January 2014 HSCI Community Newsletter
The Harvard Stem Cell Matrix
Upcoming Events
Blood Group Meeting
Jan. 27, 3:30PM-5:00PM
Jobs
Postdoctoral Positions
Rubin Lab - HSCRB

Researcher II (Assay Development)
HSCI/SCRB Therapeutic
Screening Lab

Administrative Associate III
Children's Stem Cell Program
Media Mentions
1/15/14
A Sweet Life
Blog post highlights Tedx talk by Doug Melton, PhD, on his work to cure diabetes.

1/12/14
MedPageToday
Albert Lam, MD, is quoted on kidney regeneration studies.
Recent HSCI Papers
1/12/14
Nature - Shivdasani Lab
Broadly permissive intestinal chromatin underlies lateral inhibition and cell plasticity

1/9/14
Blood - Langenau Lab
Pten regulates zebrafish hematopoiesis

1/2/14
Cell Stem Cell - Mullen Lab
Hippo tips the TGF-β scale in favor of pluripotency
Controlling Cells After Transplant
Jeff Karp, PhD, uses particle engineering to improve cell therapy.

Karp and James Ankrum, PhD, demonstrate in Nature Protocols how to load cells with microparticles that provide the cells cues for how they should behave over the course of days or weeks as the particles degrade. 

They hope the paper will encourage others in the scientific community to apply the technique to their fields. The paper shows the range of different cell types that can be particle engineered, including stem cells, immune cells, and pancreatic cells. Read the whole story.
Kidney Program Milestone
Joseph Bonventre, MD, PhD, and Albert Lam, MD, generate kidney tubular cells from stem cells.

 

Harvard stem cell researchers have successfully coaxed stem cells to become kidney tubular cells, a significant advance toward one day using regenerative medicine, rather than dialysis and transplantation, to treat kidney failure. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Continue reading.  

More Research News
  • Alexander Schier, PhD, found an early developmental signal, dubbed "Toddler," hidden in "non-coding" RNA.
  • David Scadden, MD, published a new map of cell behavior revealing key proteins that cells destroy, one of which is NCoR1
  • Dan Tenen, PhD, identified new candidates for the treatment of an acute myeloid leukemia subtype caused by mutations of CEBPA, a tumor suppressor.
Member News