MSACL Conference Schedule

Metabolomics on Stem-Cell- Based Therapy
Tue 3:00 PM - Session: Metabolomics
Oscar Yanes
The potential usefulness of embryonic stem cells for therapy derives from their ability to form any cell in the body, making stem-cell-based therapy a promising approach for restoring tissue function following organ failure. Understanding the factors that influence the differentiation of stem cells into desired mature cell types is a key challenge to fulfilling the potential of this approach.

Current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms that confer self-renewal and differentiation properties to stem cells is primarily derived from gene-expression studies. However, the study of endogenous metabolites, the unique chemical fingerprints of specific cellular processes and the ultimate product of gene expression, is an important unexplored complement to understanding the stemness phenotype.

We present a mass spectrometry-based global metabolomic approach to study two different lines of embryonic stem cells and their differentiation to mature populations of neurons and cardiomyocytes. Overall, the revealing changes at the metabolite level may present the differentiation process as an initial stage in cellular aging and may have implications to understand their regenerative properties.