News tagged with somatic cells

Binding sites for LIN28 protein found in thousands of human genes

A study led by researchers at the UC San Diego Stem Cell Research program and funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) looks at an important RNA binding protein called LIN28, which ...

Genetics created Sep 04, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers announce the first comprehensive genome studies of the evolution of 21 breast cancers

In two back-to-back reports published online on 17 May in Cell, researchers have sequenced the genomes of 21 breast cancers and analysed the mutations that emerged during the tumours' development. The individual results are de ...

Cancer created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New epigenetic mechanisms for improved cancer therapy

A review article by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) proposes a new epigenetic hypothesis linked to tumor production and novel ideas about what causes progenitor cells to develop into cancer cells. ...

Cancer created Feb 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Protein kinase Akt identified as arbiter of cancer stem cell fate, paper reports

(Medical Xpress)—The protein kinase Akt is a key regulator of cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, survival, and death. New work on Akt's role in cancer stem cell biology from the lab of senior author ...

Cancer created Dec 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Sperm precursor cells made in the lab could one day restore male fertility

(Medical Xpress)—Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can be coaxed into becoming precursor sperm cells, suggesting that it might be possible one day to restore fertility ...

Medical research created Aug 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gene mutations cause massive brain asymmetry

Hemimegalencephaly is a rare but dramatic condition in which the brain grows asymmetrically, with one hemisphere becoming massively enlarged. Though frequently diagnosed in children with severe epilepsy, the ...

Cancer created Jun 24, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Time-lapse imaging of embryos reveals complications that undermine cloning efficiency

In 1996, the technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) transformed the idea of cloning from science fiction into reality. SCNT entails removing the nucleus from an adult somatic cell of the animal ...

Medical research created Jun 01, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers describe new functions of cohesin relevant for human disease

Cohesin is a ring-shaped protein complex involved in the spatial organization of the genome and in mitotic chromosome structure. Vertebrate somatic cells have two versions of cohesin that contain either SA1 or SA2, but their ...

Cancer created May 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers discover genetic risk factor for skin, prostate and brain cancers

Scientists at deCODE Genetics and academic collaborators from Iceland, The Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the USA, the UK and Romania today report the discovery of a variant in the sequence of the human genome ...

Genetics created Sep 25, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Olive oil makes you feel full

Work groups at Technische Universität München (TUM) under Prof. Peter Schieberle and at the University of Vienna under Prof. Veronika Somoza studied four different edible fats and oils: Lard, butterfat, rapeseed oil and ...

Health created Mar 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Embracing debate on how cancers develop: Without the answer, effective therapies remain elusive

Scientists invariably conduct debates in private about whether a body of scientific work or thought is worthy of presentation to the community. Behind closed doors scientists and editors tussle over when ...

Cancer created Jan 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Somatic cell

Somatic cells are any cells forming the body of an organism, as opposed to germline cells. In mammals, germline cells (also known as "gametes") are the spermatozoa and ova which fuse during fertilization to produce a cell called a zygote, from which the entire mammalian embryo develops. Every other cell type in the mammalian body—apart from the sperm and ova, the cells from which they are made (gametocytes) and undifferentiated stem cells—is a somatic cell: internal organs, skin, bones, blood, and connective tissue are all made up of somatic cells.

The word "somatic" is derived from the Greek word sōma, meaning "body".

For more information about Somatic cell, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: stem cells