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Nature 425, 353-355 (25 September 2003) | doi:10.1038/425353a
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Research Fellows in Pluripotent Stem Cell Technology
- The University of Nottingham
- Nottingham, UK
Two year postdoctoral position in ethics, health and law
- University Paris Descartes
- Paris, 75 006, France
Stem cells: To be and not to be
Haifan Lin1
Abstract
It has long been proposed that stem cells function by dividing to generate an identical daughter cell and a cell that becomes more specialized. New work illustrates such asymmetric division and its molecular basis.
Stem cells have the unique ability to perpetuate themselves while continually replenishing tissues throughout the life of an organism. This ability has long been attributed to a distinctive asymmetry in their division, such that when a stem cell divides, it gives rise to both an exact copy of itself and a new type of cell that will differentiate into mature cells of the tissue.
- Haifan Lin is in the Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
Email: hlin@duke.edu
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