MicroRNA Regulation of Pluripotency

April 30, 2009

A team lead by MCDB professor Ken Kosik has made a significant discovery in understanding the way human embryonic stem cells function. New research by CIRM-funded postdoctoral scholar Na Xu, working with Thales Papagiannakopoulos, Guangjin Pan and UCSB Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering Co-Director James Thomson, explain nature’s way of controlling whether stem cells will renew, or differentiate to become a brain cell or heart cell, or any other part of the human body. The study is reported in the May 1 issue of the journal Cell.