UC Santa Barbara Scientists Learn How to Unlock the Destiny of a Cell: A Gift for the Tin Man?

Scientists have discovered that breaking a biological signaling system in an embryo allows them to change the destiny of a cell. The findings could lead to new ways of making replacement organs.

The discovery was made in the laboratory of Joel H. Rothman, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UC Santa Barbara. The studies were reported in the interdisciplinary journal Genes and Development, and were carried out by Ph.D student Nareg Djabrayan, in collaboration with Rothman and two other members of the laboratory, Ph.D student Erica Sommermann and postdoctoral fellow Nathaniel Dudley.

"At some point along the way toward becoming part of a complete individual, cells become destined to choose a particular identity and long-term profession," Rothman noted. "Once a cell chooses who it will be, it locks onto that identity for the remainder of its life."

A cell that is destined to become a heart cell functions exclusively in the heart until it dies, and never chooses later to change jobs by becoming, for example, a brain cell. “If Oz’s wizard possessed the powers he claimed, and had a spare brain lying around, he could switch it to a heart as a gift for the Tin Man. And he could reverse the trick for the Scarecrow,” Rothman said.

Similarly, the researchers have found a way to unlock cells’ destinies and lead them to take on a new profession.