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James M. Wells, PhD

Director for Research, Division of Endocrinology

Chief Scientific Office, Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Medicine (CuSTOM)

Academic Affiliations

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Phone 513-636-8767

Fax 513-636-4317

Email james.wells@cchmc.org

Research Interests
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Research

Understanding the development of the pancreas, and gastrointestinal organs; generating 3-dimensional human tissues from pluripotent stem cells and using these as human models of diabetes and digestive disease.

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

Biography
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The focus of his teams basic research has been to identify the molecular mechanisms involved in the embryonic development of endocrine cells including pancreatic beta cells and tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. Their translational projects have focused on identifying new approaches to improve child health in several ways: 1. To identify and use embryonic pathways to generate complex, three-dimensional organ tissues from pluripotent stem cells, 2. Use these tissues to develop new in vitro human models for diabetes and digestive disease research and 3. Develop long-term, therapeutic strategies for cell and tissue-replacement therapies.
Education and Training
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BS: Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 1987.

PhD: Graduate program in Genetics, SUNY at Stony Brook, New York, 1995.

Postdoctoral Fellow: Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 1996 - 2001. 

Publications
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View Dr. Wells PubMed Publications.

McCracken KW, Catá E, Crawford C, Sinagoga KL, Schumacher M, Mayhew CN, Zavros Y, Wells JM. Modelling human development and disease in pluripotent stem cell-derived gastric organoids. Nature. 2014 Dec 18;516(7531):400-4.

Watson CL, Mahe MM, Howell JC, Munera J, Sundaram N, Schweitzer J, Vallance JE, Shroyer NF, Wells JM, Helmrath MA. An in vivo model of human small intestine using pluripotent stem cells. Nat Med. 2014 Nov;20(11):1310-4.

Ji H, Zhang X, Oh S, Mayhew C, Ulm A, Somineni H, Ericksen M, Wells J, Khurana Hershey GK. Dynamic transcriptional and epigenomic reprogramming from pediatric nasal epithelial cells to induced pluripotent stem cells. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Oct 14, pii:S0091-6749(14)01262-7.

Chlon TM, Hoskins EE, Mayhew CN, Wikenheiser-Brokamp KA, Davies SM, Mehta P, Myers KC, Wells JM, Wells, SI. High-Risk Human Papillomavirus E6 Protein Promotes Reprogramming of Fanconi Anemia Patient Cells through Repression of p53 but Does Not Allow for Sustained Growth of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. J Virol. 2014 Oct 1;88(19)11315-26.

Jonatan D, Spence JR, Method AM, Sinagoga K, Kofron M, Haataja L, Arvan P, Deutsch GH, Wells JM.  Sox17 regulates insulin secretion in the normal and pathologic beta cell. PLoS One. 2014 Aug 21;9(8):e104675.

Schiesser JV, Wells JM. Generation of beta cells from human pluripotent stem cells: are we there yet? Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2014 Apr;1311:124-37.

Runck LA, Method A, Bischoff A, Levitt M, Peña A, Collins MH, Gupta A, Shanmukhappa S, Wells JM, Guasch G. Defining the molecular pathologies in cloaca malformation: similarities between mouse and human. Dis Model Mech. 2014 Apr;7(4):483-93.

Wells JM, Spence JR. How to make an intestine. Development. 2014 Feb;141(4):752-60.

Delgiorno KE, Hall JC, Takeuchi KK, Pan FC, Halbrook CJ, Washington MK, Olive KP, Spence JR, Sipos B, Wright CV, Wells JM, Crawford HC. Identification and manipulation of biliary metaplasia in pancreatic tumors. Gastroenterology. 2014 Jan;146(1):233-44.e5.

Suissa Y, Magenheim J, Stolovich-Rain M, Hija A, Collombat P, Mansouri A, Sussel L, Sosa-Pineda B, McCracken K, Wells JM, Heller RS, Dor Y, Glaser B. Gastrin: a distinct fate of neurogenin3 positive progenitor cells in the embryonic pancreas. PLoS One. 2013 Aug 5;8(8):e70397.

Grants
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Investigation of regional identity in human intestinal stem cells. Principal investigator (along with Shroyer NF, PI and Helmrath M, PI). National Institutes of Health. Sep 2014 – Aug 2019. NIH U01DK103117.

Single Cell Dissection of Human Intestine Development. Principal Investigator. National Institutes of Health. Sep 2013 – Aug 2018. NIH 1R01DK098350.

Control of human endocrine cell development. Contact Principal Investigator. National Institutes of Health. Apr 2012 – Mar 2017. NIH 1R01DK092456-01.

Transcriptional Control of Placental Differentiation. Co-Investigator. National Institutes of Health. Feb 2011 – Jan 2016. NIH R01 HD065339.

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