Publications by authors named "S M Clerkin"
Article Synopsis
- Recent advances in converting somatic cells into induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) have led to the development of kidney organoids for studying kidney development and disease.
- Significant progress has been made by applying renal developmental signaling pathways and using hydrogel scaffolds like self-assembling peptide hydrogels (SAPHs) and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) for growing these organoids.
- This work outlines methods to generate human iPSC-derived kidney organoids, their maturation in hydrogels, and protocols for characterizing these organoids through immunofluorescence imaging.
As arctic warfare becomes a center focus within Special Operations, cold weather injury looms as both a medical and operational threat. While cold weather injury can range from pernio to hemodynamically unstable systemic hypothermia, the more minor injuries are far more common. However, these present a challenge in austere medical care and can drastically impact mission capability.
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- TGFβ1 regulates kidney cell fate and fibrosis progression.
- SMAD3 and EZH2 co-occupy specific genomic regions in kidney stem cells and their derivatives.
- Inhibiting EZH2 disrupts SMAD3 activity and prevents myofibroblast activation, highlighting a key mechanism in kidney fibrosis.
Article Synopsis
- Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived kidney organoids show promise for disease modeling and personalized medicine, but improvements in their formation methods are needed.* -
- Researchers matured these organoids in synthetic self-assembling peptide hydrogels (SAPHs) with varying stiffness, achieving structures similar to those grown in traditional animal-derived matrices like Matrigel.* -
- Analysis revealed that organoids developed in higher stiffness SAPHs had more mature podocyte gene expressions and fewer off-target cell types, highlighting the benefits of using synthetic hydrogels for kidney organoid maturation.*
Multicore magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, nanoflowers (NFs), have potential biomedical applications as efficient mediators for AC-magnetic field hyperthermia and as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging due to their strong magnetic responses arising from complex internal magnetic ordering. To realise these applications amenable surface chemistry must be engineered that maintain particle dispersion. Here a catechol-derived grafting approach is described to strongly bind polyethylene glycol (PEG) to NFs and provide stable hydrogen-bonded hydrated layers that ensure good long-term colloidal stability in buffers and media even at clinical MRI field strength and high concentration.
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