Dr. Martin Garcia-Castro, an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, was recently featured in an article in the Press Enterprise. Dr. Garcia-Castro has developed a method to differentiate neural crest cells from pluripotent stem cells in a very short period of time. Neural crest cells are a very important type of embryonic cell that gives rise to many of the skeletal structures of the face. His work is an important step forward and may eventually lead to methods for treating developmental malformations of the facial region, such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

Read the Press Enterprise article: http://www.pe.com/articles/cells-793674-castro-garcia.html