#  Researchers help cells forget who they are 

 





December 22, 2015

 

 

They say we can’t escape our past — no matter how much we change, we still have the memory of what came before. The same can be said of our cells.

Mature cells, such as skin or blood cells, have a cellular “memory,” or record of how the cell changed as it developed from an uncommitted [embryonic cell](http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics3.aspx) into a specialized adult cell. Now, [Harvard Stem Cell Institute](http://hsci.harvard.edu/) researchers at[Massachusetts General Hospital](http://www.massgeneral.org/) (MGH), in collaboration with scientists from the [Institutes of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA)](http://www.imba.oeaw.ac.at/) and [Molecular Pathology (IMP)](http://www.imp.ac.at/research/) in Vienna, have identified genes that, when suppressed effectively, erase a cell’s memory, making it more susceptible to reprogramming and, consequently, making the process of reprogramming quicker and more efficient. Read [more](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/12/researchers-help-cells-forget-who-they-are/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12.22.2015%20(1)&utm_content=)



 

 

 



 

 

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