Modeling neurological disease using human pluripotent stem cells
Latest News!
02-07-2022 - Welcome to the lab Pawel!
Differentiation of human pluripotent stem to model the nervous system
Green fluorescent labeled human embryonic stem cell colony (roughly 500 cells in this picture)
How do stem cells acquire new fates?
Stem cells have this remarkable ability to self renew and generate into any cell type. We take lessons from developmental biology to recapitulate these developmental programs to generate cell types that are affected in particular diseases.
hPSC-derived neurons expressing cortical markers TBR1 (red) and BCL11B (green)
How do genetic risk factors impact development?
The number of genetic risk factors are increasing with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. How and in what cell types do these risk factors converge are important questions we are trying to address with stem cell biology.
Astrocytes triggered by neuroinflammatory cytokines
How does the brain attempt to repair itself after injury or chronic disease?
Chronic and traumatic brain injury leads to increased gliosis. This inflammatory state is often protective, but increasing evidence suggests it is detrimental to neuronal function and may be an underlying cause to diseases such as ALS and Alzheimer’s.
Human astrocytes transplanted into a rodent brain. Green = mouse and red = human astrocytes.
Do astrocytes harboring disease risk factors influence neuronal function?
hPSC-derived astrocytes can be transplanted and survive in rodents. We are interested in using the cells to investigate their role in neurodegeneration.
Interested in joining the lab?
We are currently expanding and have multiple open positions for graduate students and postdocs/fellows to investigate the role of glia in neurodevelopmental disorders. If you’re interested, please contact Jason (jason.tchieu@cchmc.org).
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
We are physically located in the CCHMC Research S Building a little north of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The research environment is superb and includes weekly meetings to present our research and a two-day annual retreat with nearly 200 attendees presenting talks and posters. In addition, our developmental neurobiology group organizes biweekly informal research presentation meetings in which over 30 labs throughout the CCHMC and UC-COM campus participate and exchange ideas and foster collaborations in neuroscience.