Chapter 2 Answers to Select Review Questions

1.  What was the first real experimentation on stem cells and who conducted it?

In 1907 American biologist Ross Granville Harrison cultured amphibian neuroblasts in a specially prepared lymph medium.

3.  What was cervical cancer patient Henrietta Lacks' contribution to the study of cancer?

She was a cancer patient who, without her consent, donated human epithelial cells known t establish the Hela cancer cell line.  This cell line was the first human cell line to be propagated successfully for many passages in vitro, and the line has since been widely used worldwide in the study of cancer and as a research tool for basic biological research.

7.  Name four crucial factors required for human embryonic stem cell culture.

Basic FGF, noggin, activin A, and TGF-1 have been defined as crucial defined factors needed for hES cell culture.

10.  Name four types of cell culture 3D scaffolds.

Polyamide matrix (Ultra-Web)
Cellulose acetate
Poly-glycerol-sebacate-acrylate (PGSA) elastomers
Hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel
 

14.  What transcription factors drive inner cell mass formation and ICM cell pluripotency?

Oct 4, Sox2 and Nanog play key roles in driving ICM pluripotency and repressing trophoblast development.

15.  What is the "salt and pepper" pattern of expression in the ICM?

The random, mutually-exclusive expression pattern of Nanog and Gata6 in the inner cell mass.

17.  Name two basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors that regulate mesoderm development.

paraxis and twist

24.  What was James Blundell's major contribution to medicine?

James Blundell performed the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion in 1829.

26.  What methods are used to introduce genes into cells in cell-based gene therapy?

                1.      Plasmid DNA transfection - Host genome integration

            2.  Adeno-associated virus (AAV) transduction - Host genome integration or cytoplasmic episomal maintenance and replication

            3.  Retroviral vector transduction - Host genome integration

29.  Why are iPS cells so potentially valuable for high-content screening?

Their unlimited supply, ability to differentiate into a multitude of mature, functional lineages and the elimination of any controversy surrounding the application of embryonic stem cells.