Kevin C. Eggan

The development of the fertilized zygote into a complex organism has traditionally been thought of as a unidirectional process, with cells in the embryo becoming gradually more committed to a specific tissue type. However, recent advances in cloning by nuclear transfer (NT) have demonstrated that the mammalian oocyte can relieve the constraints imposed by cellular differentiation and return the nucleus of an adult cell to a totipotent embryonic state, a process termed epigenetic reprogramming. The primary research focus of our group is to understand the mechanisms by which reprogramming occur. In particular, we wish to determine the nature of epigenetic information that are reprogrammed (i.e., aspects of DNA methylation and chromatin structure), the time sat which reprogramming occurs and the identities of the molecular machinery that accomplish reprogramming. In addition, we are using NT and a variety of other approaches to develop human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines that carry the genes that are responsible for human neurodegenerative diseases. It is our hope that these cell lines could be used both as in vitro models for the study of these diseases and as potential sources of material for cell replacement therapy.