Biography

Shoukhrat Mitalipov is an assistant scientist in the Division of Reproductive Sciences at the center. He received his M.S. degree in Reproductive Biology from Timiriasev Agricultural Academy, Moscow, Russia, and earned a Ph.D. in Genetics and Biotechnology at the Research Center for Medical Genetics, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. He moved to Utah State University in 1995 to conduct his postdoctoral research in stem cell and developmental biology. Dr. Mitalipov came to the center in 1998.

The main focus of Dr. Mitalipov's lab is genetic and epigenetic characteristics of human and monkey embryonic stem (ES) cells. Genomic imprinting is a form of the epigenetic program that involves modification of a gene or a chromosomal region that results in absolute or preferential, monoallelic-expression of a specific parental allele. Disruption or inappropriate expression of imprinted genes is associated with severe clinical syndromes and carcinogenesis in humans, thus it is important to address concerns over imprinting integrity in human ES cells prior to transplantation trials. For these reasons, Dr. Mitalipov is interested in the epigenetic profile of primate preimplantation embryos and ES cells, and has focused his studies on several imprinted genes including IGF2, H19, SNRPN and NDN. The main objective of the studies is to determine derivation and culture conditions that maintain stable imprinting in embryos and ES cells. In addition, the significance of epigenetic aberrations in monkey and human ES cells to cell function and fate after transplantation of progeny into a recipient is also a research focus of the lab.

Another area of interest for the Mitalipov lab is the development of ES cells that are immunologically compatible to recipient animals using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Generation of ES cells from parthenogenic or androgenetic embryos is an alternative solution to the immune rejection problem.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov's Abstract