Press releases
Please quote Nature Biotechnology as the source of these items.
The December 2007 issue of Nature Biotechnology is available online.
December 2007
Neural crest stem cells on tap
Human embryonic stem cells have been coaxed into becoming neural crest stem cells, an important cell type in the developing embryo. These findings, reported online this week in Nature Biotechnology, will make it possible to produce human neural crest stem cells in large numbers to study the development and diseases of the peripheral nervous system.
During development, embryonic stem cells give rise to all the specialized cell types in the body, but finding methods to mimic this process in a laboratory dish is challenging. The neural crest region of the embryo is of special interest because it gives rise to neurons and glia of the peripheral nervous system and various non-neural cells involved in the formation of cartilage, bone, muscle and other tissues. Studer and colleagues describe the isolation of neural crest stem cells from human embryonic stem cells and their differentiation into peripheral neurons and Schwann cells and into cells that express markers of fat, cartilage, bone and smooth muscle.
In another paper in this week's Nature Biotechnology, Gordon Keller and colleagues have identified a particular site in the human genome (ROSA26) that is similar to one routinely used to introduce genes into the mouse genome. They show that this site is useful for adding genes to a human embryonic stem cell line.
Isolation and directed differentiation of neural crest stem cells derived from human embryonic stem cells pp 1468 - 1475
Gabsang Lee, Hyesoo Kim, Yechiel Elkabetz, George Al Shamy, Georgia Panagiotakos, Tiziano Barberi, Viviane Tabar & Lorenz Studer
Published online: 25 November 2007 | doi 10.1038/nbt1365
Identification and targeting of the ROSA26 locus in human embryonic stem cells pp 1477 - 1482
Stefan Irion, Hervé Luche, Paul Gadue, Hans Joerg Fehling, Marion Kennedy & Gordon Keller
Published online: 25 November 2007 | doi 10.1038/nbt1362