About

The Harvard Stem Cell Institute, comprised of over 100 principal faculty members at 13 Harvard-affiliated hospitals and research institutions, is the world leader in elaborating the potential of iPS cells and reprogramming technology.

HSCI researchers have been at the forefront of cell reprogramming technology and the HSCI iPS Core benefits from this unique environment to fulfill its goals: the derivation of new disease-specific iPS lines and their distribution to the scientific community.

Some of the seminal papers in the reprogramming arena published by HSCI faculty members include:

  • Chad Cowan, PhD, Kiran Musunuru, MD, PhD, and colleagues' paper in Cell Stem Cell describing the use of TALEN genome editing technology to generate stem cell-based disease models. Also in Cell Stem Cell, the same team reported a more efficient stem cell genome editing method using CRISPR/Cas9.
  • Derrick Rossi, PhD, and colleagues’s paper in Cell Stem Cell describing an innovative methodology to generate safer iPS cells.
  • George Daley, MD, PhD, and colleagues’ paper in Nature reporting that iPS cells keep an epigenetic memory of their tissue of origin.
  • Konrad Hochedlinger, PhD, and colleagues’ paper in Nature showing that an important cluster of genes is inactivated in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that do not have the full development potential of embryonic stem cells.