Dr. Fuchs begins her talk with a brief history of stem cells including the discovery in the 1970s that adult skin stem cells could be cultured in vitro indefinitely. This early work provided the foundation for later advances in embryonic stem cell (ESC) culture. ESCs are special because they can generate all the different tissues of the body, thus providing great potential for use in regenerative medicine. The use of ESCs is controversial, however, so scientists have developed ways of generating pluripotent stem cells that do not use embryonic tissue. Fuchs reviews methods such as nuclear transfer and the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by reprogramming adult somatic cells. Cells generated by these methods may be used for drug and therapy screening and they may provide treatments for human diseases such as macular degeneration, Parkinson’s and other degenerative diseases.
View the full talk with additional resources on our website
Skin Stem Cells: Their Biology and Promise for Medicine
Skin stem cells have great potential for the treatment of burns and corneal injuries. As Elaine Fuchs explains, understanding skin stem cell biology is also key to understanding cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma. (Talk recorded in December 2017)
- Part 1: Skin Stem Cells: Their Biology and Promise for Regenerative MedicineAudience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 44:20 - Part 2: Tapping the Potential of Adult Stem CellsAudience:
- Researcher
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 51:43 - Part 3: Cancer: Hijacking the Wound Repair Mechanisms Used by Stem CellsAudience:
- Researcher
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 23:39