James Thomson

James Alexander Thomson (born December 20, 1958) is an American developmental biologist who is best known for deriving the first human embryonic stem cell line. He serves as director of regenerative biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In 2007, he became an adjunct professor in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biolog... more

James Alexander Thomson (born December 20, 1958) is an American developmental biologist who is best known for deriving the first human embryonic stem cell line. He serves as director of regenerative biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In 2007, he became an adjunct professor in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, TIME magazine, named him one of 100 of the most influential people in the world. Thomson graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in biophysics from the University of Illinois in 1981. He entered the Veterinary Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1985, and his doctorate in molecular biology in 1988. His doctoral thesis involved... less