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Originally published by Keck School of Medicine of USC at phys.org on November 19, 2024 A circular field of cells shows a gradient of patterns, with green spots decreasing in size as cell density increases. Credit: Morsut Lab/USC Stem Cell Genes aren't the sole driver instructing cells to build multicellular structures, tissues, and organs . In a p aper published in Nature Communications , USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut and Caltech computational biologist Matt Thomson characterize the influence of another important developmental driver : cell density , or how loosely or tightly cells are packed into a given space. In both computational models and laboratory experiments , the team of scientists used cell density as an effective tool for controlling how mouse cells pattern themselves into complex structures . "This paper represents progress towards our big picture goal of engineering synthetic tissues ," said Morsut, an assistant professor of stem cell b...

Originally published by James Gallagher at bbc.com, on November 20, 2024 An ambitious plan to map all 37 trillion cells in the human body is transforming understanding of how our bodies work, scientists report . The received wisdom said we were built from around 200 types of cell – such as heart muscle or nerve cells . Instead the Human Cell Atlas project has revealed there are thousands of cell types , with some appearing to be culprits in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and cystic fibrosis. In a flurry of announcements, the formation of the human skeleton and the early immune system have also been mapped out in detail. The novel insight is akin to moving from the maps of the 15th Century era of Joan of Arc and Richard III to what the phone in your pocket can load . The old maps of the body had the equivalent of major roads and significant geography but also areas cartographers labelled unknown or “ terra incognita ”. Read more