Drill primate; Photo credit: San Diego Zoo
A description of the accomplishment appeared in an advance online edition of the journal Nature Methods on September 4, 2011.
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Archive for the ‘stem cell’ Category
New discovery may save endangered animals from extinction
:: Posted by avi_wener on 09-05-2011
Cancer cells as cross dressers
:: Posted by avi_wener on 08-22-2011While many scientists have espoused the theory that each type of cancer cell comes from a unique cancer stem cell, research out of the Broad Institute of MIT, Harvard and Whitehead Institute points to a much more decentralized society, with cancer cells able to interconvert between different types.
To characterize how cancer maintains cellular equilibrium, the researchers studied two different breast cancer cell lines and examined three different cell states that were similar to normal breast epithelial cell types, known as basal, luminal, and stem-like. The team sorted the different cell types from each other and then grew their relatively pure populations for six days. Remarkably, each of the three populations quickly returned to the same equilibrium – and populations of non-stem cells generated new stem-like cells.
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Citation: Gupta PB et al. Stochastic state transitions give rise to phenotypic equilibrium in populations of cancer cells. Cell. August 19, 2011. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.07.026
There is still hope for stem cell research
:: Posted by avi_wener on 08-07-2011Stem cell scientists, do not despair! Despite concerns over iPSC-derived teratomas and altered genomic and epigenomic states, researchers at UC Davis have written a roadmap for finding solutions to the problems identified with iPSCs which has been published last week in the journal Cell.
According to Paul S. Knoepfler, UC Davis associate professor of cell biology and human anatomy:
iPSCs offer the potential to treat many diseases as an alternative or adjuvant therapy to drugs or surgery. Problems that have been identified with their use likely can be overcome, allowing iPSCs to jump from the laboratory dish to patients who could benefit from them.
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A Scientific Legend’s Approach to Solving Problems and Developing Technologies
:: Posted by avi_wener on 07-26-2011George Church is one of the founders of the human genome project and continues to play an important role in the personal genome project, stem cell research and biofuel research. In this video, Dr. Sriram Kosuri, a Postdoctoral fellow in George’s lab at Harvard University discusses the Church lab’s approach to solving problems and developing technologies.
First mapping of methylation event in embryonic stem cells
:: Posted by avi_wener on 07-25-2011Stem cell researchers at UCLA have generated the first genome-wide mapping of a DNA modification called 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in embryonic stem cells, and discovered that it is predominantly found in genes that are turned on, or active.
According to Steven E. Jacobsen, a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the Life Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, 5hmC is formed from the DNA base cytosine by adding a methyl group and then a hydroxy group. The molecule is important in epigenetics because the newly formed hydroxymethyl group on the cytosine can potentially switch a gene on and off.
The molecule 5hmC was only recently discovered, and its function has not been clearly understood, Jacobsen said. Until now, researchers didn’t know where 5hmC was located within the genome.
For more read UCLA scientists complete first mapping of molecule found in human embryonic stem cells