Johns Hopkins’ Aravinda Chakravarti and Anirban Maitra, and Mahendra Rao at the National Institute on Aging discuss the use of high-resolution methods for quality control of cell lines

Scientists led by Dr. Aravinda Chakravarti, director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Center and Mahendra Rao, head of the Stem Cell Group in the Laboratory of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging, report that they have uncovered mutations in federally approved embryonic stem cell lines that have been cultured in the laboratory over extended periods of time. Identification of genetic abnormalities in these lines cast doubt on their safety and efficacy for therapeutic use and has many implications for biological studies on them.

“These mutations may be widespread in all kinds of cultured cells, but genetic changes are particularly important in embryonic stem cells,” said Chakravarti. Read more | Copy Number

Princeton’s Ihor Lemischka and Virginia Commonwealth’s Raj Rao discuss how stem cells maintain the ability to differentiate into various body tissues

Scientists led by Princeton University’s Ihor Lemischka have used microarrays to discover previously unknown proteins that maintain pluripotency and regulate cell fate decisions in embryonic stem cells. Control of the self-renewing capability and the differentiation pathways of stem cells is necessary for developing regenerative therapies. Read more | Expression Profiling

University of Vermont’s Jeff Spees and Tulane’s Carl Gregory discuss the challenges of classifying and purifying mesenchymal stem cells for cell-based therapies

Scientists at University of Vermont and Tulane have discovered new gene expression and protein profiles that enable them to classify adult stem cell differentiation in more detail than ever before. Understanding these molecular pathways is a key step towards developing new drugs that control adult stem cell differentiation and new regenerative therapies for diseases such as multiple myeloma. Read more | Expression Profiling