LHI Researchers Discover Key to Switching Cell Types

In a recently released article published in the January 2011 issue of Nature Cell Biology, LHI researchers Michelina Iacovino, PhD and Associate Professor Michal Kyba, PhD have discovered a gene that is important in controlling whether cells of the embryo make blood or blood vessels. In fact, by regulating expression of this gene chemically, they were able to switch cell types back and forth between blood and vessel cells and watch this change happen in the petri dish. This discovery is a significant breakthrough in understanding how cells know what they are supposed to be and how these cell types are made in the embryo.