Work

Standing on the shoulders of giants: The changing landscape of pluripotent stem cells in research

Year: 2019

Type: review

Abstract: Stem cells have the remarkable property of self-renewal and differentiation. These two fundamental aspects have excited scientists and clinicians for decades. Stem cells are defined by their potency, with pluripotency being the most permissive and unipotency being the most restricted. In mammals, pluripotency represents cell types found in the preimplantation and early postimplantation embryo. However, these pluripotent cells are not stem cells per se, because they do not meet the criteria of self-renewal. Therefore, pluripotent stem cells are exclusively in vitro cell types that have provided scientists and clinicians with unprecedented power to study the fundamental cell and molecular properties of pluripotency, as well as providing a window into cellular differentiation and a source of cells for regenerative medicine including cell types that could be used to regenerate the kidney.

Source: The Anatomical Record

DOI: 10.1002/ar.24304

Author: Amander T. Clark

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, Broad Center

Language: English

Topic: Pluripotent Stem Cells Research

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: University of Melbourne, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: Cellular and Molecular Basis of Human Primordial Germ Cell Specification