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The Molecuar Health Science Seminar Cardiac specification during embryogenesis and human stem cell differentiation by Prof. Nicole Dubois, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, will take place on Thursday, March 02, 2017, at 5 pm in HPL J34 at ETH Hönggerberg. Guests are very welcome! 

The Molecular Health Sciences and EPIC Research Progress Seminar Cross-species genetic mapping of targets in mitochondria, metabolism and aging by Prof. Johan Auwerx, head of the Laboratory of Integrative and Systems Physiology at EPFL in Lausanne, will take place on Monday, February 13, 2017, at 5 pm in HCI G3 at ETH Hönggerberg. Guest are very welcome! 

Most of the RNAi proteins are essential for the differentiation into the three germ layers of mESCs. This study of Bodak et al reviews the current understanding of how RNAi proteins regulate stem cell identity with the new advances in the stem cell field and the recent non-canonical functions. Finally, they propose the re-evaluation of RNAi mutant phenotypes as non-canonical (miRNA independent) functions may contribute to the molecular mechanisms governing mESCs commitment. 

DGCR8 is essential for mouse early development and microRNA biogenesis. Cirera-Salinas et al. report a new non-canonical function of DGCR8 essential for the exit from pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells.

In this study by Formica et al. cryoelectrospinning is used to create a stable, ultraporous nanofiber network. The electrospun scaffold can be drug-loaded and embedded in a polyanionic alginate hydrogel. The fibrillar component significantly reinforces the chondroinductive but weak hydrogel, creating a mimic of the cartilage extracellular matrix which is stable in vivo.