Cell cycle regulation and differentiation
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsJason Dugas, Ben A. Barres
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Abstract
The present invention provides compositions and methods for regulating neural cell proliferation or differentiation. The present invention also provides methods for selecting for bioactive agents effective in regulating proliferation or differentiation.
Claims20
A method of regulating proliferation or differentiation of a neural cell comprising contacting said neural cell with a bioactive agent effective in modulating the activity or expression level of transcription factor ZFP536, thereby regulating said proliferation or differentiation of said neural cell.
A method for screening a candidate bioactive agent effective in regulating proliferation or differentiation of a test neural cell comprising:
- (a) contacting said test neural cell with said candidate bioactive agent;
- and
- (b) assaying for a change in the activity or expression level of ZFP536 in said test neural cell as compared to a control neural cell;
- wherein a change in the activity or expression level of ZFP536 is indicative of a bioactive agent effective in regulating proliferation or differentiation of said test neural cell.
A method of assessing the ability of a test neural cell to differentiate comprising:
- (a) assaying for an activity or expression level of ZFP536 of said test neural cell;
- and
- (b) comparing said activity or expression level of (a) to that of a control neural cell, wherein a statistically significant increase in activity or expression of ZFP536 implicates the ability of said test neural cell to differentiate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.