NATURE: 28. 2. 2013

NATURE: Stem cells cruise to clinic

"In the seven years since their discovery, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have transformed basic research and won a Nobel prize. Now, a Japanese study is about to test the medical potential of these cells for the first time. Made by reprogramming adult cells into an embryo-like state that can form any cell type in the body, the cells will be transplanted into patients who have a debilitating eye disease.

Masayo Takahashi, an ophthalmologist at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, plans to submit her application for the study to the Japanese health ministry next month, and could be recruiting patients as early as September. Stem-cell researchers around the world hope that if the trial goes forward, it will allay some of the safety concerns over medical use of the cells. (...)"

http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cells-cruise-to-clinic-1.12511

NATURE: Circular RNAs throw genetics for a loop

"Behold the latest curio in the cabinet of RNA oddities: naturally occurring circular RNA molecules that influence gene expression. At least some of the loops, described in two papers published this week by Nature^{1, 2}, act as molecular ‘sponges’, binding to and blocking tiny gene modulators called microRNAs. But the researchers suspect that the circular RNAs have many other functions. The molecules comprise “a hidden, parallel universe” of unexplored RNAs, says Nikolaus Rajewsky, the lead author of one of the studies and a systems biologist at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. (...)"

http://www.nature.com/news/circular-rnas-throw-genetics-for-a-loop-1.12513