Search Results for: totipotent

Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells

Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells, very early human embryos totipotent stem cells

What’s the difference between multipotent stem cells, totipotent stem cells, and pluripotent stem cells? The goal of today’s post is to help you learn and be clear on the differences. What’s in this article Definition of stem cells |Totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells | Pluripotent stem cells | Multipotent stem cells | The best kind of stem …

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What are totipotent stem cells & what can they do?

Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells, very early human embryos totipotent stem cells

Sometimes patients or my students ask me, “What are the best stem cells?” what information are they looking for? I think they often are looking for the most powerful stem cells so perhaps they should be asking, “What are totipotent stem cells?” Other times it seems what patients specifically want to know is what might …

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Weekly reads: AL embryos ruling, blasting cancer, marrow organoids, beef inside rice plants

Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells, very early human embryos totipotent stem cells

Are small clusters of cells that make up 5-day-old human embryos equivalent to children? Biologically and in terms of just common sense, the answer is “no.” These tiny spheres have around 100 cells and no organs. Actual people have many trillions of cells, brains, and other organs. Alabama law on embryos may block IVF About …

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Perspectives 10 years after STAP cells: the culture of science, misconduct, & hopes for progress

Haruko-Obokata-小保方-晴子-

Exactly ten years ago today, on January 29, 2014, I wrote about two new Nature papers on so-called STAP cells. The papers claimed that stress alone could convert regular non-stem cells into some of the most powerful stem cells. More specifically, the authors claimed to make pluripotent stem cells similar to iPS cells this way. …

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Weekly reads: gene therapy nod, Nature pub ethics, CRISPR LDL

Multipotent & totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells, very early human embryos totipotent stem cells

Totipotency literally means all powerful, but it refers in biology to specific cells. These cells can make every type of cell in the body of an organism plus the extraembryonic tissues needed for development. This includes humans. So if you could reprogram human cells like blood or skin cells into totipotent stem cells, you might …

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Clinical utility & examples of unipotent vs. multipotent stem cells

mesenchymal cells

What are examples of unipotent and multipotent stem cells? More broadly, stem cells have the ability to do two key things. They can make more of themselves through a process called self-renewal. Also, they have the ability to differentiate into other cell types. This latter property is called potency. Taken together this means by definition …

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Germ or sex cells: DNA content, research, clinical applications

sex cells, haploid, diploid, germ cells

Germ or sex cells have many important implications for health and research. In today’s post the goal is to provide a helpful, comprehensive overview of these remarkable cells. Where does research on these cells stand today? It’s an exciting time. What are sex cells?  | Are sex cells haploid or diploid?  | Why are germ cells …

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How brain organoids are transforming research

Human brain organoids Knoepfler Lab.

Organoids including brain organoids are an exciting, relatively new area of research. This technology is having a powerful impact on biomedical science, which is the focus of today’s post. What’s in this post Definition of organoids | Brain organoids | Challenges for mini-brains | Cutting edge cerebral organoids | References Definition of organoids and brain organoids …

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What are blastoids, roles in biomedical research, & ethical considerations

blastoids nature paper figure 2

Blastoids are lab-grown models of human embryos that represent a relatively new area of developmental biology research. The goal of today’s post is to give you everything you need to know about this topic. What’s in this article What are blastoids? | How are blastoids made? |  Use in research | Blastoids challenges & Ethics …

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Fact-checking VSEL stem cells & VSEL treatment

VSELs, vsel ratajczak paper issues

A few people in the stem cell field keep arguing that adult pluripotent stem cells exist, including so-called “very small embryonic-like stem cells” or VSEL stem cells. These days the supposed cells are called VSELs or V-cells too. Only a handful of researchers have ever been able to report finding and studying these cells. Others …

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