2020/07/17
Keio University School of Medicine
National Center for Child Health and Development
Kazusa DNA Research Institute
Xcoo, Inc.
DNA Chip Research Inc.
A research group, including members from The Sakaguchi Laboratory (System Medicine) at the Keio University School of Medicine (Professor: Minoru Ko), the National Center for Child Health and Development (President: Takashi Igarashi), the Kazusa DNA Research Institute (President: Michio Oishi), Xcoo, Inc. (CEO: Kunihiro Nishimura), and DNA Chip Research Inc. (President and CEO: Ryo Matoba), has successfully and comprehensively identified transcription factors (TFs) involved in stem cell differentiation. This was achieved by using human embryonic stem (ES) cells to individually induce 714 genes while performing expression analysis.
The results will be made public on official databases and the website of The Sakaguchi Laboratory at the Keio University School of Medicine. Additionally, the established human ES cells, in which genes can be induced, will be widely available to researchers. These data and material resources represent the largest-scale systematic analysis of human gene function to date and are expected to contribute significantly not only to stem cell research but also to elucidating the functions of TFs.
The biological big data obtained in this study is unique in that the transcription factors were induced on a single, unified platform, making it well-suited for mathematical analysis using tools like artificial intelligence (AI). The use of this data is expected to significantly advance our understanding of the complex network structures among TFs and lead to the development of technologies for freely creating desired cell lineages from human stem cells, including iPS cells.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of "Cell Reports" on May 19, 2020 (UK time).
Please see below for the full press release.