Monitoring cell fates
Stem cell regeneration Stem cells in the bone marrow thus produce millions of new blood cells every second. These stem cells are multipotent, which means they can generate all types of specialised blood cell with different functions: red blood cells, responsible for oxygen transport, white blood cells that are part of the body's immune defence system, and blood platelets which play a key role in blood-clotting. Exactly how stem cells develop into different cell types is still only partly understood. The process of differentiation -- in other words, the decision as to which type of cell will be produced -- depends on a number of different external and internal factors. Timm Schroeder, Professor at the ETH Zurich Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering based in Basel, and his colleagues are studying the factors that play a role in the development of the individual blood cells. "The regulation of stem cell differentiation plays a vital role in maintining the norma...