Stem Cells: Old vs. New

A new study finds key differences between established and new human embryonic stem cell lines.

Written byBob Grant

| 2 min read

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Human embryonic stem cellsWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NISSIM BENVENISTY

Older, established lines of human embryonic stem cells (hESC), such as those that President George W. Bush approved for federal funding in 2001, are different in significant ways than more recently derived cell lines, according to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.

UCLA molecular biologist Amander Clark and her colleagues found crucial differences involving RNA functioning between six hESC lines that they developed in the past three years and cell lines derived prior to 2001. They report their results in this week's issue of Human Molecular Genetics.

Clark and her team focused on the process of X chromosome inactivation that every female stem cell undergoes during development. They confirmed that the established hESC lines had already undergone X chromosome inactivation prior to differentiation, ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
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From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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