--Mission--
Our goal is to understand, model, and recapitulate in vitro the instructive signals utilized by human embryos to pattern tissue-specific differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, and apply this knowledge towards the rational design of tissue engineered scaffolds and other regenerative therapeutic strategies. Currently, we primarily focus on generating tissues and therapies for the central nervous system.
SCRMC Fellowship Award
Dr. Nisha Iyer (right) receiving a SCRMC Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from Prof. William Murphy (left) & Prof. Tim Kamp (middle)!
Research Expertise
Maria presenting "Towards an In Vitro Model of the Human Posterior CNS" at ISSCR 2017, the world's premier stem cell conference.
HOX Patterning Precision
Precisely control NSC regionalization along the hindbrain and spinal cord’s R/C axis (governed by expression of 39 Hox genes).
Professional Development
Graduate student Gavin Knight presenting his research at 12th Annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium.
Neural rosettes
2D neural rosettes grown in cell culture. N-Cadherin (red); Cell nuclei (blue); Laminin (green).
Mentorships
Graduate student Alireza Aghayee instructing new undergraduate researcher Lexi Doersch with a new experimental practice.
Section Perfection
Graduate student Carlos Marti-Figueroa and Undergraduate Researcher Frank Seipel look at a fresh section of organoid tissue.
The E6 PROTOCOL
The simplest and fastest protocol for differentiating hPSCs into a pure neural cell culture, xeno-free & clinically translatable.
Exploring New Questions
Post Doctoral Researcher Nisha Iyer shows Undergraduate Researcher Stephanie Cuskey an RNA Isolation reagent.
Research Practice
Dr. Ashton, Stephanie, and Nikolai viewing a rat spinal cord section using a manual microscope.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Single-injection ex ovo transplantation method for broad spinal cord engraftment of human pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons. M Estevez-Silva, A Sreeram, S Cuskey, N Fedorchak, N Iyer, RS Ashton. 2018. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. [doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.01.006]
Deriving, Regenerating, and Engineering CNS Tissues using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
K Lemke, A Aghayee, RS Ashton (2017)
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
[dio.10.1016/j.copbio.2017.05.010]
The Case for Applying Tissue Engineering Methodologies to Instruct Human Organoid Morphogenesis
CA Marti-Figueroa, RS Ashton (2017)
Acta Biomaterialia [dio:10.1016/j.actbio.2017.03.023]
Chemically defined differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to hindbrain and spinal cord neural stem cells with defined regional identities
ES Lippmann, MC Estevez-Silva, RS Ashton (2015)
Protocol Exchange [doi:10.1038/protex.2015.076]
High-content imaging with micropatterned multiwell plates reveals influence of cell geometry and cytoskeleton on chromatin dynamics
Harkness. T., McNulty, J.D., Prestil, R., Seymour, S.K., Klann, T., Murrell, M., Ashton, R. S. and Saha, K. (2015)
Biotechnology Journal. doi: 10.1002/biot.201400756
Deterministic HOX patterning in human pluripotent stem cell-derived neuroectoderm
ES Lippmann, CE Williams, DA Ruhl, MC Estevez-Silva, ER Chapman, JJ Coon, RS Ashton (2015)
Stem Cell Reports, 4(4): 632-44
Micropatterned, clickable culture substrates enable in situ spatiotemporal control of human PSC-derived neural tissue morphology
Knight GT, Sha J, Ashton RS (2015)
Chemical Communications, 51(25): 5238-5241
Ashton Group in the News
- UW-Madison's BME Newsletter for Summer 2018
- Ashton Group continues research into causes of Lou Gehrig’s disease
- $20 million NSF award will fund creation of Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies
- Grant funds creation of spinal tissue from scratch in UW Madison Lab
- Ashton Lab funded to engineer a human spinal cord
- Prof. Ashton delivers a lecture in the International Society for Stem Cell Research's Stem Bioengineering Focus Session
- Ashton Lab cracks the (Zip)code of neural cells
- Ashton Lab awarded $1.18 million as part of the new, EPA supported H-MAPS Center at UW-Madison
- Prof. Ashton delivers a keynote talk at UW Madison's SCRMC Fall COnference 2014
- Collaboration between Ashton and Crone labs advances derivation of matured heart muscle cells
- Ashton, Saha receive Innovation in Regulatory Science Award
- Focus on new faculty: Ashton works to move medicine from treatment to cure
Featured News (May 15th, 2017), WKOWs "Wake Up Wisconsin" telecast
ASHTON LAB ANNOUNCEMENTS--
May 2018
Congratulations to Alexandra Doersch and Andrew Baldys for graduating from UW-Madison with their Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering! Alexandra will continue her studies as a PhD graduate student at the University of Minnesota in the laboratory of David Odde. Andrew will continue his studies as a Master’s graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the Ashton Group.
April 2018
Congratulations to Stephanie Cuskey for being awarded a Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship for her work titled “Evaluating Engraftment Preferences of Regionalized Human Motor Neurons in the Developing Chick Embryo!” She will be honored at the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony held Tuesday, May 1st, 2018 at Union South.
March 2018
Congratulations to Andrew Baldys and Alireza Aghayeemeibody for obtaining seed grant funding from the UW-Madison Material Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). This grant was awarded for their preliminary experimental work concerning the utilization of NIPAAm substrates!
February 2018
Congratulations to Dr. Nisha Iyer for being selected as a recipient of 2018 UW Madison’s Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Postdoctoral Training Grant Award.
An additional congratulations to Prof. Randolph Ashton for being selected for a UW-Madison College of Engineering Equity and Diversity Award based on his work in establishing the Biomedical Engineering Department’s Diversity Outreach Program.
Congratulations to Maria, Akshitha, Stephanie, Nikolai, Nisha, and Randy for their new publication in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods (March 2018 issue) titled “Single-injection ex ovo transplantation method for broad spinal cord engraftment of human pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons.”
January 2018
The Ashton Group welcomes a new Graduate Students Britney N. Washington (BME) and Lauryn Campagnoli (NTP) as well as Undergraduate Research Assistant Ben Knudsen!
December 2017
Congratulations to Dr. Gavin Knight for successfully defending his PhD thesis entitled, “Engineering Organotypic 2D CNS Tissues from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.”
September 2017
Congratulations to Principal Investigator Randolph Ashton for receiving a NIH R33 award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for $779,184 in support of our project titled “High-throughput Modeling of ALS Using iPSC-Derived Neural Tube Microarrays.”
The Ashton Group at UW-Madison in collaboration with other intra-University research groups, the University of Georgia, and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus, were awarded a $20 million NSF grant to start an Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies.
The Ashton Group also welcomes a new Undergraduate Research Assistant Siddhant Jain.
August 2017
Dr. Randolph Ashton hosts the 2017 Advanced Biomanufacturing Conference at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Click here to view pictures from this years event.
July 2017
Congratulations to Dr. Nisha Iyer for her acceptance to the 2017 NextProf Fall Engineering Workshop at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (Sept. 26-29, 2017).
June 2017
Congratulations to Maria Estevez-Silva for her presentation of “Towards an In Vitro Model of the Human Posterior CNS” at ISSCR 2017 in Boston, MA. Congratulations to Alireza Aghayee and Kristen Lemke for publishing “Deriving, Regenerating, and Engineering CNS Tissues using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells” in the journal Current Opinion in Biotechnology.
More announcements!!!