An Unbiased Look at the Bone Marrow Stromal System: Stem Cells, Niches, Lineages
Event details
| Date | 30.03.2015 |
| Hour | 12:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Paolo Bianco, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome (I) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Abstract:
Studies on the bone marrow stromal system (the system of skeletal lineages emanating from the skeletal stem cell) have been blessed by ever growing attention for their relevance to appealing issues in biomedical science (stem cells, niches, regenerative medicine). Nonetheless, the field has suffered from a number of biases. These emanate from a wide range of origins, including commercial interests, misconceptions, improper definitions and assays, and even the use of established experimental paradigms and cutting edge technologies to a specific system, which is unique among stem cell-ruled systems. The need to remove the biases in turn comes in part from mere conceptual consideration, and in part from direct experimental evidence. For example, mere conceptual considerations discourage and invalidate the notion of a system fueling steady state, real time turnover of a multiplicity of skeletal tissues (the bone, cartilage, fat according to about 27,000 published papers), while direct experimental evidence suggests the view of discrete and segregated lineages. Perhaps the hierarchical model to describe other systems, such as hematopoiesis, may simply not apply to the stromal system, which may be dominated by an unsuspected reversibility of differentiation states. Interestingly, observations pointing in this direction merge directly and at times surprisingly on the one hand, with the understanding of human diseases (e.g., the GNAS mutation-caused Fibrous Dysplasia of bone) and on the other, with models of complex systems featuring emergent behaviors. Decades after its first conceptualization revealing that the bone marrow could be home to two stem cells, hematopoietic and mesenchymal, the system continues to challenge comforting paradigms, and thus retains a unique flavor (to me, at least).
Bio:
Paolo Bianco, MD, is currently a Professor of Anatomic Pathology; Chief, Stem Cell Lab; and Director, Anatomic Pathology, at Sapienza University of Rome and Umberto I University Hospital. He is known worldwide for his work in stem cells, skeletal physiology and bone diseases. Has published >160 peer-reviewed articles, and 38 chapters, which have received >15,000 citations in the world literature as of August, 2013, making him currently the most highly cited scholar in the 3 Medical Schools at Sapienza.
Dr. Bianco works on skeletal diseases and on non-hematopoietic stem cells found in the bone marrow stroma. His research focuses among other things on the crucial role of stem cell in genetic diseases of the skeleton, in particular fibrous dysplasia (FD, OMIM#17480). His more recent work has been directed at identifying and characterizing postnatal progenitors in the human bone marrow as subendothelial cells, and to the definition of tissue-specific progenitors in microvascular niches in different tissues, moving the understanding of the topic beyond the paradigm of so-called “mesenchymal stem cells”. A specific facet of this issue is represented by the role of skeletal stem cells in providing a niche for hematopoietic and cancer cells homing to bone.
Abstract:
Studies on the bone marrow stromal system (the system of skeletal lineages emanating from the skeletal stem cell) have been blessed by ever growing attention for their relevance to appealing issues in biomedical science (stem cells, niches, regenerative medicine). Nonetheless, the field has suffered from a number of biases. These emanate from a wide range of origins, including commercial interests, misconceptions, improper definitions and assays, and even the use of established experimental paradigms and cutting edge technologies to a specific system, which is unique among stem cell-ruled systems. The need to remove the biases in turn comes in part from mere conceptual consideration, and in part from direct experimental evidence. For example, mere conceptual considerations discourage and invalidate the notion of a system fueling steady state, real time turnover of a multiplicity of skeletal tissues (the bone, cartilage, fat according to about 27,000 published papers), while direct experimental evidence suggests the view of discrete and segregated lineages. Perhaps the hierarchical model to describe other systems, such as hematopoiesis, may simply not apply to the stromal system, which may be dominated by an unsuspected reversibility of differentiation states. Interestingly, observations pointing in this direction merge directly and at times surprisingly on the one hand, with the understanding of human diseases (e.g., the GNAS mutation-caused Fibrous Dysplasia of bone) and on the other, with models of complex systems featuring emergent behaviors. Decades after its first conceptualization revealing that the bone marrow could be home to two stem cells, hematopoietic and mesenchymal, the system continues to challenge comforting paradigms, and thus retains a unique flavor (to me, at least).
Bio:
Paolo Bianco, MD, is currently a Professor of Anatomic Pathology; Chief, Stem Cell Lab; and Director, Anatomic Pathology, at Sapienza University of Rome and Umberto I University Hospital. He is known worldwide for his work in stem cells, skeletal physiology and bone diseases. Has published >160 peer-reviewed articles, and 38 chapters, which have received >15,000 citations in the world literature as of August, 2013, making him currently the most highly cited scholar in the 3 Medical Schools at Sapienza.
Dr. Bianco works on skeletal diseases and on non-hematopoietic stem cells found in the bone marrow stroma. His research focuses among other things on the crucial role of stem cell in genetic diseases of the skeleton, in particular fibrous dysplasia (FD, OMIM#17480). His more recent work has been directed at identifying and characterizing postnatal progenitors in the human bone marrow as subendothelial cells, and to the definition of tissue-specific progenitors in microvascular niches in different tissues, moving the understanding of the topic beyond the paradigm of so-called “mesenchymal stem cells”. A specific facet of this issue is represented by the role of skeletal stem cells in providing a niche for hematopoietic and cancer cells homing to bone.
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