Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Paper
Each student will take their team’s topic and write a 1-2 page justification (follow the rubrics for Group Project Part 1). Even though it is one part of the paper, it should be written as a professional document and should follow the APA format.
For this deliverable, write your topic and an explanation of why you think this is a good topic for a review paper. As a first step, you need to know what a review paper is. Look at the site below – you will go with options 2 or 3.
http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/communication/ChoosingTopic.html
The references that you identify will guide the content of the paper and determine the quality of the final deliverable. Spend time on this before choosing the articles. They should be mostly from scholarly journals, relevant to the topic, and include recent advances. I have attached the rubric for your consideration. IT SHOULD BE IN APA 7TH EDITION FORMAT. 600 WORDS NOT INCLUDING REFERENCE
Criteria
Due Date
Group: Choose a topic (a technique and application).
Do some preliminary research that you have chosen and identify some primary research articles that may be suitable for your particular topic.
Week 3
Choose your topic in Discussions-Group Project
Group Project Part 1 (Individual Contribution): (50pts)
1)Each student must present at least 5 relevant primary scientific articles as references in correct APA format (should not be the same as your other group members)
2) Justify the topic. Present your topic and discuss how it works, why it is relevant and what it is (or could be) used for. Must be in your own words. Sharing this assignment with group members is not acceptable
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Paper
Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell. The iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka’s lab in Kyoto, Japan, who showed in 2006 that the introduction of four specific genes (named Myc, Oct3/4, Sox2 and Klf4), collectively known as Yamanaka factors, encoding transcription factors could convert somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells.[1] He was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize along with Sir John Gurdon “for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.”[2]
Pluripotent stem cells hold promise in the field of regenerative medicine.[3] Because they can propagate indefinitely, as well as give rise to every other cell type in the body (such as neurons, heart, pancreatic, and liver cells), they represent a single source of cells that could be used to replace those lost to damage or disease.
The most well-known type of pluripotent stem cell is the embryonic stem cell. However, since the generation of embryonic stem cells involves destruction (or at least manipulation)[4] of the pre-implantation stage embryo, there has been much controversy surrounding their use. Patient-matched embryonic stem cell lines can now be derived using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
Since iPSCs can be derived directly from adult tissues, they not only bypass the need for embryos, but can be made in a patient-matched manner, which means that each individual could have their own pluripotent stem cell line. These unlimited supplies of autologous cells could be used to generate transplants without the risk of immune rejection. While the iPSC technology has not yet advanced to a stage where therapeutic transplants have been deemed safe, iPSCs are readily being used in personalized drug discovery efforts and understanding the patient-specific basis of disease.[5]
Yamanaka named iPSCs with a lower case “i” due to the popularity of the iPod and other products.[6][7][8][9]
In his Nobel seminar, Yamanaka cited the earlier seminal work of Harold Weintraub on the role of MyoD in reprogramming cell fate to a muscle lineage as an important precursor to the discovery of iPSCs.
Production
A scheme of the generation of induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells. (1) Isolate and culture donor cells. (2) Transduce stem cell-associated genes into the cells by viral vectors. Red cells indicate the cells expressing the exogenous genes. (3) Harvest and culture the cells according to ES cell culture, using mitotically inactivated feeder cells (lightgray). (4) A small subset of the transfected cells become iPS cells and generate ES-like colonies.
iPSCs are typically derived by introducing products of specific sets of pluripotency-associated genes, or “reprogramming factors”, into a given cell type. The original set of reprogramming factors (also dubbed Yamanaka factors) are the transcription factors Oct4 (Pou5f1), Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc. While this combination is most conventional in producing iPSCs, each of the factors can be functionally replaced by related transcription factors, miRNAs, small molecules, or even non-related genes such as lineage specifiers.[11]
iPSC derivation is typically a slow and inefficient process, taking 1–2 weeks for mouse cells and 3–4 weeks for human cells, with efficiencies around 0.01–0.1%. However, considerable advances have been made in improving the efficiency and the time it takes to obtain iPSCs. Upon introduction of reprogramming factors, cells begin to form colonies that resemble pluripotent stem cells, which can be isolated based on their morphology, conditions that select for their growth, or through expression of surface markers or reporter genes.
