Gender	Female
E-mail	reigh-yi.lin@mssm.edu
Education and Training	Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
	Fellowship, New York University School of Medicine
	Research Fellowship, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Education and Training	Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
	Fellowship, New York University School of Medicine
	Research Fellowship, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Thyroid Stem Cell Biology and Development

Lin Laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular control of thyroid development during embryogenesis. There are two areas of research in the laboratory. One part of the laboratory studies how the multipotent embryonic stem cells respond to various external signals to give rise to thyrocytes. The second area of research in the laboratory is the characterization of the early events involved in the establishment and maturation of embryonic thyroid gland. Elucidating the normal process of thyroid development is an important first step in understanding how these processes go wrong in thyroid diseases.

A major effort of the laboratory is devoted to manipulating the differentiation potential of embryonic stem cells, which can give rise to all cell types of an entire organism. Our laboratory was the first to demonstrate that mouse embryonic stem cells can be proliferated and differentiated into thyrocyte-like cells in culture. We have recently succeeded in converting mouse embryonic stem cells into thyrocytes with structural properties of thyroid neofollicles. Our model will allow dissection of the specific function of genes during in vitro development. It will also provide a platform for identifying the molecules responsible for the programming of thyroid stem cells.

We utilize a broad range of techniques encompassing cell, molecular and developmental biology. We also employ transgenic and knockout technologies in mice. In addition, our studies may pave the way for the use of human embryonic stem cells as a model system to study thyroid development, and potentially the role of abnormal cell development in the genesis of thyroid diseases.

Lin lab research interests: thyroid stem cell biology and development; differentiation and development of thyrocyte lineage from mouse and human embryonic stem cells; TSH signaling in embryonic thyroid development; molecular basis for thyroid cancer development.

Lin RY, Kubo A, Keller GM, Davies TF. Committing embryonic stem cells to differentiated into thyrocyte-like cells in vitro. Endocrinology 2003; 144: 2644-2649.

Lin RY, Kubo A, Keller GM, Davies TF. Committing embryonic stem cells to differentiate into thyrocyte-like cells in vitro. Endocrinology 2003 Jun; 144(6): 2644-2649.

Davies TF, Ando T, Lin RY, Tomer Y, Latif R. Thyrotropin receptor-associated diseases: from adenomata to Graves disease. J. Clinc. Invest 2005; 115(8): 1972-1983.

Lin RY, Davies TF. Derivation and characterization of thyrocyte-like cells from embryonic stem cells in vitro. Methods Mol Biol 2006; 330: 249-261.

Arufe MC, Lu M, Kubo A, Keller G, Davies TF, Lin RY. Directed differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into thyroid follicular cells. Endocrinology 2006; 147(6): 3007-3015.