Below is a transcript of our conversation with Dr. Xantha Karp:
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. Advances in medicine have pointed to the benefits of adult stem cells, the potential of these cells to aid in the healing process. The question of keeping them healthy during the natural process involving long periods of rest is the focus of research for Doctor Xanthe Karp, Professor of Biology at CMU. I learned it is a cycle of development and changes triggered by specific genes.
Then what did we know if we're looking at the concept of keeping these cells healthy, that balancing act that you referred to, making sure that blood stem cells are specifically working in that area or muscle or (or) bone to make sure that every all the cells are staying in their right lane, I guess is maybe.
Xantha Karp:
Right.
DN:
A common way we could refer to it.
XK:
Where my, our work kind of focuses. So, there's one other concept at play in many of these tissue specific stem cells, including blood stem cells, which is that they spend most of their time in. Quiescence is the term and what that means is just that they're not dividing, so most of the time. (Them) they're waiting around even though their main job is to make new cells. Most of the time, they're not dividing. People had noticed other people had noticed that when cells were not quite ascent, when stem cells were not quiescent, when they're forced to divide, there were problems maintaining those stem cell population. And some cells were no longer healthy and one of the problems that they have is that they don't necessarily produce all of the correct cell types. And this connection between quiescence and multipotency is really where our lab focuses.
DN:
When you talk about this, these stem cells in this, these stages of development that you mentioned and when they, if I'm quoting you correctly, come upon conditions not favorable to their growth is there then anything that involves trying to interject something that alters this? A natural pattern and (and) that's not an accusatory question. I'm just wondering and how far it goes into what you're exactly trying to (to) study and find out in terms, (in terms) of the overall development.
XK:
We are not thinking of it as a like disease kind of state. That part doesn't translate super well to humans. There are other mammals, other vertebrates especially, and to some extent mammals that can go through these kinds of diapause situations. But instead, it's more at the cellular level. Stem cells, like blood stem cells, are quiescent and Foxo is one of the genes that tells those cells to be quiescent and when they are quiescent, they alter their metabolism. They kind of damp it down for the most part and wait until they're called upon to divide and make the right cell types and Dower is also regulated by FOXO and is a similar quiescent stage with similar metabolic changes. So, we're not thinking of it as well. Well, you can think of it as a response to stress and it is, it's also a normal, or at least a common thing? I think in the wild they found over 95% of C elegans were found in the dour stage, so it is a very common aspect of sea elegance development. So, we're kind of just focusing on the fact that during dower, cells are quiescent and multipotent and that's similar to mammalian stem cells that are quiescent and multipotent. And so, we're starting from there.
DN:
So does the research and the questions of Dr. Xantha Karp, Professor of Biology at Central Michigan University. Congratulations again on the (the) NIH grant. I would presume there is the hope to continue and (and) sustain the work as you explore the questions further in the stages of how do we understand all of this and it's practical application? You've answered a lot of those questions here today. And we thank you very much for your time.
XK:
Thank you!
