Intestinal stem cells and tissue regeneration – The most rapidly self-renewing tissue in the body is the intestine. Intestinal stem cells have been recently identified and characterized. The Wnt signaling pathway is involved in normal physiologic self-renewal of this tissue but is also involved in colon cancer. Prof. R. Fodde is a leader in the field of cancer stem cells. His group is involved in studies of the cell differentiation hierarchy and the mechanisms affecting the onset of colon cancer. Label retention cell tracing methods are being used to study normal and neoplastic intestinal epithelium.