Developing a Niche in Stem Cell Biology

Vampires, Dracula, Frankenstein. This is often the knee jerk reaction I get from people when describing our research on the rejuvenating effect of young blood on regenerative and cognitive function in the aging brain. Likely it is our experimental approaches that first elicit this response, utilizing a heterochronic parabiosis model (in which a young and old animal are joined) and blood plasma administration paradigms. My interest in the oft-misunderstood field of rejuvenation research, however, is grounded on my fascination with developmental biology and basic questions of plasticity and cell fate. My first exposure to this topic came in college from learning about the Spemann organizer, a discovery dating back to 1924 by the PhD student Hilde Mangold and Dr. Hans Spemann. They transplanted the dorsal lip of one embryo onto the ventral side of another, thereby inducing cell fate changes resulting in the formation of a second embryonic axis – a twin embryo composed of both graft and host cells. This fundamental concept that cell fate could be influenced by cell and tissue interactions has molded my research program. Could aging mirror plasticity in development? Could interactions between humoral factors in young blood somehow revitalize neural stem cell function and ultimately cognition in the aging brain?