Smoking Damages the Epigenome for a LONG timeJanuary 8, 2015While we all know that smoking is bad for you, and even your baby, it seems that the effects last longer than you may think. Researchers from Imperial College London investigate and show that while there are epigenomic benefits to giving up smoking, there are also some changes that persist for what seems to be a lifetime. Previously, […]
Plotting the Path to Pluripotency Uncovers Key Role of DNA MethylationDecember 29, 2014If you’ve read our recent piece ‘Reprogramming Roadmap Reveals Fuzzy New Stem Cells‘ you’ll already know how “Project Grandiose” [1, 2], the brainchild of Andras Nagy, identified a new pluripotent state (the F-class stem cell). While the discovery of this new class is thrilling, the main purpose of this grand project was to uncover the […]
A “Grandiose” Project Provides a Fuzzy New Future for iPSC ResearchDecember 17, 2014Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) research burst on to the scene in 2006 with a paper which has since spawned thousands of studies and has proved to be a quantum leap for regenerative medicine. This reached a crescendo this year when a Japanese patient became the first recipient of retinal cells generated from iPSCs made […]
Vitamin C Promotes ESC Self-Renewal by Modulating miRNA ExpressionDecember 16, 2014We all know “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away”, but it requires a lot of discipline to ensure that our diet contains enough vitamins. This holds especially true for the daily vitamin C uptake. Unfortunately, humans (and – for some mysterious reason – guinea pigs) lost the ability to synthesize this now essential […]
Alpha-ketoglutarate: Small Metabolite With Big Influence on Stem Cell PluripotencyDecember 15, 2014Many of us go through the morning ritual of picking up store-brewed coffee, although we could just as easily make it ourselves. Most mammalian cells feel the same about glutamine, which they require in abundance, even though glutamine is a non-essential amino acid. Now, stem cell researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center show that glutamine […]