Identification of stem cells by developing next generation lineage tracing methods

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14531
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Kansai Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Ueno Hiroo 関西医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (60332368)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 幹細胞 / 発生工学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Stem cells are very important cells that have roles in maintaining tissue homeostasis. However, not many adult stem cells have been accurately identified. To identify adult stem cells, genetic lineage tracing method has been one of the most powerful method. However, the defect of the original method was that the it can utilize basically only one stem cell marker. However, in many cases, very specific markers have not been identified for adult stem cells. In this project, we created two systems to identify adult stem cells. One is that two-step lineage tracing method in which stem cells that coexpress two markers can be labeled, and another is super multicolor lineage tracing method in which stem cells can be labeled with 10-35 different colors. We have already made the constructs for two methodologies and we are currently generating mice.

Free Research Field

幹細胞生物学