#stem cell differentiation

Adjustable Gels Used to Determine Those Molecules That Drive Stem Cell Differentiation

Scientists have been very interested in the details of stem cell differentiation. To that end, several laboratories have designed hydrogels that mimic the stiffness of biological tissue in order to grow stem cells and study their differentiation. In one enterprising laboratory, led by Rein Ulijn of the City University of New York and the University of Strathclyde, scientists have used a novel…

5 big picture stem cell trends at #ISSCR2016

Now that the ISSCR annual meeting is over, some overall stem cell trends are evident from the meeting in terms of the direction of the stem cell field. This was one of my favorite ISSCR meetings.

Translation expectation and upbeat tone. The overall vibe at the meeting was a sense of excitement and optimism about the field and where it stands in terms of advancing knowledge and translating stem…

Hematopoietic Stem Cells Use a Simple Heirarchy

New papers in Science magazine and the journal Cell have addressed a long-standing question of how the descendants of hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow make the various types of blood cells that course through our blood vessels and occupy our lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are partly dormant cells that self-renew and produce so-called “multipotent…

Fat-Derived Stem Cells Form Muscle in Muscular Dystrophy Mice

Stem cell therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) has been plagued by poor cell engraftment into diseased muscles. Additionally, there are no reports to date describing the efficient generation of muscle progenitors from fat-derived stem cells (ADSCs) that can contribute to muscle regeneration. A study by Cheng Zhang and others from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, Guangdong…

Cartilage-Making Stem Cells from Joints

Chiharo Akazawa from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University and his colleagues have tested two types of mesenchymal stem cells from human patients for their ability to make bone, cartilage, or fat. Their tests illustrated what has been shown several time before; mesenchymal stem cells tend to differentiate into the tissues that most closely resemble their tissue of origin. Akazawa and his…

Toxic Gas Prompts Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Become Bone Cells

Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs and is toxic to human life at moderate concentrations. Therefore, imagine the surprise of researchers when they discovered that low concentrations of this poisonous gas actually stimulate mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow to differentiate into bone-making cells.

In a paper published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, Yi Liu from the Ostrow School of…

Skin Tissue Grown From Human Stem Cells

A research team from King’s College, London, in collaboration with the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center has succeeded in growing the epidermal layer of skin in culture, this cultured skin has many of the mechanical and biological properties of actual human skin.

The outermost layer of the skin, known as the epidermis forms a protective barrier between the external environment and the…

Long-Term Survival of Transplanted Human Neural Stem Cells in Primate Brains

A Korean research consortium has transplanted human neural stem cells (hNSCs) into the brains of nonhuman primates and ascertained the fate of these cells after being inside the brains of these animals for 22 and 24 months. They discovered that the implanted hNSCs had not only survived, but differentiated into neurons and never caused any tumors.

This important study is slated to be published in…