News & Commentaries

A Never-Before-Seen Cell State May Explain Cancer’s Ability to Resist Drugs

Stembook: A Never-Before-Seen Cell State May Explain Cancer’s Ability to Resist Drugs

Cambridge, MA, USA – Scientists at the Sloan Kettering Institute, the Koch Institute at MIT, and the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad Institute have identified an unusual cell state that emerges early in tumor evolution and supports a cancer’s ability to outwit chemotherapy.

A Never-Before-Seen Cell State May Explain Cancer’s Ability to Resist Drugs

Stembook: A Never-Before-Seen Cell State May Explain Cancer’s Ability to Resist Drugs

Cambridge, MA, USA – Scientists at the Sloan Kettering Institute, the Koch Institute at MIT, and the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad Institute have identified an unusual cell state that emerges early in tumor evolution and supports a cancer’s ability to outwit chemotherapy.

“Self-eating” Process of Stem Cells May be the Key to New Regenerative Therapies

Stembook: “Self-eating” Process of Stem Cells May be the Key to New Regenerative Therapies
Penn Study Uncovers New Roles of Autophagy in Stem Cell Renewal and Differentiation

Philadelphia, PA, USA – The self-eating process in embryonic stem cells known as chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) and a related metabolite may serve as promising new therapeutic targets to repair or regenerate damaged cells and organs, Penn Medicine researchers show in a new study published online in Science.

“Self-eating” Process of Stem Cells May be the Key to New Regenerative Therapies

“Self-eating” Process of Stem Cells May be the Key to New Regenerative Therapies

Philadelphia, PA, USA – The self-eating process in embryonic stem cells known as chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) and a related metabolite may serve as promising new therapeutic targets to repair or regenerate damaged cells and organs, Penn Medicine researchers show in a new study published online in Science.

Getting to the Bottom of Goosebumps

Stembook: Getting to the Bottom of Goosebumps
Harvard scientists find that the same cell types that cause goosebumps are responsible for controlling hair growth

Cambridge, MA, USA – If you’ve ever wondered why we get goosebumps, you’re in good company – so did Charles Darwin, who mused about them in his writings on evolution. Goosebumps might protect animals with thick fur from the cold, but we humans don’t seem to benefit from the reaction much – so why has it been preserved during evolution all this time?

Researchers 3D Print a Working Heart Pump with Real Human Cells

STEMBOOK: Researchers 3D Print a Working Heart Pump with Real Human Cells

Minneapolis, MN, USA – In a groundbreaking new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota have 3D printed a functioning centimeter-scale human heart pump in the lab. The discovery could have major implications for studying heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States killing more than 600,000 people a year.

Order from Noise: How Randomness and Collective Dynamics Define a Stem Cell

Stembook: Order from Noise: How Randomness and Collective Dynamics Define a Stem Cell
Collective cell dynamics could define stem cells identity, number, and dynamics

Klosterneuburg, Austria – Without stem cells, human life would not exist. Due to them, a lump of cells becomes an organ, a fertilized egg develops into a baby, and tissues of our body can be continuously renewed. But what actually makes a stem cell? How do they know when to divide to replace a dying cell? Are these a stable population of specially gifted cells? Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria discovered that instead, stem cells might emerge due to the collective behavior of cells within the organs. They saw that the shape of the surrounding tissue, jointly to the pattern of seemingly random movements of the cells determined the cell’s role. The scientists published their study in the journal PNAS on July 1, 2020. Their results could lead to a deeper understanding of organ renewal and development.

USC Stem Cell Scientists Find a Simpler Way to Make Sensory Hearing Cells

Stembook: USC Stem Cell Scientists Find a Simpler Way to Make Sensory Hearing Cells

Los Angeles, CA, USA – Scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratories of Neil Segil and Justin Ichida are whispering the secrets of a simpler way to generate the sensory cells of the inner ear. Their approach uses direct reprogramming to produce sensory cells known as “hair cells,” due to their hair-like protrusions that sense sound waves. The study was published today in the journal eLife.

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