Steve Suhr, Research Professor (PI)

Research Assistant Professor
(August 2006 – present)
Email: suhrs@msu.edu

Dr. Suhr earned his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California-San Diego, The Salk Institute, and the University of Michigan prior to joining the Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory in 2006. His primary interest is in the use of advanced cell and animal models to develop novel therapies for human neurological and neuromuscular diseases that currently have limited effective treatments such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and traumatic brain/spinal cord injury.  In the CRL, his group is exploring the potential of "indirect" and "direct" reprogramming methods to respecify cellular identity.  One area of current focus is a better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the conversion of cell phenotype, and to determine if all cells have the same capacity for reprogramming.

LEFT: An iNC immunostained for the mature neuron marker synapsin I, produced by infection of adult human skin fibroblasts with the factors ASCL1, POU3F2, and ZIC1.

RIGHT: An iSMC produced by infection of human fetal lung fibroblasts with myogenic transcription factors. Red immunostaining shows the muscle marker alpha-actinin.