Dr. Sean Morrison stands as a preeminent leader in stem cell biology whose visionary research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of stem cell regulation and its implications for cancer. He serves as the founding Director and Professor of the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI), a position he has held since establishing this transformative research institute in 2011 through a strategic partnership between Children's Health System of Texas and UT Southwestern Medical Center. As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 2000, Dr. Morrison maintains a dual appointment that enables him to bridge fundamental biological research with translational applications. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he completed his undergraduate studies in biology and chemistry at Dalhousie University in 1991 before embarking on his distinguished scientific career that has positioned him at the forefront of modern stem cell research.
Dr. Morrison's laboratory has made seminal contributions to stem cell biology, pioneering innovative methods to purify stem cells from multiple tissues and discovering critical mechanisms that allow these cells to persist throughout life to regenerate tissues after injury. His team's groundbreaking work elucidated key regulatory pathways governing stem cell self-renewal and identified the specialized microenvironments that maintain hematopoietic stem cells in adult blood-forming tissues. This research has revealed profound connections between stem cell biology and cancer, demonstrating how malignant cells hijack normal stem cell mechanisms to enable tumor formation and metastasis. The transformative nature of his discoveries has positioned his work at the forefront of efforts to develop novel therapeutic approaches that either promote stem cell self-renewal for regenerative medicine or inhibit these mechanisms to combat cancer.
Beyond his exceptional research program, Dr. Morrison has been a pivotal force in shaping public policy and advancing the field of stem cell research globally. His leadership was instrumental in the successful 'Proposal 2' campaign to protect and regulate stem cell research in Michigan's state constitution, and he has testified before the U.S. Congress on the importance of this research. Elected President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in 2015 and later honored with the ISSCR Public Service Award in 2022, Dr. Morrison has provided sustained leadership through his chairmanship of the society's public policy committee since 2015. His election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018, the National Academy of Sciences in 2020, and the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2023 represents the scientific community's recognition of his extraordinary contributions. Currently directing his laboratory at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute, Dr. Morrison continues to explore the intricate relationships between stem cell regulation, aging, and cancer development, with the potential to yield innovative therapies for regenerative medicine and cancer treatment.
