Elucidating the Diverse Biochemical Potency of Human OCT4

我们的建议是基于我们最近的发现，我们的小组率先定义了人类细胞命运的直接改变，从一个体细胞到另一个。我们的项目现在扩展和过渡到生物化学和化学方法来控制和工程这一过程，使用自然科学的方法。我们专注于一个单一的转录因子（TF），人类OCT4，它代表了控制转录激活/抑制的最多样化的自我调节因子。OCT4被认为局限于胚胎着床前胚胎和生殖细胞，在胚胎干细胞和诱导多能性中起关键作用，成熟细胞激活天然OCT4，称为诱导多能干细胞。

Our proposal is based on our recent discoveries pioneered by our group that define direct human cell fate alteration from one somatic cell to another. Our program now makes the extension and transition to biochemical and chemical methods to control and engineer this process using natural science approaches. We focus on a single transcription factor (TF), human OCT4, which represents the most diverse self-regulating factor controlling transcriptional activation/repression. OCT4 has been described as being restricted to preimplantation embryos and germ cells, and plays a critical role in embryonic stem cells and induction of pluripotency from mature cells activating native OCT4, known as induced pluripotent stem cells.