Research Round-up is a feature on Ben's Stem Cell News summarizing monthly developments in stem cell research. Here is a summary of significant stem cell research and science news developments that occurred in September 2006:
• September 1 - Scientists at Harvard University identified key compounds that stimulate stem cell growth in the brain, lead to restored function for people neurological disorders.
• September 4 - Scientists from the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida report that adult human brain cells can generate new brain tissue when implanted into the brains of mice, potentially enabling the reversal of aging of the brain and treatments for age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and stroke.
• September 5 - Researchers at University of Chicago Medical Center have discovered a two-step process that appears to regulate cell fate decisions for many types of developing cells.
• September 6 - Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine confirm a gene that suppresses tumor cell growth also plays a key role in aging.
• September 6 - University of Michigan researchers found that old stem cells don’t simply wear out, they actively shut themselves down, probably as a defense against becoming cancerous from genetic defects that accumulate with age.
• September 6 - Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have located a single molecular switch plays a central role in inducing stem cells in the brain, pancreas, and blood to lose function as they age.
• September 7 - The San Francisco Chronicle reports that researchers have uncovered a fundamental new link between stem cells and aging: a genetic system in the body that seems to fight cancer but also regulates the restorative cells that keep aging at bay.
• September 7 - Michigan State University researchers identified the genes that are active only in the human egg, saying it brings them closer to understanding how eggs produce embryonic stem cells and to being able to duplicate that process without eggs or embryos.
• September 8 - Reuters examines recent advances being made in the relatively new field of anti-aging medicine.
• September 10 - Researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Research at Edinburgh University in Scotland announced the discovery of a key protein they that may encourage embryonic stem cells to develop into the insulin-producing pancreatic cells that malfunction in patients with diabetes.
• September 11 - Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine demonstrated a new approach to hasten healing at sites of injury - such as heart muscle after a heart attack or brain tissue after a stroke is to use a drug "mobilize" patients' blood vessel-forming cells, called angiogenic cells, so these cells can reach the injured area.
• September 14 - University of T Southwestern Medical Center researchers discovered that blocking one of the body's natural inflammatory factors provides substantial protection against cell death in the brain associated with Parkinson's disease.
• September 20 - Advanced Cell Technology, a biotechnology company, discovered human embryonic stem cells can partly restore vision in blinded rats, and may offer a source of transplants for people with certain eye diseases.
• September 20 - Mesoblast Limited and Angioblast Systems Inc., sister biotechnology companies in the field of stem cell research, announced positive initial results of clinical adult stem cell trials for the treatment of heart disease.
• September 22/23 - A phase I trial to test the safety of injecting fetal brain stem cells into the brains of children to treat Batten disease, a rare yet fatal inherited neurodegenerative disorder, will begin at Oregon Health & Science University's (OHSU) Doernbecher Children's Hospital. The stem cells that will be used in the trial are produced by Palo Alto-based StemCells Inc.
• September 23 - Researchers report they have cultivated a colony of human embryonic stem cells from an apparently dead embryo.
• Septtember 24 - Canadian scientists are investigating a novel way of treating a deadly form of leukemia: by targeting the stem cells that allow the cancer to return after chemotherapy has resulted in apparent remission. They were able to cure some mice transplanted with the human form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
• September 27 - The NIH reports that a trial of the Edmonton Protocol approach of transplantin insulin-producing islet cells could dramatically benefit certain patients with severe complications of Type 1 diabetes.
• September 30 - Scientists have identified a gene in mice that controls the development of taste buds. They believe the same process occurs in humans. Researchers believe the findings will help scientists better understand how the behavior of certain stem cells is controlled.
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