Education Background
Molecular Genetics & Human Biology Ph.D. - University of Ulm, Germany
Research Interests
I have always aimed to seek medical relevance in my research since my experience in human genetics and genetic counseling as a graduate student. I strongly believe in stem cells and induced pluripotent cells as the future of regenerative medicine, yet we first must understand how stem cells direct themselves to their final differentiated state within the complex setting of any tissue or organ. Deciphering the “communication with” and “education from” neighboring cells a stem cell and its progeny receives during the journey to a differentiated end point is the key to success in controlled re-differentiation of self-renewing cells for regenerative purposes. Using state of the art genomic technologies we have identified key aspects of the complex Gene Regulatory Network making up the axial skeleton (backbone) and the associated intervertebral discs (IVD). This equips us with a complex network of interactions at a gene regulatory level. Applying this knowledge to differentiate stem cells or patient derived induced pluripotent cells will allow for the development of safe alternatives to one of today's most common degenerative ailments, namely IVD degeneration
Patents
- U.S. Patent. 20110165570A1. Method Of Effecting De-Differentiation Of A Cell. Issue Date: 2011-07-07
Publications
- Sivakamasundari, V., P. Kraus, S. Jie, and T. Lufkin, Pax1-EGFP: New Wildtype And Mutant EGFP Mouse Lines For Molecular And Fate Mapping Studies. Genesis, 2013: p. In Press. DOI: 10.1002/dvg.22379
- Ng, J.H., V. Kumar, M. Muratani, P. Kraus, J.C. Yeo, L.P. Yaw, K. Xue, T. Lufkin, S. Prabhakar, and H.H. Ng, In Vivo Epigenomic Profiling of Germ Cells Reveals Germ Cell Molecular Signatures. Developmental Cell, 2013: p. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2012.12.011
- Kraus, P., V. Sivakamasundari, S.L. Lim, X. Xing, L. Lipovich, and T. Lufkin, Making sense of Dlx1 antisense. Developmental Biology, 2013: p. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2013.01.035
- Sivakamasundari, V., H.Y. Chan, S.P. Yap, X. Xing, P. Kraus, and T. Lufkin, New Bapx1(Cre-EGFP) mouse lines for lineage tracing and conditional knockout studies. Genesis, 2012. 50(4): p. 375-83. DOI: 10.1002/dvg.20802
- Lee, W.J., P. Kraus, and T. Lufkin, Endogenous tagging of the murine transcription factor Sox5 with hemaglutinin for functional studies. Transgenic research, 2012. 21(2): p. 293-301. DOI: 10.1007/s11248-011-9531-9
- Kraus, P., X. Xing, S.L. Lim, M.E. Fun, V. Sivakamasundari, S.P. Yap, H. Lee, R.K. Karuturi, and T. Lufkin, Mouse strain specific gene expression differences for Illumina microarray expression profiling in embryos. BMC Research Notes 2012. 5: p. 232. DOI: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-232
- Yap, S.P., X. Xing, P. Kraus, V. Sivakamasundari, H.Y. Chan, and T. Lufkin, Generation of mice with a novel conditional null allele of the Sox9 gene. Biotechnology Letters, 2011. 33(8): p. 1551-8. DOI: 10.1007/s10529-011-0608-6
- Chan, H.Y., V. Sivakamasundari, X. Xing, P. Kraus, S.P. Yap, P. Ng, S.L. Lim, and T. Lufkin, Comparison of IRES and F2A-Based Locus-Specific Multicistronic Expression in Stable Mouse Lines. PLoS ONE, 2011. 6(12): p. e28885. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028885
- Kraus, P., G. Leong, V. Tan, X. Xing, J.W. Goh, S.P. Yap, and T. Lufkin, A more cost effective and rapid high percentage germ-line transmitting chimeric mouse generation procedure via microinjection of 2-cell, 4-cell, and 8-cell embryos with ES and iPS cells. Genesis, 2010. 48(6): p. 394-9. DOI: 10.1002/dvg.20627
- Heng, J.C., B. Feng, J. Han, J. Jiang, P. Kraus, J.H. Ng, Y.L. Orlov, M. Huss, L. Yang, T. Lufkin, B. Lim, and H.H. Ng, The nuclear receptor Nr5a2 can replace Oct4 in the reprogramming of murine somatic cells to pluripotent cells. Cell Stem Cell, 2010. 6(2): p. 167-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2009.12.009
- Chia, N.Y., Y.S. Chan, B. Feng, X. Lu, Y.L. Orlov, D. Moreau, P. Kumar, L. Yang, J. Jiang, M.S. Lau, M. Huss, B.S. Soh, P. Kraus, P. Li, T. Lufkin, B. Lim, N.D. Clarke, F. Bard, and H.H. Ng, A genome-wide RNAi screen reveals determinants of human embryonic stem cell identity. Nature, 2010. 468(7321): p. 316-20. DOI: 10.1038/nature09531
- Chatterjee, S., P. Kraus, and T. Lufkin, A symphony of inner ear developmental control genes. BMC Genetics, 2010. 11: p. 68. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2156-11-68
- Feng, B., J. Jiang, P. Kraus, J.H. Ng, J.C. Heng, Y.S. Chan, L.P. Yaw, W. Zhang, Y.H. Loh, J. Han, V.B. Vega, V. Cacheux-Rataboul, B. Lim, T. Lufkin, and H.H. Ng, Reprogramming of fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells with orphan nuclear receptor Esrrb. Nature Cell Biology, 2009. 11(2): p. 197-203. DOI: 10.1038/ncb1827