Directed reprogramming of somatic cells by defined factors provides a novel method for the generation of patient-specific stem cells with the potential to bypass both the practical and ethical concerns associated with somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and human embryonic stem (hES) cells. Although the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has proven a robust technology in mouse ...

The resetting of a somatic epigenotype to a totipotential state has been demonstrated by successful animal cloning, via transplantation of somatic nuclei into enucleated oocytes. We have established an experimental system, which reproduces the nuclear reprogramming of somatic cells in vitro by fusing adult thymocytes with embryonic stem (ES) cells. Analysis of the lymphoid-cell-specific V-(D)-J...

Ovarian follicles form through a process in which somatic pregranulosa cells encapsulate individual germ cells from germ cell syncytia. Complementary expression of the Notch ligand, Jagged1, in germ cells and the Notch receptor, Notch2, in pregranulosa cells suggests a role for Notch signaling in mediating cellular interactions during follicle assembly. Using a Notch reporter mouse, we demonstr...

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are reprogrammed from somatic cells through numerous transcription factors. Human induced pluripotent stem cell approaches are developing as a hopeful strategy to improve our knowledge of genetic association studies and the underlying molecular mechanisms.  Rapid progression in stem cell therapy and cell reprogramming provides compelling reasons for its fe...

objective: allogeneic transplantation with umbilical cord blood (ucb) in adult recipients is limited mainly by a low cd34+ cell dose. to overcome this shortcoming, human placenta as a novel source of human mesenchymal progenitor cell (mpc)- unrestricted somatic stem cells (ussc)- was incorporated in an attempt to expand cd34+ cells from ucb. to provide a similar environment in vitro, we coated ...