Human Stem Cell Use: Embryonic Stem Cell
North Bay CIRM Shared Research Laboratory for Stem Cells and Aging
Age-related diseases of the nervous system are major challenges for biomedicine in the 21st century. These disorders, which include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and stroke, cause loss of neural tissue and functional impairment. Currently, there is no cure for these devastating neurological disorders. A promising approach to the treatment of […]
Shared viral vector facility for genetic manipulation of huamn ES cell
Human ES (hES) cells offer the opportunity to be converted into replacement tissues for diseased organs and provide cures for diseases like Parkinson’s, diabetes, and a host of neurological disorders. Unfortunately due to political considerations, scientific space containing equipment and other resources provided by the federal government are off limits for work on unapproved hES […]
Laying the groundwork for building a tooth: analysis of dental epithelial stem cells
To fix a broken car, the mechanic either repairs or replaces the defective part. Similarly, one of the most promising approaches physicians foresee for treating human disease and ameliorating the aging process is regenerative medicine. A major aim of this field is to restore function by repairing or replacing damaged organs. Scientists envision a day […]
Building Cardiac Tissue from Stem Cells and Natural Matrices
Congestive heart failure afflicts 4.8 million people, with 400,000 new cases each year. Myocardial infarction (MI), also known as a “heart attack”, leads to a loss of cardiac tissue and impairment of left ventricular function. Because the heart does not contain a significant number of multiplying stem, precursor, or reserve cells, it is unable to […]
Mechanisms in Choroid Plexus Epithelial Development
Buried deep inside the brain are cells known as choroid plexus epithelial (CPe) cells. Although not as famous as other cells in the nervous system, CPe cells perform a large number of important jobs that keep the brain and spinal cord healthy. They produce the fluid (known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF) that bathes the […]
The roles of non-coding RNAs in the self-renewal and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells
There are thousands of cell types in the animal body, many of which can be derived from embryonic stem cells (ES cells), a pluripotent cell type that thrive in cell culture condition. ES cells differentiate into various cell type in a tissue culture dish in response to different growth factor/cytokine treatment, which can be transplanted […]
Mechanisms of small RNA regulation in early embryonic development
The promise of embryonic stem cells in regenerative medicine is based on their potential to make every cell in the body, a property coined pluripotency. With rapid recent advances in technology, it is becoming relative straightforward to make embryonic stem cell-like lines from adult tissues. In the near future, the generation of these lines will […]
Mechanisms Underlying the Diverse Functions of STAT3 in Embryonic Stem Cell Fate Regulation
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from very early stage embryos. ESCs can be maintained in culture indefinitely while retain the ability to make any type of cell in the body. These properties make ESCs a very powerful tool to address basic biology questions. ESCs also offer an important renewable resource for future cell replacement […]
Regulation of Adult Stem Cell Proliferation by RAS and Cell-Permeable Proteins
Our research focuses on developing new tools and models for the next generation of doctors and scientists in all specialties of regenerative medicine. The major obstacles in regenerative medicine are the limited number of pre-existing stem cells and the inability to regulate their proliferation. Our aim is to identify the mechanisms that regulate adult stem […]
A Novel Microenvironment-Mediated Functional Skeletal Muscle from Human Embryonic Stem Cells and their In Vivo Engraftment
Muscle wasting is a serious clinical problem associated with a number of diseases and health conditions, affecting individuals of all ages. Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a form of muscle wasting disease resulting from genetic mutations. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common form of MD that limits motility and life expectancy of children. It […]