Douglas A. Melton

Doug Melton
Born	Douglas A. Melton (1953-09-26) September 26, 1953
Nationality	American
Fields	Stem cells Developmental biology
Institutions	Harvard Stem Cell Institute Harvard University Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Alma mater	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BS) University of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Thesis	The expression of transfer RNA genes to other DNAs microinjected into Xenopus oocytes (1979)
Doctoral advisor	John Gurdon
Notable students	Richard P. Harvey (postdoc)
Known for	Research on cure for Type 1 diabetes
Notable awards	George Ledlie Prize Richard Lounsbery Award (1995) Eliot P. Joslin Medal NAS member (1995) Marshall Scholarship
Website www.scrb.harvard.edu/lab/50/home hsci.harvard.edu/people/douglas-melton-phd

Douglas A. Melton is the Xander University Professor at Harvard University, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additionally, Melton serves as the co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the co-chair of the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. Melton serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Genetics Policy Institute, holds membership in the National Academy of the Sciences, and is a founding member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

Education

Melton completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1975. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in the History and Philosophy of Science in 1977. Under a Marshall Scholarship, Melton did his PhD at the University of Cambridge supervised by John Gurdon.

Career and Research

Melton's early work in the 1980s pioneered the technique of in vitro transcription. This later shifted to general developmental biology research in Xenopus, and eventually in the mid-1990s, became centered on the development of the pancreas.

In 2001 when President George W. Bush cut federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, Melton used private donations to create 17 published stem cell lines and distribute them without charge to researchers around the world.

In August 2008, Melton's lab published successful in vivo reprogramming of adult mice exocrine pancreatic cells into insulin secreting cells which closely resembled endogenous islet beta cells of pancreas in terms of their size, shape, ultrastructure and essential marker genes. Unlike producing beta cells from conventional embryonic stem cells or recently developed induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) technique, Melton's unique method involved direct cell reprogramming of adult cell type (exocrine cell) into other adult cell type (beta cell) without reversion to a pluripotent stem cell state. His team used a specific combination of three transcription factors, Ngn3 (or Neurog3), Pdx1 and Mafa for such direct cell reprogramming to yield cells capable of secreting insulin and remodelling local vasculature in pancreas to counteract hyperglycemia and diabetes.

In 2013, the Melton group reported the discovery of Betatrophin, a hormone that signals the proliferation of insulin-producing Beta cells.

His current research interests include pancreatic developmental biology and the directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, particularly in pertinence to type 1 diabetes, which afflicts both his children.

Awards and honors

Melton was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995. In 2007 and 2009, Melton was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.