Researchers at the University of Cambridge have managed to reconstruct the early stage of mammalian development using embryonic stem cells, showing that a critical mass of cells – not too few, but not too many – is needed for the cells to being self-organising into the correct structure for an embryo to form.
Tag: stem cells
What Do Sperm Have to Do With Brain Tumors?
My lab studies epigenomic and transcription factors including a molecule called histone variant H3.3. Recent studies have indicated that H3.3 plays key roles in both stem cells and cancer.
PAX7: Rare Stem Cells Have Potential to Cure Infertility in Cancer Patients
Rare stem cells discovered that help to produce new sperm have the potential to cure infertility in cancer patients, scientists have said.
Skin Cells From Infertile Men Transformed Into Early-Stage Sperm
Skin tissue from infertile men has been converted into sperm cell precursors after their stem cells were transplanted into mice.
Newly Identified Small-RNA Pathway Defends Genome Against the Enemy Within
Reproductive cells, such as an egg and sperm, join to form stem cells that can mature into any tissue type. But how do reproductive cells arise? We humans are born with all of the reproductive cells that we will ever produce. But in plants things are very different. They first generate mature, adult cells and only later “reprogram” some of them to produce eggs and sperm.
Researchers Convert Human Embryonic Stem Cells Into Blastocyst-Like Cells
Researchers at A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have converted human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to a state that is closer to the cells found in the human blastocyst.
New Law in France Loosens Restrictions on Human Embryo
The French National Assembly yesterday approved a new law that aims to ease regulation of research involving human embryos and embryonic stem cells. Although French researchers say that the shift will bring little immediate change to their day-to-day work, they hope that the new law will bring more academic freedom and collaboration.
Future Blindness Cure? Stem Cell Success in Lab
Scientists are one step closer to curing blindness, after they carried out the first successful transplant of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells from a synthetic retina that was grown from embryonic stem cells.
Moving Forward In Stem Cell Research By Rewinding Development
Scientists at the Danish Stem Cell Center, DanStem, at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that they can make embryonic stem cells regress to a stage of development where they are able to make placenta cells as well as the other fetal cells. This significant discovery, published in the journal Cell Reports today, has the potential to shed new light on placenta related disorders that can lead to problematic pregnancies and miscarriages.
Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells
Scientists say they have, for the first time, cloned human embryos capable of producing embryonic stem cells. The accomplishment is a long-sought step toward harnessing the potential power of embryonic stem cells to treat many human diseases. But the work also raises a host of ethical concerns.