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Adult-to-Stem Cells
Researchers have grown human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) from an adult’s skin cells. The team used somatic cell nuclear transfer, a technique in which the nucleus of a female egg cell is removed and replaced with the nucleus of a donor’s cell – the same technique used to clone Dolly the sheep in 1996. Although the technique was first used last year to create hESCs from a donor nucleus taken from an infant, the current study used skin cells from a two men – one 35 years old and the other 75 years old. [Press release from The Scientist discussing online prepublication in Cell Stem Cell]
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| PUBLICATIONS (Ranked by impact factor of the journal) |
Auxetic Nuclei in Embryonic Stem Cells Exiting Pluripotency
It has been hypothesized that, before irreversibly committing, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) pass through at least one metastable transition state. This transition would represent a gateway for differentiation and reprogramming of somatic cells. Scientists showed that during the transition, the nuclei of ESCs are auxetic: they exhibit a cross-sectional expansion when stretched and a cross-sectional contraction when compressed, and their stiffness increases under compression. [Nat Mater]
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JMJD5 Regulates Cell Cycle and Pluripotency in Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Researchers identified JMJD5, a Jumonji C domain containing protein that, when depleted in human embryonic stem cells, causes the accumulation of cells in G1 phase, loss of pluripotency and subsequent differentiation into multiple lineages, most prominently ectoderm and trophectoderm. [Stem Cells]
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Parthenogenetic Embryonic Stem Cells Are an Effective Cell Source for Therapeutic Liver Repopulation
Investigators determined whether parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell derivatives are effective in rescuing mice with lethal liver failure due to deficiency of fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase. [Stem Cells]
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Switching between Self-Renewal and Lineage Commitment of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via Cell-Substrate and Cell-Cell Interactions on a Dendrimer-Immobilized Surface
Understanding mechanisms that govern cell fate determination of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) could assist in maintenance of the undifferentiated state during cell expansion. Investigators used polyamidoamine dendrimer surfaces with first-generation, third-generation and fifth-generation of dendron structure in cultures of hiPSCs with SNL feeder cells. [Biomaterials]
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Reprogramming of the Chick Retinal Pigmented Epithelium after Retinal Injury
Researchers investigated the expression of pluripotency inducing factors in the retinal pigmented epithelium after retinectomy (injury) and during transdifferentiation in the presence of fibroblast growth factor 2. [BMC Biol]
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Reactive Oxygen Species Regulate the Quiescence of CD34-Positive Cells Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Few studies have examined the generation and function of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human embryonic vascular development. The sources of ROS and their roles in the vascular differentiation of human embryonic stem cells were investigated. [Cardiovasc Res]
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Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Using DNA-Fragmented Sperm in Mice Negatively Affects Embryo-Derived Embryonic Stem Cells, Reduces the Fertility of Male Offspring and Induces Heritable Changes in Epialleles
Investigators examined whether embryonic stem cells derived from DNA-fragmented sperm (DFS)-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) embryos reflect the abnormalities observed in the DFS-ICSI progeny, the effect of DFS-ICSI on male fertility and whether DFS-ICSI induces epigenetic changes that lead to a modified heritable phenotype. [PLoS One]
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SIRT1 Is Necessary for Proficient Telomere Elongation and Genomic Stability of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Because telomere elongation is an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) hallmark, scientists set out to study the role of SIRT1 in pluripotency in the setting of murine embryonic fibroblasts reprogramming into iPSCs. They found that SIRT1 is required for efficient postreprogramming telomere elongation, and that this effect is mediated by a c-MYC-dependent regulation of the mTert gene. [Stem Cell Rep]
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| REVIEWS |
Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells: A New Source for Cell-Based Therapeutics?
The promise of iPS cell derivatives for therapeutic applications is encouraging albeit very early in development, with the first clinical study currently ongoing in Japan. Many challenges are yet to be circumvented before this technology can be clinically translated widely though. The delivery and expression of the reprogramming factors, the genomic instability, epigenetic memory and impact of cell propagation in culture are only some of the concerns. [J Control Release]
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Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the ESC & iPSC research field.
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| POLICY NEWS |
NIH to Relax ‘Two Strikes’ Grant Submission Policy
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is dropping a policy that gave researchers only one chance to revise a rejected grant application before having to start over with a new idea – a rule that was especially hard on young investigators. Instead, the agency will allow an applicant to resubmit the identical proposal as many times as they like as a new submission. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial
U.S. Biomedical Research ‘Unsustainable,’ Prominent Researchers Warn
The U.S. biomedical science system “is on an unsustainable path” and needs major reform, four prominent researchers write in an opinion piece published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [ScienceInsider]
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