We are an interdisciplinary group of scientists interested in understanding embryonic stem cell biology, modeling early embryo development and advance stem-cell-based human disease platforms. Specifically, we investigate the process of cellular reprogramming, in which induced pluripotent stem cells are generated from somatic cells, and we investigate how different states of pluripotency are maintained throughout development in mice, rabbit, monkeys (non-human primates) and humans. In parallel, we study how different in vitro grown stem cell populations (embryonic and extra-embryonic) can self-