Latest Pluripotency Stories

Mass. General/Harvard study shows Sox2 expression is a widespread marker of adult stem cells Investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have found that Sox2 – one of the transcription factors used in the conversion of adult stem cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – is expressed in many adult tissues where it had not been previously observed. They also confirmed that Sox2-expressing...

Scientists have for the first time used a form of cloning to create personalized embryonic stem cells, an important advancement that could impact the study and treatment of diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The researchers derived embryonic stem cells from individual patients by adding the nuclei of adult skin cells from patients with type-1 diabetes to unfertilized donor oocytes. Stem cells are primitive cells that differentiate into the various tissues of the...

  Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have turned back the clock on mature muscle tissue, coaxing it back to an earlier stem cell stage to form new muscle. Moreover, they showed in mice that the newly reprogrammed muscle stem cells could be used to help repair damaged tissue. The achievement, described in the Sept. 23 issue of the journal Chemistry & Biology, "opens the door to the development of new treatments to combat the degeneration of muscle associated with...

MADISON, Wis., Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) today announced the commercial launch of human iCell® Endothelial Cells for use in vascular-targeted drug discovery, tissue regeneration and other life science research. Endothelial cells make up the lining of blood vessels and thus are an important factor of vascular research across a multitude of disease states. Endothelial dysfunction is a common promoter of cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis,...

Scientists have found a control switch that regulates stem cell "pluripotency," the capacity of stem cells to develop into any type of cell in the human body. The discovery reveals that pluripotency is regulated by a single event in a process called alternative splicing. Alternative splicing allows one gene to generate many different genetic messages and protein products. The researchers found that in genetic messages of a gene called FOXP1, the switch was active in embryonic stem cells...

  Ever since human induced pluripotent stem cells were first derived in 2007, scientists have wondered whether they were functionally equivalent to embryonic stem cells, which are sourced in early-stage embryos. Both cell types have the ability to differentiate into any cell in the body, but their origins – in embryonic and adult tissue – suggest that they are not identical. Although both cell types have great potential in basic biological research and in cell- and...

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Americord Registry, a leader in the advancement of cord blood and placenta stem cell preservation, has announced the expansion of its Medical Advisory Board with the appointment of Dr. Eric Adler, who previously served as Interim Medical Director for the company. Dr. Adler will assist with operations related to induced pluripotent stem cell (or iPS stem cells) preservation, which have the benefits of embryonic stem cells but are derived from a variety...

Global view of 'lincRNAs' reveals critical role in regulation of embryonic stem cells Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have discovered that a mysterious class of large RNAs plays a central role in embryonic development, contrary to the dogma that proteins alone are the master regulators of this process. The research, published online August 28 in the journal Nature, reveals that these RNAs orchestrate the fate of embryonic stem (ES) cells by keeping them in their...

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have discovered that three types of cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are similar to each other, but are much more developmentally immature than previously thought when compared to those same cell types taken directly from human tissue.The researchers, from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, found that the progeny of the human embryonic stem cells and induced...

Like fine chefs, scientists are seemingly approaching a day when they will be able to make nearly any type of tissue from human embryonic stem cells. You need nerves or pancreas, bone or skin? With the right combination of growth factors, skill and patience, a laboratory tissue culture dish promises to yield therapeutic wonders. But within these batches of newly generated cells lurks a big potential problem: Any remaining embryonic stem cells - those that haven't differentiated into the...