The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Rudolf Jaenisch, M.D., professor of biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; founding member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Speaker bio(s)

The recent demonstration of in vitro reprogramming using transduction of four transcription factors by Yamanaka and colleagues represents a major advance in the field. However, major questions regarding the mechanism of in vitro reprogramming still need to be understood. One impediment in realizing the potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to study human diseases is the inefficiency of gene targeting. Methods based on Zn finger or TALEN mediated genome editing have overcome the inefficiency of homologous recombination in human pluripotent cells. Using this genome editing approach Dr. Jaenisch and his colleagues have established efficient protocols to target expressed and silent genes in human ES and iPS cells. The most recent advance comes from the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to engineer ES cells in mice. This technology allows the simultaneous editing of multiple genes and will facilitate the establishment of relevant models to study human disease. Dr. Jaenisch's group has used this technology to generate isogenic pairs of cells that differ exclusively at a disease-causing mutation. Dr. Jaenisch will describe the use of isogenic pairs of mutant and control iPS cells to establish in vitro systems for the study of diseases such as Parkinson’s and Rett syndrome.

 

Dr. Jaenisch generated the first transgenic mice carrying exogenous DNA in the germ line and was the first to use insertional mutagenesis for identifying genes crucial for embryonic development. He is also known for fundamental contributions to the study of epigenetic processes during development. His work has focused on mammalian cloning and has defined some of the molecular mechanisms that are crucial for nuclear reprogramming. In particular he showed that methylation of DNA plays important roles in gene expression, imprinting and X-inactivation as well as in neurological disorders and cancer.

 

Dr. Jaenisch received his M.D. from the University of Munich in 1967 and did postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany and at Princeton University, where he was in Arnold Levine's laboratory. He was an assistant and associate research professor at The Salk Institute and head of the department of tumor virology at the Heinrich Pette Institute at the University of Hamburg before moving to the Whitehead Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. Dr. Jaenisch is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institute of Medicine and is an associate member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He is the recipient of the Peter Gruber Foundation Award, the Robert Koch Prize, the Vilcek Foundation Prize, the Massry Prize, the Wolf Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Benjamin Franklin Medal and the Passano Foundation Award, among other prizes. 

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Linda Hanssler

Phone

(212) 327-7714

Sponsor

Linda Hanssler
(212) 327-7714
lhanssler@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3644