Dr. Jack Parent is a professor of neurology, director of the Neurodevelopment and Regeneration Laboratory, and co-director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in the University of Michigan Medical School.

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Potential Role of Intratumor Bacteria in Mediating Tumor Resistance to the Chemotherapeutic Drug Gemcitabine – Tumor cells grown with bacteria could stave off a common chemotherapy drug gemcitabine because some bacteria can inactivate it.

Seasonal Cycling in the Gut Microbiome of the Hadza Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania – The microbiota of a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania undergo changes in composition depending on seasonal changes in their diets.

Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation – Six scientists emerged from eight months of earthly isolation atop Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano in a NASA-funded experiment intended to simulate the social isolation of a Mars mission and explore the resulting psychological effects.

Once-Abundant Ash Tree and Antelope Species Face Extinction – IUCN Red List – Populations of North America’s ash trees are in dramatic decline as a result of infections with invasive emerald ash borer beetles, with all but one the continent’s six species reclassified as critically endangered—one category away from extinction.

UCLA Opens First Engineered Blood Stem Cell Clinical Trial for Cancers with the NY-ESO-1 Tumor Marker – UCLA opens first engineered blood stem cell clinical trial for cancers with the NY-ESO-1 tumor marker.

Replacing Reprogramming Factors with Antibodies Selected from Combinatorial Antibody Libraries – Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute led by Kristin Baldwin have found a new approach to the “reprogramming” of ordinary adult cells into stem cells.

Human Stem Cells Alter the Invasive Properties of Somatic Cells via Paracrine Activation of mTORC1 – Scientists from Markus Hengstschläger’s team at the Institute of Medical Genetics of MedUni Vienna have discovered the phenomenon of the “language of stem cells” where stem cells control the cells around them, inducing them to perform specific functions.

Cytoplasmic and Nuclear TAZ Exert Distinct Functions in Regulating Primed Pluripotency – A protein called TAZ can convey very different signals—depending upon not only which variety of stem cell, but also which part of the stem cell receives it.

An In Vitro Model of Lissencephaly: Expanding the Role of DCX during Neurogenesis – This article reports that by reprogramming skin cells into nerve cells, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden are creating cell models of the human brain.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Jack Parent

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