NATURE: 7. 3. 2013

NATURE: Experimental treatments: Regulating stem-cell therapies worldwide

"Japan's drive to regulate experimental stem-cell treatments is a welcome step (Nature 494, 5; 2013). However, it could be hard to define universally applicable criteria that ensure the safety and effectiveness of such treatments worldwide."

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7439/full/495047b.html

NATURE: Stem Cells: A unifying theory for the crypt

"A long-standing ambiguity has been whether quiescent cells located in intestinal crypt structures are stem cells. The answer seems to be yes and no, depending on how one defines the term stem cell."

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7439/full/nature11958.html

NATURE: NFIB is a governor of epithelial–melanocyte stem cell behaviour in a shared niche

"Adult stem cells reside in specialized niches where they receive environmental cues to maintain tissue homeostasis. In mammals, the stem cell niche within hair follicles is home to epithelial hair follicle stem cells and melanocyte stem cells, which sustain cyclical bouts of hair regeneration and pigmentation^{1, 2, 3, 4}. To generate pigmented hairs, synchrony is achieved such that upon initiation of a new hair cycle, stem cells of each type activate lineage commitment^{2, 5}. Dissecting the inter-stem-cell crosstalk governing this intricate coordination has been difficult, because mutations affecting one lineage often affect the other. (...)"

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7439/full/nature11847.html