Fellowship Application, Ed Stanley: Pluripotent Stem Cells & Medical Research
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$638,517.00
Summary
Human Pluripotent Stem Cells are immortal cells that have the ability to turn into any of the cell types found in the body. This means that it is now possible to generate a variety of human cell types in the laboratory, to study how they work, and to find out what goes wrong in different diseases. In this context, the overall aim of my research is to develop pluripotent stem cells for the study of human disease and generate tools that will enable others to use these cells in their own research.
Diseases of the 21st century are complex with environmental and genetic causes. At the interface of these is Epigenetics - factors not specified by DNA sequence that control genes. Recent data show much of the risk associated with disease is set early in life, even during the time in the womb. The MCRI CDDE laboratory has assembled teams of researchers of diverse expertise investigating epigenetics of human development and complex disease to hopefully prevent or reverse them early in life.