Researchers at the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas found that Sall4, a zinc-finger transcription factor that is expressed very early in embryonic development with Oct4 and Nanog, plays a diverse role in regulating stem cell pluripotency during early embryonic development. Using chIP-chip analysis to map genome-wide gene targets of Sall4 in mouse ES cells, they found that the protein bound 3,223 genes, many of which have major functions in developmental and regulatory pathways.