New gene edited, fluorescently tagged human stem cell lines released
"Each of our cells -- the fundamental units of life -- are like a city, with people and resources that move around and factories that generate those resources and carry out important functions," says Rick Horwitz, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science. "With these cell lines, we aim to give the cell science community a kind of live traffic map to see when and where the parts of the cell are with the clarity and consistency they need to make progress toward understanding human health and tackling disease. Scientists at the Allen Institute for Cell Science used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to insert fluorescent tags for major cellular structures into human induced pluripotent stem cells. Unlike typical methods which flood the cell with fluorescent protein, these highly precise tags show exactly when and where the structures are at various stages in the cell's lifecycle. "By lowering the barrier to entry fo r cell biologists wi shing to...