Investigators and Program Directors

Ongoing Research

• Cancer: To determine if bone marrow derived stem cells can give rise to breast or liver cancer in animals. If so, it may be possible to block development of cancer by treating the cells in the bone marrow before they become cancer.
• Cancer: To isolate, culture and characterize breast cancer stem cells from transgenic mice.
• Cancer: To determine if proliferation of breast cancer stem cells can be specifically blocked by small molecular inhibitors or inhibitory RNA. This is a critical step to preventing re-growth of breast cancer after chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
• Aging: To determine if aging is dependent on loss of stem cells in the bone marrow that circulate and replenish progenitor cells in other organs as they are depleted as a result of normal tissue renewal. If this hypothesis is proven it may be possible to delay aging by bone marrow transplantation; for example by giving cord blood bone marrow cells back to aging adults.
• Tissue Renewal: To characterize a cell line derived from fetal tissue stem cells (STO cells) that is able to repopulate adult organs and to survive transplantation to immune-incompatible individuals, in other words, a cell line that could be a "universal donor".

Honors and Awards

• Listed in Current Contents as one of 1,000 most quoted scientists, 1981
• Paper listed as "Citation Classic" by Current Contents, 1984
• Philip S. Hench Distinguished Alumnus Award, U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1988
• Distinguished Scientist Award, International Academy of Tumor Marker Oncology, 1998
• Gary J. Miller Memorial Award for excellence in teaching, AACR, 2002
• Rudolph L. K. Virchow Award, LeadershipMedica, ITALY, 2005
• Legacy Laureate, University of Pittsburgh (Highest Honor for Alumni), 2005.
• Paper cited as Scientific Landmark in Cancer Research by the American Association for Cancer Research, 2007
• Principal Investigator for 2 active R01 grants from NIH

Contact Information

E-mail: ssell@wadsworth.org.