| Laboratory of Genetics |
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| Minoru S.H. Ko, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Investigator Developmental Genomics and Aging Section |
 Dr. Ko received his M.D. degree in 1986 and his Ph.D. in 1991 from Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo. He held positions as Researcher from 1988 to 1991 and as Group Leader from 1991 to 1992 at the Furusawa MorphoGene Project, ERATO, JST, Japan. In 1992, he moved to the United States as Assistant Professor at the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he was promoted to Associate Professor and received tenure in 1997. He joined the National Institute on Aging in the Fall of 1998 to establish the Developmental Genomics and Aging Section within the Laboratory of Genetics. He is an Editor of DNA Research and Reproductive Biomedicine Online. He received the NIH Merit Award in 2001. His research accomplishments include the first demonstration of stochastic gene expression in a single cell, the first method to equalize/normalize cDNA library, and the construction of a whole cDNA catalog and its application to a genome-wide gene expression profiling. His group has generated and deposited nearly a half-million mouse cDNA/ESTs to the public database, including about half of all mammalian cDNA/ESTs from preimplantation embryos. In addition, his group has established three major resources: a 15,000 unique gene collection (NIA Mouse 15K cDNA Clone Set), a 7,400 unique gene collection (NIA Mouse 7.4K cDNA Clone Set), and a 60-mer oligonucleotide glass slide microarrays containing ~44,000 gene features. These resources have been provided to the research community and also facilitate some of the approaches in his research group. |
| Research Interests: The long-term goal of the section is to understand the fundamental mechanisms for the maintenance of self-renewal, immortality, and pluripotency of early mouse embryos and stem cells. Replicative senescence has been an important focus of aging research for many years, though studies have concentrated on the senescence of cells already committed to mortality; here we rather concentrate on the critical distinction between immortal early embryonic cells and mortal differentiating derivative cells. Studies utilize the potential of a systematic genomic approach - embryogenomics - to analyze global gene expression regulations. The approach includes the construction of cDNA libraries from a small number of cells followed by large-scale cDNA sequencing, in situ hybridization to mouse embryonic and fetal preparations, and simultaneous gene expression analyses by DNA chip/microarray technologies. We believe that such global studies will provide greater understanding of mechanisms that will aid in the adaptation of stem cells to replacement therapy for aging and dysfunctional cells and organs. |
| Contact Information: Laboratory of Genetics Biomedical Research Center, 10C220 251 Bayview Boulevard, Suite 100 Baltimore, MD 21224-6825 Phone 410-558-8359 Fax 410-558-8331 E mail kom@grc.nia.nih.gov For more information about the Laboratory: http://www.grc.nia.nih.gov/branches/lg/dgas/dgas.htm |
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