girl health blog 27

The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) scientists provided the experimental expertise to test Cynata Therapeutics' induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a model of experimental asthma. Induced pluripotent stem cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells; they have the ability to be differentiated into a variety of tissue types and, in this case, MSCs that can regenerate damaged lung tissue. Lead researchers Associate Professor Chrishan Samuel and Dr Simon Royce tested the efficacy of the MSCs on three key components of asthma in a preclinical model of chronic allergic airways disease: inflammation; airway remodeling (structural changes that occur in lungs as a result of prolonged inflammation); and airway hyperresponsiveness (the clinical symptom of asthma). The study, published in the  FASEB Journal , found that the MSCs could effectively reduce inflammation, reversed signs of airway r...

They have also identified two distinct stem-cell like populations from which relapse can arise in different patients in this aggressive cancer that they previously showed starts in blood stem cells in the bone marrow. The findings -- published today in  Nature  -- provide significant insights into cell types fated to relapse and can help accelerate the quest for new, upfront therapies, says Dr. Dick, a Senior Scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, and Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology and is Director of the Cancer Stem Cell Program at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. This study was primarily undertaken by post-doctoral fellow Dr. Liran Shlush and Scientific Associate Dr. Amanda Mitchell. "For the first time, we have married together knowledge of stem cell biology and genetics -- areas that historically have often been operating as se...

Utilizing x-ray crystallography, Joshua-Tor's crew has captured the equal of freeze-frames of enzymes known as TUTases in two totally different modes. In a single mode (LEFT), the TUTase enzyme (consisting of pink and blue/inexperienced subunits surrounded by a dotted line) provides a single uridine ("U") nucleotide to a precursor of the micro RNA let-7 (purple and orange helix). The addition of a single "U" results in the manufacturing of a mature let-7 micro RNA, in flip supporting the method by which a stem cell differentiates right into a specialised cell. In its different mode (RIGHT) a TUTase enzyme associates with a protein known as Lin28, resulting in the addition of 30 "U"s to a let-7 precursor. This targets it for destruction - important for stem cells to retain their capability to proliferate indefinitely. The TUTases are potential targets in most cancers cells, which appear to accumulate the stem-like capability to prolifera...

That is a pc mannequin of the folded DNA chromosomes from a single cell. Credit score: Dr Csilla Varnai Shifting genes about may assist cells to answer change in keeping with scientists on the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK and the Weizmann Institute, Israel. Altering the situation of a gene inside a cell alters its exercise. Like mixing music, totally different areas could make a gene 'louder' or 'quieter', with louder genes contributing extra actively to the lifetime of a cell. Opposite to expectations, this newest examine reveals that every gene would not have an excellent location within the cell nucleus. As an alternative, genes are at all times on the transfer. Printed within the journal  Nature , researchers examined the organisation of genes in stem cells from mice. They revealed that these cells regularly remix their genes, altering their positions as they progress although totally different phases. This work, which has additionall...