Thomson, James A.

JAMES A. THOMSON is a pioneer in embryonic stem (ES) cell research. His group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, reported the first isolation of nonhuman primate ES cells in 1995. What followed was the triumphant yet controversial isolation of human ES cells in 1998. Human ES cells are capable of continuous undifferentiated proliferation, maintaining their ability to form all the cells of the body.

Thomson was born on December 20, 1958, and is a native of Oak Park, Illinois. He is John D. MacArthur Professor of Anatomy at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a faculty member of the Genome Center of Wisconsin, where he conducts his research. In 1981, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois ...