The Wolfe PGD-Stem Cell Lab focuses on studying issues related to early embryonic and developmental processes, genetic disorders and different aspects of cell therapy using our unique collection of PGD-derived human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).
Neurons derived from hESCs for modeling neurodevelopmental diseases
VISION
We derive human embryonic stem cell (hESC) directly
from affected embryos, which are obtained as a by-product of the
preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) procedure. PGD is performed for couples
at high risk of transmitting a genetic defect and who wish to ensure the birth
of a healthy child. Following PGD, embryos diagnosed as being disease-free are
transferred into the uterus for implantation, whereas the affected embryos that
would be otherwise discarded can be donated for research by deriving hESC lines
that carry the naturally inherited mutations. We have already established
>60 mutant hESC lines associated with 21 different inherited disorders.
In our lab we differentiate these hESCs into the cells that are affected by the disease in a clinically relevant environment (neurons, brain organoids, trophoblast cells, colon organoids etc.). These cells were already found valuable for studying the molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the genetic diseases and can also serve for screening of potential therapeutics.
In addition, the fact that we have a huge collection of hESC lines derived under the same conditions enable us to perform different studies on the pluripotent, genetic and epigenetic properties of these cells.
List of active projects:
Studying molecular and functional deficiencies in neurons and brain organoids derived from Fragile X Syndrome hESCs to explore the development of mental retardation.
Studying malignant transformation and the development of cancer using APC-mutated hESCs.
The cellular phenotype and the genetic stability of naïve and primed human embryonic stem cells.
Enhancing Assisted
Reproductive Technologies with deep learning and data visualization.
Advanced RNA sequencing technologies
for exploring human embryos' transcirptome.
Staff
PI - Prof. Dalit Ben Yosef, Ph.D.
Lab manager - Ilana Gross Carmel
Current PhD Students
Aline Habib
Liron Yanovsky
Lital Ovadaia
Past Researchers & Students
Yoav Mayshar PhD
Michael Telias PhD
Livia Preisler PhD
Alina Shpitz
Chen Dekel
Dafna Aran
David Shaul
Eran Parnasa
Natasha Friedstein
Neta Harari
Nofar Yedid
Reut Weisgross
Sandy Bornstein
Collaborations
Daniel Needleman, Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Boston, USA
Dov Hershkovitz, Institute of Pathology, TASMC
Ben Maoz, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University
Irit Sagi, Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science
Jacob Hanna, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science
Louise Laurent, The Scripps Research Institute, Center for Regenerative Medicine, UCSD, USA
- Menahem Segal, Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science
Revital Kariv, Department of Gastroenterology, TASMC.
Robert Zebra, Institute for Genomics and Multiscale, Biology, Mount Siani Hospital, New York, USA
