Computer simulations visualize how an essential stem cell protein opens wrapped DNA

A key protein for converting adult stem cells into cells that resemble embryonic stem cells has been visualized in unprecedented detail by an international team of researchers around Hans Schöler and Vlad Cojocaru of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster. By combing experiments and computer simulations, the team visualized how the Oct4 protein binds and opens short pieces of DNA while wrapped around nuclear storage proteins (histones), just like in our genome. The results were published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research on September 22.

Scientists with a research focus on stem cell transplantation and cell therapy are invited to apply for the 2023 DKMS John Hansen Research Grant starting August 10, 2022. With this grant, the DKMS Stiftung Leben Spenden (Foundation for Giving Life) supports up to four outstanding research projects each year that aim to advance the medical progress and improve the chances of recovery for blood cancer patients. The requirements include a doctoral degree (PhD, MD or equivalent) that was obtained no longer than 10 years ago. The grants are endowed with €240,000 each, which will be paid out over a period of three years. The application deadline is December 2, 2022.

Stem cells are a hot topic for creating medical treatments. However, scientists still do not fully understand how they choose to divide or differentiate to renew organs. Researchers have now found a new biophysical mechanism that regulates stem cells in the intestines of mice. There, a stem cell is not purely defined by intrinsic molecular markers but also by their location and movements in their environment. This could have implications for possible new treatments.

The FAIRplus and EBiSC2 projects are joining forces to improve how ‘FAIR’ standards (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability) can be applied to human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) line data. The joint effort will improve how iPSC line data can be made more findable, standardized and reusable for researchers.

A stomach adult stem cell population can fulfill two distinct functions: either help with digestion under normal conditions or take the lead on injury response. Scientists at IMBA, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that these functions are two sides of a coin. Upon injury, one “molecular switch” is enough to propel the stem cells from one state to the other. The findings, now published in Cell Stem Cell, could be instrumental in improving our understanding of gastric pathologies.

Scientists have created a new roadmap that traces each step in the development of blood stem cells in the human embryo, providing scientists with a blueprint for producing fully functional blood stem cells in the lab. The research could help expand treatment options for blood cancers like leukemia and inherited blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.

Ten-second videos of white blood cell motion in the skin’s microvasculature greatly improved the prediction of which stem cell and bone marrow transplant patients would have a relapse of their blood cancer.

A protein that masterminds the way DNA is wrapped within chromosomes has a major role in the healthy functioning of blood stem cells, which produce all blood cells in the body, according to a new study.

The most dangerous side effect of allogeneic blood stem cell transplantation, graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), has still not been sufficiently researched. The world’s largest blood stem cell donor center DKMS wants to change that – it is the declared goal of the non-profit organization to improve the survival and healing chances of blood cancer patients. In the fight against GvHD, DKMS research teams have now launched two new scientific studies.

Recent discoveries by stem cell scientists may help make cancer treatment more efficient and shorten the time it takes for people to recover from radiation and chemotherapy.

Removing one type of T cell from donor blood used for stem cell grafts could greatly reduce a serious complication called graft-versus-host disease in patients with leukemia, according to a new study.

Researchers have shown that blocking IL-6 and TNF cytokines provides a more effective approach to preventing life-threatening graft-versus-host-disease, an inflammatory condition that develops in patients after their allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Studying mice, researchers have developed a method of stem cell transplantation that does not require radiation or chemotherapy. Instead, the strategy takes an immunotherapeutic approach, combining the targeted elimination of blood-forming stem cells in the bone marrow with immune-modulating drugs to prevent the immune system from rejecting the new donor stem cells.

Der Hilde Mangold Award – ein posthumes Denkmal für die deutsche Embryologin Hilde Mangold – wird jährlich an herausragende Stammzellforscherinnen durch das German Stem Cell Network (GSCN) verliehen. Mit dem Preis werden sowohl die wissenschaftlichen Errungenschaften, als auch das Lebenswerk der Preisträgerin als Vorbild für junge Wissenschaftlerinnen gewürdigt. Dieses Jahr darf Frau Prof. Dr. Katja Schenke-Layland, Direktion des NMI Naturwissenschaftlichen und Medizinischen Instituts in Reutlingen und Professorin für Medizintechnik und Regenerative Medizin an der Medizinischen Fakultät der Eberhard-Karls-Universität in Tübingen diesen Preis in Empfang nehmen.

Researchers have made new findings which provide a broader understanding of how dormant hematopoietic stem cells are activated and could pave the way towards therapeutic treatments for a number of cancers.

Scientists reveal that during hematopoietic regeneration, RNA expressed from a part of the genome considered ‚junk DNA‘ is used by hematopoietic stem cells to get activated and proliferate. The study shows that these so-called transposable elements make RNA after chemotherapy and activate an immune receptor which induces inflammatory signals enhancing hematopoietic stem cell cycling and thus participating in the regeneration of the hematopoietic system.

Biomedical engineering researchers developed a new cell classifier tool that takes a higher-resolution look at the life cycle of neuroepithelial stem cells, which led to the discovery and exploration of a new resting phase called Neural G0. This knowledge could help scientists to better understand glioma brain tumors and develop new methods of treatment.

The chances of restoring fertility through sperm stem cell transplant are as random as a coin toss. But a team of scientists developed a new strategy that serves as a ‚weighted coin‘ that can favorably rig the odds to achieve outcomes where fertility is successfully restored.

Chemotherapy destroys stem cells, which then cannot develop into immune cells and become part of the body’s defenses. There are drugs that can remedy this, but previously we did not know exactly how these drugs worked. Now, a new study details their function providing new knowledge that may improve stem cell transplantation and lead to better drug design in the future.

Für die Krebsforschung haben Ulmer Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler Bauchspeicheldrüsen-Organoide im Labor gezüchtet. Anhand dieser Modelle aus Stammzellen wollen die Forschenden die Entstehung von Bauchspeicheldrüsenkrebs nachvollziehen. Dadurch erhoffen sie sich neue, patientenspezifische Behandlungsansätze. Zudem könnten diese „duktalen Pankreas-Organoide“ dabei helfen, Tierversuche in der Krebsforschung zu reduzieren. Die aktuelle, in Kooperation mit dem Helmholtz Zentrum in München entstandene Publikation wurde im Journal „Cell Stem Cell“ veröffentlicht.

Der Innsbrucker Molekularbiologe Jerome Mertens und sein Team modellierten erstmals auch die sporadische, nur im Alter auftretende Form von Alzheimer basierend auf Hautzellen von Patient*innen. Die in Cell Stem Cell veröffentlichten Ergebnisse belegen eine Altersabhängigkeit dieser Form der Krankheit und zeigen, dass Alzheimer-Nervenzellen und Krebszellen einiges gemeinsam haben.

DKMS invites medical and healthcare professionals working in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to visit the newly developed DKMS platform at www.professional.dkms.org. This website gives an overview of the work of all our specialist departments and offers comprehensive insights into the non-profit organization’s scientific studies and publications. Furthermore, it provides access to DKMS’ services, resources, grants and support programs. The site features a modern and streamlined design and makes it easy to access essential information.

Ein Forscherïnnenteam am IMBA – Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften – erforscht an sogenannten Organoiden, wie manche Viren schwere Fehlbildungen im menschlichen Gehirn auslösen können, mit dem Ziel neue Therapieansätze gegen Infektionen und deren Folgen zu entwickeln. Das berichtet das Team rund um Jürgen Knoblich aktuell im Fachmagazin Cell Stem Cell.

As people get older, their neural stem cells lose the ability to proliferate and produce new neurons, leading to a decline in memory function. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now discovered a mechanism linked to stem cell aging – and how the production of neurons can be reactivated.

The gut plays a central role in the regulation of the body’s metabolism and its dysfunction is associated with a variety of diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, colitis and colorectal cancer that affect millions of people worldwide. Targeting endocrine dysfunction by stimulating the formation of specific enteroendocrine cells from intestinal stem cells could be a promising regenerative approach for diabetes therapy. For this, a detailed understanding of the intestinal stem cell lineage and the signals regulating the recruitment of intestinal cell types is critical.