The central question our lab intends to answer is how functionally diversified neuronal and glial subtypes are born in the human nervous system. We approach this question by the use of (primate and rodent) embryonic stem (ES) cells that are derived from the inner cell mass of a pre-implantation embryo. We have developed model systems in which ES cells differentiate to multipotential early neuroectodermal cells and then region-specific and subtype-specific neural progenitors in a chemically defined environment, which recapitulates the early phase of neural development in temporal course, morphological transformation, and gene expression patterns. This suggests that some of the intrinsic program of neural differentiation is preserved in our culture model system. Using these model systems, we are dissecting molecular mechanisms underlying the process of neuroectoderm induction and neuronal subtype specification.
Zhang Lab website http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/scrp/zhang.html