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 […]
Weekly reads: H3.3 on the brain, Texas bill, HSCs Read More »
As I’ve mentioned recently, it’s my busy time for medical school teaching and not long ago we did a GI lab that included one of my favorite structures in the course: taste buds. Taste buds The medical students seem fascinated with taste buds too. I can tell as their professor when something is particularly interesting
Weekly reads: taste buds, organoids, good news on CRISPR safety Read More »
It’s usually a tossup as to whether my weekly reads skew more towards stem cells/regenerative medicine or cancer. Other times they are more enriched for genomics and epigenetics articles. Seeds of cancer in normal skin, Nature News & Views Engineering synthetic morphogen systems that can program multicellular patterning, Science. Pig fat can be used to
Regenerative reads: pig fat, cancer, organoids, more Read More »
Does time seem somewhat warped to anyone else in 2020 even without having had COVID, which could alter brain function? It just seems like with everything going on that time simultaneously both drags and zooms by this year. One sort of reassuring element is that papers keep on being published so we can enjoy cool
Weekly reads: lab meat, crow brain biology, direct reprogramming, more Read More »
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
Weekend recommended reads: Athersys, ALS, COVID-19, Fibroblasts, Zoom brain Read More »
Every so often here on The Niche I list science and news articles worth a look as “weekend reads”. Below is my list for this weekend. Enjoy! The first article doesn’t really fit into the other main categories, but the title “herding brains” caught my eye. Stem Cells Stem cells and regenerative capacity in aging
Weekend reads include herding brains, stem cells, & CRISPR Read More »
What are your typical weekend reads? If you are a scientist, they might often include a great deal of science. I always hope I can find time for reading for pleasure too, but about as close as I get to that is the New York Times on Sunday. Here are some recommended science reads for
Weekend reads: stem cells, organoids, cancer, CRISPR & a tiger named Igor Read More »
The past few weeks have brought some exciting, thought-provoking stem cell papers and developments in the regenerative medicine field. Here’s a list of stem cell papers in the media that struck me as particularly cool along with some other developments in the field. Human Stem Cells Fight Parkinson’s Disease in Monkeys Organoids Reveal Clues to Gut-Brain
Cool stem cell papers: antibody reprogramming, organoids, gravity, & more Read More »
Some recent developments in the stem cell world are worth a look. I’ve posted the headlines verbatim and the links to some of these stem cell news bites below. NIH Plans To Lift Ban On Research Funds For Part-Human, Part-Animal Embryos. NIH may allow funding of human-animal chimeras in certain cases. Stem cell ‘tourists’ flock to
Stem cell news bites: chimeras, Australian clinics, organoids & more Read More »
One of the biggest claims related to stem cells and in particular to induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC or IPS cells) of 2015 came just yesterday about growing a human fetal brain. A press release from Ohio State University reports that two of its researchers had grown a nearly full-formed human fetal brain. My initial reaction
Healthy skepticism needed on claim of stem cell-derived human fetal brain Read More »