Source: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Date: March 1, 2010
Summary:
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new method for predicting — with up to 99 percent accuracy — the fate of stem cells. Using advanced computer vision technology to detect subtle cell movements that are impossible to discern with the human eye, Professor Badri Roysam and his former student Andrew Cohen ‘89 can successfully forecast how a stem cell will split and what key characteristics the daughter cells will exhibit.
By allowing the isolation of cells with specific capabilities, this discovery could one day lead to effective methods for growing stem cells on a large scale for therapeutic use. Results of the study, titled “Computational prediction of neural progenitor cell fates,” were published recently in the journal Nature Methods.
