In two steps towards cardiac tissue
Münster-based scientists decipher mechanisms for the generation of human cardiac cells
Cardiac tissue generated from pluripotent stem cells is gaining increasingly in importance. At that, scientists aim to simulate the natural processes in the early embryo. Insights from developmental studies give them clues of which genes are playing a role in these processes. Yet, it remained largely unknown how the differentiation process into cardiac tissue is controled. The Max Planck Research group around Dr. Boris Greber and colleagues from the University of Münster now have deciphered this mechanism in human cells (Cell Stem Cell, online first, 31.12.2015). Especially in the application of cardiac cells derived from patients cells for the disease research and drug discovery, these results are of high importance.
Stem cells can propagate in an undifferentiated state (left) or they can differentiate in a multi-step process for example to heart muscle cells (right). This process was analysed in the current publication.