Key Documents
Eric Chiao
Academic Appointments
- Instructor, Obstetrics & Gynecology - OB GYN Institutes
Scientific Focus
Research Interests
In a broad sense, my research has two goals:
1. Utilize pluripotent stem cells as a model system to study early human developmental biology and disease.
2. Develop tools needed to advance the field of regenerative medicine.
Specifically, my lab is studying the molecular mechanisms underlying hESC pluripotency and in vitro differentiation towards cardiovascular cell lineages.
To support this work, we are deriving new hESC lines with inherited cardiovascular disorders using blastocysts that would otherwise be discarded because they had been identified by pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to harbor specific genetic lesions. In addition, my lab is creating new induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines by reprogramming adult skin cells that carry inherited mutations associated with cardiovascular disorders. By comparing normal pluripotent stem cells with the disease-specific pluripotent stem cell lines following differentiation towards cardiovascular cell fates, we hope to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular development and disease.
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