Trophoblast Stem Cells
Author Biosketches
R. Michael Roberts
Current Position: University of Missouri, Columbia, Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center. Curators� Professor, Departments of Animal Sciences, Biochemistry and Veterinary Pathobiology.
Education: B.A. and D.Phil. in Plant Sciences/Biochemistry from Oxford University, England, but since the mid 1970s has worked primarily as a reproductive biologist.
Research Interests: I am best known for my work on uterine secretions--particularly the iron-binding acid phosphatase, uteroferrin, in the pig, and on how the early embryo signals its presence to the mother in ruminant species through the production of small proteins called interferons. More recently, I have been studying the specification of trophoblast as it emerges from pluripotent precursor cells and the role of maternal diet in regulating the sex of offspring. My work is supported primarily through Federal Agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
I have published over 275 papers in refereed scientific journals and over 72 reviews and chapters in books. I was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1996, and have received several international awards, including the Milstein Prize for Research on Interferons and the Wolf Prize for Agriculture (2003) and received the Carl G. Hartman Award (2006) from the Society for the Study of Reproduction. I was Chief Scientist with the USDA's Competitive Grants Program (the National Research Initiative) from 1998-2000. I also served on the National Research Council's Committee that published recommendations to the Federal Drug Agency on concerns regarding the use of genetically modified animals for food (Animal Biotechnology: Science Based Concerns, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.) and chaired the NRC committee that investigated Animal Care & Management at the National Zoo.
Susan J. Fisher, Ph.D.
Current Position: Professor in the Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. Jointly appointed in the Dept. of Anatomy. Dr. Fisher is the Director of the UCSF Human Embryonic Stem Cell Program and Faculty Director of the Sandler-Moore Mass Spectrometry Facility, which is a campus-wide technology core. Member of the Eli & Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine & Stem Cell Research at UCSF and the Center for Reproductive Sciences.
Education: Ph.D., University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, Ph.D, Anatomy.
Research Interests: Ongoing research projects in my lab include exploring the basic mechanisms involved in human placental development; devising new methods for deriving, propagating and studying human embryonic stem cell lines; and applying mass spectrometry-based approaches to compile protein catalogues with a particular focus on biomarker discovery. I have served on several NIH panels. Most recently I chaired the Reproductive Biology Study Section and was the principal co-organizer of the first Keystone Conference on Reproduction. Honors received during the last ten years include the Sadler Award (NIH), 2000; an NIH MERIT Award, 2000; the UCSF Graduate Association Outstanding Mentor Award, 2002; the Anita Payne Lectureship (U. of Mich.), 2003; the UCSF School of Dentistry Faculty Research Award, 2004; and the Silbar Memorial Lectureship, 2007 (Northwestern University). I was elected a AAAS Fellow in 2010.
Read the Review in BOR-Papers In Press (November 24, 2010).