BDRC SEMINAR SERIES
Jim Smith, Francis Crick Institute
30thOctober 2015, 1pm
Leolin Price Lecture Theatre, ICH
Making mesoderm in the vertebrate embryo and in ES cells
Abstract
The mesoderm of the vertebrate embryo forms tissues such as muscle, heart and blood. The
T-domain family of transcription factors is essential for proper mesoderm formation
throughout the vertebrates, and in this presentation I shall discuss how they exert their
effects and how the lessons learned from studying the early embryo might be applied to the
directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells.
Biosketch
Jim Smith is Deputy Chief Executive and Chief of Strategy at the Medical Research Council
(MRC) and Director of Research at the Francis Crick Institute. He was previously Professor of
Developmental Biology and Director of the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge.
Jim studies mesoderm formation in vertebrate embryos and in human and mouse embryonic
stem cells. His work will help drive stem cell differentiation along the appropriate
developmental pathways. He has published about 200 peer-reviewed papers. Jim is a Fellow
of the Royal Society and of the Academy of Medical Sciences and has won various awards
including the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) medal in 1994 and
the Waddington Medal of the British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) in 2013.