Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: Explaining their results Prof Shinichi Hirose, from Fukuoka University, said, “From research with mice we believed that SCN1A mutations affect GABAergic neurons in the forebrain from signalling properly. From the human neurons we also found that GABAergic neurons were affected by DS, especially during intense stimulation. These patient-derived cells...

“The aggressive breast cancer cells grow rapidly and normally appear spindle-shaped or thin and elongated. Remarkably, within a few days of blocking HMGA1 expression, they appeared rounder and much more like normal breast cells growing in culture,” says Resar. The team also found that the cells with suppressed HMGA1 grow very slowly and fail to migrate or invade new territory like their...

May 21, 2013 ? When infections occur in the body, stem cells in the blood often jump into action by multiplying and differentiating into mature immune cells that can fight off illness. But repeated infections and inflammation can deplete these cell populations, potentially leading to the development of serious blood conditions such as cancer. Now, a team of researchers led by biologists at the California...

From there, the pair went on to show — in collaboration with researchers at Duke University — that they could use WNT3 expression levels in hESCs to predict the potential of hESC lines for differentiating into endoderm. The discovery of WNT3′s role as an endoderm differentiation marker grew out of work by Jiang on pancreatic cell development. “Wei was testing different lines...

A critical discovery in this research was finding that the novel progenitor has a receptor protein on its cell surface called KDR, or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, which until now, was thought to be restricted to endothelial cells that form vessels, the progenitors for endothelial cells and the progenitors blood cells. The research team showed that activation of KDR on these novel...

The virus infected the target cells in the brains of mice with Huntington’s disease and triggered the sustained over-expression of both BDNF and noggin. This, in turn, activated the neighboring neural stem cells which began to produce medium spiny motor neurons. The new neurons were continuously generated and migrated to the striatum, the region of the brain impacted by Huntington’s disease,...

In ongoing studies, Anderson explained, he and colleagues are using their cell model to better define molecular events that occur during brain development. By selectively manipulating genes in the interneurons, the researchers seek to better understand how gene abnormalities may disrupt brain circuitry and give rise to particular diseases. Ultimately, those studies could help inform drug development...

“Electrical ions or really small molecules that are in one cell can diffuse directly into a cell next to it,” he said. “It’s like they put holes in their membranes when they’re up against each other.” Co-authors are Rice graduate student Jennifer Petsche Connell, Rice junior Emily Augustini and maternal-fetal specialists Kenneth Moise Jr. and Anthony Johnson. Jacot...