Stem Cell Power!

It is crazy to think about, but you were once a single cell. As time went on, that cell divided and turned into a full human being. But if you remove a cell from your body now, it (thankfully) won't grow into a new you. Why? Scientists discovered that only certain cells, called stem cells, are capable of becoming different organs and tissues.

Originally, stem cell biology was a small sector of biology because stem cells needed to be harvested from embryos, causing both technical and ethical problems. In 2008, scientists found a way around this issue. They took adults cells and put them through a procedure that would make the revert into stem cells. The result of this product are induced pluripotent stem cells (a mouthful, I know, but you can use iPS instead); these are what we will be working with in the lab. Stem cell biology is a rapidly growing field because the eventual goals (lab-grown organs and genetically designed tissues) can shape the course of human history. There are hundreds of baby steps that lead to this end goal.

In my project, we will be tackling one of these baby steps and determining how stem cells transform into neuronal cells. We have to identify each point where the cell makes a "decision" in its developmental pathway and direct it to make the correct "choice" by exposing it to different protein signals. Hopefully, we will be able to direct 60%+ of the stem cells into neuronal cells. Being able to accurately and efficiently create bits of brain

tissue allows us to test drugs' effect on neurons and may even allow transplantation of the tissue in the future.