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IMAGE: From left, Andy McMahon, Lisa Rutledge, Helena Bugacov and Alex Guo hold an impromptu lab meeting. view more
Credit: Christina Gandolfo
Kidney development is a balancing act between the self-renewal of stem and progenitor cells to maintain and expand their numbers, and the differentiation of these cells into more specialized cell types. In a new study in the journal
eLife from Andy McMahon s laboratory in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, former graduate student Alex Quiyu Guo and a team of scientists demonstrate the importance of a molecule called β-catenin in striking this balance.