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Top 5 TED Talks About Stem Cells

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One of the best places to go for information on the rapidly moving field of stem cells is TED Talks. TED is a “nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks,” given in 18 minutes or less.

TED Talks on Stem Cells

In this article:

What are TED Talks for Stem Cell Research

What are TED Talks

It was founded more than 30 years ago (1984) as a conference where “Technology, Entertainment and Design converged,” but it took until online video became widely available for TED to break into the public consciousness on a large scale. Now, these short talks given by thought leaders around the world are captured on video and stored on TED website as high-quality, high-definition footage.

Today, TED talks cover a massive range of topics in more than 100 languages. There is also a “TED Talk” app so that you can watch footage on your phone, tablet, or TV. Simply put, the term “TED Talk” has become a part of the public vocabulary.

TED Talks Topics: Stem Cells

Importantly, stem cell topics have broken on the “TED scene” as an important area of conversation. At my last count, I found more than 70 talks that mentioned stem cells within the transcript. [Read more…]

Gladstone Institutes Initiates Research Collaboration With Eli Lilly for Neurodegenerative Diseases

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Study will use innovative technology to focus on neurodegenerative diseases

Gladstone and Eli Lilly
Steve Finkbeiner, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease

SAN FRANCISCO, December 7, 2017 (Newswire.com) – The Gladstone Institutes announced today a new research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company focused on neurodegenerative diseases. This multi-year, milestone-driven project will be based on a combination of innovative technologies developed at Gladstone by Steve Finkbeiner, M.D., Ph.D. His laboratory will work closely with Lilly during this collaboration.

“This collaboration has high potential to open new avenues towards effective therapies for neurodegenerative diseases,” said Gladstone President R. Sanders Williams, M.D. “Both organizations are committed to meeting this major unmet need.”

Key to the project is a robotic microscope system developed in Finkbeiner’s laboratory with funds from Gladstone, the Taube/Koret Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, and the ALS Association. This fully automated platform allows scientists to track thousands of individual cells for days or weeks at a time, and follow discrete cellular functions.

When coupled with neurons generated from induced pluripotent stem cells collected from patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and ALS, this microscope becomes a powerful tool to study the cells and their responses to disease and treatments. [Read more…]

Fortuna Fix Announces Series B Financing, Adding Amgen Ventures and Macnguyen Family Office as Shareholders

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London, UK and Montreal, Canada, November 8, 2017 (Newswire) –Fortuna Fix (“Fortuna”), a private, clinical-stage Regenerative Medicine company is aiming to be the first to bring to the clinic a patient’s own neural stem cells (autologous) produced by direct reprogramming (“drNPCs”) to replace lost neuronal tissue in neurodegeneration and neurotrauma.
[Read more…]

Do You Know The 5 Types Of Stem Cells?

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As you start to learn about stem cells, one of the most common questions to have is, “What types of stem cells exist?” There is not an agreed-upon number of stem cell types, because one can classify stem cells either by differentiation potential (what they can turn into) or by origin (from where they are sourced). This post is dedicated to explaining the five types of stem cells, based on differentiation potential.

5 Types of Stem Cells by Differentiation Potential

The five different types of stem cells discussed in this article are:

All stem cells that exist can be classified into one of five groups based on their differentiation potential. Each of these stem cell types is explored in greater detail below.

1. Totipotent (or Omnipotent) Stem Cells

These stem cells are the most powerful that exist.

They can differentiate into embryonic, as well as extra-embryonic tissues, such as chorion, yolk sac, amnion, and the allantois. In humans and other placental animals, these tissues form the placenta.

The most important characteristic of a totipotent cell is that it can generate a fully-functional, living organism.

The best-known example of a totipotent cell is a fertilized egg (formed when a sperm and egg unite to form a zygote).

It is at or around four days post-fertilization that these cells begin to specialize into pluripotent cells, which as described below, are flexible cell types but cannot produce an entire organism. 

2. Pluripotent Stem Cells

The next most powerful type of stem cell is the pluripotent stem cell.

The importance of this cell type is that it can self-renew and differentiate into any of the three germ layers, which are: ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm. These three germ layers further differentiate to form all tissues and organs within a human being.

Embryonic Stem Cells

There are several known types of pluripotent stem cells.

Among the natural pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells are the best example. However, a type of “human-made” pluripotent stem cell also exists, which is the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell).

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

iPS cells were first produced from mouse cells in 2006 and human cells in 2007, and are tissue-specific cells that can be reprogrammed to become functionally similar to embryonic stem cells.

Because of their powerful ability to differentiate in a wide diversity of tissues and their non-controversial nature, induced pluripotent stem cells are well-suited for use in cellular therapy and regenerative medicine.

3. Multipotent Stem Cells

Multipotent stem cells are a middle-range type of stem cell, in that they can self-renew and differentiate into a specific range of cell types.

An excellent example of this cell type is the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC).

Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into osteoblasts (a type of bone cell), myocytes (muscle cells), adipocytes (fat cells), and chondrocytes (cartilage cells).

These cells types are fairly diverse in their characteristics, which is why mesenchymal stem cells are classified as multipotent stem cells.

4. Oligopotent Cells

The next type of stem cells, oligopotent cells, are similar to the prior category (multipotent stem cells), but they become further restricted in their capacity to differentiate.

While these cells can self-renew and differentiate, they can only do so to a limited extent. They can only do so into closely related cell types.

An excellent example of this cell type is the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC).

Hematopoietic Stem Cells

HSCs are cells derived from mesoderm that can differentiate into other blood cells. Specifically, HSCs are oligopotent stem cells that can differentiate into both myeloid and lymphoid cells.

Myeloid cells include basophils, dendritic cells, eosinophils, erythrocytes, macrophages, megakaryocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, and platelets, while lymphoid cells include B cells, T cells, and natural kills cells.

5. Unipotent Stem Cells

Unipotent Stem Cells | Do You Know The 5 Types Of Stem Cells

Finally, we have the unipotent stem cells, which are the least potent and most limited type of stem cell.

An example of this stem cell type would be muscle stem cells.

Muscle Stem Cells

While muscle stem cells can self-renew and differentiate, they can only do so into a single cell type. They are unidirectional in their differentiation capacity.

Purpose of Classifying the Stem Cell Types

The purpose of these stem cell categories is to assess the functional capacity of stem cells based on their differentiation potential.

Importantly, each category has different stem cell research applications, medical applications, and drug development applications.

Different Types of Stem Cells | Do You Know The 5 Types Of Stem Cells

Watch this video and learn about the 5 types of stem cells:

 

In your opinion, which of the following types of stem cells have the best potential to form any tissue type? Mention them in the comments section below.

To learn more, view: Stem Cell Fact Sheet – Types of Stem Cells and their Use in Medicine

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