The study of molecular mechanisms governing stem cell niche maintenance

干细胞在一生中负责替换各种成年组织中受损或濒临死亡的细胞。它们具有进一步发展再生医学的巨大潜力。然而，干细胞调控的分子机制仍然知之甚少。人们很好地认为干细胞的行为是由被称为生态位的特殊微环境控制的。果蝇睾丸提供了一个很好的干细胞系统来研究这个小生境如何调控干细胞的自我更新、分化和增殖。我们和其他许多研究人员证明了BMP-Smad和JAK-STAT信号对于维持果蝇睾丸中的生殖系干细胞是必不可少的。在这项研究中，我们使用几种不同的方法显示了BMP的定位。我们还证明了JAK-STAT信号对生殖系干细胞的维持是必需的，而且我们还尝试在胚胎干细胞的培养中引入生态位的概念。

Stem cells are responsible for replacing damaged or dying cells in various adult tissues throughout a lifetime. They possess great potential for further regenerative medicine. However, the molecular mechanisms governing stem cell regulation are still poorly understood. It is well thought that stem cell behavior is controlled by specialized microenvironments called niche. The Drosophila testis has provided one of the excellent stem cell systems to study how this niche regulates stem cell self-renewal, differentiation and proliferation.We and many other researchers demonstrated that both BMP-smad and JAK-STAT signaling are essential for maintaining germ-line stem cells in the Drosophila testis. In this study, we showed that localization of BMP using several different approaches. We also showed that and indirectly JAK-STAT signaling is required for the maintenance of germ-line stem cells.Furthermore, we have tried to introduce the niche concept in embryonic stem cells in culture.