Assistant Professor

Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Baylor College of Medicine

For more information

• Dr. Zwaka's biography
• About the Baylor College of Medicine and its Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
• About the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy

About the presentation

"Embryonic Stem Cell Research"
Pluripotency is the potential of a cell to develop into nearly every mature cell type in the body. This remarkable biological status is restricted to cells in the early embryo and to germ cells. The underlying concept of pluripotency provides not only a unique basis for our understanding of the molecular processes involved in the cellular specification of the early embryo in vivo, but also for our understanding of the basic biology of pluripotent cell lines derived from mammalian pre-implantation embryos in vitro.

In particular, embryonic stem (ES) cell lines have attracted interest because of their potential usefulness for cellular therapies. ES cells have been derived from pre-implantation embryos of different mammalian species. These cells demonstrate remarkable properties in cell culture: they can be expanded without any apparent limit and are pluripotent.

Zwaka is interested in fundamental questions surrounding human embryonic stem cell biology. His current investigations are focused on determining how undifferentiated cells decide when to undergo programmed cell death and when to differentiate into other cell types. Researchers in Zwaka's lab are developing strategies to identify novel molecular targets of the programmed cell death pathway and differentiation machinery in ES cells, and are examining the mechanisms by which these molecules control the molecular changes associated with pluripotency. This knowledge is of great value, as it may allow us to reverse the process of differentiation and to “re-program” any given cell type into a pluripotent stem cell.