Dynamic Imaging System Nets Yale Scientist the 2014 STEM CELLS Young Investigator Award

Durham, NC (PRWEB) December 04, 2014

Shangqin Guo, Ph.D., a scientist at Yale University, is the recipient of the 2014 STEM CELLS Young Investigator Award. The award is presented to a young researcher who serves as principal author of a significant study published in the journal over the past year.

The paper that earned Dr. Guo this recognition is "Dynamic Migration and Cell-Cell Interactions of Early Reprogramming Revealed by High Resolution Time-Lapse Imaging, published in STEM CELLS May 2013 issue. It describes a live cell imaging approach for studying the process of Yamanaka reprogramming at single cell resolution. It also reports on the unexpected dynamic behaviors associated with early reprogramming and explores how such behaviors could compromise conventional experimental designs and interfere with data interpretation.

Jan A. Nolta, Ph.D., editor-in-chief of STEM CELLS, commented on Dr. Guos award. There are still many questions about how cells can be most effectively reprogrammed back to pluripotency and what steps occur during this process, she said. The outstanding study by Dr. Guos laboratory created a dynamic imaging system that was used to address multiple key questions regarding early reprogramming from hematopoietic cells.

The studies show the importance of cell-to-cell contact through dumbbell structures after early divisions and identify E-cadherin as a key regulator. The use of the imaging and new technology in this study is truly elegant, and I congratulate our Young Investigator Award winner on this important accomplishment, she added.

Dr. Guo currently is assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University. Her lab at the Yale Stem Cell Center focuses on learning the cell fate decision processes including how does a cell know what to be and what not to be?

For someone who is just starting off, this provides a sense of reassurance, recognition and gratification, she said about receiving the award.

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Full Citation: Megyola, C. M., Gao, Y., Teixeira, A. M., Cheng, J., Heydari, K., Cheng, E.-C., Nottoli, T., Krause, D. S., Lu, J. and Guo, S. (2013), Dynamic Migration and Cell-Cell Interactions of Early Reprogramming Revealed by High-Resolution Time-Lapse Imaging. STEM CELLS, 31: 895905. doi: 10.1002/stem.1323

Paper URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/stem.1323/full

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Dynamic Imaging System Nets Yale Scientist the 2014 STEM CELLS Young Investigator Award