Ode to a Skin Stem Cell

by Vassie C. Ware, Ph.D.
November 5, 2007
©2007

There once was a stem cell stuck in skin BULGE 'hood'
Living quietly, undisturbed, but wishing he could
Become something else—a nail, a hair, or some other type.
Yet for weeks and weeks, he sulked and uttered this gripe:
"Why am I not needed?" to his friends he would say.
"Isn't there a wound somewhere, a hair to replace today?"
Well, if you really want to move up and out, or down as well,
You must change your tune, for we are here to tell.
If you would just stop listening to your friends TGFß and BMP
You surely could divide and leave the hood, for the world to see
That you Wnt on to become a hair, in all of your glee!

written for Bioscience in the 21st Century class