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"This unique hybrid nano-network allows for an exceptional combination of selective guidance stimuli for stem cell development, variations in immune reactions , and behavior of cancer cells," says Professor Michael Gasik from Aalto University. These scaffolds, for example, were shown to be able to direct the preferential orientation of human mesenchymal stem cells, similarly to neurogenic lineage, to suppress of major inflammatory factors expression and to immobilize cancer cells. The selective downregulation of specific inflammatory cytokines may be anticipated as a new tool for understanding the human immune system and ways of treating associated diseases. The effects observed are self-regulated by cells only, without the side effects usually arising from the use of external factors. New scaffolds may help to control the fate of stem cells, such as development towards axons and neurites formation. This is important, for instance, in the development of Alzheimer...

The study was published August 24 in  Nature Communications . Due to the Zika virus, the world is suffering from its first known epidemic of microcephaly, a devastating brain developmental condition that substantially reduces the number of neurons in the brain, along with brain size and function at birth. Mutations in a number of human genes have been implicated in causing the relatively rare occurrence of this disease. Mutations in one such gene -- NDE1 (referred to as "nood-E") -- cause a particularly severe form of microcephaly. The Columbia researchers -- David Doobin, an MD/PhD student, Richard Vallee, PhD, professor of pathology and cell biology, and others in Dr. Vallee's lab -- reasoned that investigating NDE1's role in microcephaly should provide important clues to the causes of microcephaly in general. In the study, the researchers found that interfering with NDE1 expression severely inhibited the proliferation of stem cells in the developing rat bra...

Studies in mice suggest that some of our white blood cells are only formed during the fetal period, and stay with us for the rest of our lives. The blood stem cells in the embryo are particularly capable of maturing into a proper immune system, and the question as to why they do not continue to do so in adults has been discussed among researchers for a long time. A research group at Lund University is now one step closer to finding the answer. "By assigning a 'barcode' to the stem cells, we were able to track their performance over long periods of time and see which cells in the blood and the immune system they can induce. Without the barcode, we only see a bunch of red and white blood cells, without knowing how they are related. This allows us to track which stem cell has given rise to which subsidiary cells, and thereby distinguish the family tree in the blood," explains Joan Yuan, research group leader. The barcodes enable researchers to see how individual s...