Reprogramming

Defining epigenetic reprogramming, cellular reprogramming & rejuvenation

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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Weekly reads: reprogramming aging, astrocytes, cartilage, ChatGPT

Let’s start with a couple of new pieces on in vivo reprogramming. The idea here is to do something like making iPS cells but doing it inside organisms and not quite pushing cells all the way back to pluripotency. Just younger, healthier cells. Why do that? The goal is to achieve a kind of anti-aging …

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Recommend reads: CRISPR baby guy free, DNMT3, sperm, Editas, hearing loss, reprogramming

Dura et al sperm development

We often don’t think of them that way but reproductive cells like sperm and egg are also relatives of stem cells, and it turns out that there are stem cells that make the reproductive cells too like sperm stem cells. Sperm and germ cell stem cells DNMT3A-dependent DNA methylation is required for spermatogonial stem cells …

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Recommended regenerative medicine reads: making eggs, retraction, freezing, more

hamazaki et al nature fig 2b induction of oocytes from es cells

What to read when there are almost an endless number of stem cell and regenerative medicine pubs? Here are some suggestions including what I would say is a very unusual Nature paper on making egg cells from stem cells. If this could be done safely with human cells all the way to functional eggs, would …

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Weekend reads: stem cells, CRISPR, glioma, stroke, RTT & more

Venkatesh-et-al.-Nature-2019-Fig-2e

Every so often I realize I’ve accumulated a bunch of tabs on my browsers of things I need to dive into as time permits, which sometimes translates into a collection of recommended reads here on The Niche. Here are some recommended recent reads in the stem cell/regenerative medicine field and childhood cancer space. It includes …

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

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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100% reprogramming efficiency reports Jacob Hanna

A team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel led by Jacob Hanna reports today near perfect reprogramming efficiency to make induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by eliminating a single factor called Mbd3 from the cellular equation. On first glance, the Nature article (Rais, et al.) seems to be all about boosting cellular reprogramming efficiency to close …

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Why the extreme religious right are turning against iPS cells

Dr.-Oz-told-Oprah-and-Michael-J.-Fox-religious-right

There was a time, not so long ago, when the religious right hailed the discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Headlines blared from the extreme right on the Internet such as, “Embryonic stem cells obsolete”. Even the same kind of thing, saying, “The stem cell debate is dead”. You see opponents of embryonic stem …

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