Thanksgiving, Toasters and Cortical Neurons
This time of year is full of celebrations. From the very end of October to the end of January, there are dozens of holidays from Diwali to Halloween to the Festival of the Twin Holy Days to...
Keratinocytes: Their Purpose, Their Subtypes and Their Lifecycle
What are keratinocytes? Take a look at your hands, your face and your toes. Most of what you're seeing are your keratinocytes. They make up over 90% of the cells of the epidermis, the outermost...
Mysteries of the Mighty Melanocytes
Melanocytes are cells that produce melanin, the pigment present in our skin, eyes, and hair. iPS-derived melanocytes are used in models of skin disease, drug toxicity assays, skin bioprinting and in...
What Is the Difference Between Pluripotent, Multipotent, Totipotent Stem Cells and All the Rest?
Not a week goes by that I don't see an article in my newsfeed about some new possible treatment to cure something or other. When you start looking into the "New Treatment Can Cure Most Forms of...
Melanocytes, Melanin, and More
Melanocytes are melanin-producing cells found mainly in the lowest part of the top layer of your skin or to put it in science-speak: the stratum basale of your epidermis (see our article on the...
The Sights and Sounds of Life: What are Sensory Neurons?
What goes into enjoying a cup of hot coffee? There is the distinct fruity, flowery, nutty aroma. Hearing the crunch of when you plunge a spoon into the ground beans. The soothing sound of water...
The Skinny On Our Largest Organ
A few years ago, I got into a heated debate. The topic was: what is the largest organ in the body? My "opponent", a very bright student studying human health and disease, insisted that the liver was...
Astrocytes: What Are They and What Do They Do?
Q 1 & 2: What Are Astrocytes? What Do Astrocytes Do? Astrocytes or astroglia are the largest and most numerous types of glial cells (see below) in the Central Nervous System (CNS). There are...
Patient-derived Human Xenografts: Their Pros and Cons as Cancer Models
A xenograft (or heterograft) is a piece of living tissue taken from a donor of one species and grafted into a recipient of different species. Cancer refers to a group of diseases characterized by...