identifying the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of the pancreas, liver and biliary system; replacement therapies, such as transplantable pancreatic beta cells for patients with type-1 diabetes; regeneration of adult tissues

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BS: Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 1987.

PhD: Genetics program, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1995. Sidney Strickland advisor.

Postdoctoral Fellow: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 1996 - 2001. Doug Melton advisor.

Spence JR, Mayhew CN, Rankin SA, Kuhar MF, Vallance JE, Tolle K, Hoskins EE, Kalinichenko VV, Wells SI, Zorn AM, Shroyer NF, Wells JM. Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into intestinal tissue in vitro. Nature. 2010 Dec 12.

Lin SC, Wani MA, Whitsett JA, Wells JM. Klf5 regulates lineage formation in the pre-implantation mouse embryo. Development. 2010 Dec;137(23):3953-63.

Carpenter AC, Rao S, Wells JM, Campbell K, Lang RA. Generation of mice with a conditional null allele for Wntless. Genesis. 2010 Sep;48(9):554-8.

Mayhew CN, Wells JM. Converting human pluripotent stem cells into beta-cells: recent advances and future challenges. Curr Opin Organ Transplant. 2010 Feb;15(1):54-60.

Spence JR, Lange AW, Lin SC, Kaestner KH, Lowy AM, Kim I, Whitsett JA, Wells JM. Sox17 regulates organ lineage segregation of ventral foregut progenitor cells. Dev Cell. 2009 Jul;17(1):62-74.

Zorn AM, Wells JM. Vertebrate endoderm development and organ formation. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2009;25:221-51 

Lange AW, Keiser AR, Wells JM, Zorn AM, Whitsett JA. Sox17 promotes cell cycle progression and inhibits TGF-beta/Smad3 signaling to initiate progenitor cell behavior in the respiratory epithelium. PLoS One. 2009 May 27;4(5):e5711. 

Spence JR, Wells JM. Translational embryology: using embryonic principles to generate pancreatic endocrine cells from embryonic stem cells. Dev Dyn. 2007 Dec;236(12):3218-27. 

Sinner D, Kordich JJ, Spence JR, Opoka R, Rankin S, Lin SC, Jonatan D, Zorn AM, Wells JM. Sox17 and Sox4 differentially regulate beta-catenin/T-cell factor activity and proliferation of colon carcinoma cells. Mol Cell Biol. 2007 Nov;27(22):7802-15. 

Moore-Scott BA, Opoka R, Lin SC, Kordich JJ, Wells JM. Identification of molecular markers that are expressed in discrete anterior-posterior domains of the endoderm from the gastrula stage to mid-gestation. Dev Dyn. 2007 Jul;236(7):1997-2003.