Coordinated regulation of self-renewal and cell cycle during human lympho-myeloid lineage restriction.

Summary: How do our blood stem cells decide what kind of immune cell to become? Scientists used to think it was a simple, step-by-step process. In this study, researchers created a new way to grow human umbilical cord blood cells in the lab. They watched how these stem cells turn into specific immune cells, like B-cells and white blood cells. They found that as the cells pick their final job, they start dividing much faster, but they lose their superpower to copy themselves forever. By looking at the genes inside single cells, the team discovered that this choice is much more mixed and complex than we ever thought!