REVIEW  STEM CELL-BASED BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN REGENERATIVE MEDICINE 

Minerva Biotecnologica 2017 December;29(4):169-73

DOI: 10.23736/S1120-4826.17.02301-1

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Multi-omics approach to stem cell studies

Himadri SINGH ✉

Stem Cell Research Division, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India

Stem cells (embryonic and adult) can regenerate into various tissues and are being tested for the treatment of various diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and sepsis among a host of other diseases. High-throughput data profiling at multiple levels of regulations (genetic, epigenetic, metabolomic and proteomics), is very critical in understanding stem cell biology. Genomics is the most mature in the omics field. Next generation sequencing is the latest technology in genomics. Epigenomics is an emerging field that characterizes reversible modification of DNA. Epigenetic signatures are tissue specific and it is believed that the signal at epigenetic levels govern stem cell differentiation and proliferation. Transcriptomics provide snapshot of various aspects of molecular and cellular biology of the stem cells. Transcriptomics is genome-wide assessment of RNA (qualitative and quantitative). The technologies are micro-array and RNA-Sequencing. Proteomics quantify peptide-abundance, peptide-modification and protein-protein interaction. Mass-spectrometry based methods have revolutionized proteomics. Metabolomics quantifies product of cellular metabolic function such as amino-acids, fatty-acids and carbohydrates. Integrating these “omics” technologies has helped researchers understand the mechanism of stem cell differentiation and proliferation. In this review a snapshot of integrating multiple levels of regulations is provided and various stem cell tools and databases for stem cell research is also summarized.

KEY WORDS: Stem cell research - Biology - Therapeutics