Konrad Hochedlinger

Department of Medicine

Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
Cancer Center and Center for Regenerative Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Richard B. Simches Building, CPZN 4242
185 Cambridge St.
Boston, MA 02114
Tel: 617-643-2075
Fax: 617-724-2662
Email: khochedlinger@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
Web Page: The Hochedlinger Lab Page

Our lab tries to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying pluripotency and nuclear reprogramming. Pluripotency denotes the ability of cells, such as embryonic stem (ES) cells, to give rise to all cell types of the mammalian body, while nuclear reprogramming is the dedifferentiation of a specialized cell back into a pluripotent state. Reprogramming does not normally occur in vivo but can be achieved experimentally by nuclear transfer, ES cell-somatic cell fusion and by directly inducing embryonic genes in somatic cells, generating so-called induced pluripotent (iPS) stem cells.

We are studying these processes functionally by establishing transgenic and knock-out mice and by manipulating murine and human ES cells. Combined with genome-wide approaches including RNAi and chemical screening we aim to dissect the mechanisms of pluripotency and epigenetic reprogramming. Ultimately, we hope that our research will aid in attempts to generate custom-tailored cells for treating and understanding disease.

Lab Members
Katrin Arnold, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate
Matthias Stadtfeld, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Jose Maria Polo, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate
Effie Apostolou, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Sara Eminli, Visiting PhD Student, (Free University, Berlin)
Nimet Maherali, PhD Student (Harvard MCB)
Ryan Michael Walsh, PhD Student (BBS)
Adam Khalil, Technician
Nancy Poole, Administrative Assistant

References:

Maherali, N., Sridharan, R., Xie, W., Utikal, J., Eminli, S., Arnold, K., Stadtfeld, M., Yachechko, R., Tchieu, J., Jaenisch, R., Plath, K., Hochedlinger, K. Directly reprogrammed fibroblasts show global epigenetic reprogramming and widespread tissue contribution. Cell Stem Cell (inaugural issue) 1:55-70 (2007)
Stadtfeld M, Nagaya M, Utikal J, Weir G, Hochedlinger K. Induced pluripotent stem cells generated without viral integration. Science 2008 Nov 7;322(5903):945-9.
Hochedlinger K, Plath K. Epigenetic reprogramming and induced pluripotency. Review, Development. 2009 Feb;136(4):509-23.
Eminli S, Foudi A, Stadtfeld M, Maherali N, Hock H, Hochedlinger K. Differentiation stage determines reprogramming potential of hematopoietic cells into iPS cells. Nature Genetics (2009, in press).

BBS webpage updated 12/02/2009