Embryonic stem (ES) cells offer great promise for cell replacement therapies since they are highly proliferating cells that are able to self-renew and retain the capacity to differentiate along almost all possible differentiation pathways. Our group is interested in the genetic and epigenetic regulation of ES cell pluripotency. We study the role of master and novel transcriptional regulators and micro-RNAs in the regulation of stem cell self renewal and differentiation. For this aim we are using gene silencing and overexpression techniques as well as genome-wide (genomic and proteomic) methodologies. In addition, we analyse the importance of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms such as histone modifications in cell specification decisions. In collaboration with A.Hatzopoulos ( Vanderbilt , US ) and C.Fotakis (IESL, FORTH ) we establish experimental procedures for directed in vitro stem cell differentiation towards the myocardial lineage. For this aim we employ novel biomaterial substrates consisting of hybrid organic-inorganic or peptide-based backbones and functionalized with bioactive groups for selective cellular growth and/or differentiation. To improve the efficiency of differentiation we are exploiting the effect of transcriptional factors and small molecules.

Selected Publications

Karantzali E, Lekakis V, Ioannou M, Hadjimichael C, Papamatheakis J, Kretsovali A. (2010) Sall1 regulates embryonic stem cell differentiation in association with Nanog. J Biol Chem. 286: 1037-45.

Schulz H, Kolde R... Karantzali E, Kretsovali A, Hatzopoulos AK. (2009) The FunGenES database: a genomics resource for mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation. PLoS One 4 :e6804.

Karantzali E, Schulz H, Hummel O, Hubner N, Hatzopoulos A.K., Kretsovali A. (2008) Histone deacetylase inhibition accelerates the early events of stem cell differentiation: transcriptomic and epigenetic analysis. Genome Biology 9: R65.