The Cheng lab specializes in human embryonic stem cell research, implementing genetic modification techniques with lentiviral vectors.

Embronic stem cells (ES) cells are dervied from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst. They are characterized by two special properties:

  • ability to proliferate
  • ability to differentiate
ES cells have shown the ability to proliferate or undergo self-renewal indefinitely in vivo and in vitro. In addition, their ability to differentiate with the application of cytokines, growth factors, and other proteins allows them to turn into any of the cell types found through out the body. Because of this, stem cells have an extremely high potential for use in clinical therapeutics, transplantation therapy, and regenerative medicine.

However, before stem cells can be used for clinical applications, there are still many questions to be answered. Researchers all across the world are focusing on the mechanisms behind proliferation and differentiate and the signals that cause these events to occur. Until these mechanisms are found and the resulting stem cell therapies are found to be completely safe for medical purposes, regenerative medicine will only be a topic of the future rather than the present.

For more information about stem cell basics, please visit the resources section.