Posts Tagged ‘embryonic’

A comprehensive new gene expression study in embryonic stem cells has uncovered a transcription control mechanism that is not only more pervasive than once thought but is also heavily regulated by the cancer-causing gene c-Myc. In research published in the April 30th edition of Cell, a team of Whitehead Institute researchers describes a pausing step in the transcription process that serves to regulate expression of ... Full story

In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post about a recent article on embryonic stem cell research, NIH Director Francis Collins writes that he is "concerned that readers might come away ... confused about what is happening" at the agency. He adds that "stem cell research is progressing rapidly, thanks to President Obama's new policy" (Collins, Washington Post, 3/20). The Post article reported ... Full story

Although restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research have been lifted under the Obama administration, some researchers are finding the new ethical requirements burdensome, the Washington Post reports. Under the George W. Bush administration, only 21 stem-cell "lines" were permitted to receive federal research funding. President Obama relaxed the restrictions but allowed the National Institutes of Health to issue ethics guidelines... ... Full story

A Princeton University-led research team has discovered that protein competition over an important enzyme provides a mechanism to integrate different signals that direct early embryonic development. The work suggests that these signals are combined long before they interact with the organism's DNA, as was previously believed, and also may inform new therapeutic strategies to fight cancer. The fought-over enzyme, known as the mitogen-activated protein kinase ... Full story

A mathematical model developed at Purdue University can predict complex signaling patterns that could help scientists determine how stem cells in an embryo later become specific tissues, knowledge that could be used to understand and treat developmental disorders and some diseases. During embryonic development, proteins attach to cell receptors and start a cascade of reactions. Understanding those reactions is difficult, however, because feedback signals ... Full story

Like homing in to an elusive radio frequency in a busy city, human embryonic stem cells must sort through a seemingly endless number of options to settle on the specific genetic message, or station, that instructs them to become more-specialized cells in the body (Easy Listening, maybe, for skin cells, and Techno for neurons?). Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown ... Full story

Regulatory proteins common to all eukaryotic cells can have additional, unique functions in embryonic stem (ES) cells, according to a study in the February 22 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. If cancer progenitor cells - which function similarly to stem cells - are shown to rely on these regulatory proteins in the same way, it may be possible to target them therapeutically without ... Full story

As prenatal and embryonic genetic testing has become more widespread in the U.S., the number of infants with certain inheritable diseases -- such as cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs and familial dysautonomia -- has declined, according to an Associated Press review of research and interviews with genetics experts, the AP/Seattle Times reports. According to the AP/Times, prenatal genetic testing brings up "hot-button issues," including abortion, embryo disposal ... Full story

The most widely used human embryonic stem cell lines lack genetic diversity, a finding that raises social justice questions that must be addressed to ensure that all sectors of society benefit from stem cell advances, according to a University of Michigan research team. In the first published study of its kind, the U-M team analyzed 47 embryonic stem cell lines, including most of the lines ... Full story

Tissue-specific genes, thought to be dormant or not marked for activation in embryonic stem cells, are indeed marked by transcription factors, with proper marking potentially crucial for the function of tissues derived from stem cells. The finding in the study by researchers at the Broad Stem Cell Research Center involves a class of genes whose properties previously were thought to be unimportant for stem cell ... Full story