Head of Unit (Director)

Associate Professor Kuldip Sidhu

Stem cell research is a transition for me from earlier 28 years of my involvement in understanding mammalian reproduction including assisted reproduction in a variety of species including humans. In a way it has been a natural transition from handling gametes (sperm and eggs) and embryos for a long time to now stem cells derived from embryos and other tissues. Prof Bernie Tuch introduced me to this field of stem cell biology in about 2000 and Prof James Thompson transformed me fully into it after I spent a time with him for training in Wisconsin in 2002. The past eight years in stem cell field have been a sojourn for me first to understand and then to establish to make a difference.

This journey may sound hard but very enjoyable to me particularly with a healthy cooperation from my colleagues and students. This kept the fire burning in my belly with a passion in this field and I could establish earlier a ‘human stem cell lab’ at the Prince of Wales Hospital NSW and now a new ‘stem cell lab’ on campus at UNSW. In this whole process a number of new stem cell lines were generated particularly the two new human embryonic stem cell lines, Endeavour-1 and -2 and a cloning technique and both protected by the international patents. We are trying to understand the intricate molecular mechanisms of lineage specifications from these cells. Stem cell biology is a fascinating new field and I feel it is going to revolutionise our understanding and our approach towards human health. Current basic and transitional research in this field is very stimulating and encouraging and I feel translation of these studies to actual use in human health may be imminent. But before that happens, we got to continue to understand the basic biology of these cells so that we can make the best of these cells. Neurodegenerative diseases probably will be benefited earlier than others with these stem cells given the fact that there is a proof of principle in literature upcoming recently in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and spinal cord injury models.

The enthusiasm in stem cell field is not only amongst scientific community alone but also with the general public alike – my tennis mates tend to listen more about stem cells than about my game!