The Francis Crick Institute’s Post

Exciting News in Stem Cell Research! UK has just unveiled groundbreaking guidelines for stem cell-based embryo models (SCBEMs). These three-dimensional structures, grown from stem cells, mimic early human embryo development and offer unprecedented insights into critical stages of life. Background: SCBEMs provide a unique window into development that was previously inaccessible. Ethical Concerns: While not equivalent to human embryos, their use raised ethical questions. The New Code of Practice: Developed by the University of Cambridge and the Progress Educational Trust (PET). No fixed time limits for SCBEM growth; each project proposes its own. Oversight committee ensures responsible research. Impact: Potential breakthroughs in treating conditions like recurrent miscarriage and developmental disorders. This voluntary approach bridges the regulatory gap, empowering researchers while maintaining public trust. Will be interesting to see the upcoming results. Link to a nature article describing the same- https://lnkd.in/gmUhQHV7. #StemCellResearch #EthicsInScience #future

[PDF] Global Politics of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Science Herbert Gottweis, Brian Salter, Catherine Waldby digsell https://lnkd.in/eNmyFbGd Regenerative medicine is a field characterized by a global struggle for scientific, economic and national advantage. Drawing on a wide range of interviews, primary and secondary sources, this book investigates the dynamic interactions between national regulatory formation and the global biopolitics of regenerative medicine and human embryonic stem cell science. Today governments are under intense competitive pressure to fund and develop attractive national environments for embryonic stem cell science, which promises both to improve the health and productivity of aging populations and to develop therapies for global health markets. This study traces the development of internationally circulating arguments for and … Read More » https://lnkd.in/eMCAtSAa

Most certainly impactful for understanding fate and embryonic development from Jacob Hanna's lab. Nature article (unedited) - https://lnkd.in/ebVkhdFn Reuters article - https://lnkd.in/e9nv7Kr9 Subscription free link - https://archive.ph/IRipl Understand what a model is and how is it used in research - https://lnkd.in/e42XYvjz BBC4 discussion with Robin Lovell-Badge - (great to understand stem cell research) - https://lnkd.in/e-Nc2e4p (Starts 5:43)

In a scientific first, researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science have successfully created synthetic models of 14-day-old human embryos derived entirely from stem cells grown in a lab. In Short Te synthetic models contained structures The naive stem cells were separated into three groups The breakthrough is reported in the journal Nature. This breakthrough will provides an unprecedented glimpse into the mysterious earliest stages of human development and could open up new avenues of research into infertility, birth defects, and organ growth https://lnkd.in/dZnSNDJC

How the human embryo forms Only limited research can be performed directly on human embryos. The research team therefore used naïve stem cells that are able to make all the cell types and structures of the early embryo. They designed stem cell models to study formation of yolk sac founders, called hypoblast. The key discovery, published in Cell Stem Cell, is pinpointing a critical signal that acts during a short window of time, less than one day, to trigger cells to become hypoblast. The signal is a protein called fibroblast growth factor that is made within the embryo. Previous studies had missed the importance of this signal in human embryos. The new findings show that the initial processes that form an embryo and its supporting tissues are similar for humans and other mammals. #ScienceMission #sciencenewshighlights https://lnkd.in/gQWNCDtb

For decades, scientists have been able to create stems cells—known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—from somatic cells, such as those found in our skin. However, these iPS cells still retain ghosts of their cellular pasts, which makes them less effective as a therapeutic tool. A new study, using a method called transient-naïve-treatment (TNT) mimics the normal reprogramming process in early embryonic development to essentially wipe a cell’s memory, making these cells more similar to embryonic stem (ES) cells both molecularly and functionally. #science #stemcells #reprogramming #therapeutics https://lnkd.in/gN9sw_vg

Talk about a technology with a huge ethical black-eye, induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) have a checkered past not so much with their potential but how we harvested them. First it was with embryos, then placenta, then umbilical cords which are now being cell banked commercially. However, for humans born way before cord blood banking (like me) our options to benefit from these cells is limited. Jia Tan, study author and cell biologist at Monash University in Melbourne, describes how they can take cells from many species and then "wipe" their epigenetic memories clean to provide a pure Pluripotent Stem Cell for use on anyone to battle a disease or grow a new/replacement organ. Still a ways away from being available, it offers hope for those who need it. #inducedpluripotentstemcells #growanewliver #growanewkidney #yougettheidea

Three announcements on human stem cell based embryo models (sometimes known as stembryos or SCBEMs). 3/3 Having been approached by a number of researchers over the last few weeks in connection with an SCBEM opinion I had drafted for discussion purposes entitled "Why a Human Stem Cell Based Embryo Model Cannot be an 'Embryo' under UK Law" (most recently during finalisation of the POSTnote published yesterday: see 1/3 above), I decided that the easiest thing was to make it available for academic scrutiny online. The opinion was written for discussion purposes, not publication: indeed most of it merely chugs out boring rules of statutory construction. However, insofar as it argues that an SCBEM can *never* be an "embryo" in law (because the law requires a test which it also forbids) it may be of interest to legal scholars, who I hope will challenge or develop my analysis. If my view is correct, however, it should not be assumed that SCBEMs provide an opportunity to evade responsible research. On the contrary, it highlights the importance of an appropriate framework of governance, which the UK SCBEM Code, to be published in little over a month, aims to meet. https://lnkd.in/eWFfKZtX

I'm generally quite cautious with direct reprogramming technologies as I'm worried of the risk that we won't get the developmental program tuned into the right track with the few factors we choose to use. hiPSC is a rare exception of a reprogrammed cell that works very well - but it's also a highly proliferative cell, which gives it opportunity to adapt its epigenome over time. In our latest publication we show an example of a reprogramming factor that can fool the untrained eye. LMX1A can induce the expression of TH, but these are not the correctly patterned midbrain dopamine neurons that you might think. In fact, they are of a dorsal identity and don't even contain the correct dopamine machinery. We discovered this by testing LMX1A in an in vitro model of the human neural tube and also by transplanting the neurons to rats. Thanks to Pedro Rifes, Janko Kajtez, Josefine Rågård Christiansen, Gaurav Singh Rathore, Alrik Schörling, Dan Wolf, PhD, MBA and Andreas Heuer for contributing to this interesting story. You can find the paper here: https://lnkd.in/dU_fwTZ2 And you can hear a podcast with the editor-in-chief Martin Pera about our findings here: https://lnkd.in/df-eYwgu

🔬 Embryonic Stem Cells: 25 Years of Promise 🔬 In 1998, potent stem cells emerged, hinting at a medical revolution—rebuilding organs and tissues seemed inevitable. Fast forward to today: not a single treatment in sight. 🔍 Unveiling the journey, we'll delve into obstacles, ethics, and untold stories. What's hindered these cells from their breakthrough moment? Are we on the brink of change? Join the discussion—can science still surprise us? #StemCellStagnation #ScientificJourney https://lnkd.in/d455Srm9