SPP 1356:  Pluripotency and Cellular Reprogramming

Research on cellular pluripotency is one of the most challenging and promising research fields in biomedicine. The potential to reprogramme cells into any type of adult stem cell for the purpose of cell replacement therapy holds tremendous therapeutic implications and may circumvent current ethical considerations surrounding the derivation of new human embryonic stem cells for research and clinical applications. The molecular pathways controlling pluripotency and cellular reprogramming are now only beginning to be understood. A thorough understanding of regulatory pathways on the molecular level in pluripotent cells is essential for the development of effective and rational approaches to induce pluripotential reprogramming and direct pluripotent cells into specific differentiation pathways.
The Priority Programme will focus on two key areas crucial for the understanding of pluripotency and reprogramming:
(1) the identification and characterisation of genetic and epigenetic networks that control pluripotency, i.e. the molecular basis for pluripotency, and
(2) the mechanisms governing the reinstatement of pluripotency in a differentiated cell. Therefore, the work schedule of the interdisciplinary Priority Programme includes
(1) the identification of novel as well as unsuspected genes and factors regulating pluripotency,
(2) the determination of molecular interconnections between the genetic and epigenetic pathways regulating pluripotency,
(3) the determination of the association between global and local chromatin nuclear structure and the regulation of pluripotency and
(4) the identification of practical and effective strategies to induce and regulate pluripotency by nuclear reprogramming, cell fusion and extrinsic factors.

DFG Programme Priority Programmes

International Connection Switzerland

• Characterization of putative pluripotency-regulating genes and defining the role of germ cell-specific genes during reprogramming (Applicants Nolte, Jessica ;  Zechner, Ph.D., Ulrich )
• Continuous live quantification of molecular pluripotency control (Applicant Schroeder, Ph.D., Timm )
• Contributions of chromatin remodelling factors CHRAC/ACF to epigenome programming during oogenesis and early embryogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster (Applicant Becker, Peter Burkhard )
• Coordinator fund of Priority Programme 1356: Pluripotency and Cellular Reprogramming (Applicant Müller, Albrecht M. )
• DNA demethylation reprogramming in the mouse zygote (Applicant Walter, Jörn E. )
• E Pluribus Unum: Understanding and Influencing Pluripotency & Reprogramming by Integrative Bioinformatics (Applicant Fuellen, Georg )
• Epigenetic control of pluripotency in Drosophila primordial and ovarian germ line stem cells (Applicant Reuter, Gunter )
• Epigenetic mechanisms that define the exit from pluripotency (Applicants Lickert, Heiko ;  Schotta, Gunnar )
• Epigenetic Regulation of Transdetermination in Drosophila Imaginal Discs (Applicant Paro, Renato )
• Exploring novel molecular tools and strategies to analyze pluripotency induction in somatic cells and to derive factor-free iPS cells (Applicant Edenhofer, Frank )
• Function of cell fate determinants during acquisition and loss of pluripotency (Applicant Schwamborn, Jens Christian )
• Functional and chromatin analyses of embryonic stem cell pluripotency by reversible knockdown of bivalent domain regulators (Applicant Müller, Albrecht M. )
• Identification of additional/alternative factors required for cellular reprogramming (Applicant Schöler, Hans Robert )
• In silico approaches to untangle the structural mechanisms of the combinatorial regulation of transcription by the pluripotency marker Oct4 (Applicant Cojocaru, Ph.D., Vlad )
• Induction of pluripotency by protein gain of function in cloned mouse embryos (Applicant Boiani, Michele )
• Maintenance of pluripotency by Polycomb proteins and stable repression of homeotic selector genes (Applicant Breiling, Achim )
• Model-based analysis of spatio-temporal heterogeneity of mouse embryonic stem cells with respect to its functional role in regulating pluripotency (Applicant Röder, Ingo )
• Molecular and biochemical characterization of Sall4 function in maintaining murine embryonic stem cell pluripotency (Applicant Treier, Mathias )
• Molecular characterization of novel genes maintaining ES cells pluripotency (Applicant Buchholz, Frank )
• Molecular mechanism of natural pluripotency establishment in the early mouse embryo based on single-cell gene expression profile (Applicant Hiiragi, Takashi )
• Multi-scale stochastic modelling for single-cell characterizations of pluripotency (Applicant Theis, Fabian )
• Regulation of pluripotency and lineage decisions by histone methylation (Applicant Stewart, Adrian Francis )
• Reprogramming and somatic memory in ES cell/hematopoietic stem cell hybrids (Applicant Zenke, Martin )
• Role and Regulation of DNA Methylation in Cellular Reprogramming (Applicant Leonhardt, Heinrich )
• Role of Gadd45 in pluripotency and murine embryogenesis (Applicant Niehrs, Ph.D., Christof )
• Role of methyl-cytosine binding proteins in the gain and loss of pluripotency (Applicant Cardoso, Maria Cristina )
• Role of Sox2 in the direct lineage reprogramming of astroglia into neurons (Applicants Berninger, Benedikt ;  Götz, Magdalena )
• The Axolotl as a system to define the function and evolution of reprogramming activities (Applicant Tanaka, Ph.D., Elly Margaret )
• The role of chromatin modifications in the efficiency of reprogramming (Applicant Anastassiadis, Konstantinos )
• The role of p53 dependent and cooperating pathways in pluripotency induction (Applicant Rudolph, Karl Lenhard )
• The role of the H3K9 demethylase Jmjd1c in embryonic stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency (Applicant Treier, Mathias )

Spokesperson Professor Dr. Albrecht M. Müller (†)