NYSCF – Robertson Investigators Study and Quantify Pluripotency
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NYSCF – Robertson Investigator Dr. Alexander Meissner, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, along with NYSCF – Robertson Investigator Dr. Gabsang Lee, John Hopkins University, explored the features of induced pluripotent stem, iPS, cells as compared to embryonic stem cells. They showed that stem cells from embryos, and stem cells from adult cells transformed into ‘embryonic-like’ cells are functionally and molecularly the same. This is a concern that has plagued the field since iPS cells were first generated in 2007. They published their innovative research in Nature Biotechnology where they compared embryonic stem cells and iPS cells from the same donor and found no significant differences in these cells that have the power to mature into any type of cell in the human body, a concept termed ‘pluripotentcy.’
Appearing in the same issue of Nature Biotechnology, Dr. Meissner’s research team also published a study on a new method developed to characterize the pluripotency of stem cells. Their method quantifies the expression of genes involved in cell pluripotency. The “ScoreCard” created by the research team can also be utilized to characterize a variety of cells, molecules, and conditions cells live in. Both pieces of research supported by NYSCF push the scientific community toward a better understanding of stem cells so that research can best harness their power to create cures.