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Welcome to the Summer 2014 issue of our quarterly SCRMC newsletter. For more news and interactive updates, join us on Facebook, Twitter or the SCRMC website.
 

 

    The neuromuscular fibers under the
    microscope ripple and pulse, exciting
    researchers who are seeking new ways to
    help people with damaged neuromuscular
    or neuroskeletal functions.

    Derived from pluripotent stem cells, these

    contracting skeletal myotubes are growing

    in the lab of SCRMC member Masatoshi

    Suzuki, D.V.M., Ph.D., assistant professor

    of comparative biosciences in the University     of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. Suzuki wants to advance treatments for spinal cord injury, atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), muscular dystrophy, avascular necrosis and other severe neuromuscular related disorders. (Read more and watch video.)

 

 

SCRMC RESEARCHERS IN THE NEWS

Growing epigenetics community gives "nurture" deepened meaning

 

Reluctant star of stem cell research


 

SCRMC director talks tissue engineering
SCRMC Co-Director Bill Murphy, Ph.D., was interviewed by both NPR (first 10-minute interview) and Big Picture Science (8-minute interview at 27 min.), addressing research in cartilage tissue engineering, 3D-printed cartilage, and osteoarthritis. Murphy was also quoted in USA Today about stem cell research. Check out more updates from the SCRMC's Bioengineering Focus Group.

 

STUDENT NEWS
Ka Yi Ling (at right) was very active with the SCRMC when it began in 2007... and still is today!
 

Chancellor honors SCRMC undergraduates

An impressive 15 percent of this spring's award-winning UW-Madison undergraduate researchers are students studying in stem cell and regenerative medicine fields. The winner's list, with SCRMC faculty advisors, includes Ryan Prestil, Maria Estevez Silva, Carmel Assa, Gabrielle Enos, Michelle Chiu, Sora Ji, Tyler Lieberthal, Jiayue Liu, Matthew Wleklinski, Will Lyon, Daniel Magyar, Claudia Roen, Ryan Valk, Jessica Schwartz, and Anna-Lisa Doebley.

Did you know?

The SCRMC has a new Undergraduate Certificate of Excellence in Stem Cell Sciences? Nine students have earned the certificate since we began offering it last fall.

 

   CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF 

   STEM CELL EXCELLENCE
  
    WiCell is committed to supporting stem cell research at
    UW-Madison and worldwide. As we mark our 15-year
    anniversary, we celebrate that commitment - past,
    present, and future.

  

Stem cell research has come a long way in the 15 years that WiCell has been serving the stem cell community. As the field has evolved, so has WiCell. The first repository to distribute both hES and iPS cell lines, WiCell is now home to a growing collection of cell lines including ES, iPS, engineered and disease model pluripotent cell lines, as well as differentiated materials.

 

WiCell also offers material produced under the FDA's GMP guidelines - ideal for researchers moving toward therapeutics. And we are more than just cell lines. WiCell's Cytogenetics Lab offers karyotype, FISH, CGH/SNP microarray, STR and an array of other testing services with accuracy and turn-around times second to none.

 

Researchers, where will the next 15 years take you? Tell us your needs and we'll help you meet them. We look forward to being your lab partner for many years to come!

 

Sincerely,

Robert Drape, M.B.A. Executive Director

 

FAST FACT

SCRMC researchers published more than 530 research articles in 2013, including articles in Cell, Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That represents output by about 90 SCRMC faculty members. For a bit more context on our elite level of productivity, check out Science Magazine's "The 1% of Scientific Publishing."

SCRMC CALENDAR
 

SCRMC Fall Conference Sept. 12

SCRMC graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are planning an exciting afternoon of invited speakers, a poster contest with prizes, and updates on emerging technologies on campus for Sept. 12, noon-5 p.m., at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. 

Featured keynote scientific speakers so far are Kevin Eggan, Ph.D., Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and Randolph Ashton, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, BIONAnocomposite Tissue Engineering Scaffolds (BIONATES), and SCRMC member at UW-Madison.

SCRMC members and students, watch your inbox for more information coming soon, or contact Sue Gilbert for updates.

 

 

Fall Campus Seminar Series

Our upcoming weekly SCMRC Stem Cell Seminar Series has filled up nicely! Thank you to all who will be giving talks this coming semester! Students wishing to attend the series for academic credit should contact Sue Gilbert.


iPS cells differentiating in Randy Ashton's lab at UW-Madison.

Congratulations to the symposium's three poster contest winners: Nan Zhu, Ph.D. (1st Place), with Scott Armstrong, M.D., Ph.D., Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York; Yu Hou, Ph.D. (2nd Place), with Zhijian Qian, Ph.D., Department of Medicine and Cancer Research Center, University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL; and Rajendran Sanalkumar, Ph.D. (3rd Place), with SCRMC faculty member Emery Bresnick, Ph.D., Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Blood Research Program. Thanks to the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute for another great spring gathering!

 

Next year's 10th annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium, scheduled for April 22, 2015, will address limb regeneration. More to come!

 
 

JOIN THE SCRMC

 
Are you a UW-Madison faculty or staff member, or a student interested in stem cell and regenerative medicine research?

If so, the SCRMC is your central point of contact for information and education, faculty interaction, and facilitation for research and clinical development in the field.

 

Operating under the School of Medicine and Public Health and the Graduate School, our center's goals are to:

  • Maintain UW-Madison as leader in stem cell and regenerative medicine research and application.
  • Foster increased communication about the field within campus and beyond its borders.
  • Support basic and translational research, clinical application, and sound bioethics and public policy decisions.
  • Develop education, training and outreach programs.
  • Enhance philanthropic support. 

Special thanks to Maria Vodyanyk, who assisted with our summer newsletter. Masha, who will be a senior at Madison Memorial High School this fall, is interested in studying neurology and enjoys science writing.


The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a leader in stem cell and regenerative medicine research, with landmark discoveries including the first successful isolation of pluripotent stem cells in 1998 by James Thomson and colleagues.

As you can see in our 
SCRMC 2014 Update, we are advancing better ways to treat debilitating diseases and uncover the fundamental processes that lead to these diseases.

Won't you join us in our important mission?

 

Thank you for reading and for your support.

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Bill Murphy, Co-Director

Sue Gilbert, Program, Website

Jordana Lenon, Outreach, Newsletter Editor


 

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