Search Results for: transdifferentiation

Paper sparks renewed interest in transdifferentiation & clinical potential

September 8, 2022 / By / 1 Comment
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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Transdifferentiation makes a major advance: direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to oligodendrocyte progenitors

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment

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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Transdifferentiation meets gene therapy to tackle heart disease

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment

The leading cause of death in America and many other countries of the world is cardiovascular disease (CVD) including heart attacks and strokes. In fact, CVD kills and disables more people than most often top killers combined including cancer. The myth that CVD is a “man’s disease” only makes the situation worse as in reality CVD …

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Transdifferentiation does not make iPS cells obsolete

February 1, 2021 / By / 3 Comments
human-IPS-cells-made-in-Knoeplfer-lab-stained-for-TRA-160

Do we still need iPS cells if transdifferentiation is so cool? Wait, how did we get to the point that people are asking me that extreme question? When iPS cells were first introduced to the world by Shinya Yamanaka, who I think will win the Nobel Prize sometime in the next few years, some folks went …

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Defining epigenetic reprogramming, cellular reprogramming & rejuvenation

September 20, 2023 / By / Leave a Comment
epigenetic reprogramming

Epigenetic reprogramming is a term used in cell biology that is increasingly ending up in news stories too. Unfortunately, some folks, especially in the cellular rejuvenation and anti-aging space, are getting this term and other things confused. Just to start off, epigenetic reprogramming does not specifically mean cellular rejuvenation. The goal of today’s post is …

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Are immortal jellyfish actually mortal?

January 23, 2023 / By / 1 Comment
immortal jellyfish

About ten years ago I ran across the organism called the immortal jellyfish. Luckily I didn’t get stung because it wasn’t an in-person encounter like while swimming. Rather, I came upon the idea that these guys lived forever. Someone was even selling an immortal jellyfish extract. They claimed it would reverse aging in people. That …

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21 Stem Cell Research & Regenerative Medicine 2021 Predictions

February 1, 2021 / By / 6 Comments
stem-cell-crystal-ball-300x3001

In any given field of biomedical science like stem cell research and regenerative medicine, it’s very useful if you can accurately predict the future. It seems, though, that predictions are far more difficult within the more exciting and rapidly-changing fields. The field of stem cells and regenerative medicine fits that bill. Past stem cell research …

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Call for 31 Anversa retractions by Harvard; heart stem cell concept broken?

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment
heart-stem-cells1

In a stunner, Harvard and Brigham & Women’s Hospital reportedly have jointly called for the retraction of 31 papers on heart stem cell research authored by embattled heart stem cell researcher Piero Anversa. The scoop on this by STAT/Retraction Watch written by Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus gives further details on this mess and past …

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Stem cell & regenerative medicine news: cool pubs, people, ARM, & more

February 1, 2021 / By
Tanabe-Figure-1B

How does one keep up with all the regenerative medicine and stem cell happenings? There is always something happening in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field ranging from science to policy matters. This post is an update on some recent stem cell happenings that I see as notable or interesting. New Pubs Direct reprogramming …

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CRISPR to make IPS cells: review of new Ding lab paper

February 1, 2021 / By / 4 Comments
Liu-et-al-Cell-Stem-Cell-IPS-cells-2018

CRISPR and IPS cells are two of my favorite things so when they come together as in a cool, new paper from Sheng Ding’s lab, I’m excited to read it and curious as to what the scoop is. Since 2006-2007 when mouse and human reprogramming were first reported, many different methods have been explored to …

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