Gerald Schatten

Gerald Schatten (born 1949) is an American stem cell researcher with interests in cell, developmental, and reproductive biology. He is professor and vice-chair of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and professor of cell biology and of bioengineering in the Schools of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is also director of the Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine at the university's school of medicine. Additionally, he is deputy director of the Magee-Women's Research Institute and director of the Pittsburgh Development Center. . He is a member of the NCI-designated University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Early life and education Schatten was born in 1949 in New York City and was educated in the public school system, including at Stuyvesant High School. He graduated with an A.B. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology.

Fertilization and reproduction Schatten's work on fertilization examines the differential inheritance of cellular components contributed by the sperm and egg, respectively, as well as the program of oocyte activation and cell division during meiosis and mitosis. His group has demonstrated the importance of the sperm centrosome-centriole complex during mammalian fertilization (including humans), with the unexpected exception of rodents in which the centrosome is of maternal origin (see Selected Publications).

Imaging and microscopy Schatten also made contributions to imaging and microscopy. In his first published paper, he demonstrated the utility of polylysine and other engineered peptides that could adhere to cells, embryos, and intracellular structures for various microscopic applications and purifications (see Selected Publications). This technology is now widely applied and has solved the problem of holding cells for imaging. His team also published findings on imaging calcium and other ion transients in egg, embryos and cells, as well as dynamic architectural alternations during fertilization and cell division (see Selected Publications).

Transgenesis and stem cells His more recent research has focused on the use of human and primate stem cells to determine the potential of stem cell-based medical therapies and better understand cell and human development; the study of genetic versus epigenetic (environmental) causes for human disease; cloned transgenic disease modeling (using primates) (see Selected Publications). In 2004 and 2005, Hwang claimed that his lab at the Seoul National University had successfully extracted stem cells from cloned human embryos, a statement later proved false.

Research mentoring Schatten has trained twenty doctoral and thirty postdoctoral fellows and he serves as the president of UNESCO’s International Cell Research Organization, a body devoted exclusively to research career training and mentorship. As with his and the other two co-founders (Joan Hunt and Kelly Mayo) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - Burroughs Wellcome Fund - Howard Hughes Medical Institute-sponsored "Frontiers in Reproduction" course at the Woods Hole laboratory, this endeavor brings physician-scientists together with non-clinical counterparts for full-time, side-by-side, hands-on research training. The President's Council on Bioethics, and the United Nations.

Selected publications