18 July 2022• NEWS RELEASE
Researcher Anna Alemany of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) has received an ERC Starting Grant worth 1.5 million euros. She wants to use this to find out how she can direct stem cells to develop into different functional cell types. To this end, she wants to create a genetic tracking system that maps out in detail the path from stem cell to heart muscle cell, for example. Ultimately, Alemany hopes to use this knowledge to improve regenerative therapies.
“We are all made up of thousands of different cell types, with different functions and shapes. For example, a skin cell looks nothing like a nerve cell, but they do share the same genetic information,” says Anna Alemany, group leader at the Department of Anatomy and Embryology. One of the main challenges of developmental biology is to understand how, when and where is determined which cell type a stem cell develops into.
Genetic History
With the subsidy obtained, Alemany wants to create a molecular tracking system with which she can record the genetic changes that a stem cell undergoes when it specializes in a specific cell. “We want to unravel the genetic history that led cells to the cell type they became,” Alemany says. By comparing the history of different cells, Alemany believes that it will gain more insight into the properties of these cells.
She came up with this idea during her previous research in physics. There she studied how individual molecules returned to their normal shape after being mechanically unfolded. By comparing the trajectories of these molecules, Alemany and colleagues learned more about the physical properties. In this project, Alemany wants to find out whether this concept also applies to cells.
heart muscle cells
Alemany combines her background in physics with biology. As a fundamental scientist, she feels privileged to work in a hospital environment. “I learn something new every day.” With this grant she can continue her work at the LUMC. “I am very happy with it, and so are the rest of my team members. I am very grateful for their support and trust.”
After developing the tracking system, Alemany hopes to apply it in the lab, for example in heart organoids. These are small, simplified mini-organs made from stem cells. “If we better understand how a stem cell becomes a cardiomyocyte, we can optimize protocols for targeted cell differentiation, thereby improving the development of new therapies,” Alemany concludes.
Alemany will receive 1.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) for a period of five years. Read more about this Starting Grants.
–
