干细胞国际联合研究中心是于2001年在“985工程”资助下成立的全国最早的干细胞研究机构之一,是北京大学直属的干细胞生物工程研究基地、教育部批准的“再生医学工程研究中心”、科技部批准的“国家级国际合作联合研究中心”。中心重点从事干细胞的基础与临床前应用研究以及干细胞与疾病相关性研究。其宗旨是：严谨开拓，求实创新，建立与国际接轨的干细胞研究中心，使我校在这一研究领域具有国际竞争力。

　　研究领域及方向为：

　　诱导多潜能干细胞及细胞重编程的分子机理

　　人多潜能干细胞的定向诱导分化

　　再生医学与细胞治疗

　　肿瘤的免疫细胞治疗

　　中心重点从事干细胞的基础与临床前应用研究以及干细胞与疾病相关性研究。经过十多年的建设，中心凭借自己雄厚的硬件与软件实力，承担了大量的国家及省部级重大科研任务和国际合作项目。其中包括多项国际合作项目、多项973项目、国家863计划重大项目、多项国家自然科学基金项目、北京市自然科学基金重大项目、各类人才项目等。中心在多能干细胞诱导的分子机制、诱导技术的开发和应用、及多能干细胞定向分化的研究方面在国际上做出了多项开拓性工作。中心主任邓宏魁教授于2011年获得北京市科学技术一等奖，于2013年获得药明康德生命化学研究杰出成就奖，于2017年获得吴杨奖。

　　近年来的重要科研成果及贡献为：

　　首次用小分子化合物诱导体细胞重编程为多潜能干细胞（CiPS细胞），为未来细胞治疗及人造器官提供了理想的细胞来源，开辟了一条新的实现体细胞重编程的途径。

　　首次证明小鼠体细胞重编程可由调控分化的基因完成，并在此基础上提出细胞命运转变的“跷跷板模型”。这一发现改变了向目标细胞状态的转变需要用在目标细胞状态中高表达的因子的诱导的这一传统观点，为了解细胞重编程和细胞命运决定的机制提供了新角度。

　　首次在国际上获得了人胚胎干细胞来源的，具有体内外生物学活性的肝脏细胞。近年来进一步建立了一种全新的策略，成功地将人皮肤成纤维细胞诱导为具有成熟代谢功能的肝脏实质细胞，该项工作使得在体外高效获得大量功能成熟的人肝脏实质细胞成为了可能，为药物研发、治疗肝功能衰竭疾病等方面的广泛应用提供了新的细胞来源。

　　在国际上首次采用逐级分步诱导的策略，建立了胚胎干细胞定向分化为胰岛细胞的诱导体系，为胰岛移植治疗糖尿病的临床应用提供了新的细胞来源。

　　机构负责人：邓宏魁

　　联系人：邓宏魁

　　邮箱：hongkui_deng@pku.edu.cn

　　电话：86-10-62756474

　　地址：北京市海淀区学院路38号

　　Peking University Stem Cell Research Center

　　Peking University Stem Cell Research Center was established in 2000, which was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education (211 and 985 projects) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (973 and 863 projects). The goal of this center is to build up a research base for both basic and clinical research in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. The center has been selected by the Ministry of Education, China as the National Engineering Research Center for Regenerative Medicine in 2006. It has also been granted as International Jointed Centre for Excellence in Stem Cells by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2007.

　　We focused on basic research of stem cell biology and its potential clinical application in three aspects: 1. The mechanisms for stem cell characteristics: self-renewal, proliferation, differentiation; 2. Cell replacement therapy, namely the use of stem cell transplantation in the treatment of various tissue injury, such as diabetes, nerve damage diseases, and blood disease; 3. Cell reprogramming: screen and identification of small molecules targeting stem cells by chemical and genetic approaches.

　　Research directions

　　Our current research directions include:

　　Small molecule compounds reprogramming research: In 2013, we have demonstrated the feasibility of using small molecules to induce pluripotent stem cells from somatic cells, which opens a new route to induce cell fate conversion. We investigate how to expand this chemical approach to generate other functional cell types, and the underlying molecular mechanism of small molecule-induced cell fate conversion.

　　Directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cell research: Having the capacity of generating all cell types, pluripotent stem cells hold great promise for regenerative applications. We are focusing on inducing the directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ES cells) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) into functional tissue and organs, such as liver, pancreatic, thymus, and hematopoietic cells.

　　Tumor immune cell therapy: Recent breakthroughs in developing CAR-T technology to treat hematological tumors have shed light on cancer therapy. By integrating stem cell technologies and genetic engineering, we develop new strategies of adoptive cellular immunotherapy to treat hematological cancers and solid tumors.

　　Team and awards

　　We have focused on the basis research and clinical application of stem cells for treating human diseases. With more than 10 years of efforts, the center has undertaken a large number of important national and international research projects. These projects include973 projects, 863 major national projects, National Natural Science Foundation projects, and major projects of Beijing Natural Science Foundation. With these supports, we have made significant progress in the field of molecular mechanism of pluripotent stem cells, and the directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. Center director Professor Deng Hongkui won the first prize of Beijing Science and Technology in 2011, and obtained Yaoming Kangde Award for outstanding achievement in 2013.

　　Contributions

　　We first time demonstrated the feasibility of using small molecule compounds to induce pluripotent stem cells (CiPS cells) from somatic cells. CiPS cells provide an ideal cell source for regenerative applications in the future, and our chemical approach opens up a new way to achieve somatic cell reprogramming.

　　We first time developed the "seesaw model" of cell fate conversion during Ips generation. This discovery has revealed the novel mechanism of cell reprogramming and cell fate determination.

　　For the first time, we have established a new step-wise strategy to differentiate human embryonic stem cells into hepatocytes. More recently, we have developed a new approach to induce functional human hepatocytes by lineage reprogramming. These advances have provided novel cell resources for the applications of human hepatocytes, such as drug development and treatment of liver failure.

　　We have for the first time established a step-wise approach to induce differentiation of embryonic stem cells into islet cells. This approach provides a new cell source for generating pancreatic βcells in vitro, which have great potentials in using βcell transplantation to treat diabetes in the future.　　

　　Director: Professor Hongkui Deng

　　Contact: Professor Hongkui Deng

　　Email: hongkui_deng@pku.edu.cn

　　TEL: 86-10-62756474

　　Address: 38 Xueyuan Rd. Haidian, Beijing, China