Genome Project Staff, clockwise from upper left: Anhua (Peter) Song, Yi Zhou, Nelson Hsia, Gerhard Weber, Ken Chiang, Anthony DiBiase, Nicole Al-Greene, Rosanna Beltre, and Amanda Rowe.

How does genomic research relate to the exploration of stem cells as a potential tool for the discovery of effective disease therapies? A key functional property of stem cells is their ability to simultaneously self-renew and generate many different cell types with distinct biological functions throughout the life of an individual organism. A complex control network of signals in stem cells and their environment regulates this unique characteristic. One of the goals of the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital is the identification of genomic research appproaches for important functional regulatory factors and networks in stem cells and their environment at a molecular and genomic level.

Genome research projects have provided a vast amount of genome sequence information from many different organisms, including humans, mice and zebrafish. More importantly, these projects have revolutionized how biological experiments are designed, executed, analyzed and interpreted. Genomic research concepts and technologies permit comprehensive examinations of important factors involved in cells and whole organisms.