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Genetic cell-lineage tracing studies in mice are crucial for delineating the contribution of stem and progenitor cells to different cell types, both in disease states and after regenerative therapy. He et al. have developed new genetic lineage-tracing systems that provide more definitive results than the commonly used Cre-based system and show that this new technology can resolve current controversies in the field, as demonstrated by lineage-tracing studies in the heart and liver.
By surgically directing the vascular delivery of decellularization reagents, the in situ decellularization of desired organs or tissues in mice can be achieved, enabling detailed imaging and characterization of the intact extracellular matrix, including in the cancer metastatic niche.
A method enabling copy-number analysis of single cells from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples is described, validated and applied to analyze samples of synchronous ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast carcinoma.