'Embryonic Stem Cells: Capture of the Ground State'
Pluripotency, the capacity to generate all cell types of the body, lies at the foundation of development in mammals. In 1981 scientists discovered that pluripotency could be maintained in the laboratory in cells called embryonic stem cells. Study of these unique cells over the past 30 years has uncovered the molecular machinery that governs pluripotency. These studies have also highlighted significant differences between ES cells from rodents and from humans. So what makes an authentic embryonic stem cell?

www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/researchers/principal-investigators/pressor-austin-smith
Date: 20 February 2015, 12:00 (Friday, 5th week, Hilary 2015)
Venue: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Headington OX3 7BN
Venue Details: Seminar Rooms A/B
Speaker: Prof. Austin Smith (Principal Investigator – Stem Cell Potency, Wellcome Trust Centre – Medical Research Council, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge)
Organising department: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
Organisers: David Bartle (University of Oxford, Research Services), Rosie Butler (University of Oxford, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics), Christine Webb (University of Oxford, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics), Susan Wilson (University of Oxford, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics), Paul Harper (University of Oxford, NDM Strategic), Kimberley Bryon-Dodd (University of Oxford, NDM Strategic), Claire Escher Kessler (University of Oxford, NDM Strategic)
Host: Professor Doug Higgs (University of Oxford, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine)
Part of: WHG High Profile Seminars
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Anne Bowtell