Scientist

McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCC-RI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Dr. Jon Draper joined the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in February 2008. Jon obtained his Ph.D. in developmental and cell biology from the University of Sheffield, UK in 2003 with a thesis that focusing upon the characterization of human embryonic stem cells, at a time when little was known about these recently derived cells. Dr. Draper’s postdoctoral studies were carried out in the Toronto laboratories of Dr. Andras Nagy, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Dr. Janet Rossant, Hospital for Sick Children, during which he perfected techniques for genetically modifying human ES cells and studying the concomitant effects of gene manipulation upon the differentiation of these cells.

Dr. Draper’s research program is concerned with the genetic mechanisms that govern lineage determination within human ES cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. He has recently highlighted functional differences between mouse and human ES cell ability to respond to signaling initiated by ectopic expression of the homeobox transcription factor Cdx2. Dr. Draper was also involved in the generation of endoderm progenitors from human ES cells by constitutive expression of Sox transcription factors.

His research at McMaster will seek to expand our understanding of the mechanisms that guide the differentiation of human ES and iPS cells along discrete lineages into tissue that are relevant to clinical therapies and drug discovery. 

Research aims

• Investigate the sufficiency of key transcription factors to alter fate in human ES and iPS cells.
  
  Dr Draper will capitalize on his previous investigation of transcription factor over expression in human ES cells to assay the sufficiency of a set of candidate gene that have met stringent lineage determining criteria using inducible and reversible gene expression technologies. Particular attention will be paid to genes capable of influencing differentiation toward an endoderm fate.
• Characterize distinct subsets of differentiating lineage progenitors.
  
  Currently little is understood about the genetic profile of most lineages that differentiate from human ES cells. Reporter systems utilizing fluorescent proteins under the control of endogenous gene promoters offer the opportunity to map and track specific cell types. Dr Draper is generating such reporters in human ES cells linked to lineage specific genes that will enable a more thorough understanding of the properties of a range of precursor cell types. These reporter cell lines will also facilitating purification of these marked cells from within a background of non-specific differentiation.

Education

2003 — PhD, Cell and Developmental Biology, Sheffield University, UK

Honours and Awards

Selected Publications

• Cell Fate Potential of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells is Encoded by Histone Modifications. Hong SH, Rampalli S, Lee JB, McNicol J, Collins T, Draper JS, Bhatia M. Cell Stem Cell. 2011 Jul 8;9(1):24-36
• Establishment of endoderm progenitors by SOX transcription factor expression in human embryonic stem cells. Segin CA, Draper JS, Nagy A, Rossant J. Cell Stem Cell . 2008 Aug 7;3(2):182-95
• Characterization of human embryonic stem cell lines by the International Stem Cell Initiative. International Stem Cell Initiative (included author) (2007). Nat Biotechnol. 2007 Jul;25(7):803-16
• Transient and stable transgene expression in human embryonic stem cells. Liew, CG, Draper JS, Walsh J, and Andrews PW. (2007) Stem Cells. 25(6):1521-8
• Cytotrophoblast stem cell lines derived from human embryonic stem cells and their capacity to mimic invasive implantation events. Harun R, Ruban LN, Matin MM, Draper JS, Jenkins NM, Liew GC, Andrews PW, Li TC, Laird SM, Moore HD. (2006). Human Reprod
• Embryonic stem (ES) cells and embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells: opposite side of the same coin. Andrews PW, Matin MM, Bahrami AR, Damjanov I, Gokhale P, Draper JS. (2005). Biochem Soc Trans. 33 (Pt 6):1526-30
• Cellular differentiation hierarchies in normal and culture-adapted human embryonic stem cells. Enver T, Soneji S, Joshi C, Brown J, Iborra F, Orntoft T, Thykjaer T, Maltby E, Smith K, Dawud RA, Jones M, Matin M, Gokhale P, Draper J, Andrews PW. (2005). Hum Mol Genet. 14(21):3129-40.
• Recurrent gain of chromosomes 17q and 12 in cultured human embryonic stem cells. Draper JS, Smith K, Gokhale O, Moore HD, Maltby E, Johnson J, Meisner L, Zwaka TP, Thomson JA, Andrews PW. (2004). Nat Biotechnol. 22(1):53-4.
• Culture and characterization of human embryonic stem cells. Draper JS, Moore HD, Ruban LN, Gokhale PJ, Andrews PW. (2004). Stem Cells Dev. 13(4):325-36
• RNA interference mediated knock-down of Oct4 expression induces differentiation of human EC and ES cells. Matin MM, Walsh JR, Gokhale PJ, Draper JS, Bahramie, AH, Morton I, Moore HD, Andrews PW. Stem Cells. 2004;22(5):659-68.
• Shared patterns of gene expression between human embryonic stem cells and human pluripotent germ cell tumours. Sperger JM, Chen X, Draper JS, Antosiewicz JE, Chon C, Jones S, Brooks JD, Andrews PW, Brown PO, and Thomson JA. (2003). P.N.A.S. 100(23):13350-5
• Surface antigens of human embryonic stem cells: changes upon differentiation in culture. Draper JS, Pigott C, Thomson HA and Andrews PW. (2002) J Anat 200, 249-58.
• Preimplantation human embryos and embryonic stem cells show comparable expression of stage-specific embryonic antigens. Henderson JK*, Draper JS*, Baillie HS, Fishel S, Thomson JA, Moore H and Andrews PW. (2002). Stem Cells 20, 329-37. *JKH and JSD contributed equally to this work.