Angela C. H. McDonald
Angela is a PhD student in the Stem Cell and Developmental Biology program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. She is currently utilizing pluripotent stem cells to understand the genetic regulation of endoderm development. As an avid supporter of public science education, she co-founded the high school outreach initiative StemCellTalks sits on numerous public education committees including the International Society for Stem Cell Research Public Education Committee and the Stem Cell Network Public Outreach Committee.
Posts by: Angela
Better, faster biomaterials design with high throughput technology
In the body, cells receive instructive signals from their niche, but how do researchers direct stem cells to perform a specific function? Researchers supply cues to cells in the form of growth factors, small molecules, cell culture density, culture surface and biomaterial design. Cells respond to these cues by altering cellular processes such as cytoskeletal […]
Human somatic cell nuclear transfer: Three genomes is the charm
Well before the creation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a handful of researchers were using another reprogramming technique, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), with the hopes of deriving patient-specific pluripotent stem cell lines. The availability of such cell lines would open up immense potential for developing personalized cell-based therapies as well as allowing […]
Lasting memories of a pancreatic beta cell
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have great memories. They can remember whether they started out as a skin fibroblast, a blood cell or a pancreatic beta cell. Following reprogramming, iPSCs retain epigenetic (DNA packaging) signatures typical of their somatic cell type of origin (reviewed in a previous blog post). This phenomenon, known as ‘epigenetic memory,’ […]
Cell fate conversion: Bypassing the climb back up Waddington’s hill
Shinya Yamanaka’s first report of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) challenged what biologists thought they knew about terminal cell differentiation and caused a wave of excitement and hope for regenerative medicine applications. A second wave of excitement is swooping through the field today, as many researchers shift their focus from iPSC reprogramming to cell fate […]
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