Developmental Biology

James M. Wells, PhD

Appointment

Associate Professor

Email

james.wells@cchmc.org

Phone

513-636-8767

Fax

513-636-4317

Credentials

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.

Awards and Honors

2008, Translational Research Award, Children’s Hospital Research Foundation
2004, Pilot and feasibility award from the Beta Cell Alliance and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
2004, University of Cincinnati Cancer Programs Cancer Center Grant
2004, Pilot and Feasibility award from the Beta Cell Alliance and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
2003, Career Development Award, Juvenile Diabetes Association
2003, Junior Faculty Award, American Diabetes Association
2002, Trustee Award, Children's Hospital Research Foundation
2000, Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
1997, Postdoctoral Fellowship from the national American Cancer Society
1995, Traveling Fellowship for studies in mouse development from the journal Development
1994, Award for Excellence in Research from the Institute for Cell and Developmental Biology, SUNY at Stony Brook
1990-1992, Doctoral training fellowship in Genetics from the National Institutes of Health

Research

Our laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms underlying endoderm organ development in mouse and chick with the intention of discovering new molecular diagnostics and stem cell-based therapies for human disorders.

Our studies of endoderm organogenesis ask the following questions:

How is early anterior-posterior (A-P) pattern first established in the embryo?
How do early A-P patterns translate into where organs such as the pancreas will form?
Do the signals and genes that regulate early endoderm development play a role in formation and maintenance of endodermal stem cells?

For more information, please visit the Wells lab web page.

Research Grants and Contracts

Current Funding:

National Institutes of Health, NIDDK (AM Zorn P.I., JM Wells P.I. 15%)
NIH R01DK080823A1
Title: Role of Wnt signaling in foregut and liver development
Term: Start date TBD

National Institutes of Health, NIGMS (JM Wells, P.I. 20%)
NIH R01GM072915
Title: Mechanisms of endoderm specification along the A-P axis.
Term: April 1, 2006 - March 31, 2011
$190,000/year direct

Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Career Development Award (JM Wells, P.I. 30%)
Title: Promoting endodermal and pancreatic differentiation of mouse ES cells
Term: November 1, 2003 - October 31, 2008
$100,000/year direct

CCHMC Translational Research Award (JM Wells, P.I.)
Title: Human Embryonic stem cell core
Term: June 1, 2008 - May 31, 2009
$50,000/year direct

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JM Wells, P.I. 20%)
JDRF 26-2008-894
Title: Role of Sox17 in beta cell homeostasis and regeneration
Term: September 1, 2008 - August 30, 2009
$100,000/year direct

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
JDRF 3-2008-437
Trainee: JR Spence
Advisor: JM Wells
Title: Using Developmental Paradigms to Direct Human Endoderm into Beta Cells
Term: September 1, 2008 - August 30, 2010

Digestive Disease Research Center (MB Cohen, PI)
NIH P30 DK0789392
Term: August 1, 2007 - May 31, 2012
Cincinnati Center for Growth and Development
JM Wells – Full Member

Pending:

National Institutes of Health (HE Heubi, J Tsevat)
NIH 1 U54 RR025216 01
Type of award: Clinical and Translational Science Award
University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Section 11: MOLECULAR AND CELL THERAPY MATRIX PROGRAM AND TRANSLATIONAL CORES
Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core
Role: Director

Completed Funding:

National Institutes of Health (S Handwerger, PI)
NIH T32 HD07463 Training grant in Developmental and Perinatal Endocrinology
Trainee: JR Spence
Advisor: JM Wells
Title: Development of human endoderm and pancreas from ES cells
Term: November 1, 2006 - October 31, 2008

National Institutes of Health, NICHD (AM Zorn, P.I.)
NIH R01HD042572-03S1
Competing Supplement
Title: Molecular basis of endoderm development
Co-investigator: JM Wells
Term: July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2007

NIH beta cell consortium/JDRF (JM Wells, P.I.)
BCBC/JDRF 31148-R
Pilot and feasibility award
Title: Promoting the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into endoderm and pancreas
Term: November 1, 2004 - October 31, 2006
$75,000/year direct

American Diabetes Association (JM Wells, P.I.)
Junior Faculty Award
Title: Promoting endodermal and pancreatic differentiation of ES cells
Term: June 1, 2003 - June 31, 2006
Total Awarded: $409,000

JDRF Postdoctoral Fellowship
Trainee: BA Moore-Scott (relocated to GA in 2007)
Advisor: JM Wells
Title: The role of FGFbp1 in endoderm patterning
Term: September 1, 2006 - August 31, 2008

JDRF Postdoctoral Fellowship
Trainee: SC Lin
Advisor: JM Wells
Title: The role of Klf5 in endoderm development
Term: November 1, 2004 - October 31, 2006

University of Cincinnati Cancer Programs (JM Wells, P.I.)
Pilot award from the UC Cancer Center
Title: Sox17-mediated repression of beta-catenin activity in colon carcinoma cells
Term: August 1, 2004 - July 31, 2005
$25,000/year direct

CCHMC Research Foundation (JM Wells, P.I.)
Award from the Board of Trustees, CCHMC
Title: Characterization of genes that promote differentiation of embryonic stem cells into endoderm
Term: January 1, 2003 - December 31, 2004
$50,000/year direct

Presentations

2008
Invited speaker at the Transatlantic Airway Conference, Lucern Switzerland, January 22-25.

2007
Invited speaker at the American Diabetes Association’s 67th Scientific Sessions, June 13.

2006
Speaker at the FEBS-EMBO workshop “Programming Pancreatic Beta Cells”, El Perello, Spain, October 19.
Invited by graduate students as the Keynote speaker at the annual graduate students symposium, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate program, SUNY Stony Brook, NY, June 19.

2005
Keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Connecticut, June 22.
Invited speaker at the American Diabetes Association’s 65th Scientific Sessions, June 13

2004
Invited speaker at the 14th annual workshop of the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, “Inventing and Re-inventing the GI Tract – Stem Cells, Development and Differentiation”. Boston, MA, November 14-15.
Invited speaker at the workshop at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, “Pancreatic Development and Regeneration”. Denver, CO, October 18-19.
Keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Southwest chapter, Phoenix, AZ, June 14.
Session chair and invited speaker at the annual Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology, Mid-Atlantic Region. Pittsburgh, PA. May 21-22.

2002
Speaker, EMBO Meeting "Endoderm Development, Differentiation and Cancer, August 19-23.

1999
Speaker, 35th Annual Meeting European Association for the study of Diabetes, Brussels, September 28th-October 2nd, 1999

Invited Seminars

Miami University, March 2008
University of Pennsylvania/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Division of Developmental Biology, February 5, 2008
CCHMC Board of trustees annual retreat, January 26, 2008
Nebraska Medical Center, Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy, February 28, 2007
SUNY Stony Brook, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, NY, November 28, 2006
Stem cell institute, Munich Germany, March 2006
ISREC, Lausanne Switzerland, March 2006
Vanderbilt University, Diabetes Center Grand Rounds, October 2005
Miami University, April 2005
University of Iowa, December 2004
CyThera Inc., San Diego, CA, November, 2004
University of California San Francisco, CA, February 2004
Ohio State University, February 2004
Miami University, Ohio, September, 2003
ISREC, Lausanne Switzerland, September, 2003
Department of Pathology, UC, March, 2003
ISREC, Lausanne Switzerland, August, 2002
Department of Cell Biology, Vontz Center, UC, October 2002
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, April 2001
Department of Biology, Penn State University, March 2001
University of Colorado Medical Center, Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, March 2001
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, March 2001
Department of Biology, University of Rochester, February 2001
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, January 2001

Publications, Most Recent

James Wells's publications as listed by PubMed

Spence JR, Wells JM. Translational embryology: Using embryonic principles to generate pancreatic endocrine cells from embryonic stem cells.Dev Dyn 2007;236:3218

Sinner D, Kordich JJ, Spence JR, Opoka R, Rankin, Lin SC, Jonatan D, Zorn AM, Wells JM. Sox17 and Sox4 differentially regulate beta-catenin/TCF activity and proliferation of colon carcinoma cells.Mol Cell Biol 2007;27:7802-15. | *This article is featured on the cover.

Moore-Scott BA, Opoka R, Kordich JJ, Lin S, 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;1997-2003.

Sinner D, Wells JM, Zorn AM. (2007). Principals of Developmental Genetics, Chapter 14: Endoderm Formation. 295-315. Edited by Sally A. Moody. Elsevier Press.

Moore-Scott B, Wells JM. (2007). Principals of Developmental Genetics, Chapter 40: Patterning the embryonic endoderm into presumptive organ domains. 909-931. Edited by Sally A. Moody. Elsevier Press.

Zorn AM, Wells JM. Molecular basis of vertebrate endoderm development.International Review of Cytology: a Survey of Cell Biology 2007;259:49-111.

Wells JM, Esni F, Boivin GP, Aronow BJ, Stuart W, Combs C, Sklenka A, Leach SD, Lowy AM. Wnt/β-catenin is required for development of the exocrine pancreas.BMC Dev Biol 2007;7:4.

Park KS, Wells JM, Zorn AM, Wert SE, Whitsett JA. Sox17 Influences Differentiation of Respiratory Epithelial Cells.Dev Biol 2006;294(1):192-202.

Park KS, Wells JM, Zorn AM, Wert SE, Laubach VE, Fernandez LG, Whitsett JA. Transdifferentiation of ciliated cells during repair of the respiratory epithelium.Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2006;34(2):151-7.

Dessimoz J, Kordich JJ, Opoka R, Grapin-Botton A, Wells JM. FGF signaling is necessary for establishing gut tube domains along the anterior-posterior axis in vivo.Mech Dev 2006;123(1):42-55.

Bates MD, Wells JM, Venkatesh B. Comparative Genomics of the Hlx Homeobox Gene and Protein.Gene 2005;6;352:45-56.

Serls AE, Doherty S, Parvatiyar P, Wells JM, Deutsch GH. Different thresholds of fibroblast growth factors pattern the ventral foregut into liver and lung.Development 2005;132:35-47.

*Gu G, *Wells JM, Dombkowski D, Preffer F, Aronow B, Melton DA. Global analysis of gene regulatory pathways that function during development of the endocrine pancreas.Development 2004;131:165-79. | *These authors contributed equally and are listed alphabetically.

Manuscripts submitted

Stefania Gimelli, Gianluca Caridi, Silvana Beri, Monica Dagnino, Luisa Murer, Elisa Benetti, Roberto Giorda, Orsetta Zuffardi, Kyle McCracken, James M. Wells, Giorgio Gimelli, Gian Marco Ghiggeri. (2008). Mutations in SOX17 are associated with congenital anomalies of the kidney and the urinary tract. Submitted to Nature.

Manuscripts in preparation

Spence JR, Wells JM. (2008). Identification of molecular pathways that control migration and patterning of human embryonic endoderm cells derived from ES cells. In Preparation.

Spence JR, Lin SC, Wells JM. (2008). Ventral pancreas, common bile duct and gall bladder derive from a common progenitor. In Preparation.

Lin S-C,Wells JM. (2008). Factors that are required for preimplantation development and that regulate pluripotency of ES cells. In Preparation.