Latest Cellular differentiation Stories
Stem cell technologies have been proposed for cell-based diagnostics and regenerative medicine therapies. However, being able to make stem cells efficiently develop into a desired cell type -- such as muscle, skin, blood vessels, bone or neurons -- limits the clinical potential of these technologies.New research presented on June 16, 2011 at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) shows that systematically controlling the local and global environments...
Whitehead Institute researchers have identified signals from breast epithelial cells that can induce those cells to transition to and maintain a mesenchymal and stem cell-like cell state that imbues both normal and cancer cells with a greater ability to migrate and self-renew. Interrupting these signals strips the cells of the migratory, invasive and self-renewal abilities used by cancer stem cells to seed new tumors."Stem cells are important in both cancers and normal tissues. On the...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Our understanding of what differentiates cancer cells from normal cells is limited by a lack of methods for studying the complex signal systems of individual cells. By combing two different methods, a team of Uppsala researchers have now provided the research world with a tool for studying signal paths on several levels at the same time."We also show that the method can be used to determine the molecular effect of drugs or pharmaceuticals," Ola Söderberg,...
A significant advancement in the effort to study the major diseases of our timeThe New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) "“ a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing cures for major diseases through stem cell research "“ today applauded the announcement by Stanford University scientists, led by NYSCF "“ Robertson Investigator Dr. Marius Wernig, that they directly converted skin cells of humans into functional neurons. These neurons will allow researchers to study neural diseases...
Our understanding of what differentiates cancer cells from normal cells is limited by a lack of methods for studying the complex signal systems of individual cells. By combing two different methods, a team of Uppsala researchers have now provided the research world with a tool for studying signal paths on several levels at the same time. Their article is being published today in PLoS One."We also show that the method can be used to determine the molecular effect of drugs or...
A Canadian research team has developed an automated microfluidic cell culture platform to monitor the growth, survival and responses of hundreds of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) at the single cell level.This new tool allows scientists to study multiple temporally varying culture conditions simultaneously and to gain new insights on the growth factor requirements for HSC survival."The ability to perform massively parallel cultures of single non-adherent mammalian cells will provide new...
Discovering the step-by-step details of the path embryonic cells take to develop into their final tissue type is the clinical goal of many stem cell biologists. To that end, Kenneth S. Zaret, PhD, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and associate director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Cheng-Ran Xu, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Zaret laboratory, looked at immature cells called...
A team led by developmental biologist Professor Christophe Marcelle has nailed the mechanism that causes stem cells in the embryo to differentiate into specialised cells that form the skeletal muscles of animals' bodies. The scientists published their results in the British journal Nature on Monday (May 16).Scientists world wide are racing to pin down the complex molecular processes that cause stem cells in the early embryo to differentiate into specialist cells such as muscle or nerve cells....
Ever since animals, such as lizards and starfish, were observed regenerating missing body parts, people have wondered where the new tissues come from. In the case of the planarian flatworm, Whitehead Institute researchers have determined that the source of this animal's extraordinary regenerative powers is a single, pluripotent cell type.Most advanced animals, including mammals, have a system of specialized stem cells. In humans, we have blood stem cells in our bone marrow that make blood and...
Researchers established a new method to patch a damaged heart with a tissue-engineering platformResearchers at Columbia Engineering have established a new method to patch a damaged heart using a tissue-engineering platform that enables heart tissue to repair itself. This breakthrough, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/04/19/1104619108.long, is an important step forward in combating cardiovascular disease, one of...
