Cancer stem cells, capable of self-renewal and multipotent differentiation, influence tumor behavior through a complex balance of symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions. Mechanisms regulating the dynamics of stem cells and their progeny in human cancer are poorly understood. In Drosophila, mutation of brain tumor (brat) leads to loss of normal asymmetric cell division by developing neural cell...

Cancer stem cells, capable of self-renewal and multipotent differentiation, influence tumor behavior through a complex balance of symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions. Mechanisms regulating the dynamics of stem cells and their progeny in human cancer are poorly understood. In Drosophila, mutation of brain tumor (brat) leads to loss of normal asymmetric cell division by developing neural cell...

Similar to stem cells, naïve T cells undergo asymmetric division following activation. While asymmetric division of T cells has been shown to be an important mechanism for the generation of lymphocyte fate diversity during immune responses, key factors that influence whether T cells will undergo symmetric or asymmetric divisions are not completely understood. Here, we utilized immunological syn...

New insights have been added to identification, behavior and cellular properties of embryonic and tissue-specific stem cells over the last few years. The modes of stem cell division, asymmetric vs. symmetric, are tightly regulated during development and regeneration. The proper choice of a stem cell to divide asymmetrically or symmetrically has great consequences for development and disease bec...

Understanding how neurons adopt particular fates is a fundamental challenge in developmental neurobiology. To address this issue, we have been studying a Caenorhabditis elegans lineage that produces the HSN motor neuron and the PHB sensory neuron, sister cells produced by the HSN/PHB precursor. We have previously shown that the novel protein HAM-1 controls the asymmetric neuroblast division in ...

Many adult stem cells divide asymmetrically to balance self-renewal and differentiation, thereby maintaining tissue homeostasis. Asymmetric stem cell divisions depend on asymmetric cell architecture (i.e., cell polarity) within the cell and/or the cellular environment. In particular, as residents of the tissues they sustain, stem cells are inevitably placed in the context of the tissue architec...

Most cells divide symmetrically into two approximately identical cells. There are many examples, however, of asymmetric cell division that can generate sibling cell size differences. Whereas physical asymmetric division mechanisms and cell fate consequences have been investigated, the specific problem caused by asymmetric division at the transcription level has not yet been addressed. In symmet...