Hynek Wichterle

Hynek Wichterle

Titles

Associate Director, Columbia Genome Center
Co-director, Columbia Stem Cell Initiative
Vice-Chief, Division of Regenerative Medicine
Associate Professor, Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology, and Neuroscience (in Neurology)

Affiliations
JP Sulzberger Columbia Genome Center
Department of Pathology and Cell Biology
Department of Neuroscience
Email
hw350@cumc.columbia.edu

Hynek Wichterle is associate director of the JP Sulzberger Columbia Genome Center. He is also an associate professor holding a joint appointment in the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and Neuroscience (in Neurology) at Columbia University Medical Center. He received his MS degree from Charles University in Prague and his PhD degree from The Rockefeller University. He trained at Columbia University, where he became assistant professor in 2004 and associate professor in 2012. He serves as a co-director of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative and as a Vice-Chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Wichterle developed groundbreaking methods for producing spinal cord neurons from pluripotent embryonic stem cells in a culture dish. The process faithfully recapitulates normal embryonic development, providing a unique opportunity to study and experimentally probe nerve cells in a controlled environment outside of the embryo. He is using the system to decode transcriptional programs that control genes important for neuronal differentiation and function. His lab also capitalizes on the unlimited source of spinal neurons to study motor neuron degenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), with the goal of discovering new drugs for these currently untreatable, devastating conditions.