Tracking protein’s role in stem cell function

26-Mar-2018 - MCL-1 is a member of the BCL-2 family of proteins important for blocking apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Many types of cancer cells escape the body’s effort to kill them by overexpressing MCL-1. However, new evidence from Vanderbilt University researchers indicates that MCL-1 also helps ...

First stem cells using CRISPR genome activation created

22-Jan-2018 - In a scientific first, researchers at the Gladstone Institutes turned skin cells from mice into stem cells by activating a specific gene in the cells using CRISPR technology. The innovative approach offers a potentially simpler technique to produce the valuable cell type and provides important ...

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 ...

Learning from the linker

New study sheds light on cellular reprogramming

07-Feb-2013 - Mature cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency and thus regain the ability to divide and differentiate into specialized cell types. Although these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) represent a milestone in stem cell research, many of the biochemical processes that underlie ...

MIT researchers develop a better way to grow stem cells

23-Aug-2010 - Human pluripotent stem cells, which can become any other kind of body cell, hold great potential to treat a wide range of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. However, scientists who work with such cells have had trouble growing large enough ...

RNA offers a safer way to reprogram cells

New technique could revert cells to immature state that can develop into any cell type

28-Jul-2010 - In recent years, scientists have shown that they can reprogram human skin cells to an immature state that allows the cells to become any type of cell. This ability, known as pluripotency, holds the promise of treating diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease by transforming the patients' ...

Virus-free technique enables Stanford scientists to easily make stem cells pluripotent

09-Feb-2010 - Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on ...

New research shows versatility of amniotic fluid stem cells

25-Nov-2009 - For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that stem cells found in amniotic fluid meet an important test of potential to become specialized cell types, which suggests they may be useful for treating a wider array of diseases and conditions than scientists originally thought. Reporting in ...

'Liposuction leftovers' easily converted to IPS cells, Stanford study shows

09-Sep-2009 - Globs of human fat removed during liposuction conceal versatile cells that are more quickly and easily coaxed to become induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, than are the skin cells most often used by researchers, according to a new study from Stanford's School of Medicine. "We've ...

Reprogramming Human Cells Without Inserting Genes

Research Team at WPI and CellThera Discovers a Way toTurn on Stem Cell Genes in Human Skin Cells Without Using Viruses or Inserting New Genes

31-Jul-2009 - A research team comprised of faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center (LSBC) and investigators at CellThera, a private company also located at the LSBC, has discovered a novel way to turn on stem cell genes in human fibroblasts (skin cells) ...