January 10 2008
Visit Nature Reports Stem Cells online.
Now available at: http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0BU280EZ
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THIS MONTH IN NATURE REPORTS STEM CELLS
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This month's newsletter explores current questions and prospects of
induced pluripotent stem cells, plus the way US President Bush's
embryonic stem cell policy has shaped science funding. We also
describe how some companies are collaborating to use stem cells for
drug screening in the UK, while in the US changes in patent policy
threaten the use of stem cells as research tools.
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OUR TOP STORIES
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State demands strain US stem cell scientists
Margaret Goodell of Baylor College of Medicine argues that the
additional funding systems born of the US stem cell controversy
distract scientists and weaken the NIH
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkuh0Eq
Looming questions for induced pluripotent stem cells
In an interview with Nature Reports, NIH Stem Cell Task Force head
Story Landis puts forth her views on science and science funders
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkui0Er
Can opposition to research spur innovation?
Moral debates, rhetoric and stem cell breakthroughs interact, explains
Charis Thompson of the University of California, Berkeley's
Departments of Rhetoric and Gender and Women's Studies
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkuk0Et
New tools for drug screening
A UK project hopes human embryonic stem cells can predict drugs'
future
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkul0Eu
Perfect storm in patents
Decisions by the Supreme Court and the US Patent Office could cause
turmoil in the stem cell industry
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkum0Ev
Highlights of research publications
See reviews published this month on generating stem cells for
therapeutic applications in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkun0Ew
plus new reviews on progenitors and the niche from Nature Reviews
Molecular Biology
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0BaYe0EB
Pluripotency personalized
Induced pluripotent stem cells are made from a fresh skin biopsy
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkuj0Es
Park, I. H. et al. Reprogramming of human somatic cells to
pluripotency with defined factors. Nature advance online publication,
doi:10.1038/nature06534 (23 December 2007).
Read Martin Pera's commentary on induced pluripotency
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bk4E0EC
Dystrophy patients' muscle stem cells treat mice
Cells modified to correct a mutation help muscles grow, function
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkuo0Ex
Benchanouir, R. et al. Restoration of human dystrophin following
transplantation of exon-skipping-engineered DMD patient stem cells
into dystrophic mice. Cell Stem Cell 1, 646–657 (2007).
Circulating stem cells
Haematopoietic stem cells patrol the body to ward off infection
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkup0Ey
Massberg, S. et al. Immunosurveillance by hematopoietic progenitor
cells trafficking though blood, lymph, and peripheral tissues. Cell
131, 994–1008 (2007).
MicroRNA reins in tumor-initiating cells
A microRNA that silences two oncogenes is quiet in cancer stem cells
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkuq0Ez
Yu, F. et al. let-7 regulates self renewal and tumorigenicity of
breast cancer cells. Cell 131, 1109–1123 (2007).
Human haematopoietic stem cells identified
The new cells should hold clues of self-renewal
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkur0E1
Majeti, R., Park, C. Y. & Weissman, I. L. Identification of a
hierarchy of multipotent hematopoietic progenitors in human cord
blood. Cell Stem Cell 1, 635–645 (2007).
Ringing the changes
New insight into ES cells shows how genes are poised for expression
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bkus0E2
Stock, J. K. et al. Ring1-mediated ubiquitination of H2A restrains
poised RNA polymerase II at bivalent genes in ES cells. Nat. Cell
Biol. 9, 1428–1435 (2007).
Readers Respond
Stem cell culture should consider not just dimensions but tissues
Xiao-Dong Chen, University of Texas Health Science Center
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bk1G0EB
Pluripotency breakthroughs came from a Japanese lab, not US policy
Doug Sipp,RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology
http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eiZE0Xztnp0JEp0Bk1H0EC
