Biology Seminar - Jun Wu

"Dynamic pluripotent stem cell states and their applications"

Stem cells are central to modeling development and disease, with transformative potential in regenerative medicine and reproductive biology. My lab's contributions to this field include pioneering novel culture systems and methods for generating new stem cell types, advancing both basic and translational research. We have expanded the spectrum of pluripotency by isolating mouse pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) with distinct molecular and phenotypic characteristics across developmental stages. These advances in mouse models enabled the derivation of PSCs from diverse mammalian species, including humans, non-human primates, and ungulates. We have also established culture conditions for extraembryonic stem cells—trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) and extraembryonic endoderm stem cells (XENs)—and developed multiple stem cell–derived embryo models. In addition, we generated PSC-derived interspecies chimeras and created an efficient blastocyst complementation system for producing organs across species. This platform not only holds promise for in vivo organ generation, disease modeling, and drug testing but also provides fundamental insights into development and evolution. In this presentation, I will briefly overview these efforts and then focus in greater depth on selected projects.

Hosted by Magda Zernicka-Goetz