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 […]
Multipotent and totipotent vs pluripotent stem cells Read More »
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
What are totipotent stem cells & what can they do? Read More »
What if we could make robots that possess human brain-like structures? Chinese scientists have reportedly made such robots that are each guided at least in part by a small amount of lab-grown brain tissue. These cyborg-like creations, which are being trained to perform specific tasks, also have standard computer chips. How much does the human
On the road to Cylons? Robots with human brain tissue reported Read More »
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
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.
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
Weekly reads: gene therapy nod, Nature pub ethics, CRISPR LDL Read More »
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
Clinical utility & examples of unipotent vs. multipotent stem cells Read More »
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
Germ or sex cells: DNA content, research, clinical applications Read More »
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
How brain organoids are transforming research Read More »
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
What are blastoids, roles in biomedical research, & ethical considerations Read More »