine and bovine in vitro embryo production, bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer, and molecular biology, including gene cloning and quantitative PCR. He is currently working on Wnt signaling pathways in bovine preimplantation embryos and reprogramming of bovine somatic cells.
Sebastian Canovas, DVM, PhD
Posdoctoral Fellow (July 2008 – present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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.
Jiesi Luo
Graduate Research Assistant (May 2008 – present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jiesi earned his bachelor's degree in Animal Science from China Agricultural University, Beijing, China in 2007. He is now pursuing his PhD under the guidance of Dr Cibelli and his project includes investigation of pluripotency of animal embryonic stem cells, and mammalian and early embryonic development. His proposed project focuses on generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from canine somatic cells. The aim of his project is to elucidate the potential requirements for producing iPSCs from dog adult stem cells, in an effort to help form a template for development of regenerative medicine to aid dogs paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. The second area of Jiesi's studies include investigation of the anti-apoptotic effect of sphingosine-1-phosphate on in vitro development of bovine embryos.
Steve Suhr
Research Scholar (August 2006 – present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Suhr earned his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and has 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 focus is on 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 Cibelli Laboratory, he is examining several aspects of cellular differentiation and dedifferentiation, including reprogramming of human somatic cells for production of new cell lines that will more closely mimic the cellular changes that occur in human disease, and developing methods for enhancing the capacity of damaged tissue to participate in regeneration and repair in vivo.
Kannika Siripattarapravat (Nok), DVM
PhD Candidate (August 2004– present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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.
Eun Ah Chang
Research Scholar (July 2004– present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Chang received her MD in 1992 from the Medical College of Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea where in 2000 she also earned her Ph.D.. Her Ph.D. thesis research was in the clinical significance of p53, MDM2, Cyclin D1 protein expression in patients with Multiple Myeloma. She was working as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Korea. Previously her main research there involved Diagnostic Microbiology, Clinical Chemistry and Blood Bank. She was working on the molecular basis of malarial infections in Korean cases by using PCR, RFLP, and denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) method. She was also involved in studying of the relationship between Duffy blood group and Plasmodium vivax. In addition, she was involved in the major project of AFRIMS (Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences) involving malarial transmission. This project focused on malarial epidemiology which is focused on transmission of malaria from Southern Asia to Eastern Asia. Her research interests are animal and human embryonic Stem Cell culture and neuronal differentiation from human embryonic Stem Cells, neuronal disease and transgenic Animals.
Neli Ragina, MS
Graduate Research Assistant (December 2003 – present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Neli Ragina is a Ph.D. candidate in the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory. 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 focuses in 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 are:
1. Downregulate the expression of H19 in Cyno-1 cells 2. Determine the extent of in vivo differentiation in H19 downregulated Cyno-1 cells.
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
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
1. M. Abouzied; A. Horvath; P. Podlesny; N. Regina; V. Metodiev; R. Kamenova-Tozeva; N. Niagolova; A. Stein; E. Petropoulos; V. Ganev; 2002. Ochratoxin A concentrations in food and feed from a region with Balkan Endemic Nephropathy; Food Addit Contam Aug; 19(8): 755-64.
2. N. Ragina; A. Horvath; V. Ganev; I. Andonova; J. Genova; et al; Association of common genetic variants of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (CYPs, GSTs, NAT2) with the Balcan Endemic Nephropathy: A study in the Vratza’s district of Bulgaria (ongoing for publication in premedicus).
Tak Ko, MS
Graduate Research Assistant/Lab Manager (March 2003 - present)
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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.
Dr. Jose Cibelli, Professor
Bradly Alicea
Marcelo Goissis, MS
Sebastian Canovas, DVM, PhD
Steve Suhr
Kannika Siripattarapravat (Nok), DVM
Neli Ragina, MS
Tak Ko, MS