The same protein that causes neurodegenerative conditions such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) is also important for helping certain adult stem cells maintain themselves.
Researchers have discovered a way to multiply an adult stem cell 30-fold, an expansion that offers tremendous promise for treatments such as bone marrow transplants and perhaps even gene therapy.
Researchers analyzed the complete gene-expression profiles of both cloned and fertilization-derived stem cells in mice and concluded that the two are indistinguishable.
Researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member David Bartel have found that a class of small RNAs called microRNAs influence the evolution of genes far more widely than previous research had indicated.
Scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and University of Utah School of Medicine have begun to understand the biological processes of how the planarian flatworm achieves complete regeneration of damaged tissue.
