Researchers at UC, Santa Barbara, have mapped the role of a genetic signal that puts the breaks on the ability of stem cells to self renew. The finding could eventually shed light on self-renewal that has run amuck as in cancer, and can immediately be put to use in managing the balancing act between self-renewal … Continue reading Genetic Brake Key to Stem Cell Fate

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have designed a safer technique for reprogramming adult cells into a state that resembles embryonic stem cells. This method takes advantage of genetic molecules called microRNAs, which regulate the activity of genes. The original 2007 method for creating reprogrammed cells, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, relied … Continue reading Genetic molecule enables safer method for creating iPS cells

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found a protein that protects the brain from the kind of damage that can lead to Parkinson's disease. This protein, called Nurr1, has a long history in Parkinson's disease research. People who carry a mutation in the gene are … Continue reading Protein protects brain from damage, may prevent neurodegenerative diseases