Making brown adipose tissues from RiPSCs

From AlleleNews

Compared to the generation of other tissue types, adipogenesis is relatively well studied because of the long availability of mouse cell line 3T3-L1 that can be readily differentiated into white adipocytes upon a simple treatment of a few chemicals. For human adipogenesis cell models, either mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow or other tissues or adipose-derived stromal vascular cells18 (ADSVCs) could be derived into fat cells. However, these cells have limited potential for expansion for continued studies.

Using iPS cells for tissue development has been a hot topic in many fields of developmental biology. Although one could transfect or transduce iPSCs, it is still often necessary to grow the stem cells into some type of progenitor cells through 3-D suspension culture as embryonic bodies. In a recent Nature Cell Biology paper, Ahfeldt and colleagues in Cowan lab created MSCs from RiPSCs generated by the Luigi Warren mRNA method, then derived them into either white adipose tissues (with lentivirus carried PPARG2) or brown (PPARG2–CEBPB–PRDM16) adipose tissues. It is particularly interesting that brown fat tissues, often considered the “good fat”, could be derived in a dish. This study will open doors for further use of the footprint-free mRNA-derived iPSCs for virtually unlimited supply of precursor cells for in vitro differentiation.

News and Views: http://www.nature.com/ncb/journal/v14/n2/full/ncb2430.html#/references

Original article: http://www.nature.com/ncb/journal/v14/n2/full/ncb2411.html

Top 10 List of Most Viewed AlleleBlogs in 2011

The ballot is in—among the “usual suspect” hot topics, iPS takes the top honor and most entries; Camelid antibodies, although not really presented as a typical AlleleBlog in 2011, made it to the top 3. shRNA cloning and RNAi screening are still on a lot of people’s minds, so it seems.

Method: total visits to each blog since our new webpage was launched in July was counted.

1) Fusion of the Transcription Domain to iPS Factors Radically Enhances Reprogramming
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/10/fusion-of-the-transcription-domain-to-ips-factors-radically-enhances-reprogramming/

2) Methods of iPSC Generation Update
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/08/methods-of-ipsc-generation-update/

3) About 50 Papers Cited the Use of GFP-Trap Camelid Antibody So Far in 2011
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/09/about-50-papers-cited-the-use-of-gfp-trap-camelid-antibody-so-far-in-2011/

4) Big Potential in Using Protozoans for Producing Mammalian Proteins
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/09/big-potential-in-using-protozoans-for-producing-mammalian-proteins/

5) How do you make shRNA-expressing viruses for function screening?
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/11/how-do-you-make-shrna-expressing-viruses-for-function-screening/

6) Creating ground-state human iPSCs
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/10/creating-ground-state-human-ipsc/

7) Recombinase-Mediated Cassette Exchange (RMCE) and Integrase Swappable in vivo Targeting Element (InSITE)
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/03/recombinase-mediated-cassette-exchange-rmce-and-integrase-swappable-in-vivo-targeting-element-insite/

8) Development of Cell Lines from iPSCs for Bioassays
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/11/development-of-cell-lines-from-ipscs-for-bioassays/

9) Choosing siRNA, shRNA, and miRNA for Gene Silencing
blog.allelebiotech.com/2010/02/choosing-sirna-shrna-and-mirna-for-gene-silencing/

10) Allele Biotech’s Box Swap Program
http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2009/07/allele-biotechs-box-swap-program/

Have a successful 2012!

From AlleleBlog: http://blog.allelebiotech.com/2011/12/top-10-list-of-most-viewed-alleleblogs-in-2011/