Source: University of California - Santa Barbara
Date: April 30, 2009
Summary:
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a significant discovery in understanding the way human embryonic stem cells function. They explain nature's way of controlling whether these cells will renew, or will transform to become part of an ear, a liver, or any other part of the human body. The study is reported in the May 1 issue of the journal Cell. The scientists say the finding bodes well for cancer research, since tumor stem cells are the engines responsible for the growth of tumors. The discovery is also expected to help with other diseases and injuries. The study describes nature's negative feedback loop in cell biology.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Zebrafish offer clues to treatments for motor neurone disease
Source: University of Edinburgh
Date: 29 April 2009
Summary:
Tiny zebrafish could hold the key to stem cell treatments for motor neurone disease. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have found that these fish are able to produce motor neurones - cells that control all muscle activity such as speaking, walking and breathing in humans - when they repair damage to their spinal cords. Researchers are now screening small molecules with a view to finding drugs that could kick-start the process of motor neurone regeneration in zebrafish, with a view to translating their findings into treatments for humans. The discovery could help patients with motor neurone disease, in which the motor neurone cells die and are not replaced.
Date: 29 April 2009
Summary:
Tiny zebrafish could hold the key to stem cell treatments for motor neurone disease. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have found that these fish are able to produce motor neurones - cells that control all muscle activity such as speaking, walking and breathing in humans - when they repair damage to their spinal cords. Researchers are now screening small molecules with a view to finding drugs that could kick-start the process of motor neurone regeneration in zebrafish, with a view to translating their findings into treatments for humans. The discovery could help patients with motor neurone disease, in which the motor neurone cells die and are not replaced.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Scientists identify key factors in heart cell creation
Source: Gladstone Institutes
Date: April 26, 2009
Summary:
Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have identified for the first time key genetic factors that drive the process of generating new heart cells. The discovery, reported in the current issue of the journal Nature, provides important new directions on how stem cells may be used to repair damaged hearts. For decades, scientists were unable to identify a single factor that could turn nonmuscle cells into beating heart cells. Using a clever approach, the research team led by Benoit Bruneau, Ph.D., found that a combination of three genes could do the trick. This is the first time any combination of factors has been found to activate cardiac differentiation in mammalian cells or tissues.
Date: April 26, 2009
Summary:
Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have identified for the first time key genetic factors that drive the process of generating new heart cells. The discovery, reported in the current issue of the journal Nature, provides important new directions on how stem cells may be used to repair damaged hearts. For decades, scientists were unable to identify a single factor that could turn nonmuscle cells into beating heart cells. Using a clever approach, the research team led by Benoit Bruneau, Ph.D., found that a combination of three genes could do the trick. This is the first time any combination of factors has been found to activate cardiac differentiation in mammalian cells or tissues.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Major Breakthrough In Generating Safer, Therapeutic Stem Cells From Adult Cells
Source: Scripps Research Institute
Date: April 23, 2009
Summary:
A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions have achieved a breakthrough in converting adult cells all the way back to the most primitive embryonic-like cells without using the dangerous genetic manipulations associated with previous methods. The new technique solves one of the most challenging safety hurdles associated with personalized stem cell-based medicine because for the first time it enables scientists to make stem cells in the laboratory from adult cells without genetically altering them. This discovery has the potential to spark the development of many new types of therapies for humans, for diseases that range from Type 1 diabetes to Parkinson's disease.
The study was published in an advance, online issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell on April 23, 2009.
Date: April 23, 2009
Summary:
A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions have achieved a breakthrough in converting adult cells all the way back to the most primitive embryonic-like cells without using the dangerous genetic manipulations associated with previous methods. The new technique solves one of the most challenging safety hurdles associated with personalized stem cell-based medicine because for the first time it enables scientists to make stem cells in the laboratory from adult cells without genetically altering them. This discovery has the potential to spark the development of many new types of therapies for humans, for diseases that range from Type 1 diabetes to Parkinson's disease.
The study was published in an advance, online issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell on April 23, 2009.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Cell transplants may cure deafness
Source: Uppsala University
Date: April 22, 2009
Summary:
When Uppsala researchers found immature stem cells in the inner ear of humans a few years ago, it caused a global sensation. They have also managed to grow hearing nerves from stem cells and human tissue from donated cochleae. Moving images of how nerve cells, like social, swimming beings, seek out each other are now suggesting entirely new and breathtaking perspectives to researchers. The next step will be to study how this growth is affected by electric fields. The researchers want to see, on the one hand, whether electric stimulation can get remaining nerve fibers to grow in hearing impaired individuals and, on the other hand, whether nerves can be made to grow out again after having been damaged or exposed to alcohol and other toxins.
Date: April 22, 2009
Summary:
When Uppsala researchers found immature stem cells in the inner ear of humans a few years ago, it caused a global sensation. They have also managed to grow hearing nerves from stem cells and human tissue from donated cochleae. Moving images of how nerve cells, like social, swimming beings, seek out each other are now suggesting entirely new and breathtaking perspectives to researchers. The next step will be to study how this growth is affected by electric fields. The researchers want to see, on the one hand, whether electric stimulation can get remaining nerve fibers to grow in hearing impaired individuals and, on the other hand, whether nerves can be made to grow out again after having been damaged or exposed to alcohol and other toxins.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Human stem cells promote healing of diabetic ulcers
Source: University of Bristol
Date: April 20, 2009
Summary:
Treatment of chronic wounds is a continuing clinical problem and socio-economic burden with diabetic foot ulcers alone costing the NHS £300 million a year. Scientists in Bristol have found that human foetal stem cells can effectively be used to treat back leg ischaemic ulcers in a model of type 1 diabetes. The researchers also found the culture in which the stem cells had been grown mimicked the wound-healing ability of the cells, suggesting that they could be used as a "factory" of wound-healing substances. Alternatively, the active ingredients in the culture, once identified, could be used instead; this would avoid the ethical concerns of using human foetal stem cells. Paolo Madeddu, Professor of Experimental Cardiovascluar Medicine and colleagues at the Bristol Heart Institute, previously used stem cells in models of back leg ischaemia, showing that foetal stem cells could be more therapeutically effective than adult stem cells.
Date: April 20, 2009
Summary:
Treatment of chronic wounds is a continuing clinical problem and socio-economic burden with diabetic foot ulcers alone costing the NHS £300 million a year. Scientists in Bristol have found that human foetal stem cells can effectively be used to treat back leg ischaemic ulcers in a model of type 1 diabetes. The researchers also found the culture in which the stem cells had been grown mimicked the wound-healing ability of the cells, suggesting that they could be used as a "factory" of wound-healing substances. Alternatively, the active ingredients in the culture, once identified, could be used instead; this would avoid the ethical concerns of using human foetal stem cells. Paolo Madeddu, Professor of Experimental Cardiovascluar Medicine and colleagues at the Bristol Heart Institute, previously used stem cells in models of back leg ischaemia, showing that foetal stem cells could be more therapeutically effective than adult stem cells.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Study Yields Clue to How Stem Cells Form
Source: Emory University
Date: April 17, 2009
Summary:
An Emory University study shows some of the first direct evidence of a process required for epigenetic reprogramming between generations – a finding that could shed more light on the mechanisms of fertilization, stem-cell formation and cloning. The journal Cell published the results of the study on the nematode worm C. elegans in its April 17 issue.
Date: April 17, 2009
Summary:
An Emory University study shows some of the first direct evidence of a process required for epigenetic reprogramming between generations – a finding that could shed more light on the mechanisms of fertilization, stem-cell formation and cloning. The journal Cell published the results of the study on the nematode worm C. elegans in its April 17 issue.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Scientists use RNA to reprogram one cell type into another
Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Date: April 16, 2009
Summary:
For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs, which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering have found another way to change one cell type into another.
By simply flooding one cell type, a nerve cell, with the an abundance of a specific type of messenger RNA (mRNA) from another cell type, the investigators changed a neuron into an astrocyte-like cell, a star-shaped brain cell that helps to maintain the blood-brain barrier, regulates the chemical environment around cells, responds to injury, and releases regulatory substances.
Date: April 16, 2009
Summary:
For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs, which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering have found another way to change one cell type into another.
By simply flooding one cell type, a nerve cell, with the an abundance of a specific type of messenger RNA (mRNA) from another cell type, the investigators changed a neuron into an astrocyte-like cell, a star-shaped brain cell that helps to maintain the blood-brain barrier, regulates the chemical environment around cells, responds to injury, and releases regulatory substances.
Researchers succeed in multiplying blood cells in the lab
Source: University of Montreal
Date: April 16, 2009
Summary:
A team from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) at Université de Montréal has succeeded in producing a large quantity of laboratory stem cells from a small number of blood stem cells obtained from bone marrow. The multidisciplinary team, directed by Dr. Guy Sauvageau, thus took a giant step towards the development of a revolutionary treatment based on these stem cells. This worldwide first will advance stem cell research and could have major implications in several fields for which no treatment currently exists.
Date: April 16, 2009
Summary:
A team from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) at Université de Montréal has succeeded in producing a large quantity of laboratory stem cells from a small number of blood stem cells obtained from bone marrow. The multidisciplinary team, directed by Dr. Guy Sauvageau, thus took a giant step towards the development of a revolutionary treatment based on these stem cells. This worldwide first will advance stem cell research and could have major implications in several fields for which no treatment currently exists.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Stroke Patient's Own Stem Cells Used In Trial For First Time
Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Date: April 15, 2009
Summary:
For the first time in the United States, a stroke patient has been intravenously injected with his own bone marrow stem cells as part of a research trial at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Date: April 15, 2009
Summary:
For the first time in the United States, a stroke patient has been intravenously injected with his own bone marrow stem cells as part of a research trial at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Research Finding: Stem Cells Reset Immune Systems in Diabetes
Source: Northwestern University
Date: April 14, 2009
CHICAGO --- The majority of patients with Type 1 diabetes who underwent transplantation with their own stem cells to reset their immune systems became insulin free, several for more than three years. Richard Burt, M.D., co-author of the study and associate professor of medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, reports these patients also showed an increased level of a substance that indicates improved functioning of their beta cells, a cell in the pancreas that secretes insulin. The substance is C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin production. The study was published in the April 15 Journal of the American Medical Association.
Date: April 14, 2009
CHICAGO --- The majority of patients with Type 1 diabetes who underwent transplantation with their own stem cells to reset their immune systems became insulin free, several for more than three years. Richard Burt, M.D., co-author of the study and associate professor of medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, reports these patients also showed an increased level of a substance that indicates improved functioning of their beta cells, a cell in the pancreas that secretes insulin. The substance is C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin production. The study was published in the April 15 Journal of the American Medical Association.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Creating Ideal Neural Cells for Clinical Use
Source: Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Date: April 13, 2009
Summary:
Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have developed a protocol to rapidly differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into neural progenitor cells that may be ideal for transplantation. The research, conducted by Alexei Terskikh, Ph.D., and colleagues, outlines a method to create these committed neural precursor cells (C-NPCs) that is replicable, does not produce mutations in the cells and could be useful for clinical applications. The research was published on March 13 in the journal Cell Death and Differentiation.
Date: April 13, 2009
Summary:
Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have developed a protocol to rapidly differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into neural progenitor cells that may be ideal for transplantation. The research, conducted by Alexei Terskikh, Ph.D., and colleagues, outlines a method to create these committed neural precursor cells (C-NPCs) that is replicable, does not produce mutations in the cells and could be useful for clinical applications. The research was published on March 13 in the journal Cell Death and Differentiation.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Embryonic Stem Cells Progress Slowly In Myelin's Direction
Source: Development
Date: April 9, 2009
Summary:
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin report in the journal Development the successful generation from human embryonic stem cells of a type of cell that can make myelin, a finding that opens up new possibilities for both basic and clinical research. Myelin loss, as occurs in multiple sclerosis, stops nerves from working with devastating consequences. Creating these cells has long been a challenge partly because they take an unexpectedly long time to develop from human ES cells.
Date: April 9, 2009
Summary:
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin report in the journal Development the successful generation from human embryonic stem cells of a type of cell that can make myelin, a finding that opens up new possibilities for both basic and clinical research. Myelin loss, as occurs in multiple sclerosis, stops nerves from working with devastating consequences. Creating these cells has long been a challenge partly because they take an unexpectedly long time to develop from human ES cells.
Stem Cell Therapy Makes Cloudy Corneas Clear
Source: University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
Date: April 9, 2009
Summary:
Stem cells collected from human corneas restore transparency and don’t trigger a rejection response when injected into eyes that are scarred and hazy, according to experiments conducted in mice by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their study will be published in the journal Stem Cells and appears online today. The findings suggest that cell-based therapies might be an effective way to treat human corneal blindness and vision impairment due to the scarring that occurs after infection, trauma and other common eye problems, said senior investigator James L. Funderburgh, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Ophthalmology. The Pitt corneal stem cells were able to remodel scar-like tissue back to normal.
Date: April 9, 2009
Summary:
Stem cells collected from human corneas restore transparency and don’t trigger a rejection response when injected into eyes that are scarred and hazy, according to experiments conducted in mice by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their study will be published in the journal Stem Cells and appears online today. The findings suggest that cell-based therapies might be an effective way to treat human corneal blindness and vision impairment due to the scarring that occurs after infection, trauma and other common eye problems, said senior investigator James L. Funderburgh, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Ophthalmology. The Pitt corneal stem cells were able to remodel scar-like tissue back to normal.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Stem cell marker for possible ‘root’ of colon cancer identified
Source: University of Florida
Date: April 7, 2009
Summary:
To truly kill colon cancer and eliminate the risk of recurrence, it is important to kill the “root” of the disease, according to a University of Florida College of Medicine surgeon. Her findings, available online now and to be featured on the cover of the April 15 print version of Cancer Research, identify a biomarker for colon cancer stem cells that she believes will help researchers further evaluate the cancers’ origins and progression. The discovery sheds light on the cancer stem cell theory, an idea that has arisen because cancer cells and stem cells share many qualities, including the ability of cancer stem cells to demonstrate self-renewal.
Date: April 7, 2009
Summary:
To truly kill colon cancer and eliminate the risk of recurrence, it is important to kill the “root” of the disease, according to a University of Florida College of Medicine surgeon. Her findings, available online now and to be featured on the cover of the April 15 print version of Cancer Research, identify a biomarker for colon cancer stem cells that she believes will help researchers further evaluate the cancers’ origins and progression. The discovery sheds light on the cancer stem cell theory, an idea that has arisen because cancer cells and stem cells share many qualities, including the ability of cancer stem cells to demonstrate self-renewal.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Stem cell therapy grows new blood vessels
Source: University of Western Ontario
Date: April 6, 2009
Summary:
Research led by David Hess of the Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario has identified how to use selected stem cells from bone marrow to grow new blood vessels to treat diseases such as peripheral artery disease. It's one of the severe complications often faced by people who've had diabetes for a long time.
Hess drew human bone marrow and simultaneously isolated three different types of stem cells that co-ordinate together to form new blood vessels. These are called pro-angiogenic stem cells. They were purified to remove any inflammatory or contaminated cells, and then injected into the circulation of mice which had one of their leg arteries ligated and removed. The researchers showed how these stem cells have a natural ability to hone in on the area of ischemia to induce blood vessel repair and improve blood flow. Hess says this research is clinically-applicable because they studied the function of human stem cells in immune-deficient mice.
Date: April 6, 2009
Summary:
Research led by David Hess of the Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario has identified how to use selected stem cells from bone marrow to grow new blood vessels to treat diseases such as peripheral artery disease. It's one of the severe complications often faced by people who've had diabetes for a long time.
Hess drew human bone marrow and simultaneously isolated three different types of stem cells that co-ordinate together to form new blood vessels. These are called pro-angiogenic stem cells. They were purified to remove any inflammatory or contaminated cells, and then injected into the circulation of mice which had one of their leg arteries ligated and removed. The researchers showed how these stem cells have a natural ability to hone in on the area of ischemia to induce blood vessel repair and improve blood flow. Hess says this research is clinically-applicable because they studied the function of human stem cells in immune-deficient mice.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Cure for hearing loss one step closer
Source: University of Sheffield
Date: 02 April 2009
Summary:
Researchers at the University of Sheffield successfully isolated human stem cells and discovered how to turn these into either cells that behave like sensory hair cells or auditory neurons. The cells could be used to restore hearing. The research has been published in the May edition ofStem Cells. The results show there is now a system based on human cells for testing new therapies in the laboratory.
Date: 02 April 2009
Summary:
Researchers at the University of Sheffield successfully isolated human stem cells and discovered how to turn these into either cells that behave like sensory hair cells or auditory neurons. The cells could be used to restore hearing. The research has been published in the May edition ofStem Cells. The results show there is now a system based on human cells for testing new therapies in the laboratory.
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