UCSF Recruits Young Scientists in Stem Cell Research
Clockwise: Emmanuelle Passegué,
Robert Blelloch,
Holger Willenbring,
David Henry Rowitch
Studies in a broad array of animal and human cells are being conducted in labs throughout the University; space for conducting non-federally funded research is being renovated; and plans for constructing a building that would allow non-federally funded human embryonic stem cell research on campus are being pursued. In addition, four preeminent young stem cell scientists were successfully recruited to the program during the last year. Three arrived in December; a fourth arrives in May. Additional recruitments continue. "It's been a very exciting year," says Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, the director of the UCSF Institute for Stem Cell and Tissue Biology, who himself left his position at Columbia University in 2004 to assume leadership of UCSF's stem cell program. "I think UCSF's success in recruitment is testament to its international reputation and the quality of work being carried out here." These new recruits include:
- • Robert Blelloch, MD, PhD, one of the country's experts in somatic cell nuclear transfer, or therapeutic cloning, is using the technique to study the genetics and epigenetics of disease and development. Blelloch, formerly in the laboratory of Rudolf Jaenisch at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, is an assistant professor in the UCSF Department of Urology.
- • Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD, is studying blood-forming stem cells, which could play a key role in treating blood cancers and restoring tissues in failing organs. Formerly in the laboratory of Irving L. Weissman at Stanford University School of Medicine, Passegué is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine.
- • Holger Willenbring, MD, is exploring the way transplanted bone marrow cells fuse with liver cells, with the goal of using this technique to regenerate diseased livers and eventually other tissues. Willenbring, formerly from the laboratory of Markus Grompe at Oregon Health & Science University, is an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery.
- • David Henry Rowitch, MD, PhD, who will arrive at UCSF in May, focuses on the genetic basis of pediatric diseases and the root causes of cerebral palsy in premature infants, with an emphasis on the role that stem cells may play in such diseases. His work also concerns how stem cells can be induced to become specialized cells and the relationship between stem cells and cancer. Rowitch, part of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He will be a professor in the Department of Pediatrics and chief of the Division of Neonatology. Rowitch will direct the UCSF Department of Pediatrics' program in development and disease.