4:00pm |
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The Burian-McNabb Lecture: 50 Years of Stem Cell Experiments and Models of Development
(Seminar/Conference)
50 Years of Stem Cell Experiments and Models of Development, Melinda Bonnie Fagan, Sterling McMurrin, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Utah
Abstract:
I survey a half-century of experiments on stem cells, focusing on three exemplary experimental systems: the spleen colony-forming assay (1960s), human embryonic stem cell culture (1990s), and direct cell reprogramming (2000s). Each of these experimental systems, I propose, is associated with a distinctive approach to modeling biological development; cell populations, ramifying lineages, and engineered networks, respectively. I characterize and contrast these three approaches, focusing on how the cell-organism relation is conceptualized in each, and how the associated experimental methods shape these ideas. I suggest ways stem cell research might proceed in future, and connections with synthetic biology and precision medicine.
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231-4336