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ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The IRM Program in Cellular Reprogramming and Epigenetics consists of investigators from Penn’s Schools of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Engineering and Applied Science.  The program investigates basic biological mechanisms by which cells can gain specialized functions and identities, and how a cell of one identity can be converted to another.  Understanding these principles is thought to be a major means of generating many types of cells and tissues to treat a wide variety of human injuries and disease.

INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

The program’s scientific goals focus on discovering molecules and genes that define cell identity and develop points of intervention to convert one type of cell to another.

The program seeks to:

  ♦ Identify how molecules in cells regulate genetics that control cell identity
  ♦ Determine how cell identities are maintained when a cell divides
  ♦ Develop the ability to convert cells of one identity into others, so they may one day be used in cell and tissue therapies
  ♦ Investigate the basis by which specialized cells can be converted to stem cells

ADVANCEMENTS IN MEDICINE

The diverse faculty in this highly collaborative program at Penn has a long-standing series of accomplishments:  discovery of a major cellular mechanism by which early embryonic cells gain competence to acquire cell identities; discovery of cellular molecules that govern cell identities for the liver, heart, lung, germ cells, skin and pancreas; discovery of new mechanisms by which cellular memory is maintained; and understanding new mechanisms by which specialized adult cells can be converted to early embryonic states. 

	“This is a very exciting time to be studying the basis for cell identity and for converting one type of cell into another. We finally know the underlying principles, and their application will have a profound impact in the field of regenerative medicine.”
	Kenneth S. Zaret, Ph.D., Associate Director of the IRM Director, IRM Program in Cellular Reprogramming and Epigenetics and the Joseph Leidy Professor.  Dr. Zaret discovered signals and genetic programs that initiate the development of liver and pancreas tissue in embryos. These discoveries are now used to develop liver and pancreas cells from stem cells for regenerative medicine.
	Shelley L. Berger, Ph.D., Director, Penn Epigenetics Program and Daniel S. Och University Professor.  Dr. Berger has identified many chemical modifications that occur in chromosomes and revealed how those modifications affect gene activity and the inheritance of gene expression states.