7/02/2009 PERMALINK
Stem cell control discovery could spawn powerful regenerative therapies The telomerase molecule, best known for enabling unlimited cell division of stem cells and cancer cells by fixing the telomeres end caps of DNA, has a surprising additional role in the expression of genes in an important stem cell regulatory pathway, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Study of a component of the telomerase complex, a protein called TERT, found that TERT was directly regulating the important Wnt pathway that controls the maintenance and proliferation of stem cells.