Search Results for: fibroblasts

Weekly reads: fibroblasts, gene-editing, Mitalipov, personhood, embryos

NIH 3T3 fibroblasts ATCC

I have a soft spot for fibroblasts, perhaps because one of the first immortalized cell lines I ever grew was NIH3T3. These are mouse fibroblasts that have been immortalized. They are very useful for a variety of experiments. I used them to study an oncogene called E2A-PBX1. Experience with fibroblasts including 3T3s I was amazed …

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Weekly reads: fibroblasts, cancer stem cells, Parkinson’s

fibroblasts stained

It seems like the field of cell biology has mixed feelings about fibroblasts so I’m going to start off there with the recommended reads. But first, check out our stem cell YouTube channel as we are steadily heading toward 500 subscribers and 30,000 views. Please subscribe. I’ve pasted one of our top videos below, which …

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Weekend recommended reads: Athersys, ALS, COVID-19, Fibroblasts, Zoom brain

Fibroblasts-regeneration

What are you reading these days and does it include topics like cell therapies for COVID-19, ALS, regenerative potential of fibroblasts, and why Zoom meetings are so tiring for the brain? I cover those topics and more below with recommended reads including papers and media items. Here’s last week’s recommended reads. Here’s to fibroblasts, which …

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Transdifferentiation makes a major advance: direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to oligodendrocyte progenitors

Back-to-back papers (here and here) in Nature Biotechnology report the transdifferentiation (now often simply referred to as “direct reprogramming”) of plain old fibroblasts into brain cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). OPCs are a remarkably useful kind of brain cell that generates myelin, which insulates nerves. OPCs are thought to have great therapeutic potential for …

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Weekly reads: H3.3 on the brain, Texas bill, HSCs

H3f3a, histone H3.3, knockout

It’s always exciting when your lab has a new paper and my team just published a study knocking out the H3f3a gene in mice, which codes for histone H3.3 protein. We found that loss of this gene leads to lethality at a late stage of embryonic development. There were also indications of more specific phenotypes …

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Why stem cell culture medium composition is such a big deal

Dr. Harry Eagle

Cells including stem cells are grown in liquid solutions called media and stem cell culture medium composition is crucial since the ingredients have a powerful impact on the cells. The media affects the cells’ identities and functions. It also impacts the risks of using specific regenerative products. My first job in science was isolating and …

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Digging into the multiple ways to get stem cells

multiple ways to get stem cells

I get great questions from readers of The Niche including, “Are there multiple ways to get stem cells?” The answer is “yes.” Why is this important? The different sources of stem cells can impact both their use in basic research and their potential clinically. My goal in today’s post is to give an overview of …

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Paper sparks renewed interest in transdifferentiation & clinical potential

transdifferentiation, iOPCS

There was a time when I thought transdifferentiation based approaches might quickly move into clinical trials. Then things kind of cooled off. We didn’t see many papers reporting methods to transdifferentiate cells. I still think that this technology, sometimes called direct reprogramming, has major potential. A new paper on making human brain cells this way got …

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Weekly reads: CRISPR, FDA stem cell loss, pioneering AMD study, MS, Verve Therapeutics

FDA stem cell policy flow chart.

The big news of the week was the big FDA stem cell in court by Judge Jesus Bernal here in California, who ruled in favor of a chain of stem cell clinics called Cell Surgical Network. The FDA had been seeking an injunction against the clinics. I believe the ruling was founded in part on …

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Weekly stem cell reads: aging & cells, iPS cell mutations, gut, more

Stem cells aging

Does aging do something to time so it seems like as you get older that time goes by faster? Remember as a little kid when summer seemed to last forever and car rides could be agonizingly long? I’ve heard two theories on this. One is that the brain’s baseline of activity slows down with aging …

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