Jonathan Slack, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Stem Cell Institute, will leave at the end of the semester, according to an announcement sent to students and faculty yesterday.

Slack plans to return to his native England, according to the announcement.

Known for his work involving the therapeutic applications of stem cells, he became the first researcher in the world to identify an inducing factor in the frog embryo — a significant finding that later contributed to research for all vertebrate embryos.

Before arriving at the University of Minnesota in 2007, he was a director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine and head of the biology and biochemistry department at the University of Bath in his home country.

He earned his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh and his bachelor’s degree in biology from Oxford University.

At the University, he has dedicated a majority of his time to research like reprogramming cells from the liver and bile ducts into pancreatic beta cells. He also looked into better understanding the reason some animals can regenerate missing parts.