How Stem Cells Stick
Stem cells interact with extracellular matrix – a supporting structure consisting of proteins such as collagen that gives an organ its shape – via unusual adhesions. Johanna Ivaska, a group leader at Finland’s Turku Centre for Biotechnology, seeks to understand why those adhesions look so unusual, and whether those adhesions contribute to the stem cells’ unique properties, such as the ability to differentiate into a variety of different cell types.
To investigate those questions, Ivaska and her lab team went to Janelia’s AIC to use the iPALM, a superresolution microscope that allowed them to see the nanoscale architecture of the unusual stem cell adhesions in the axial plane. “The iPALM is one of the few instruments in the world that you can use to do this,” said Ivaska, “and the AIC was the only place where we could get access to this microscope.” The images produced on the iPALM revealed the organizational architecture of the adhesions in exceptionally high detail.
Ivaska worked with the AIC staff prior to submitting the proposal, to formulate the research plan, and think through the specific experiments she wanted to do. After the proposal was accepted, she shipped the cells from Finland to Janelia, where the Janelia Cell Culture technical coordinator Satya Khuon cultured them and made sure they were growing well by the time the researchers arrived. “Jesse [Aaron], who assisted us with the iPALM, was extremely helpful, and was there on the microscope with us all day, every day,” Ivaska said. “The visit was wonderful. Everything was just perfect.”
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