The Thomson Laboratory
Faculty > James S. Thomson
James S. Thomson
Professor, Anatomy
thomson@primate.wisc.edu
Relevant Research Description
Understanding how a cell maintains or changes identity and understanding what limits the repertoire of identities that a particular cell can become are the basic themes of my laboratory.
We use human embryonic (ES) stem cells as a model system because their unlimited proliferative capacity and developmental potential make them uniquely suited for exploring these themes in human material.
In the early 1990s, my laboratory derived ES cells from an Old World monkey (the rhesus macaque) and a New World monkey (the common marmoset), work that led to the derivation of human ES cells. Much of the initial work in my laboratory after that derivation focused on establishing human ES cells as an accepted, practical model system. We developed, for example, improved culture conditions, methods for genetic manipulation, and approaches for the in vitro differentiation to key lineages of clinical importance.
We are now focused on using these tools to understand the basic biology of pluripotency. For example, we use several conditions that induce uniform differentiation to specific lineages to study in detail how ES cells decide to exit the pluripotent state and become restricted in their potential, and we use a hematopoietic model system to study how that process of restriction can be reversed.
Selected References
Thomson JA, Itskovitz-Eldor J, Shapiro SS, Waknitz MA, Swiergiel JJ, Marshall VS, Jones JM. Embryonic stem cell lines derived from human blastocysts. Science 282:1145-1147. 1998.
Ludwig TE, Bergendahl V, Levenstein ME, Yu J, Probasco MD, Thomson JA. Feeder-Independent Culture of Human Embryonic Stem Cells. Nat Methods. 3(8):637-646. 2006.
Zwaka TP, Thomson JA. Homologous recombination in human embryonic stem cells. Nature Biotech. 21:319-21. 2003.
Xu R, Chen X, Li DS, Li R, Addicks GC, Glennon C, Zwaka TP, Thomson JA. BMP4 initiates human embryonic stem cell differentiation to trophoblast. Nature Biotech. 20:1261-1264. 2002.
Yu J, Vodyanik MA, He P, Slukvin II, Thomson JA. Human embryonic stem cells reprogram myeloid precursors following cell-cell fusion. Stem Cells. 24(1):168-76. 2006.