The hard cell

annatto submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (www.nature.com)

"Despite disagreements about the ethics of embryonic stem-cell science, research in the field is thriving globally. At least 500 companies and collaborations have sprung up, 100 of them in the past year alone, according to industry watchers. And although therapies are still largely at the preclinical and safety-testing stages, coaxing these cells to recapitulate development in vitro is already unveiling the beginnings of pathogenesis, revealing new drug targets. Basic and translational research positions are proliferating, drawing on a pool of applicants with diverse biomedical backgrounds."

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Epigenetic signatures of stem-cell identity

Cindy submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (www.nature.com)

Pluripotent stem cells, similar to more restricted stem cells, are able to both self-renew and generate differentiated progeny. Although this dual functionality has been much studied, the search for molecular signatures of 'stemness' and pluripotency is only now beginning to gather momentum. While the focus of much of this work has been on the transcriptional features of embryonic stem cells, recent studies have indicated the importance of unique epigenetic profiles that keep key developmental genes 'poised' in a repressed but activatable state

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