New research opens door to expanding stem cells available for transplants

07-Aug-2018 - Researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and collaborators have identified a way to expand blood-forming, adult stem cells from human umbilical cord blood (hUCB). This development could make these cells available to more people, and be more readily accepted in those who undergo ...

Genetic cross-talk key to cell balance

07-Jun-2017 - Competing regulatory genes "talk" to each other to maintain balance of cell state, according to new research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. In a study Stowers scientists Bony De Kumar, Ph.D., and Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., provide evidence of direct cross-regulatory feedback, or ...

Planaria deploy an ancient gene expression program

14-Apr-2014 - As multicellular creatures go, planaria worms are hardly glamorous. To say they appear rudimentary is more like it. These tiny aquatic flatworms that troll ponds and standing water resemble brown tubes equipped with just the basics: a pair of beady light-sensing "eyespots" on their head and a ...

Conserved nuclear envelope protein uses a shuttle service

12-Feb-2014 - Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have glimpsed two proteins working together inside living cells to facilitate communication between the cell's nucleus and its exterior compartment, the cytoplasm. The research provides new clues into how a crucial protein that is found in ...

Dampened mTOR signaling with the developmental disorder Roberts syndrome

08-Oct-2013 - Children born with developmental disorders called cohesinopathies can suffer severe consequences, including intellectual disabilities, limb shortening, craniofacial anomalies, and slowed growth. Researchers know which mutations underlie some cohesinopathies, but have developed little ...

Ready. Get set. Repress!

Stowers scientists manipulate the Set2 pathway to show how genes are faithfully copied

24-Aug-2012 - The first step in gene expression is the exact copying of a segment of DNA by the enzyme known as RNA polymerase II, or pol II, into a mirror image RNA. Scientists recognize that pol II does not transcribe RNA via a smooth glide down the DNA highway but instead encounters an obstacle course of ...

A double ring ceremony prepares telomerase RNA to wed its protein partner

27-Mar-2012 - Few molecules are more interesting than DNA — except of course RNA. After two decades of research, that "other macromolecule" is no longer considered a mere messenger between glamorous DNA and protein-synthesizing machines. We now know that RNA has been leading a secret life, regulating gene ...

That which does not kill yeast makes it stronger

Stress-induced genomic instability facilitates rapid cellular adaption in yeast

31-Jan-2012 - Cells trying to keep pace with constantly changing environmental conditions need to strike a fine balance between maintaining their genomic integrity and allowing enough genetic flexibility to adapt to inhospitable conditions. In their latest study, researchers at the Stowers Institute for ...

How old yeast cells send off their daughter cells without the baggage of old age

28-Nov-2011 - The accumulation of damaged protein is a hallmark of aging that not even the humble baker's yeast can escape. Yet, aged yeast cells spawn off youthful daughter cells without any of the telltale protein clumps. Now, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research may have found an ...

Stowers scientists successfully expand bone marrow-derived stem cells in culture

16-Sep-2011 - 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 ...