STEM CELLS’ Position Statement on hESC Research

Durham, North Carolina, August 27, 2010 — The Journal STEM CELLS^® has published many important and exciting achievements in the field of stem cells during its twenty-eight year history. Through scientific discovery, the Journal reports on both adult and human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The Journal believes that the scientific community benefits from research on all stem cell types in order to maximize our basic biological knowledge and our ability to fight debilitating human diseases. Therefore, we applauded the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July when it approved the first authorized clinical trials using hESCs to treat spinal cord injury.  This decision encouraged researchers, clinicians, and patients alike.

Bioengineering Our Way towards Organ Replacement Therapy

By Maria H. Ledran

In the mid 1930’s the unlikely collaborators aviator Charles Lindberg and maverick surgeon Alexis Carrel, were the first to sustain whole organs outside the body for extended periods using their newly invented glass perfusion pumps. Arguably the unique methods set out by the pair including the anastomy (suturing) of even the most miniscule blood vessels and, importantly, the proof of concept for organ perfusion with a vision towards regeneration and transplant, have facilitated the intense research into regenerative medicine that continues to this day. Seventy five years later, and with an increasing shortage of suitable donor organs, we are still unable to generate whole organs in vitro. However, new tissue engineering approaches might now represent an important step towards closing this gap.

iPSC don´t Forget their Origins.

Our latest news section recently highlighted the publication of two advance articles from Nature and Nature Biotechnology which suggest that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) retain memories of the differentiated cell type from which they were derived; their cell of origin. Understandably, this raises several questions about the comparability of iPSCs to human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), particularly since the concept of epigenetic memory has arisen in the production of cloned mammals using somatic cell nuclear transfer. Given the importance of this topic, here we provide a more in-depth discussion of these two articles.

A Nucleolar Link to Pluripotency and Reprogramming?

Delineation of the mechanisms by which embryonic stem cells (ESC) remain pluripotent and maintain the ability to differentiate across all germ lineages has attracted many studies which altogether can be consolidated into an information network which combines transcription factors, chromatin and DNA modifications, small RNAs and signal transduction pathways. Analyses of the interactions within this network will unravel the mechanisms underlying these properties into something we can begin to understand and appreciate. Such analysis may also lend itself to the discovery of new ways to produce safer and better induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) reprogrammed from somatic cells. In order to uncover new mechanisms underlying pluripotency and lineage specification, researchers from the laboratory of Sheng Ding have taken a new approach, using individually-arrayed cDNA libraries representing more than 30,000 clones, for the identification of new genes which affect pluripotency. This new study is published online in Stem Cells.

It´s better to stick together – overexpressing E-cadherin helps iPSC generation

by Lyle Armstrong

One of the hallmarks of any of the techniques currently used to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is low efficiency although continual efforts are being made to enhance the numbers of reprogrammed cell colonies obtained from a given number of somatic cells. Added to this are the data originating from research groups whose aim is to reprogram the somatic genome to pluripotency without resort to viral vectors by using small molecule treatments to increase the expression levels of key pluripotency associated genes such as OCT4 to the point where their roles in epigenetic reprogramming become apparent.

An Interview with Patricia Labosky

By Carla B. Mellough

Featured Lab Article

Patricia Labosky,

‘In college I had a couple of professors that I would just love to listen to in lectures. It became clear to me that these essential questions in cell and developmental biology were important to me, and the way I wanted to focus my career.´

Keystone Symposia

Place: Keystone, CO
Date: 15^th to 20^th February 2010

Keystone Symposia has served the bioscience community for 38 years by providing a forum to publicise high quality scientific data in a relaxing environment conducive to the establishment of links between researchers. One of the best features of Keystone meetings is that they are not too large and one gets a chance to talk to some of the best researchers in the field and more often than not they are willing to share as yet unpublished results. The current meeting which took place in the Keystone conference centre was no exception to this.