Stem cells in development and diseases

Thursday, November 07, 2013 — Concurrent Symposia Session II
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.	Masur Auditorium

Chair

Steven Hou, NCI

Program

Tissues and organs in animals are generated and maintained by stem cells, which possess the potential for unlimited self-renewal. Through asymmetric cell division, a stem cell in adult tissues can produce one daughter cell whose self-renewing progeny maintain the stem-cell population and a second daughter cell that will give rise to one or many differentiated and short-lived cell types that will replace damaged or dying cells. Similarly, tumors may originate from a few transformed cells with stem-cell characteristics, called cancer stem cells. Stem cells have immense potential for therapeutic use in regenerative medicine and as targets for anticancer therapies. To make use of this potential, we must first understand the molecular parameters that define a stem cell and the mechanisms that regulate stem-cell behavior. This symposium will bring together NIH experts working on basic stem cell biology and stem cell-related diseases.

The osa-containing SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex regulates stem cell self-renewal and differentiation in adult drosophila intestine
Steven Hou, NCI

A nervous embrace: Epithelial WNT signals initiate the epithelial-neuronal communication essential for organogenesis
Wendy Knosp, NIDCR

Regulation of the neuromesodermal stem cell by Wnt signals
Terry Yamaguchi, NCI

Microenvironment in the regulation of hair follicle stem cells
Isaac Brownell, NCI

Sonic hedgehog signaling regulates neural stem cells
Sohyun Ahn, NICHD

Hair follicle stem cells reside in a venule vascular niche; FARE Award Winner
Ying Xiao, NCI