Articles

The BCBC features background and short reports of ongoing scientific investigations. We select primary research publications, relevant to beta cell biology, and write short synopses on these. Our articles focus on the fundamental advancements that the publications report on and provide a focused view of these.

Featured Article

Small Molecules Direct Embryonic Stem Cells towards Endoderm or Pancreatic Fate - Jun. 29, 2009

Illustration of stepwise differentiation from ESCs to beta cells

The ability to differentiate to various cell types has rendered stem cell an attractive candidate for cell-based therapy. However, how to efficiently direct them to become specific type of cells remains a great challenge to the field. Most protocols developed for directed differentiation have relied on extracellular molecules and gene regulatory factors essential for normal differentiation of cells in embryonic development. Since these factors are protein-based material, they are difficult to obtain and costly for large scale differentiation. By screening small molecule libraries for compounds that promote embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation, several groups have reported their recent success in efficiently controlling ESC differentiation to endoderm or pancreatic fate via small molecules. These findings not only open the door for large scale differentiation in the future but also shed light on the molecular mechanisms essential for stem cell differentiation.

Primary References:

Borowiak et al. 2009 Cell Stem Cell 4, 348-358

Chen et al. 2009 Nature Chemical Biology 4, 258-265

Zhu et al. 2009 Cell Stem Cell 4, 416-426