Fruit fly studies guide investigators to misregulated mechanism in human cancers Changes in how DNA interacts with histones—the proteins that package DNA—regulate many fundamental cell activities from stem cells maturing into a specific body cell type or blood cells becoming leukemic. These interactions are governed by a biochemical tug of war between repressors and activators, which chemically modify histones signaling them to clamp down tighter on DNA or move
Molecular Biology Source: Stowers Institute for Medical Research
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Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, 4:30pm Rating: | Views: 1250 | Comments: 0
Study gives insight into subtle genomic differences among our own cells Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have demonstrated, in a study conducted jointly with researchers at Yale University, that induced-pluripotent stem cells — the embryonic-stem-cell lookalikes whose discovery a few years ago won this year's Nobel Prize in medicine — are not as genetically unstable as was thought.
Genetics Source: Stanford University Medical Center
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Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, 1:30pm Rating: | Views: 1190 | Comments: 0
Skin cells reveal DNA's genetic mosaic The prevailing wisdom has been that every cell in the body contains identical DNA. However, a new study of stem cells derived from the skin has found that genetic variations are widespread in the body's tissues, a finding with profound implications for genetic screening, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers.
Genetics Source: Yale University
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Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, 1:00pm Rating: | Views: 1140 | Comments: 0
Cell biologists identify new protein key to asymmetric cell division Recently biologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by Wei-lih Lee have identified a new molecular player in asymmetric cell division, a regulatory protein named She1 whose role in chromosome- and spindle positioning wasn't known before. Asymmetric cell division is important in the self-renewal of stem cells and because it ensures that daughter cells have different
Molecular Biology Source: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
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Friday, Nov 09, 2012, 12:30pm Rating: | Views: 1608 | Comments: 0
Cells from skin create model of blinding eye disease For the first time, Wisconsin researchers have taken skin from patients and, using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, turned them into a laboratory model for an inherited type of macular degeneration.
Molecular Biology Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Friday, Nov 09, 2012, 8:30am Rating: | Views: 1217 | Comments: 0
Neuroscience Source: University of California - Irvine
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Thursday, Nov 08, 2012, 8:45am Rating: | Views: 1145 | Comments: 0
Feedback loop maintains basal cell population Notch – the protein that can help determine cell fate – maintains a stable population of basal cells in the prostate through a positive feedback loop system with another key protein – TGF beta (transforming growth factor beta), said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Molecular Biology Source: Baylor College of Medicine
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Friday, Nov 02, 2012, 12:15pm Rating: | Views: 1547 | Comments: 0
Scientists create 'endless supply' of myelin-forming cells In a new study appearing this month in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers have unlocked the complex cellular mechanics that instruct specific brain cells to continue to divide. This discovery overcomes a significant technical hurdle to potential human stem cell therapies; ensuring that an abundant supply of cells is available to study and ultimately treat people with diseases.
Neuroscience Source: University of Rochester Medical Center
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Friday, Nov 02, 2012, 11:00am Rating: | Views: 1390 | Comments: 0
How to make stem cells - nuclear reprogramming moves a step forward The idea of taking a mature cell and removing its identity (nuclear reprogramming) so that it can then become any kind of cell, holds great promise for repairing damaged tissue or replacing bone marrow after chemotherapy. Hot on the heels of his recent Nobel prize Dr John B. Gurdon has published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Epigenetics & Chromatin research showing that his
Molecular Biology Source: BioMed Central
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Monday, Oct 29, 2012, 12:00pm Rating: | Views: 1183 | Comments: 0
Researchers develop efficient, protein-based method for creating iPS cells Coaxing a humble skin cell to become a jack-of-all-trades pluripotent stem cell is feat so remarkable it was honored earlier this month with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Stem cell pioneer Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, showed that using a virus to add just four genes to the skin cell allowed it to become pluripotent, or able to achieve many different developmental fates
Stem cells Source: Stanford University Medical Center
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Friday, Oct 26, 2012, 12:30pm Rating: | Views: 1688 | Comments: 0
Anti-science beliefs in American politics; How Copernicus revolutionized the cosmos Writer Shawn Lawrence Otto traces the history of anti-science beliefs in the United States and says that too many political candidates today pander to this point of view on such hot-button issues as climate change, stem cell research and evolution.
Science Politics Source: Washington Post
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Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012, 9:27am Rating: | Views: 1118 | Comments: 0
Stem cell bodyguards Hiding deep inside the bone marrow are special cells. They wait patiently for the hour of need, at which point these blood forming stem cells can proliferate and differentiate into billions of mature blood immune cells to help the body cope with infection, for example, or extra red blood cells for low oxygen levels at high altitudes. Even in emergencies, however, the body keeps to a long-term plan
Immunology Source: Weizmann Institute of Science
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Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012, 8:30am Rating: | Views: 1184 | Comments: 0
Natural process activating brain's immune cells could point way to repairing damaged brain tissue The brain's key "breeder" cells, it turns out, do more than that. They secrete substances that boost the numbers and strength of critical brain-based immune cells believed to play a vital role in brain health. This finding adds a new dimension to our understanding of how resident stem cells and stem cell transplants may improve brain function.
Neuroscience Source: Stanford University Medical Center
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Monday, Oct 22, 2012, 11:30am Rating: | Views: 1192 | Comments: 0
Researchers discover new blood vessel-generating cell with therapeutic potential Researchers at the University of Helsinki believe they have discovered stem cells that play a decisive role in the growth of new blood vessels. If researchers learn to isolate and efficiently produce these stem cells found in blood vessel walls, the cells could offer new opportunities for developing therapeutics to treat diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study reporting the
Molecular Biology Source: Public Library of Science
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Wednesday, Oct 17, 2012, 2:45pm Rating: | Views: 1192 | Comments: 0
Science Politics Source: Science
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Tuesday, Oct 16, 2012, 8:41am Rating: | Views: 1100 | Comments: 0
Stem cells from muscle tissue may hold key to cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have taken the first steps to create neural-like stem cells from muscle tissue in animals. Details of the work are published in two complementary studies published in the September online issues of the journals Experimental Cell Research and Stem Cell Research.
Stem cells Source: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
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Monday, Oct 15, 2012, 10:15am Rating: | Views: 1134 | Comments: 0
A white mouse These proteins are required for melanocyte stem cell self-maintenance and, as such, correct pigmentation throughout the mice's life span. Without these two proteins, the mice's fur turns white.
Their research is published in the review 'Cell Report' and paves the way for serious possibilities in terms of stopping the formation of melanomas, tumours that originate from melanocyte cel
Molecular Biology Source: INSERM (Institut national de la sante et de la recherche medicale)
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Monday, Oct 08, 2012, 8:30am Rating: | Views: 1194 | Comments: 0
Video: New human neurons from adult cells right there in the brain Researchers have discovered a way to generate new human neurons from another type of adult cell found in our brains. The discovery, reported in the October 5th issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, is one step toward cell-based therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Stem cells Source: Cell Press
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Friday, Oct 05, 2012, 11:30am Rating: | Views: 1343 | Comments: 0
Study suggests stem cell transplant survivors at increased risk of developing heart disease New research appearing online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), suggests that long-term survivors of hematopoietic cell transplants (HCT) are at an increased risk of developing heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol when compared to the general population.
Health Source: American Society of Hematology
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Thursday, Oct 04, 2012, 12:00pm Rating: | Views: 1190 | Comments: 0
Study sheds light on bone marrow stem cell therapy for pancreatic recovery Researchers at Cedars-Sinai's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have found that a blood vessel-building gene boosts the ability of human bone marrow stem cells to sustain pancreatic recovery in a laboratory mouse model of insulin-dependent diabetes.
Health Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
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Wednesday, Oct 03, 2012, 4:45pm Rating: | Views: 1346 | Comments: 0
Stem cells improve visual function in blind mice An experimental treatment for blindness, developed from a patient's skin cells, improved the vision of blind mice in a study conducted by Columbia ophthalmologists and stem cell researchers.
Stem cells Source: Columbia University Medical Center
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Tuesday, Oct 02, 2012, 1:15pm Rating: | Views: 1212 | Comments: 0
Researchers find multiple similarities between cancer cells and induced pluripotent stem cells UC Davis investigators have found new evidence that a promising type of stem cell now being considered for a variety of disease therapies is very similar to the type of cells that give rise to cancer. The findings suggest that although the cells -- known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) -- show substantial promise as a source of replacement cells and tissues to trea
Stem cells Source: University of California - Davis Health System
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Monday, Oct 01, 2012, 1:00pm Rating: | Views: 1191 | Comments: 0
Stem cells Source: Georgetown University Medical Center
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Friday, Sep 28, 2012, 8:00am Rating: | Views: 1147 | Comments: 0
Making it easier to make stem cells The process researchers use to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)—a special type of stem cell that can be made in the lab from any type of adult cell—is time consuming and inefficient. To speed things up, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) turned to kinase inhibitors. These chemical compounds block the act
Stem cells Source: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
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Wednesday, Sep 26, 2012, 11:45am Rating: | Views: 1162 | Comments: 0
Genetics Source: Salk Institute
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Wednesday, Sep 19, 2012, 1:45pm Rating: | Views: 1262 | Comments: 0
Probing matters of the heart The fate of an embryonic stem cell, which has the potential to become any type of body cell, is determined by a complex interaction of genes, proteins that bind DNA, and molecules that modify those genes and proteins.
Molecular Biology Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Monday, Sep 17, 2012, 10:45am Rating: | Views: 1082 | Comments: 0
Molecular beacons light up stem cell transformation A novel set of custom-designed "molecular beacons" allows scientists to monitor gene expression in living populations of stem cells as they turn into a specific tissue in real-time. The technology, which Brown University researchers describe in a new study, provides tissue engineers with a potentially powerful tool to discover what it may take to make stem cel
Molecular Biology Source: Brown University
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Wednesday, Sep 12, 2012, 12:15pm Rating: | Views: 1108 | Comments: 0
Stem-cell-protecting drug could prevent the harmful side effects of radiation therapy Radiation therapy is one of the most widely used cancer treatments, but it often damages normal tissue and can lead to debilitating conditions. A class of drugs known as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors can prevent radiation-induced tissue damage in mice by protecting normal stem cells that are crucial for tissue repair, according to a preclinical study published by Cell Press in th
Molecular Biology Source: University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
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Thursday, Sep 06, 2012, 8:30am Rating: | Views: 1178 | Comments: 0