Stem Cells News and Research

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Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Key Hox genes control stem cells involved in bone formation and repair

A new study discovered that genes that have long been known to regulate bone formation before birth also govern bone healing later in life.

From New York University (NYU) 21 Mar 2023

Study discovers the ability of certain blood immune cells to proliferate

The ability of a cell to divide, to proliferate, is essential for life and gives rise to the formation of complex organisms from a single cell.

20 Mar 2023

Understanding the factors that impact CRISPRa efficiency

Investigators, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and partners, utilized human stem cells and neurons to explore what attributes impact how well CRISPR activation works for different sets of genes.

14 Mar 2023

Study pinpoints a splicing deregulation that causes therapeutic vulnerability in pediatric AML

Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia or pAML is a childhood blood cancer, one that has proved confounding to clinicians and researchers, with a high relapse rate and relatively few identified genetic mutations (compared to the adult version) that might explain its cause.

8 Mar 2023

Researchers find methods to awaken and revive neural stem cells

Some areas of the adult brain contain quiescent, or dormant, neural stem cells that can potentially be reactivated to form new neurons. However, the transition from quiescence to proliferation is still poorly understood. A team led by scientists from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Lausanne (UNIL) has discovered the importance of cell metabolism in this process and identified how to wake up these neural stem cells and reactivate them. Biologists succeeded in increasing the number of new neurons in the brain of adult and even elderly mice. These results, promising for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, are to be discovered in the journal Science Advances.

2 Mar 2023

New molecular understanding of how head injury may contribute to glioma risk

Researchers from the UCL Cancer Institute have provided important molecular understanding of how injury may contribute to the development of a relatively rare but often aggressive form of brain tumor called a glioma.

27 Feb 2023

Synthetic hydrogels provide an effective scaffold for brain tissue growth

Synthetic hydrogels were shown to provide an effective scaffold for neuronal tissue growth in areas of brain damage, providing a possible approach for brain tissue reconstruction.

24 Feb 2023

Discovery of a lung stem cell subset provides opportunity for new COPD treatments

Respiratory viral infections pose significant morbidity and mortality to patients with chronic lung diseases like emphysema and COPD, causing exacerbations that drive destruction of normal lung tissue, and leading to one of the most common diagnoses for hospital admissions.

24 Feb 2023

Scientists receive $2.5 million NIH grant to define the role of lipid droplets in muscle stem cell function

A team of Purdue University scientists led by Shihuan Kuang has received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to define the role of lipid droplets in muscle stem cell function, a study with implications in both humans and livestock.

24 Feb 2023

Robust method for induced pluripotent stem cell culture

Different types of cells, such as the heart, liver, blood, and sperm cells, have characteristics that help them perform their specific functions in the body. In general, those traits are hard-wired. A heart cell will not randomly transform into a liver cell if not stimulated.

23 Feb 2023

Novel model system helps studying human ovarian biology

Despite the fact that we all start out as an egg cell in one of our mother's ovaries, these human reproductive organs are surprisingly under-studied. Scientists have been working on creating in vitro models of human ovaries so that we can learn more about them and develop treatments for ovarian conditions, but most existing models use a combination of human and mouse cells, which do not faithfully replicate human ovary functions and take a long time to grow in the lab.

22 Feb 2023

DNA methylation for precise gene expression regulation

If the genome is viewed as a guidebook for how a cell should operate, then annotations, highlights, and bookmarks are included on every page.

21 Feb 2023

Toxic protein likely to be the cause of two rare genetic disorders identified

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their co-workers reported that DUX4, a toxic protein produced by the body, might just be the reason for two completely different rare genetic disorders.

21 Feb 2023

Extended generation of blood cells in wild-type animals from pluripotent stem cells

Cells present in the blood like red blood cells, immune cells, and other crucial cell types are renewed continually from stem cells, the alleged hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs).

17 Feb 2023

Identifying mechanisms that may promote hair cell regeneration in mammals

Taking a bite of an apple is considered a healthy choice. But have you ever thought about putting in earplugs before your favorite band takes the stage?

14 Feb 2023

New software helps identify genes that play vital roles in the development

Computer software developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis can predict what happens to complex gene networks when individual genes are missing or dialed up more than usual.

14 Feb 2023

Large-scale differentiation of iPSC-derived motor neurons from ALS patients

A new Cedars-Sinai study in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the Answer ALS consortium has examined the expression of thousands of genes in stem cell generated motor neurons that are known to die in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurological disorder known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

10 Feb 2023

Researchers report the genome-wide atlas of chromatin-accessibility during stomatal development

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Washington have elucidated a mechanism that makes tiny plant stem cells destined to give rise to stomata, cellular valves of plants that facilitate global carbon cycles.

9 Feb 2023

Cochlear organoids provide a platform to understand sensorineural hearing loss

Disabling hearing loss affects one in every ten people and up to 25% of people over 60, according to the World Health Organization, and can have both genetic and environmental causes such as infections and noise exposure.

1 Feb 2023

Novel, more accurate computational tool for long-read RNA sequencing developed

On the journey from gene to protein, a nascent RNA molecule can be cut and joined, or spliced, in different ways before being translated into a protein.

31 Jan 2023