James D. Cooper, Associate Professor in the Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology Department as well as the Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program at UC Santa Barbara was published in the August issue of Cell Stem Cell for his collaborative work with Aaron M. Newman using an unsupervised clustering algorithm called AutoSOME to study lab specific gene expression signatures in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells(iPSC) and Human Embryonic Stem Cells(hESC). Reanalysis of microarray gene expression data from seven different laboratories shows strong correlation between gene expression signatures and specific laboratories in both ESC and iPSC lines.

Two studies recently published describe the derivation and functional testing of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC’s). Lead by MCDB professor and CSCBE executive director Dennis Clegg in collaboration with Pete Coffey from the University College London, these studies show that RPE can be derived from iPSC’s and can rescue visual function in a rat model of blindness. These results provide the potential for cell replacement therapy for age-related macular degeneration. The research was published in the October 27th, 2009 issue of the journal Stem Cells and on December 2nd, 2009 in the online open-access journal PLoS One.