The Meyer Laboratory
FacultyJason Meyer
Jason Meyer
Assistant Scientist, Waisman Center
jmeyer@waisman.wisc.edu
Organ System/Disease Focus
Neural and retinal development, Retinal degenerative diseases
Aligned Research Focus
Disease modeling, therapeutic uses of stem cells, basic developmental biology
Research Description
My research focuses on the ability of pluripotent stem cells to acquire specific neuronal identities through directed differentiation. An understanding of the fundamental developmental pathways of the nervous system allows these versatile stem cells to serve as in vitro model systems of neural development. Currently, my studies are focused upon the mechanisms underlying the specification of a retinal fate from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, with the goal of establishing a model system of human retinogenesis at stages of development that would otherwise be inaccessible. With this knowledge, I am also interested in using induced pluripotent stem cells derived from patient samples to both gain an understanding of the pathology of acquired retinal disorders, as well as to use such as system as a means of pharmacological screening.
Selected References
Meyer JS, Shearer RL, Capowski E, Wright LS, Wallace KA, McMillan EL, Zhang SC, and Gamm DM (2009), Modeling retinal development with human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in press.
Gamm D, Wright LS, Capowski EE, Shearer RL, Meyer JS, Kim HJ, Schneider B, Melvan JN, and Svendsen CN (2008), Regulation of Prenatal Human Retinal Neurosphere Growth and Cell Fate Potential by Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Mash1, Stem Cells 26(12): 3182-93.
Zhang ZJ, Meyer JS, and Zhang SC (2007), hES differentiation: Neural cell lineages, within Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Ed. by J. Masters, B. Palsson, and J. Thomson.
Meyer JS, Katz ML, Maruniak JA, and Kirk MD (2006), Embryonic stem cell derived neural precursors incorporate into the degenerating retina and enhance survival of host photoreceptors, Stem Cells 24(2): 274-283.
Meyer JS, Katz ML, Maruniak JA, and Kirk MD (2004), Neural differenation of mouse embryonic stem cells in vitro and after transplantation into eyes of mutant mice with rapid retinal degeneration, Brain Res 1014(1):131-144.