Studying the molecular mechanisms involved in maintaining pluripotency and differentiation of stem cells

Principal Investigator: Dr Milena Stevanovic, IMGGE

Despite the intense research, little is known about molecular mechanisms that control pluripotency, self-renewal, cell fate determination and stem cell differentiation. Previous research has shown that regulatory mechanisms responsible for maintaining pluripotency and stem cell differentiation depend on signaling pathways that are defined by the coordinated activity of numerous transcription factors.

All previous studies indicate that SOX transcription factors play a significant role in the processes of self-renewal, maintenance of pluripotency, determination of fate and stem cell differentiation. Therefore, the proposed research is focused on studying the role of individual members of the SOX family of transcription factors in maintaining the stem cell properties, as well as in the processes of cell fate determination and differentiation into the specialization of cell types.