Source: University of Manchester
Date: 26 February 2013
Summary:
Scientists have used sugar-coated scaffolding to move a step closer to the routine use of stem cells in the clinic and unlock their huge potential to cure diseases from Alzheimer's to diabetes. Stem cells have the unique ability to turn into any type of human cell, opening up all sorts of therapeutic possibilities for some of the world's incurable diseases and conditions. The problem facing scientists is how to encourage stem cells to turn into the particular type of cell required to treat a specific disease.
But researchers at the University of Manchester's School of Materials and Faculty of Life Sciences have developed a web-like scaffold, coated with long-sugar molecules, that enhances stem-cell cultures to do just this. The scaffold is formed by a process known as 'electrospinning', creating a mesh of fibres that mimic structures that occur naturally within the body.
The team's results – presented in the Journal of Biological Chemistry - are particularly promising, as the sugar molecules are presented on the surface of the fibres, retaining structural patterns important in their function. The sugars are also 'read' by the stem cells grown on the surface, stimulating and enhancing the formation of neuronal cell types.
Showing posts with label differentiation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label differentiation. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Human embryonic stem cells could help to treat deafness
Source: University of Sheffield
Date: 12 September 2012
Summary:
In research funded by the Medical Research Council and leading UK research charity, Action on Hearing Loss, experts from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Biomedical Sciences developed a method to turn human embryonic stem cells into ear cells. They then transplanted them into deaf gerbils, obtaining a functional recovery that, on average, was of around 46 per cent. The improvement was evident about four weeks after administering the cells. As well as proving that stem cells can be used to repair damaged hearing, it is hoped the breakthrough – published in the journal Nature – will lead to new treatments and therapies in the future.
Date: 12 September 2012
Summary:
In research funded by the Medical Research Council and leading UK research charity, Action on Hearing Loss, experts from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Biomedical Sciences developed a method to turn human embryonic stem cells into ear cells. They then transplanted them into deaf gerbils, obtaining a functional recovery that, on average, was of around 46 per cent. The improvement was evident about four weeks after administering the cells. As well as proving that stem cells can be used to repair damaged hearing, it is hoped the breakthrough – published in the journal Nature – will lead to new treatments and therapies in the future.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
First Lung Cells Grown Using Stem Cell Technology
Source: The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Date: August 26, 2012
Summary:
New stem cell research paves the way towards individualized medicine for patients with cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases. The study, led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), is the first to successfully use stem cells to produce mature lung cells that could potentially be used to study the disease and test drugs. The study is published in the August 26 advance online edition of Nature Biotechnology.
Researchers were able to induce human embryonic stem cells to become mature lung cells, that contained a gene, called CFTR that when mutated is responsible for cystic fibrosis (CFTR gene was discovered at SickKids in 1989). They then took the experiment a step further, by using induced pluripotent stem cells derived from the skin of patients with cystic fibrosis. They prompted these stem cells to become lung cells, which contain mutations specific to the patients involved. (Induced pluripotent stem cells are adult cells genetically induced to function like embryonic stem cells.)
Once researchers found that they could create lung cells derived from individual patients they then used a compound that resembles an investigational drug that is currently being tested for cystic fibrosis to see if it would rescue the CFTR gene mutation.
The Winnipeg Free Press published a news story today on this development.
Date: August 26, 2012
Summary:
New stem cell research paves the way towards individualized medicine for patients with cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases. The study, led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), is the first to successfully use stem cells to produce mature lung cells that could potentially be used to study the disease and test drugs. The study is published in the August 26 advance online edition of Nature Biotechnology.
Researchers were able to induce human embryonic stem cells to become mature lung cells, that contained a gene, called CFTR that when mutated is responsible for cystic fibrosis (CFTR gene was discovered at SickKids in 1989). They then took the experiment a step further, by using induced pluripotent stem cells derived from the skin of patients with cystic fibrosis. They prompted these stem cells to become lung cells, which contain mutations specific to the patients involved. (Induced pluripotent stem cells are adult cells genetically induced to function like embryonic stem cells.)
Once researchers found that they could create lung cells derived from individual patients they then used a compound that resembles an investigational drug that is currently being tested for cystic fibrosis to see if it would rescue the CFTR gene mutation.
The Winnipeg Free Press published a news story today on this development.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Stem Cells Can Become Anything, but Not Without This Protein
Source: University of Michigan Health System
Date: August 21, 2012
Summary:
How do stem cells preserve their ability to become any type of cell in the body? And how do they "decide" to give up that magical state and start specializing? If researchers could answer these questions, our ability to harness stem cells to treat disease could explode. Now, a University of Michigan Medical School team has published a key discovery that could help that goal become reality.
In the current issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, researcher Yali Dou, Ph.D., and her team show the crucial role of a protein called Mof in preserving the 'stem-ness' of stem cells, and priming them to become specialized cells in mice.
Their results show that Mof plays a key role in the "epigenetics" of stem cells -- that is, helping stem cells read and use their DNA. One of the key questions in stem cell research is what keeps stem cells in a kind of eternal youth, and then allows them to start "growing up" to be a specific type of tissue.
The researchers have zeroed in on the factors that add temporary tags to DNA when it's coiled around tiny spools called histones. In order to read their DNA, cells have to unwind it a bit from those spools, allowing the gene-reading mechanisms to get access to the genetic code and transcribe it. The temporary tags added by Mof act as tiny beacons, guiding the "reader" mechanism to the right place.
Date: August 21, 2012
Summary:
How do stem cells preserve their ability to become any type of cell in the body? And how do they "decide" to give up that magical state and start specializing? If researchers could answer these questions, our ability to harness stem cells to treat disease could explode. Now, a University of Michigan Medical School team has published a key discovery that could help that goal become reality.
In the current issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, researcher Yali Dou, Ph.D., and her team show the crucial role of a protein called Mof in preserving the 'stem-ness' of stem cells, and priming them to become specialized cells in mice.
Their results show that Mof plays a key role in the "epigenetics" of stem cells -- that is, helping stem cells read and use their DNA. One of the key questions in stem cell research is what keeps stem cells in a kind of eternal youth, and then allows them to start "growing up" to be a specific type of tissue.
The researchers have zeroed in on the factors that add temporary tags to DNA when it's coiled around tiny spools called histones. In order to read their DNA, cells have to unwind it a bit from those spools, allowing the gene-reading mechanisms to get access to the genetic code and transcribe it. The temporary tags added by Mof act as tiny beacons, guiding the "reader" mechanism to the right place.
Sunday, August 05, 2012
Heart muscle cell grafts suppress arrhythmias after heart attacks in animal study Transplanted heart cells
Source: University of Washington
Date: August 5, 2012
Summary:
Researchers have made a major advance in efforts to regenerate damaged hearts. They discovered that transplanted heart muscle cells, grown from stem cells, electrically couple and beat in sync with the heart’s own muscle. The grafts also reduced the incidence of arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms) in a guinea pig model of myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). This finding from University of Washington-led research is reported in the Aug. 5 issue of Nature.
Date: August 5, 2012
Summary:
Researchers have made a major advance in efforts to regenerate damaged hearts. They discovered that transplanted heart muscle cells, grown from stem cells, electrically couple and beat in sync with the heart’s own muscle. The grafts also reduced the incidence of arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms) in a guinea pig model of myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). This finding from University of Washington-led research is reported in the Aug. 5 issue of Nature.
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Mending a Broken Heart -- With a Molecule That Turns Stem Cells Into Heart Cells
Source: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
Date: August 2, 2012
Summary:
Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, and ChemRegen, Inc. have been searching for molecules that convert stem cells to heart cells for about eight years -- and now they've found one. Writing in the August 3 issue of Cell Stem Cell, the team describes how they sifted through a large collection of drug-like chemicals and uncovered ITD-1, a molecule that can be used to generate unlimited numbers of new heart cells from stem cells.
Date: August 2, 2012
Summary:
Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, and ChemRegen, Inc. have been searching for molecules that convert stem cells to heart cells for about eight years -- and now they've found one. Writing in the August 3 issue of Cell Stem Cell, the team describes how they sifted through a large collection of drug-like chemicals and uncovered ITD-1, a molecule that can be used to generate unlimited numbers of new heart cells from stem cells.
Monday, July 02, 2012
Researchers Block Pathway to Cancer Cell Replication NOTCH1 Signaling Promotes T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Initiating Cell Regeneration
Source: University of California - San Diego
Date: July 2, 2012
Summary:
Research suggests that patients with leukemia sometimes relapse because standard chemotherapy fails to kill the self-renewing leukemia initiating cells, often referred to as cancer stem cells. In such cancers, the cells lie dormant for a time, only to later begin cloning, resulting in a return and metastasis of the disease.
One such type of cancer is called pediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL, often found in children, who have few treatment options beyond chemotherapy. A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine studied these cells in mouse models that had been transplanted with human leukemia cells. They discovered that the leukemia initiating cells which clone, or replicate, themselves most robustly activate the NOTCH1 pathway, usually in the context of a mutation.
Earlier studies showed that as many as half of patients with T-ALL have mutations in the NOTCH1 pathway – an evolutionarily conserved developmental pathway used during differentiation of many cell and tissue types. The new study shows that when NOTCH1 activation was inhibited in animal models using a monoclonal antibody, the leukemia initiating cells did not survive. In addition, the antibody treatment significantly reduced a subset of these cancer stem cells (identified by the presence of specific markers, CD2 and CD7, on the cell surface).
The study results suggest that such therapy would also be effective in other types of cancer stem cells, such as those that cause breast cancer, that also rely on NOTCH1 for self-renewal.
Date: July 2, 2012
Summary:
Research suggests that patients with leukemia sometimes relapse because standard chemotherapy fails to kill the self-renewing leukemia initiating cells, often referred to as cancer stem cells. In such cancers, the cells lie dormant for a time, only to later begin cloning, resulting in a return and metastasis of the disease.
One such type of cancer is called pediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL, often found in children, who have few treatment options beyond chemotherapy. A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine studied these cells in mouse models that had been transplanted with human leukemia cells. They discovered that the leukemia initiating cells which clone, or replicate, themselves most robustly activate the NOTCH1 pathway, usually in the context of a mutation.
Earlier studies showed that as many as half of patients with T-ALL have mutations in the NOTCH1 pathway – an evolutionarily conserved developmental pathway used during differentiation of many cell and tissue types. The new study shows that when NOTCH1 activation was inhibited in animal models using a monoclonal antibody, the leukemia initiating cells did not survive. In addition, the antibody treatment significantly reduced a subset of these cancer stem cells (identified by the presence of specific markers, CD2 and CD7, on the cell surface).
The study results suggest that such therapy would also be effective in other types of cancer stem cells, such as those that cause breast cancer, that also rely on NOTCH1 for self-renewal.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Stem Cells Can Beat Back Diabetes
Source: University of British Columbia
Date: June 27, 2012
Summary:
University of British Columbia scientists, in collaboration with an industry partner, have successfully reversed diabetes in mice using stem cells, paving the way for a breakthrough treatment for a disease that affects nearly one in four Canadians.
The research is the first to show that human stem cell transplants can successfully restore insulin production and reverse diabetes in mice. Crucially, they re-created the “feedback loop” that enables insulin levels to automatically rise or fall based on blood glucose levels. The study is published online today in the journal Diabetes.
After the stem cell transplant, the diabetic mice were weaned off insulin, a procedure designed to mimic human clinical conditions. Three to four months later, the mice were able to maintain healthy blood sugar levels even when being fed large quantities of sugar. Transplanted cells removed from the mice after several months had all the markings of normal insulin-producing pancreatic cells.
Date: June 27, 2012
Summary:
University of British Columbia scientists, in collaboration with an industry partner, have successfully reversed diabetes in mice using stem cells, paving the way for a breakthrough treatment for a disease that affects nearly one in four Canadians.
The research is the first to show that human stem cell transplants can successfully restore insulin production and reverse diabetes in mice. Crucially, they re-created the “feedback loop” that enables insulin levels to automatically rise or fall based on blood glucose levels. The study is published online today in the journal Diabetes.
After the stem cell transplant, the diabetic mice were weaned off insulin, a procedure designed to mimic human clinical conditions. Three to four months later, the mice were able to maintain healthy blood sugar levels even when being fed large quantities of sugar. Transplanted cells removed from the mice after several months had all the markings of normal insulin-producing pancreatic cells.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Discovery of ‘Master Molecule’ Could Improve Stem Cell Treatment for Heart Attacks
Source: Johns Hopkins University
Date: June 20, 2012
Summary:
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a single protein molecule may hold the key to turning cardiac stem cells into blood vessels or muscle tissue, a finding that may lead to better ways to treat heart attack patients.
Human heart tissue does not heal well after a heart attack, instead forming debilitating scars. However, for reasons not completely understood, stem cells can assist in this repair process by turning into the cells that make up healthy heart tissue, including heart muscle and blood vessels. Recently, doctors elsewhere have reported promising early results in the use of cardiac stem cells to curb the formation of unhealthy scar tissue after a heart attack. But the discovery of a “master molecule” that guides the destiny of these stem cells could result in even more effective treatments for heart patients, the Johns Hopkins researchers say.
In a study published in the June 5 online edition of journal Science Signaling, the team reported that tinkering with a protein molecule called p190RhoGAP shaped the development of cardiac stem cells, prodding them to become the building blocks for either blood vessels or heart muscle. The team members said that by altering levels of this protein, they were able to affect the future of these stem cells.
Date: June 20, 2012
Summary:
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a single protein molecule may hold the key to turning cardiac stem cells into blood vessels or muscle tissue, a finding that may lead to better ways to treat heart attack patients.
Human heart tissue does not heal well after a heart attack, instead forming debilitating scars. However, for reasons not completely understood, stem cells can assist in this repair process by turning into the cells that make up healthy heart tissue, including heart muscle and blood vessels. Recently, doctors elsewhere have reported promising early results in the use of cardiac stem cells to curb the formation of unhealthy scar tissue after a heart attack. But the discovery of a “master molecule” that guides the destiny of these stem cells could result in even more effective treatments for heart patients, the Johns Hopkins researchers say.
In a study published in the June 5 online edition of journal Science Signaling, the team reported that tinkering with a protein molecule called p190RhoGAP shaped the development of cardiac stem cells, prodding them to become the building blocks for either blood vessels or heart muscle. The team members said that by altering levels of this protein, they were able to affect the future of these stem cells.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
'Magical State' of Embryonic Stem Cells May Help Overcome Hurdles to Therapeutics
Source: Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Date: June 13, 2012
Summary:
LA JOLLA, CA—With their potential to treat a wide range of diseases and uncover fundamental processes that lead to those diseases, embryonic stem (ES) cells hold great promise for biomedical science. A number of hurdles, both scientific and non-scientific, however, have precluded scientists from reaching the holy grail of using these special cells to treat heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and other diseases.
In a paper published June 13 in Nature, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report discovering that ES cells cycle in and out of a "magical state" in the early stages of embryo development, during which a battery of genes essential for cell potency (the ability of a generic cell to differentiate, or develop, into a cell with specialized functions) is activated. This unique condition, called totipotency, gives ES cells their unique ability to turn into any cell type in the body, thus making them attractive therapeutic targets.
Date: June 13, 2012
Summary:
LA JOLLA, CA—With their potential to treat a wide range of diseases and uncover fundamental processes that lead to those diseases, embryonic stem (ES) cells hold great promise for biomedical science. A number of hurdles, both scientific and non-scientific, however, have precluded scientists from reaching the holy grail of using these special cells to treat heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and other diseases.
In a paper published June 13 in Nature, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report discovering that ES cells cycle in and out of a "magical state" in the early stages of embryo development, during which a battery of genes essential for cell potency (the ability of a generic cell to differentiate, or develop, into a cell with specialized functions) is activated. This unique condition, called totipotency, gives ES cells their unique ability to turn into any cell type in the body, thus making them attractive therapeutic targets.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Mechanism That Maintains Stem Cells Readiness Identified
Source: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Date: May 31, 2012
Summary:
An immune-system receptor plays an unexpected but crucially important role in keeping stem cells from differentiating and in helping blood cancer cells grow, researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center report today in the journal Nature.
The researchers found that the human immune-inhibitory receptor LILRB2 and a corresponding receptor on the surface of mouse cells bind to several of the angiopoetic-like proteins. Further studies, Dr. Zhang said, showed that two of the seven family members bind particularly well to the LILRB2 receptor and that binding exerts an inhibitory effect on the cell, similar to a car’s brakes.
In the case of stem cells, inhibition keeps them in their stem state. They retain their potential to mature into all kinds of blood cells as needed but they don’t use up their energy differentiating into mature cells. That inhibition helps stem cells maintain their potential to create new stem cells because in addition to differentiation, self-renewal is the cells’ other major activity, Dr. Zhang said. He stressed that the inhibition doesn’t cause them to create new stem cells but does preserve their potential to do so.
In future research, the scientists hope to find subtle differences between stem cells and leukemia cells that will identify treatments to block the receptors’ action only in leukemia.
Date: May 31, 2012
Summary:
An immune-system receptor plays an unexpected but crucially important role in keeping stem cells from differentiating and in helping blood cancer cells grow, researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center report today in the journal Nature.
The researchers found that the human immune-inhibitory receptor LILRB2 and a corresponding receptor on the surface of mouse cells bind to several of the angiopoetic-like proteins. Further studies, Dr. Zhang said, showed that two of the seven family members bind particularly well to the LILRB2 receptor and that binding exerts an inhibitory effect on the cell, similar to a car’s brakes.
In the case of stem cells, inhibition keeps them in their stem state. They retain their potential to mature into all kinds of blood cells as needed but they don’t use up their energy differentiating into mature cells. That inhibition helps stem cells maintain their potential to create new stem cells because in addition to differentiation, self-renewal is the cells’ other major activity, Dr. Zhang said. He stressed that the inhibition doesn’t cause them to create new stem cells but does preserve their potential to do so.
In future research, the scientists hope to find subtle differences between stem cells and leukemia cells that will identify treatments to block the receptors’ action only in leukemia.
Monday, May 28, 2012
New Stem Cell Technique Promises Abundance of Key Heart Cells
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Date: May 28, 2012
Summary:
A team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison describes a way to transform human stem cells -- both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells -- into the critical heart muscle cells by simple manipulation of one key developmental pathway. The technique promises a uniform, inexpensive and far more efficient alternative to the complex bath of serum or growth factors now used to nudge blank slate stem cells to become specialized heart cells. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The capacity to make the heart cells using induced pluripotent stem cells, which can come from adult patients with diseased hearts, means scientists will be able to more readily model those diseases in the laboratory. Such cells contain the genetic profile of the patient, and so can be used to recreate the disease in the lab dish for study. Cardiomyocytes are difficult or impossible to obtain directly from the hearts of patients and, when obtained, survive only briefly in the lab. Scientists also have high hopes that one day healthy lab-grown heart cells can be used to replace the cardiomyocytes that die as a result of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
Date: May 28, 2012
Summary:
A team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison describes a way to transform human stem cells -- both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells -- into the critical heart muscle cells by simple manipulation of one key developmental pathway. The technique promises a uniform, inexpensive and far more efficient alternative to the complex bath of serum or growth factors now used to nudge blank slate stem cells to become specialized heart cells. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The capacity to make the heart cells using induced pluripotent stem cells, which can come from adult patients with diseased hearts, means scientists will be able to more readily model those diseases in the laboratory. Such cells contain the genetic profile of the patient, and so can be used to recreate the disease in the lab dish for study. Cardiomyocytes are difficult or impossible to obtain directly from the hearts of patients and, when obtained, survive only briefly in the lab. Scientists also have high hopes that one day healthy lab-grown heart cells can be used to replace the cardiomyocytes that die as a result of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
Monday, May 14, 2012
New York Stem Cell Foundation Scientist Grows Bone From Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Source: New York Stem Cell Foundation
Date: May 14, 2012
Summary:
NEW YORK, NY -- Dr. Darja Marolt, an Investigator at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory, is lead author on a study showing that human embryonic stem cells can be used to grow bone tissue grafts for use in research and potential therapeutic application. Dr. Marolt conducted this research as a post-doctoral NYSCF – Druckenmiller Fellow at Columbia University in the laboratory of Dr. Gordana Vunjak- Novakovic.
The study, published in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of May 14th, is the first example of using bone cell progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells to grow compact bone tissue in quantities large enough to repair centimeter-sized defects. When implanted in mice and studied over time, the implanted bone tissue supported blood vessel ingrowth, and continued development of normal bone structure, without demonstrating any incidence of tumor growth.
Date: May 14, 2012
Summary:
NEW YORK, NY -- Dr. Darja Marolt, an Investigator at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory, is lead author on a study showing that human embryonic stem cells can be used to grow bone tissue grafts for use in research and potential therapeutic application. Dr. Marolt conducted this research as a post-doctoral NYSCF – Druckenmiller Fellow at Columbia University in the laboratory of Dr. Gordana Vunjak- Novakovic.
The study, published in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of May 14th, is the first example of using bone cell progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells to grow compact bone tissue in quantities large enough to repair centimeter-sized defects. When implanted in mice and studied over time, the implanted bone tissue supported blood vessel ingrowth, and continued development of normal bone structure, without demonstrating any incidence of tumor growth.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Determining a Stem Cell's Fate: Biologists Scour Mouse Genome for Genes and Markers That Lead to T Cells
Source: California Institute of Technology
Date: April 12, 2012
Summary:
In studies that mark a major step forward in the understanding of stem cells' fates, a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has traced the stepwise developmental process that ensures certain stem cells will become T cells -- cells of the immune system that help destroy invading pathogens. The group's findings appear in the April 13 issue of the journal Cell.
The researchers studied multipotent hematopoietic precursor cells -- stem-cell-like cells that express a wide variety of genes and have the capability to differentiate into a number of different blood-cell types, including those of the immune system. Taking into consideration the entire mouse genome, the researchers pinpointed all the genes that play a role in transforming such precursor cells into committed T cells and identified when in the developmental process they each turn on. At the same time, the researchers tracked genes that could guide the precursor cells to various alternative pathways. The results showed not only when but also how the T-cell-development process turned off the genes promoting alternative fates.
Date: April 12, 2012
Summary:
In studies that mark a major step forward in the understanding of stem cells' fates, a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has traced the stepwise developmental process that ensures certain stem cells will become T cells -- cells of the immune system that help destroy invading pathogens. The group's findings appear in the April 13 issue of the journal Cell.
The researchers studied multipotent hematopoietic precursor cells -- stem-cell-like cells that express a wide variety of genes and have the capability to differentiate into a number of different blood-cell types, including those of the immune system. Taking into consideration the entire mouse genome, the researchers pinpointed all the genes that play a role in transforming such precursor cells into committed T cells and identified when in the developmental process they each turn on. At the same time, the researchers tracked genes that could guide the precursor cells to various alternative pathways. The results showed not only when but also how the T-cell-development process turned off the genes promoting alternative fates.
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Researchers Derive Purified Lung and Thyroid Progenitors from Embryonic Stem Cells
Source: Boston University Medical Center
Date: April 5, 2012
Summary:
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have derived a population of pure lung and thyroid progenitor cells in vitro that successfully mimic the developmental milestones of lung and thyroid tissue formation. The research, which will be published in the April 6 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, identifies factors necessary for embryonic stem cells to differentiate into lung progenitor cells and provides key information about how the tissue engineering technology can be used to develop new gene and cell-based therapies to treat lung diseases.
Date: April 5, 2012
Summary:
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have derived a population of pure lung and thyroid progenitor cells in vitro that successfully mimic the developmental milestones of lung and thyroid tissue formation. The research, which will be published in the April 6 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, identifies factors necessary for embryonic stem cells to differentiate into lung progenitor cells and provides key information about how the tissue engineering technology can be used to develop new gene and cell-based therapies to treat lung diseases.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Stem Cells Hint at Potential Treatment for Huntington's Disease
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Date: March 15, 2012
Summary:
Huntington's disease, the debilitating congenital neurological disorder that progressively robs patients of muscle coordination and cognitive ability, is a condition without effective treatment, a slow death sentence. But if researchers can build on new research reported this week (March 15, 2012) in the journal Cell Stem Cell, a special type of brain cell forged from stem cells could help restore the muscle coordination deficits that cause the uncontrollable spasms characteristic of the disease.
In In the new study, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center focused on what are known as GABA neurons, cells whose degradation is responsible for disruption of a key neural circuit and loss of motor function in Huntington's patients. The researchers have learned how to make large amounts of GABA neurons from human embryonic stem cells, which they sought to test in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. The goal of the study, researchers note, was simply to see if the cells would safely integrate into the mouse brain. To their astonishment, the cells not only integrated but also project to the right target and effectively reestablished the broken communication network, restoring motor function.
Date: March 15, 2012
Summary:
Huntington's disease, the debilitating congenital neurological disorder that progressively robs patients of muscle coordination and cognitive ability, is a condition without effective treatment, a slow death sentence. But if researchers can build on new research reported this week (March 15, 2012) in the journal Cell Stem Cell, a special type of brain cell forged from stem cells could help restore the muscle coordination deficits that cause the uncontrollable spasms characteristic of the disease.
In In the new study, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center focused on what are known as GABA neurons, cells whose degradation is responsible for disruption of a key neural circuit and loss of motor function in Huntington's patients. The researchers have learned how to make large amounts of GABA neurons from human embryonic stem cells, which they sought to test in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. The goal of the study, researchers note, was simply to see if the cells would safely integrate into the mouse brain. To their astonishment, the cells not only integrated but also project to the right target and effectively reestablished the broken communication network, restoring motor function.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Insulin, Nutrition Prevent Blood Stem Cell Differentiation in the Fruit Fly
Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: March 12, 2012
Summary:
UCLA stem cell researchers have shown that insulin and nutrition prevent blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a finding that has implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans.
Keeping blood stem cells, or progenitor cells, from differentiating into blood cells is important as blood stem cells are needed to create the blood supply for the adult fruit fly. The study found that the blood stem cells are receiving systemic signals from insulin and nutritional factors, in this case essential amino acids, that helped them to maintain their “stemness,” said study senior author Utpal Banerjee, the Irving and Jean Stone Professor and chairman of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences and a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine at UCLA.
The study appeared March 11 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cell Biology.
Date: March 12, 2012
Summary:
UCLA stem cell researchers have shown that insulin and nutrition prevent blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a finding that has implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans.
Keeping blood stem cells, or progenitor cells, from differentiating into blood cells is important as blood stem cells are needed to create the blood supply for the adult fruit fly. The study found that the blood stem cells are receiving systemic signals from insulin and nutritional factors, in this case essential amino acids, that helped them to maintain their “stemness,” said study senior author Utpal Banerjee, the Irving and Jean Stone Professor and chairman of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences and a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine at UCLA.
The study appeared March 11 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cell Biology.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Influencing Stem Cell Fate: New Screening Method Helps Scientists Identify Key Information Rapidly
Source: Northwestern University
Date: March 6, 2012
Summary:
Northwestern University scientists have developed a powerful analytical method that they have used to direct stem cell differentiation. Out of millions of possibilities, they rapidly identified the chemical and physical structures that can cue stem cells to become osteocytes, cells found in mature bone.
Researchers can use the method, called nanocombinatorics, to build enormous libraries of physical structures varying in size from a few nanometers to many micrometers for addressing problems within and outside biology. Those in the fields of chemistry, materials engineering and nanotechnology could use this invaluable tool to assess which chemical and physical structures -- including size, shape and composition -- work best for a desired process or function.
Nanocombinatorics holds promise for screening catalysts for energy conversion, understanding properties conferred by nanostructures, identifying active molecules for drug discovery or even optimizing materials for tissue regeneration, among other applications.
Details of the method and proof of concept is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Date: March 6, 2012
Summary:
Northwestern University scientists have developed a powerful analytical method that they have used to direct stem cell differentiation. Out of millions of possibilities, they rapidly identified the chemical and physical structures that can cue stem cells to become osteocytes, cells found in mature bone.
Researchers can use the method, called nanocombinatorics, to build enormous libraries of physical structures varying in size from a few nanometers to many micrometers for addressing problems within and outside biology. Those in the fields of chemistry, materials engineering and nanotechnology could use this invaluable tool to assess which chemical and physical structures -- including size, shape and composition -- work best for a desired process or function.
Nanocombinatorics holds promise for screening catalysts for energy conversion, understanding properties conferred by nanostructures, identifying active molecules for drug discovery or even optimizing materials for tissue regeneration, among other applications.
Details of the method and proof of concept is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Basic Molecular 'Wiring' of Stem Cells Revealed
Souce University of Georgia
Date: March 1, 2012
Summary:
Athens, Ga. - Despite the promise associated with the therapeutic use of human stem cells, a complete understanding of the mechanisms that control the fundamental question of whether a stem cell becomes a specific cell type within the body or remains a stem cell has-until now-eluded scientists.
A University of Georgia study published in the March 2 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, however, creates the first ever blueprint of how stem cells are wired to respond to the external signaling molecules to which they are constantly exposed. The finding, which reconciles years of conflicting results from labs across the world, gives scientists the ability to precisely control the development, or differentiation, of stem cells into specific cell types.
Date: March 1, 2012
Summary:
Athens, Ga. - Despite the promise associated with the therapeutic use of human stem cells, a complete understanding of the mechanisms that control the fundamental question of whether a stem cell becomes a specific cell type within the body or remains a stem cell has-until now-eluded scientists.
A University of Georgia study published in the March 2 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, however, creates the first ever blueprint of how stem cells are wired to respond to the external signaling molecules to which they are constantly exposed. The finding, which reconciles years of conflicting results from labs across the world, gives scientists the ability to precisely control the development, or differentiation, of stem cells into specific cell types.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Stem Cell Study in Mice Offers Hope for Treating Heart Attack Patients
Source: University of California - San Francisco
Date: February 15, 2012
Summary:
A UCSF stem cell study conducted in mice suggests a novel strategy for treating damaged cardiac tissue in patients following a heart attack. The approach potentially could improve cardiac function, minimize scar size, lead to the development of new blood vessels -- and avoid the risk of tissue rejection. In the investigation, reported online in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers isolated and characterized a novel type of cardiac stem cell from the heart tissue of middle-aged mice following a heart attack. Then, in one experiment, they placed the cells in the culture dish and showed they had the ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes, or "beating heart cells," as well as endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, all of which make up the heart. In another, they made copies, or "clones," of the cells and engrafted them in the tissue of other mice of the same genetic background who also had experienced heart attacks. The cells induced angiogenesis, or blood vessel growth, or differentiated, or specialized, into endothelial and smooth muscle cells, improving cardiac function.
Date: February 15, 2012
Summary:
A UCSF stem cell study conducted in mice suggests a novel strategy for treating damaged cardiac tissue in patients following a heart attack. The approach potentially could improve cardiac function, minimize scar size, lead to the development of new blood vessels -- and avoid the risk of tissue rejection. In the investigation, reported online in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers isolated and characterized a novel type of cardiac stem cell from the heart tissue of middle-aged mice following a heart attack. Then, in one experiment, they placed the cells in the culture dish and showed they had the ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes, or "beating heart cells," as well as endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, all of which make up the heart. In another, they made copies, or "clones," of the cells and engrafted them in the tissue of other mice of the same genetic background who also had experienced heart attacks. The cells induced angiogenesis, or blood vessel growth, or differentiated, or specialized, into endothelial and smooth muscle cells, improving cardiac function.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)