Dr Jitesh Neupane is a stem cell and developmental biologist at Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge.
He is a Biomedical Engineer with Doctorate in Reproductive Medicine. His research and academic interests include Stem cells and Developmental Biology, Embryology, Epigenetics and Molecular Biology. Currently, he is working in the group of Prof Azim Surani, studying the mechanisms of early human development. The foundation of human body plan is laid during the first few weeks after embryo implantation. This period is known as the “black box” of human development as we cannot study the events occurring during early post-implantation period directly. Using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), Dr Neupane has developed a three-dimensional multi-lineage organogenesis model that recapitulates crucial features of human gastrulation and post-gastrulation embryos. Detection of primordial germ cells (PGCs), amnion, neuromesodermal progenitors (NMP), neural ectoderm, contractile cardiomyocytes (beating heart cells) and haematopoietic (embryonic blood) cells are some of the features observed in Dr Neupane’s system. These in vitro models recapitulate crucial features of human gastrulation and post-gastrulation embryos and help us understand some of the features of early human development, which is otherwise not possible, either in vivo or ex vivo. His recent works have been featured in The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/18/the-guardian-view-on-stem-cells-and-embryos-creating-lifes-likeness-in-a-lab
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/18/model-embryo-with-heartbeat-replicates-cells-in-early-pregnancy
