Weekly The Niche Reads: tooth repair, PRC2, beach pics

I managed to escape to do some hiking along the coast so I’m behind on my weekly reading and I’m just getting back here on The Niche. Here are some articles I’m hoping to catch up on in coming days including an interesting overview of stem cells for tooth repair.

I sometimes have a wistful feeling that I would have enjoyed doing field research as a biologist. Instead, I spend most of my time in the lab. However, I find myself taking a lot of nature photos and sometimes thinking about them as a scientist.

I’ve included a few nature photos in this post from my recent hiking down by Monterey. Note the captions for information on the animals. Then scroll down for the recommended reading on stem cells this week.

brandts cormorant jumping — A male Brandt’s Cormorant jumping. The males out on the rocks at Point Lobos were really trying to impress the females. They were putting on quite a show jumping and preening. Paul Knoepfler.

pileated cormorant — Pelagic cormorants were around Point Lobos too, including some like this one working on nests. The light was just right on this bird to highlight its many colors. Paul Knoepfler.

A colony of sea lions resting and derping around on the rocks at Point Lobos. We also saw many harbor seals so I had to look up again what’s the difference. Sea lions are more mobile with flippers that are almost like feet and they have obvious ears sticking out. Paul Knoepfler. I’m guessing these guys sometimes lose teeth so of course I had to wonder how many sets of teeth do they have. I didn’t really find a clear answer on the web. Two sets like people? Or is tooth replacement an ongoing process for them like sharks?

Recommended research papers

Mutant ASXL1 induces age-related expansion of phenotypic hematopoietic stem cells through activation of Akt/mTOR pathway, Nature Communications
Tooth Repair and Regeneration: Potential of Dental Stem Cells, Trends in Molecular Medicine. There’s huge potential for stem cell-related technologies to have applications in oral health and in particular in tooth repair or replacement. Here’s a recent piece I did on learning from sharks about tooth replacement via stem cells.
Species-Specific Relationships between DNA and Chromatin Properties of CpG Islands in Embryonic Stem Cells and Differentiated Cells, Stem Cell Reports.
Generation, functional analysis and applications of isogenic three-dimensional self-aggregating cardiac microtissues from human pluripotent stem cells, Nature Protocols
Chemical induction of neurogenic properties in mammalian Müller glia, Stem Cells.
Firearms-related skeletal muscle trauma: pathophysiology and novel approaches for regeneration, NPJ regenerative medicine. This is one we don’t hear about often.
The deubiquitinase Usp9x regulates PRC2-mediated chromatin reprogramming during mouse development, Nature Communications.

2 thoughts on “Weekly The Niche Reads: tooth repair, PRC2, beach pics”

Don C. Reed
March 29, 2021 at 4:30 am

I do not think seals/sea lions have a shark-like tooth replacement system, due to the fact that as a diver at marine world 15 years, i saw lots of shark teeth, but do not recollect even one sea lion tooth on a tank floor.

1. Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D.
  March 29, 2021 at 8:58 am
  
  Thanks, Don. That’s interesting to know. Maybe seals/sea lions don’t lose their teeth the way sharks do. Too bad us humans don’t have 3 sets of teeth instead of 2 or grow a new tooth if one falls out no matter when…

Weekly The Niche Reads: tooth repair, PRC2, beach pics

Recommended research papers

Like this:

Related Posts

2 thoughts on “Weekly The Niche Reads: tooth repair, PRC2, beach pics”

Leave a ReplyCancel reply