Latest Stowers Institute for Medical Research Stories
Stowers researchers gain new insight into the chromosome separation process Each time a cell divides -- and it takes millions of cell divisions to create a fully grown human body from a single fertilized cell -- its chromosomes have to be accurately divvied up between both daughter cells. Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research used, ironically enough, the single-celled organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae -- commonly known as baker's yeast -- to gain new insight into the...
[ Watch the Video ] After more than a century of study, mysteries still remain about the process of meiosis—a special type of cell division that helps insure genetic diversity in sexually-reproducing organisms. Now, researchers at Stowers Institute for Medical Research shed light on an early and critical step in meiosis. The research, to be published in the Nov. 8, 2011 issue of Current Biology, clarifies the role of key chromosomal regions called centromeres in the formation of a...
All stem cells—regardless of their source—share the remarkable capability to replenish themselves by undergoing self-renewal. Yet, so far, efforts to grow and expand scarce hematopoietic (or blood-forming) stem cells in culture for therapeutic applications have been met with limited success. Now, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research teased apart the molecular mechanisms enabling stem cell renewal in hematopoietic stem cells isolated from mice and successfully...
Most cells rely on structural tethers to position chromosomes in preparation for cell division. Not so oocytes. Instead, a powerful intracellular stream pushes chromosomes far-off the center in preparation for the highly asymmetric cell division that completes oocyte maturation upon fertilization of the egg, report researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Their findings illustrate how oocytes repurposed a dynamic cellular mechanism capable of generating considerable...
Flatworms provide new insight into organ regeneration and the evolution of mammalian kidneysOur bodies are perfectly capable of renewing billions of cells every day but fail miserably when it comes to replacing damaged organs such as kidneys. Using the flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea"”famous for its capacity to regrow complete animals from minuscule flecks of tissue"”as an eloquent example, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research demonstrated how our distant evolutionary...
Successful gene expression requires the concerted action of a host of regulatory factors. Long overshadowed by bonafide transcription factors, coactivators"”the hanger-ons that facilitate transcription by docking onto transcription factors or modifying chromatin"”have recently come to the fore.In their latest study, published in the July 15, 2011, issue of Genes & Development, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research discovered that the highly conserved coactivator...
Look up "transcription""”the copying of a gene's DNA into RNA intermediaries"”in any old molecular biology text book, and it all seems very simple: RNA polymerase II, the enzyme that catalyzes the reaction, assembles at the start site and starts motoring down the strand, cranking out the RNA ribbon used to construct proteins. But researchers now know that RNA polymerase II often stalls on DNA strands where it was once assumed to just barrel down.A report from the Conaway lab at...
KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Stowers Institute for Medical Research is pleased to announce the formation of its graduate program: The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research will offer a research-based Ph.D. degree in Biology. Students will perform thesis research in the Stowers Institute's laboratories working at the cutting edge of modern biological inquiry under the direct...
Scientists have discovered how to prevent certain craniofacial disorders in what could ultimately lead to at-risk babies being treated in the womb.University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas, have successfully treated mice with Treacher Collins syndrome "“ a rare genetic disorder characterized by underdeveloped facial bones, absent or deformed ears and occasionally cleft palate.The team had previously found that the...
