Biochemical Journal Poster Prize winner

Jochen Maurer

Jochen Maurer received his Ph.D. from the University of Bonn in the laboratory of Hubert Schorle, where he developed a conditionally immortalized murine neural crest stem cell line. He joined the group of Evan Snyder at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in 2007 to translate these findings into the derivation of neural crest stem cells from human embryonic stem cells. In 2008, he began his postdoctoral training in the lab of Robert Oshima. He identified a method to cultivate primary cancer stem cells from a murine MMTV-Wnt1 tumor model and received funding from the Department of Defense in 2009 to translate these findings into the cultivation of patient-specific cancer stem cells. His overall research aim is to develop a differentiation therapy for certain types of cancers that are driven by cancer stem cells. To this end he wants to establish multiple cancer stem cell lines utilizing his method and make the cells available to the research community.