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Knowledge and Skills Statement

Science concepts--biological structures, functions, and processes. The student knows how an organism grows and the importance of cell differentiation.

a biological process wherein cells gain specialized roles and switch from one cell type to another to perform various specific tasks

the process by which cells become restricted to performing specific functions by turning certain genes on or off

an individual form of life; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life

Research

van den Berg, Patrick R., Noémie M. L. P. Bérenger-Currias, Bogdan Budnik, Nikolai Slavov, and Stefan Semrau. "Integration of a Multi-Omics Stem Cell Differentiation Dataset Using a Dynamical Model." PLoS Genetics 19, no. 5 (May 2023): e1010744. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1010744

Summary:  Stem cell differentiation is a highly dynamic process involving pervasive changes in gene expression. The large majority of existing studies have characterized differentiation at the level of individual molecular profiles, such as the transcriptome or the proteome. To obtain a more comprehensive view, we measured protein, mRNA and microRNA abundance during retinoic acid-driven differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells.

Research

Verstegen, Niels JM, Sabrina Pollastro, Peter-Paul A Unger, Casper Marsman, George Elias, Tineke Jorritsma, Marij Streutker, Kevin Bassler, Kristian Haendler, Theo Rispens, Joachim L Schultze, Anja ten Brinke, Marc Beyer, S Marieke van Ham. "Single-cell Analysis Reveals Dynamics of Human B Cell Differentiation and Identifies Novel B and Antibody-secreting Cell Intermediates." eLife 12, no. 2 (March 2023): e83578.

Summary:  Differentiation of B cells into antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) is a key process to generate protective humoral immunity. A detailed understanding of the cues controlling ASC differentiation is important to devise strategies to modulate antibody formation. Here, we dissected differentiation trajectories of human naive B cells into ASCs using single-cell RNA sequencing.