Monday, March 28, 2005

Researchers Closer To Helping Hearing-Impaired Using Stem Cells

Source: Indiana University School Of Medicine
Posted: March 28, 2005

Summary:

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are several steps closer to the day when a profoundly deaf patient's own bone marrow cells could be used to let him or her hear the world. They were able able to transform, in the laboratory, stem cells taken from adult bone marrow into cells with many of the characteristics of sensory nerve cells -- neurons -- found in the ear. The results suggest that these adult stem cells could be used to treat deaf patients in the future.