Tissue stem cells

SUBJECT 01

Skin stem cells

The skin protects our bodies from daily wear and tear, harmful microbes, and other assaults from the external environment. Tissue stem cells work to maintain the skin’s function, and restore it after injury.

Skin and Its Regenerative Powers: An Alliance between Stem Cells and Their Niche, Dev Cell 2017

Cartoon of the skin and its appendages. A hair follicle is illustrated on the left and an eccrine sweat gland on the right.

Healing skin after a shallow wound. Hair follicle stem cells of the bulge are traced with a green fluorescent reporter. Basal cells are immunostained with α6 in white, suprabasal cells with K10 in red, and nuclei with DAPI in blue.

SUBJECT 02

Regeneration and repair

Stem cells are sentinels of their environment, rapidly adapting their activities to urgent physiological needs. This plasticity allows them to regenerate and repair tissue through the processes of migration, proliferation, metabolism and/or changes in cellular identity .

A tissue injury repair pathway distinct but parallel to host pathogen defense, bioRxiv 2022

SUBJECT 03

Epigenetic memory

Stem cells have the ability to remember the diverse experiences that they encounter throughout their lifetimes. Acute stimuli can thus have long-term repercussions on health and disease.

Stem cells expand potency and alter tissue fitness by accumulating diverse epigenetic memories, Science 2021
- Featured in:
  - Stem cells remember insults, Science 2021
  - Cellular Memories — More Than Skin Deep, N Engl J Med 2022