Embryonic stem cells stand poised to grow into various tissues, but are held in check by chemical switches that keep the necessary genes turned off. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that genes responsible for limb regeneration – in this case the snipped tail of a zebrafish – are held in a … Continue reading Lever found for switch to re-grow your tail—if you’re a fish

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that a gene long-known to regulate the lifespan of tiny roundworms also plays a role in regulating neural stem cells in mice. Variations of the gene family, called FoxO, help roundworms live to an unusually ripe old age in the lab, and mutations in the … Continue reading Longevity gene regulates neural stem cells in mice

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have found molecular pathways that human muscle stem cells rely on to repair damaged muscle. These pathways are active in younger people but less active in older people, explaining why muscles repair more slowly with age. The group found that younger volunteers had double the number of regenerative … Continue reading Old muscle stem cells experimentally returned to youth

Researchers at UC, San Francisco identified a molecule that regulates differentiation of embryonic stem cells. In some cases, small molecules of the genetic material RNA have the ability to turn genes on and off rather than carrying out the normal RNA function of coding for proteins. These small RNAs, called micro RNA or miRNA, are … Continue reading Genetic Factors Found to Regulate Embryonic Stem Cell Maturation

Researchers at UC, San Francisco found that proteins involved in the generation of neurons early in development also help neural stem cells produce neurons after birth. Furthermore, the researchers identified a self-repair mechanism in the brain that relies on these neural stem cells. Understanding how endogenous neural stem cells repair and remodel a mature brain … Continue reading Neural Stem Cell Repair Mechanism in the Brain Revealed

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have reversed Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in a mouse model of the disease with injections of neural stem cells. The mice used in this study mimicked the human disease, showing learning and memory defects and accumulating both beta-amyloid plaques and tau protein tangles within the brain, the two hallmark pathologies … Continue reading Neural stem cells reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have pinpointed a protein that is critical for maintaining a stem cell’s full potential to self-renew and to differentiate. Stem cells lacking the protein were impaired in their ability to divide and make identical copies of themselves, called self-renewal. These cells also lost their capacity to differentiate … Continue reading Protein required to maintain full potential of stem cells

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have found genetic differences that distinguish induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from embryonic stem cells. These differences diminish over time, but never disappear entirely. iPS cells are created when adult cells, such as those from the skin, are reprogrammed to look and behave like embryonic stem cells. … Continue reading Genetic differences found between adult cell and embryonic-derived stem cells