Dr. Hynek Wichterle

Biography

Hynek Wichterle is a professor with a joint appointment in the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and Neuroscience (in Neurology) at Columbia University Medical Center. He received his M.S. degree from Charles University in Prague and his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University. He joined Columbia University as an assistant professor in 2004 and was promoted to associate professor in 2012. Wichterle serves as co-director of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative and is the Vice-Chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine within the Department of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine. His research focuses on cell specification and differentiation, neural degeneration and repair, and stem cell biology, particularly involving laboratory models to study the development of the nervous system. He has pioneered efficient methods for differentiating pluripotent embryonic stem cells into specific subtypes of spinal motor neurons and interneurons in vitro, which recapitulates normal embryonic development and provides a unique opportunity to study neural development at a biochemical level within a controlled environment. His work also involves CRISPR-based genome editing and inducible transgene expression to decode transcriptional programs controlling transitions from pluripotent stem cells to defined postmitotic neurons. Additionally, he has assembled a global map of genomic regulatory elements controlling motor neuron expression programs and aims to decode the

Research Interests