Collection 

Stem cells in translation

Stem-cell research is rapidly advancing towards potential therapeutic applications such as tissue and organ replacement, disease modelling and drug testing. This collection of articles published by Nature Publishing Group illustrates progress in bringing stem-cell research to the clinic.

Research Articles provide the latest insights into how cell differentiation can be directed to reconstitute tissues in vitro and into how stem-cell fates could be modulated to promote tissue repair in vivo. The articles also describe stem-cell-based models of disease that increase our understanding of disease onset and progression, providing a tool for drug screening and development.

News and Opinion articles include Reviews and Comments and discuss the potential and limitations of these findings in the context of regenerative medicine, highlighting the technical and regulatory challenges that lie ahead.  This collection also includes a selection of peer-reviewed procedures from Nature Protocols that reflect how advances in stem-cell research are closely linked to the development of methods and techniques. Posters produced by the Nature Reviews Journals, which provide a visual overview of stem-cell-biology topics, can also be accessed and downloaded.

Posters provide a visual overview of a topic in biology and can be viewed online as a high-resolution PDF. Find below a selection of Posters produced by the Nature Reviews journals on stem cell topics that are relevant to their applications in the clinic.

 

Cell-reprogramming technology and neuroscience

Maria C. Marchetto and Fred H. Gage

Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Jul 2015

Produced with support from STEMCELL Technologies


This poster illustrates the principles through which cell-reprogramming technology can be used to generate distinct types of neural cells and outlines the most promising applications of these cells in neuroscientific research.

 

Stem cell states: naive to primed pluripotency

Leehee Weinberger, Yair S. Manor and Jacob H. Hanna

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology - Jul 2015

Produced with support from STEMCELL Technologies


This Poster provides an overview of the signalling pathways currently known to promote or suppress the naive and primed pluripotency states in mice, and highlights potential differences between mice and humans. It also provides an overview of culture conditions that confer naive and/or primed features to cells.

 

From teratomas to embryonic stem cells: discovering pluripotency

Peter W. Andrews and Paul J. Gokhale

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology - Oct 2011

Produced with support from Abcam
 

This Poster provides a timeline overview of the history of pluripotency, starting from early studies of teratocarcinomas in 1954, which preceded the isolation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells (ES cells), and ending with the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). In doing so, it highlights how our understanding of the pluripotent state has evolved over almost 60 years.

 

The identity and properties of mesenchymal stem cells

César Nombela-Arrieta and Leslie E. Silberstein

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology - Jun 2011

Produced with support from STEMCELL Technologies Inc.

This Poster provides an overview of the identity of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vivo and the effects of their in vitro-expanded progeny, and highlights key questions that remain in the field regarding the biology of these elusive cells.

 

Strategies to increase pancreatic β-cell mass and function

Amedeo Vetere, Amit Choudhary and Bridget K. Wagner

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - Sep 2013

Produced with support from Novo Nordisk

This Poster illustrates small-molecule approaches that are being investigated to therapeutically increase insulin-producing β-cell mass and function, including the induction of β-cell proliferation and insulin secretion, the reprogramming of closely related cell types to β-cells, or protection from apoptosis.