Neural Cell News Volume 8.39 | Oct 8 2014

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    Neural Cell News 8.39 October 8, 2014

    Neural Cell News

         In this issue: Publications | Reviews | Industry News | Policy News | Events | Jobs
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    TOP STORY
    Study Provides Vital New Insight into How We Produce New Brain Cells
    Scientists have revealed a crucial mechanism that stops stem cells from dividing or specializing when they are in direct contact with blood vessels in the brain, so that they remain in a dormant state. [Press release from Imperial College London discussing online prepublication in Nature Cell Biology] Press Release | Abstract
    Description Your Free Copy of the Nature Neuroscience Poster "Neural Stem Cells" Awaits

     
    PUBLICATIONS (Ranked by impact factor of the journal)
    Trithorax Maintains the Functional Heterogeneity of Neural Stem Cells through the Transcription Factor Buttonhead
    The authors report that Trithorax (Trx) actively maintains the heterogeneity of neural stem cells (neuroblasts) in the developing Drosophila larval brain. trx mutant type II neuroblasts gradually adopt a type I neuroblast functional identity, losing the competence to generate intermediate neural progenitors and directly generating differentiated cells. [eLife] Abstract | Full Article

    Microfluidic Control of Axonal Guidance
    Scientists report direct evidence of fluid flow influencing axonal migration, producing turning angles of up to 90°. This method of flow-based guidance was successfully used to fasciculate one advancing axon onto another, showcasing the potential of this technique to be used for the formation of in vitro neuronal circuits. [Sci Rep]
    Full Article | Press Release

    KLF9 Inhibits Glioblastoma Stemness through Global Transcription Repression and Integrin-α6 Inhibition
    Investigators established for the first time a genome-wide map of Krüppel-like factor-9 (KLF9)-regulated targets in human glioblastoma stem-like cells, and show that KLF9 functions as a transcriptional repressor and thereby regulates multiple signaling pathways involved in oncogenesis and stem cell regulation. [J Biol Chem]
    Abstract | Full Article

    Caspr4 Interaction with LNX2 Modulates the Proliferation and Neuronal Differentiation of Mouse Neural Progenitor Cells
    The authors show an essential role of contactin associated protein 4 (Caspr4) in neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Neuronal differentiation is increased by overexpression of Caspr4, but decreased by knocking-down of Caspr4 in cultured mouse NPCs. [Stem Cells Dev] Abstract

    Radiation-Induced Glioblastoma Signaling Cascade Regulates Viability, Apoptosis and Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells (NSC)
    Investigators evaluated the effects of irradiated glioblastoma cells on viability, proliferation and differentiation potential of non-irradiated NSC through radiation-induced signaling cascades. [Apoptosis] Abstract

    The Autism Spectrum Disorders Stem Cell Resource at Children’s Hospital of Orange County: Implications for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery
    The authors show that both normal and autism spectrum disorder-specific induced pluripotent stem cells can be differentiated toward a neural stem cell phenotype and terminally differentiated into action-potential firing neurons and glia. [Stem Cells Transl Med] Abstract

    Adult Limbal Neurosphere Cells: A Potential Autologous Cell Resource for Retinal Cell Generation
    Scientists investigated whether mouse and human limbal neurosphere cells could differentiate towards a retinal lineage both in vivo and in vitro following exposure to a developing retinal microenvironment. [PLoS One]
    Full Article | Press Release

    Inhibition of Na+/K+-ATPase Induces Hybrid Cell Death and Enhanced Sensitivity to Chemotherapy in Human Glioblastoma Cells
    Researchers tested the hypothesis that inhibition of Na+/K+-ATPase causes a mixed or hybrid form of concurrent apoptosis and necrosis and should therefore enhance anti-cancer effects of chemotherapy on glioblastoma cells. [BMC Cancer] Full Article

    Visualization and Correction of Automated Segmentation, Tracking and Lineaging from 5-D Stem Cell Image Sequences
    Investigators present an application that integrates visualization and quantitative analysis of 5-D (x, y, z, t, channel) and large montage confocal fluorescence microscopy images. The image sequences show stem cells together with blood vessels, enabling quantification of the dynamic behaviors of stem cells in relation to their vascular niche, with applications in developmental and cancer biology. [BMC Bioinformatics]
    Abstract | Full Article | Press Release

    Efficiently Expand hPSC-Derived NPCs Without Loss of Multipotency: STEMdiffâ„¢ Neural Progenitor Medium

     
    REVIEWS
    The Complex Relationships between Microglia, Alpha-Synuclein, and LRRK2 in Parkinson’s Disease
    The authors focus on how Parkinson’s disease-associated mutations in LRRK2 could potentially alter microglial biology with respect to neuronally-secreted alpha-synuclein, resulting in cell dysfunction and neurodegeneration. [Neuroscience] Abstract

    Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the neural cell research field.

     
    INDUSTRY NEWS
    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014
    The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with one half to John O´Keefe and the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. [Nobel Media AB] Press Release

    Brains in the Balance: New $11.5 Million Grant Fuels U-M Parkinson’s Disease Research Center to Aid Patients
    University of Michigan scientists and doctors have launched a five-year, $11.5 million effort to better understand the cause of changes to brain cells that put Parkinson’s disease patients at high risk of dangerous falls, and find new options based in the latest brain science. [University of Michigan] Press Release

    Brain Boost: Harvard Researchers among the First to Receive Grant Funding through BRAIN Initiative
    Two groups of Harvard scientists will be among the first researchers nationwide to receive grant funding through the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative. The two teams will receive $9 million from the National Institutes of Health over the next three years. [Harvard Medical School] Press Release

    Scientist Earns Exceptional Investigator Award to Study Chemo-Brain
    Michelle C. Janelsins, Ph.D., M.P.H., of UR Medicine’s Wilmot Cancer Institute, has received an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the highest honor conferred by the National Institutes of Health for young investigators. The five-year grant is for $2.3 million. [University of Rochester Medical Center] Press Release

    StemCells, Inc. Initiates Phase II Clinical Trial in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
    StemCells, Inc. announced that it has initiated its Pathway® Study, a Phase II proof of concept clinical trial using its proprietary HuCNS-SC® platform of human neural stem cells for the treatment of cervical spinal cord injury. [StemCells, Inc.] Press Release

    From our sponsor: Pluripotent cell isolation for regenerative medicine. Request a free wallchart from Nature.

     
    POLICY NEWS
    National Institutes of Health (United States)

    Food and Drug Administration (United States)

    Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (United States)

    European Medicines Agency (European Union)

    Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (United Kingdom)

    Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)

     
    EVENTS
    NEW XXII Congress of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT)
    October 23-26, 2014
    The Hague, The Netherlands

    NEW CIRM Showcase: Accelerating Stem Cell Treatments to Patients
    November 5, 2014
    San Francisco, United States

    NEW Global Controls in Stem Cells
    November 5-7, 2014
    Singapore, Singapore

    Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the neural cell community.

     
    JOB OPPORTUNITIES
    NEW Assistant Professor – Neurobiology (University of California – Berkeley)

    NEW Postdoctoral Research Assistant – Cell Polarity (University of Dundee)

    Tenure Track Positions – Neuroscience (Albert Einstein College of Medicine / Gottesman Stem Cell Institute)

    Postdoctoral Fellow – Stem Cell Research (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

    Postdoctoral Research Assistant – Epigenetic Regulation of Glioma Stem Cells Compared to Normal Neural Stem Cells (Queen Mary University of London)

    Postdoctoral Fellow – Tissue Engineering & Spinal Cord Injury (Nanyang Technological University)

    Postdoctoral Candidate – Dynamic Organization of Synapses (INSERM)

    Postdoctoral Fellow – Stem Cell Biology (The University of Texas Medical School At Houston)

    Scientist – Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Neural Differentiation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

    Scientist – Pluripotent Stem Cell Media Development, High Throughput Screening (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

    Scientist – Cell Culture Support Products (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

    Scientist – Immunology/Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

    Research Associate – Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)


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