Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: July 26, 2010
Summary:
Patients with deadly glioblastomas who received high doses of radiation that hit a portion of the brain that harbors neural stem cells had double the progression-free survival time as patients who had lower doses or no radiation targeting the area, a study from the Radiation Oncology Department at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.
Patients who underwent high doses of radiation that hit the specific neural stem cell site, known as the stem cell niche, experienced 15 months of progression-free survival, while patients receiving lower or no doses to this region experienced 7.2 months of progression-free survival, said Dr. Frank Pajonk, an associate professor of radiation oncology, a cancer center researcher and senior author of the study.
Pajonk said the study, published in the early online edition of the journal BMC Cancer, could result in changes in the way radiation therapy is given to patients with these deadly brain cancers.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Scientists isolate the first stages of tissue production in human embryonic stem cells
Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: July 20, 2010
Summary:
Scientists at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center have described a population of cells that mark the very first stage of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells as they enter a developmental pathway that leads to production of blood, heart muscle, blood vessels and bone.
Researchers hope that these cells could one day be used for clinical treatments of a wide range of medical conditions as the discovery may help scientists create better and safer tissues for use in regenerative medicine. It also will allow scientists to better understand the differences between pluripotent stem cells, which can become every cell in the body, and cells that have lost their pluripotency and are on their way to becoming specific types of tissue cells.
The study appears today in the early online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Date: July 20, 2010
Summary:
Scientists at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center have described a population of cells that mark the very first stage of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells as they enter a developmental pathway that leads to production of blood, heart muscle, blood vessels and bone.
Researchers hope that these cells could one day be used for clinical treatments of a wide range of medical conditions as the discovery may help scientists create better and safer tissues for use in regenerative medicine. It also will allow scientists to better understand the differences between pluripotent stem cells, which can become every cell in the body, and cells that have lost their pluripotency and are on their way to becoming specific types of tissue cells.
The study appears today in the early online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Natural Substance NT-020 Aids Aging Brains in Rats, Study Finds
Source: University of South Florida
Date: July 19, 2010
Summary:
A combination of nutrients called NT-020 promoted adult neural stem cell proliferation in aged rats and boosted their memory performance, reported University of South Florida researchers studying natural therapeutic approaches to promoting the health of neurons in the aging brain.
Researchers from the USF Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair tested two groups of aged laboratory rats; one group received NT-020 and another, the control group, did not. In the NT-020 group, the process by which neurons are generated -- called neurogenesis -- increased. The study was published in the current issue of Rejuvenation Research (Vol. 13 No. 5, June, 2010). The NT-020 formula was patented by USF and licensed to Natura Therapeutics, Inc.
Date: July 19, 2010
Summary:
A combination of nutrients called NT-020 promoted adult neural stem cell proliferation in aged rats and boosted their memory performance, reported University of South Florida researchers studying natural therapeutic approaches to promoting the health of neurons in the aging brain.
Researchers from the USF Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair tested two groups of aged laboratory rats; one group received NT-020 and another, the control group, did not. In the NT-020 group, the process by which neurons are generated -- called neurogenesis -- increased. The study was published in the current issue of Rejuvenation Research (Vol. 13 No. 5, June, 2010). The NT-020 formula was patented by USF and licensed to Natura Therapeutics, Inc.
Reprogrammed Cells 'Remember,' Retain Characteristics of Their Cells of Origin
Source: Massachusetts General Hospital
Date: July 19, 2010
Summary:
Investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine have confirmed that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) retain some characteristics of the cells from which they were derived, something that could both assist and impede potential clinical and research uses. In their report that will be published in Nature Biotechnology and has received early online release, the researchers also describe finding that these cellular "memories" fade and disappear as cell lines are cultured through successive generations.
Date: July 19, 2010
Summary:
Investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine have confirmed that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) retain some characteristics of the cells from which they were derived, something that could both assist and impede potential clinical and research uses. In their report that will be published in Nature Biotechnology and has received early online release, the researchers also describe finding that these cellular "memories" fade and disappear as cell lines are cultured through successive generations.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Unearthing King Tet: Key Protein Influences Stem Cell Fate
Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Date: July 16, 2010
Summary:
Take a skin cell from a patient with Type 1 diabetes. Strip out everything that made it a skin cell, then reprogram it to grow into a colony of pancreatic beta cells. Implant these into your patient and voilà! She’s producing her own insulin like a pro.
This type of personalized therapy is the ultimate goal of most stem cell research. But to reliably achieve that goal for treating diabetes and other diseases, there’s a whole network of genes, proteins and miniscule chemical reactions to decipher first.
Findings published today in the journal Nature put us a step closer to untangling that web. University of North Carolina biochemist Yi Zhang, PhD and his team have discovered that a protein called Tet 1 helps stem cells renew themselves and stay pluripotent—able to become any type of cell in the body.
Date: July 16, 2010
Summary:
Take a skin cell from a patient with Type 1 diabetes. Strip out everything that made it a skin cell, then reprogram it to grow into a colony of pancreatic beta cells. Implant these into your patient and voilà! She’s producing her own insulin like a pro.
This type of personalized therapy is the ultimate goal of most stem cell research. But to reliably achieve that goal for treating diabetes and other diseases, there’s a whole network of genes, proteins and miniscule chemical reactions to decipher first.
Findings published today in the journal Nature put us a step closer to untangling that web. University of North Carolina biochemist Yi Zhang, PhD and his team have discovered that a protein called Tet 1 helps stem cells renew themselves and stay pluripotent—able to become any type of cell in the body.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Blind Mice Can 'See' Thanks to Special Retinal Cells
Source: Johns Hopkins University
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
A study published July 15 in the journal Neuron, provides new hope to people who have severe vision impairments or who are blind. The study shows mice without rods and cones function can still see -- and not just light, but also patterns and images -- thanks to a third kind of photosensitive cell in the retina. Johns Hopkins University researchers found that mice that didn't have any rods and cones function could still see -- and not just light, but also patterns and images -- courtesy of special photosensitive cells in the rodents' retinas. Until now, it was presumed that those cells, called intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells, (or ipRGCs), didn't play a role in image formation, but instead served other functions, such as dictating when the animals went to sleep or woke up. (All mammals, including humans, have ipRGCs, as well as rods and cones.)
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
A study published July 15 in the journal Neuron, provides new hope to people who have severe vision impairments or who are blind. The study shows mice without rods and cones function can still see -- and not just light, but also patterns and images -- thanks to a third kind of photosensitive cell in the retina. Johns Hopkins University researchers found that mice that didn't have any rods and cones function could still see -- and not just light, but also patterns and images -- courtesy of special photosensitive cells in the rodents' retinas. Until now, it was presumed that those cells, called intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells, (or ipRGCs), didn't play a role in image formation, but instead served other functions, such as dictating when the animals went to sleep or woke up. (All mammals, including humans, have ipRGCs, as well as rods and cones.)
Stanford Develops New Method To Grow Adult Stem Cells
Source: KGO AM 810 - San Francisco, CA
Date: July 15, 2010
Stanford researchers have come up with a better petri dish. KGO's Jenna Lane explains it's a special surface for growing stem cells.
Date: July 15, 2010
Stanford researchers have come up with a better petri dish. KGO's Jenna Lane explains it's a special surface for growing stem cells.
New discovery brings hope to treatment of incurable blood cancer
Source: Uppsala University
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
Multiple myeloma is one of the most common blood cancers, and at present considered to be incurable. In a new study from Uppsala University, researchers now present a conceptually new model for the development and progression of multiple myeloma. The study was done in collaboration with Vrije Universitet Brussels and is published in the July edition of the on-line journal PLoS ONE.
Using large cohorts of myeloma patients the researchers have identified a profile of genes that are silenced by epigenetic mechanisms in the malignant plasma cell. The silenced gene profile was compared and contrasted to normal plasma cells, which are highly specialised and for which growth and lifetime is tightly controlled.
The silenced genes have a common denominator in being targets and controlled by the Polycomb repressor complex (PcG). This complex has previously been implicated in self-renewal and division of normal embryonic stem cells. In the study the researchers found that inhibitors of PcG also could decrease the growth of tumour cells in an animal model of myeloma.
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
Multiple myeloma is one of the most common blood cancers, and at present considered to be incurable. In a new study from Uppsala University, researchers now present a conceptually new model for the development and progression of multiple myeloma. The study was done in collaboration with Vrije Universitet Brussels and is published in the July edition of the on-line journal PLoS ONE.
Using large cohorts of myeloma patients the researchers have identified a profile of genes that are silenced by epigenetic mechanisms in the malignant plasma cell. The silenced gene profile was compared and contrasted to normal plasma cells, which are highly specialised and for which growth and lifetime is tightly controlled.
The silenced genes have a common denominator in being targets and controlled by the Polycomb repressor complex (PcG). This complex has previously been implicated in self-renewal and division of normal embryonic stem cells. In the study the researchers found that inhibitors of PcG also could decrease the growth of tumour cells in an animal model of myeloma.
Scientists develop new way to grow adult stem cells in culture
Source: Stanford University Medical Center
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a technique they believe will help scientists overcome a major hurdle to the use of adult stem cells for treating muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting disorders that accompany aging or disease: They've found that growing muscle stem cells on a specially developed synthetic matrix that mimics the elasticity of real muscle allows them to maintain their self-renewing properties.
Adult stem cells already exist in the body, and are important in regenerating tissues like blood, muscles and neurons in the brain. But scientists have struggled to produce them in quantities needed for therapies because the cells differentiate and lose their "stemness" as soon as they're placed in a tissue culture dish. This new method of growing the cells creates a way to study the behavior of many types of adult stem cells in culture and may revolutionize the ability to produce these cells for future therapies, say the researchers. The research will be published online July 15 in Science Express.
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a technique they believe will help scientists overcome a major hurdle to the use of adult stem cells for treating muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting disorders that accompany aging or disease: They've found that growing muscle stem cells on a specially developed synthetic matrix that mimics the elasticity of real muscle allows them to maintain their self-renewing properties.
Adult stem cells already exist in the body, and are important in regenerating tissues like blood, muscles and neurons in the brain. But scientists have struggled to produce them in quantities needed for therapies because the cells differentiate and lose their "stemness" as soon as they're placed in a tissue culture dish. This new method of growing the cells creates a way to study the behavior of many types of adult stem cells in culture and may revolutionize the ability to produce these cells for future therapies, say the researchers. The research will be published online July 15 in Science Express.
Researchers Reverse Cognitive Decline in Fruit Flies With Alzheimer’s Gene Mutation
Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
PHILADELPHIA – Investigators have found that fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) males -- in which the activity of an Alzheimer’s disease protein is reduced by 50 percent -- show impairments in learning and memory as they age. What’s more, the researchers were able to prevent the age-related deficits by treating the flies with drugs such as lithium, or by genetic manipulations that reduced nerve-cell signaling.
The research team -- Thomas A. Jongens, Ph.D., associate professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Sean M. J. McBride M.D, Ph.D. and Thomas McDonald M.D., at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and Catherine Choi M.D., Ph.D. at Drexel University College of Medicine – worked with the familial form of Alzheimer’s disease (FAD), an aggressive form of the disease that is caused by mutations in one of the two copies of the presenilin (PS) or amyloid precursor protein (APP) genes. Studies in animal models have previously shown that the FAD-linked PS mutations lead to less presenilin (psn) protein activity.
Their findings are published in this week’s issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Date: July 15, 2010
Summary:
PHILADELPHIA – Investigators have found that fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) males -- in which the activity of an Alzheimer’s disease protein is reduced by 50 percent -- show impairments in learning and memory as they age. What’s more, the researchers were able to prevent the age-related deficits by treating the flies with drugs such as lithium, or by genetic manipulations that reduced nerve-cell signaling.
The research team -- Thomas A. Jongens, Ph.D., associate professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Sean M. J. McBride M.D, Ph.D. and Thomas McDonald M.D., at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and Catherine Choi M.D., Ph.D. at Drexel University College of Medicine – worked with the familial form of Alzheimer’s disease (FAD), an aggressive form of the disease that is caused by mutations in one of the two copies of the presenilin (PS) or amyloid precursor protein (APP) genes. Studies in animal models have previously shown that the FAD-linked PS mutations lead to less presenilin (psn) protein activity.
Their findings are published in this week’s issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Stem cells to aid study of Parkinson's
Source: University of Oxford
Date: 15 July 2010
Summary:
A new stem cell technology is to be used by Oxford University researchers to better understand the causes of Parkinson’s disease. The technique will use skin samples to grow the brain cells thought to be responsible for the onset of Parkinson’s disease, allowing these important neurons to be studied in detail.
Researchers will gather data from over 1,000 patients with early stage Parkinson’s disease and take small samples of skin tissue to grow special stem cells – induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). iPS cells can be generated from accessible tissue such as the skin and then used to generate specific types of cell. The researchers will use the iPS cells to grow dopamine neurons, the brain cells responsible for the production of dopamine. It is these cells which die in patients with Parkinson’s, leading to the onset of the disease.
Date: 15 July 2010
Summary:
A new stem cell technology is to be used by Oxford University researchers to better understand the causes of Parkinson’s disease. The technique will use skin samples to grow the brain cells thought to be responsible for the onset of Parkinson’s disease, allowing these important neurons to be studied in detail.
Researchers will gather data from over 1,000 patients with early stage Parkinson’s disease and take small samples of skin tissue to grow special stem cells – induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). iPS cells can be generated from accessible tissue such as the skin and then used to generate specific types of cell. The researchers will use the iPS cells to grow dopamine neurons, the brain cells responsible for the production of dopamine. It is these cells which die in patients with Parkinson’s, leading to the onset of the disease.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Genetic mechanism once thought rare may allow rapid cell production
Source: Children's Hospital Boston
Date: July 8, 2010
Summary:
We take our blood for granted, but its creation requires a complicated series of steps, starting with the formation of blood stem cells during early embryonic development, followed by progressive differentiation into the progenitors of red cells, white cells and platelets, and ultimately the full set of blood cells. Now, in the July 9 issue of Cell, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report a surprising twist in how mature red blood cells form - which may explain the body's ability to rapidly replenish them in response to injury.
Date: July 8, 2010
Summary:
We take our blood for granted, but its creation requires a complicated series of steps, starting with the formation of blood stem cells during early embryonic development, followed by progressive differentiation into the progenitors of red cells, white cells and platelets, and ultimately the full set of blood cells. Now, in the July 9 issue of Cell, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report a surprising twist in how mature red blood cells form - which may explain the body's ability to rapidly replenish them in response to injury.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Researchers identify factors behind blood-making stem cells
Source: University of Montreal
Date: July 6, 2010
Summary:
A team of researchers from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal have made significant progress in the understanding of blood-producing (hematopoietic) stem cells. The study led by IRIC Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, Dr. Guy Sauvageau, identifies factors that control the production of hematopoietic stem cells. Published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the research offers interesting insight critical to the development of novel regenerative therapies and treatments for leukemia.
Date: July 6, 2010
Summary:
A team of researchers from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal have made significant progress in the understanding of blood-producing (hematopoietic) stem cells. The study led by IRIC Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, Dr. Guy Sauvageau, identifies factors that control the production of hematopoietic stem cells. Published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the research offers interesting insight critical to the development of novel regenerative therapies and treatments for leukemia.
Neural stem cells attack glioblastoma cells
Source: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Date: July 6, 2010
Summary:
In their latest research, scientists of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have demonstrated how the brain's own stem cells and precursor cells control the growth of glioblastomas. Of all brain tumors, glioblastomas are among the most common and most aggressive. Dr. Sridhar Reddy Chirasani, Professor Helmut Kettenmann and Dr. Rainer Glass have now shown in cell culture and mouse model experiments just how the body's own protective mechanism they identified in an earlier study, actually works (Brain, July 6, 2010).
Glioblastomas are brain tumors that are most common in adults in their mid-fifties or early sixties. The causes for developing the disease are not yet known. Researchers assume that misdirected neural stem cells / precursor cells mutate into cancer cells and can form glioblastomas.
Date: July 6, 2010
Summary:
In their latest research, scientists of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have demonstrated how the brain's own stem cells and precursor cells control the growth of glioblastomas. Of all brain tumors, glioblastomas are among the most common and most aggressive. Dr. Sridhar Reddy Chirasani, Professor Helmut Kettenmann and Dr. Rainer Glass have now shown in cell culture and mouse model experiments just how the body's own protective mechanism they identified in an earlier study, actually works (Brain, July 6, 2010).
Glioblastomas are brain tumors that are most common in adults in their mid-fifties or early sixties. The causes for developing the disease are not yet known. Researchers assume that misdirected neural stem cells / precursor cells mutate into cancer cells and can form glioblastomas.
Researchers Create HIV-Resistant Cells
Source: University of Southern California
Date: July 6, 2010
Summary:
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC successfully have transplanted blood stem cells modified to be resistant to HIV into mice, allowing the animals to control HIV infections. If the approach can be translated to human patients, it would enable the long-term generation of HIV-resistant T cells in a patient’s body, and the potential for the patient’s own cells to suppress HIV. The strategy is explained in a new study published online in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The approach targets a gene called CCR5, one of the two gateway molecules that HIV uses to enter human cells. Cannon’s strategy arose from the observation that people with a mutation in a gene called CCR5 are naturally resistant to infection with the most common strains of HIV and do not develop AIDS.
The team used enzymes called zinc finger nucleases — which physically cut DNA — to knock out the the CCR5 gene in human blood stem cells. The researchers transplanted these modified stem cells into mice, where they developed into mature cells of the human immune system, including the T cells that HIV infects. When the researchers then infected the animals with HIV, they found that the mice were able to maintain normal levels of the human T cells and suppress HIV to very low levels, unlike control mice that received unmodified stem cells.
Date: July 6, 2010
Summary:
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC successfully have transplanted blood stem cells modified to be resistant to HIV into mice, allowing the animals to control HIV infections. If the approach can be translated to human patients, it would enable the long-term generation of HIV-resistant T cells in a patient’s body, and the potential for the patient’s own cells to suppress HIV. The strategy is explained in a new study published online in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The approach targets a gene called CCR5, one of the two gateway molecules that HIV uses to enter human cells. Cannon’s strategy arose from the observation that people with a mutation in a gene called CCR5 are naturally resistant to infection with the most common strains of HIV and do not develop AIDS.
The team used enzymes called zinc finger nucleases — which physically cut DNA — to knock out the the CCR5 gene in human blood stem cells. The researchers transplanted these modified stem cells into mice, where they developed into mature cells of the human immune system, including the T cells that HIV infects. When the researchers then infected the animals with HIV, they found that the mice were able to maintain normal levels of the human T cells and suppress HIV to very low levels, unlike control mice that received unmodified stem cells.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Biologists Find Way to Lower Tumor Risk in Stem Cell Therapies
Source: University of California - San Diego
Date: July 2, 2010
Summary:
One of the characteristics of embryonic stem cells is their ability to form unusual tumors called teratomas. These tumors, which contain a mixture of cells from a variety of tissues and organs of the body, are typically benign. But they present a major obstacle to the development of human embryonic stem cell therapies that seek to treat a variety of human ailments such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, genetic blood disorders and spinal cord injuries.
Now a team of biologists at UC San Diego funded by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s stem-cell funding agency, has discovered a way to limit the formation of teratomas. In this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that they have identified a new signaling pathway critical for unlimited self propagation of embryonic stem cells. Using small molecule compounds that inhibit this pathway, the scientists were able to dramatically reduce the potential of embryonic stem cells to form teratomas.
Date: July 2, 2010
Summary:
One of the characteristics of embryonic stem cells is their ability to form unusual tumors called teratomas. These tumors, which contain a mixture of cells from a variety of tissues and organs of the body, are typically benign. But they present a major obstacle to the development of human embryonic stem cell therapies that seek to treat a variety of human ailments such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, genetic blood disorders and spinal cord injuries.
Now a team of biologists at UC San Diego funded by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s stem-cell funding agency, has discovered a way to limit the formation of teratomas. In this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that they have identified a new signaling pathway critical for unlimited self propagation of embryonic stem cells. Using small molecule compounds that inhibit this pathway, the scientists were able to dramatically reduce the potential of embryonic stem cells to form teratomas.
Scientists uncover important clues in the biology of stem cells
Source: Samuel Lunenfield Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital
Date: July 2, 2010
Summary:
Mount Sinai Hospital researchers including Drs. Andras Nagy and Jeff Wrana have discovered new insights into the genesis of stem cells, which will improve the efficiency of stem cell creation for use in tissue regeneration and in the development of new drugs. The study was published today in the leading biomedical journal Cell Stem Cell.
The goal of the study was to explore the process of changing fully mature cells of the body (known as somatic cells) into a pluripotent state (i.e., cells that can develop into most other cell types), and understand the molecular and genetic changes that occur during the cells’ reprogramming. Understanding this process will help researchers identify limitations in making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are a source of great hope for use in regenerative medicine, as well as in the development of new drugs to prevent and treat various diseases.
Date: July 2, 2010
Summary:
Mount Sinai Hospital researchers including Drs. Andras Nagy and Jeff Wrana have discovered new insights into the genesis of stem cells, which will improve the efficiency of stem cell creation for use in tissue regeneration and in the development of new drugs. The study was published today in the leading biomedical journal Cell Stem Cell.
The goal of the study was to explore the process of changing fully mature cells of the body (known as somatic cells) into a pluripotent state (i.e., cells that can develop into most other cell types), and understand the molecular and genetic changes that occur during the cells’ reprogramming. Understanding this process will help researchers identify limitations in making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are a source of great hope for use in regenerative medicine, as well as in the development of new drugs to prevent and treat various diseases.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Biologists discover how T cells make a commitment
Source: California Institute of Technology
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
PASADENA, Calif.—When does a cell decide its particular identity? According to biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in the case of T cells—immune system cells that help destroy invading pathogens—the answer is when the cells begin expressing a particular gene called Bcl11b. The activation of Bcl11b is a "clean, nearly perfect indicator of when cells have decided to go on the T-cell pathway," says Ellen Rothenberg, the Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech and senior author of a paper about the discovery that appears in the July 2 issue of the journal Science.
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
PASADENA, Calif.—When does a cell decide its particular identity? According to biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in the case of T cells—immune system cells that help destroy invading pathogens—the answer is when the cells begin expressing a particular gene called Bcl11b. The activation of Bcl11b is a "clean, nearly perfect indicator of when cells have decided to go on the T-cell pathway," says Ellen Rothenberg, the Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech and senior author of a paper about the discovery that appears in the July 2 issue of the journal Science.
Work-life balance: Brain stem cells need their rest, too
Source: Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
LA JOLLA, CA—Stem cells in the brain remain dormant until called upon to divide and make more neurons. However, little has been known about the molecular guards that keep them quiet. Now scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified the signal that prevents stem cells from proliferating, protecting the brain against too much cell division and ensuring a pool of neural stem cells that lasts a lifetime.
The research, which will be published in the July 1 issue of Cell Stem Cell, highlights the importance of bone morphogenetic factor protein (BMP) signaling for the maintenance of a neural stem cell reservoir throughout adult life and may provide the key to understanding the interplay between exercise, aging and neurogenesis.
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
LA JOLLA, CA—Stem cells in the brain remain dormant until called upon to divide and make more neurons. However, little has been known about the molecular guards that keep them quiet. Now scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified the signal that prevents stem cells from proliferating, protecting the brain against too much cell division and ensuring a pool of neural stem cells that lasts a lifetime.
The research, which will be published in the July 1 issue of Cell Stem Cell, highlights the importance of bone morphogenetic factor protein (BMP) signaling for the maintenance of a neural stem cell reservoir throughout adult life and may provide the key to understanding the interplay between exercise, aging and neurogenesis.
Gene regulating human brain development identified
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
With more than 100 billion neurons and billions of other specialized cells, the human brain is a marvel of nature. It is the organ that makes people unique. Now, writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell (July 1, 2010), a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has identified a single gene that seems to be a master regulator of human brain development, guiding undifferentiated stem cells down tightly defined pathways to becoming all of the many types of cells that make up the brain.
The new finding is important because it reveals the main genetic factor responsible for instructing cells at the earliest stages of embryonic development to become the cells of the brain and spinal cord. Identifying the gene — known as Pax6 — is a first critical step toward routinely forging customized brain cells in the lab. What's more, the work contrasts with findings from animal models such as the mouse and zebrafish, pillars of developmental biology, and thus helps cement the importance of the models being developed from human embryonic stem cells.
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
With more than 100 billion neurons and billions of other specialized cells, the human brain is a marvel of nature. It is the organ that makes people unique. Now, writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell (July 1, 2010), a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has identified a single gene that seems to be a master regulator of human brain development, guiding undifferentiated stem cells down tightly defined pathways to becoming all of the many types of cells that make up the brain.
The new finding is important because it reveals the main genetic factor responsible for instructing cells at the earliest stages of embryonic development to become the cells of the brain and spinal cord. Identifying the gene — known as Pax6 — is a first critical step toward routinely forging customized brain cells in the lab. What's more, the work contrasts with findings from animal models such as the mouse and zebrafish, pillars of developmental biology, and thus helps cement the importance of the models being developed from human embryonic stem cells.
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