Spring Lecture Series at the Museum of Science:
Exploring the World of Stem Cells

Embryonic and adult stem cells hold great promise for harnessing the body’s own ability to regenerate damaged tissues. Research into these mysterious cells is also helping scientists advance our understanding of basic biology. But rarely has a scientific issue been so hotly debated on every imaginable front, from family dinner tables to political platforms. What is the science behind the hype and headlines?

During the 2006 spring lecture series, “Exploring the World of Stem Cells,” at the Museum of Science, audience members learned how Whitehead researchers are using stem cells to answer many of the most fundamental questions in biomedicine.

March 8, 2006—Nuclear Cloning, Stem Cells and Therapy: Promise, Problem, Reality

Rudolf Jaenisch, Whitehead Member

As they struggle to grow human embryonic stem cells, biologists continue to face basic questions about how these cells work. Scientists are just beginning to work out the internal programs and external cues that give stem cells their unique ability to become any other type of cell, remain indefinitely in the stem-cell state, and self-renew.

Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch’s main goal is to understand what scientists call epigenetic regulation of gene expression. This refers to the biological mechanisms that determine gene function without altering DNA sequences. In this discussion, Dr. Jaenisch explained how his lab uncovered alternative methods to creating embryonic stem cells.

March 15, 2006—The Development of Cancer and the Role of Cancer Stem Cells in this Process

Robert Weinberg, Whitehead Member

Why is cancer so difficult to treat? The answer may be found in the cancer stem cell, a concept that scientists have only recently begun to explore. Now, researchers are racing to identify stem cells in all different kinds of tumors, findings which will undoubtedly revolutionize our understanding of how cancer develops. In this discussion, Whitehead Member Bob Weinberg explored how researchers are looking into the origins of the cancer stem cell.

March 22, 2006—Planarians Can Regenerate a New Head in under a Week. How?

Peter Reddien, Whitehead Associate Member

The human anatomy is no stranger to regeneration. If you think about all the times you have cut and scraped your hands, it's amazing how intact they are. Even more dramatic is the human liver: Remove a chunk and it grows back. Researchers hope to one day harness the power of stem cells to regenerate, say, heart tissue, or pancreatic tissue, or nerve tissue. But at the moment, regeneration is still one of biology's greatest black boxes. In this discussion Whitehead scientist Peter Reddien discussed how he uses the planarian flatworm to study the mystery of regeneration.

For more information, please contact Amy DiGangi at digangi@wi.mit.edu or 617.258.7270.

Last updated Aprl 6, 2006.