Progenitor Cells News and Research

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Cerebral organoids provide new insight into role of key enzyme in natural brain development

Like many around the world, the lab of Professor Mriganka Sur in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT has embraced the young technology of cerebral organoids, or "minibrains," for studying human brain development in health and disease.

11 May 2021

Researchers show how low-protein diet during pregnancy can cause kidney problems in babies

Besides being underweight, babies born to women whose diet lacked sufficient protein during pregnancy tend to have kidney problems resulting from alterations that occurred while their organs were forming during the embryonic stage of their development.

5 May 2021

Comprehensive "cell atlas" shows how COVID-19 can lead to organ failure and death

Scientists from several hospitals and research centers have shown what happens in individual cells of patients who died of COVID-19. In a study published in Nature, the researchers describe how infected cells from multiple organs exhibited a range of molecular and genomic changes.

3 May 2021

Researchers identify important factor in the development of dendritic cells

The human immune system comprises functionally specialized cellular defense mechanisms that protect the body against disease. These include the dendritic cells.

30 Apr 2021

Pancreatic cancer cells de-differentiate to spawn highly aggressive tumors, study shows

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a previously unrecognized mechanism by which cancer cells of a relatively benign subtype of pancreatic tumors methodically revert-or "de-differentiate"-to a progenitor, or immature, state of cellular development to spawn highly aggressive tumors that are capable of metastasis to the liver and lymph nodes.

29 Apr 2021

Scientists identify many genes that are important in fruit flies' neuron development

Neurons result from a highly complex and unique series of cell divisions. For example, in fruit flies, the process starts with stem cells that divide into mother cells (progenitor cells), that then divide into precursor cells that eventually become neurons.

27 Apr 2021

Researchers discover elusive cell type in fish sensory organs

One of the evolutionary disadvantages for mammals, relative to other vertebrates like fish and chickens, is the inability to regenerate sensory hair cells.

26 Apr 2021

Striking difference identified between mRNA vaccination vs. SARS-CoV-2 infection immune responses

A team of scientists from the United States has recently compared the immune response elicited by natural severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Their findings reveal that, unlike vaccination, natural SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a robust interferon response together with an induction of cytotoxic gene expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

22 Apr 2021

Researchers develop an effective strategy to fight against chronic myelomonocytic leukemia

Leukemias are debilitating cancers of the hematopoietic or blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. Now, researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University describe an ingenious strategy against chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) wherein an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) comprising a cytotoxic drug payload linked to an antibody that selectively targets specific cell lines effectively blocks malignant cell proliferation at source.

16 Apr 2021

Study: Age-related changes in brain stem cells are more pronounced in male animals

Ageing and age-related brain disease do not affect women and men in the same way. The adult brain constantly generates new brain cells called neurons from stem cells, a process called neurogenesis. This process is important for learning and cognitive function which declines as the brain ages.

9 Apr 2021

Mutations to autism-associated gene cause a cascade of problems in developing mouse brains

Damage to the autism-associated gene Dyrk1a, sets off a cascade of problems in developing mouse brains, resulting in abnormal growth-factor signaling, undergrowth of neurons, smaller-than-average brain size, and, eventually, autism-like behaviors, a new study from Scripps Research, Florida, finds.

8 Apr 2021

New stem cell therapy shows promise to prevent diabetes-related amputations

According to the results of a phase 1 clinical trial just published in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine, a new stem cell therapy shows promise of making diabetes-related amputations a thing of the past.

7 Apr 2021

Study reveals sex-differences in aging of the brain stem cell niche

Ageing and age-related brain disease do not affect women and men in the same way. The adult brain constantly generates new brain cells called neurons from stem cells, a process called neurogenesis.

7 Apr 2021

Researchers develop first human model for studying the neuronal pathology of Leigh syndrome

Leigh syndrome is the most severe mitochondrial disease in children. It causes severe muscle weakness, movement defects, and intellectual disabilities.

26 Mar 2021

Sargramostim drug can also improve memory in people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease

A new study suggests that Sargramostim, a medication often used to boost white blood cells after cancer treatments, is also effective in treating and improving memory in people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.

24 Mar 2021

Stem cell therapy could help restore debilitating age-related muscle loss

As the name implies, induced pluripotent stem cells can become any type of cell in our body, and scientists have evidence that when they prompt them to become muscle progenitor cells they can help restore the sometimes debilitating muscle loss that happens with age.

23 Mar 2021

Beneficial effects of gene therapy can be seen in SCID-X1 patients decades after treatment

An international collaboration between Great Ormond Street Hospital, the UCL GOS Institute for Child Health and Harvard Medical School has shown that the beneficial effects of gene therapy can be seen decades after the transplanted blood stem cells has been cleared by the body.

17 Mar 2021