Unlike less versatile muscle or nerve cells, embryonic stem cells are by definition equipped to assume any cellular role. Scientists call this flexibility "pluripotency," meaning that as an organism develops, stem cells must ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 27, 2012
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For a tiny embryo to grow into an entire fruit fly, mouse or human, the correct genes in each cell must turn on and off in precisely the right sequence. This intricate molecular dance produces the many parts of the whole ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 20, 2012
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(Phys.org)—From a single-cell egg to a fully functional body: as embryos develop and grow, they must form organs that are in proportion to the overall size of the embryo. The exact mechanism underlying this fundamental ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 20, 2012
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Scientists from The Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem) at the University of Copenhagen are contributing important knowledge about how stem cells develop best into insulin-producing cells. In the long term this new knowledge ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 21, 2012
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(Phys.org)—A new way to visualize single-cell activity in living zebrafish embryos has allowed scientists to clarify how cells line up in the right place at the right time to receive signals about the next phase of their ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 13, 2012
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As they develop, vertebrate embryos form vertebrae in a sequential, time-controlled way. Scientists have determined previously that this process of body segmentation is controlled by a kind of "clock," regulated by the oscillating ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 13, 2012
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Newly-crowned Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka on Monday cautioned that stem cells could still spur sharp debate, despite his achievement in creating cells that are not derived from embryos.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 12, 2012
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In developing vertebrates, the brain and spinal cord originate from an embryonic structure known as the neural tube. This initially forms as a flat 'neural plate', which subsequently folds around and closes up to form a tubular ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 9, 2012
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Researchers at RIKEN BioResource Center and their colleagues identified a gene required for growth and differentiation of pluripotential cells in the mouse embryos. The gene, Vps52, is a mouse homolog of yeast VPS52 ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 9, 2012
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(Phys.org)—During the early developmental stages of vertebrates—animals that have a backbone and spinal column, including humans—cells undergo extensive rearrangements, and some cells migrate over large distances to ...
Biotechnology
Nov 1, 2012
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