Salk Scientists Develop Faster, Safer Method for Producing Stem Cells

Source: Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Date: December 3, 2012

Summary:

LA JOLLA, CA—A new method for generating stem cells from mature cells promises to boost stem cell production in the laboratory, helping to remove a barrier to regenerative medicine therapies that would replace damaged or unhealthy body tissues.

The technique, developed by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, allows for the unlimited production of stem cells and their derivatives as well as reduces production time by more than half, from nearly two months to two weeks.

They and their colleagues, including Fred H. Gage, professor in Salk's Laboratory of Genetics, have published a new method for converting cells in this week's Nature Methods.

Growing up a neural stem cell: The importance of clinging together and then letting go

Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: April 26, 2012

Summary:

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have identified new components of the genetic pathway that controls the adhesive properties and proliferation of neural stem cells and the formation of neurons in early development.

The finding by scientists at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA could be important because errors in this pathway can lead to a variety of birth defects that affect the structure of the nervous system, as well as more subtle changes that impair cognitive and motor functions associated with disorders such as autism.

The results of the four-year study are published April 26 in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron.

Scientists Find Neural Stem Cell Regulator

Source: University of Colorado Denver
Date: April 16, 2012

Summary:

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found that lack of a specific gene interrupts neural tube closure, a condition that can cause death or paralysis. The study was the cover story this week in the journal Genes & Development.

The researchers made their findings while studying neural stem cells in mice. They said the cells use distinct self-renewal programs to meet the demand of tissue growth and repair during different stages of embryonic development. The molecular mechanisms that control these programs remain largely unknown. The researchers discovered that the gene mLin41 in mice controls the extent of neural stem cell proliferation during the process of neural closure but not at the later stage of brain development.

Scalable Amounts of Liver and Pancreas Precursor Cells Created Using New Stem Cell Production Method

Source: Wiley-Blackwell
Date: December 2, 2011

Summary:

Scientists in Canada have overcome a key research hurdle to developing regenerative treatments for diabetes and liver disease with a technique to produce medically useful amounts of endoderm cells from human pluripotent stem cells. The research, published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, can be transferred to other areas of stem cell research helping scientists to navigate the route to clinical use known as the 'valley of death'.

Lung Stem Cells Offer Therapeutic Clues

Source: Harvard Medical School
Date: October 27, 2011

Summary:

Guided by insights into how mice recover after H1N1 flu, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, together with researchers at A*STAR of Singapore, have cloned three distinct stem cells from the human airways and demonstrated that one of these cells can form into the lung's alveoli air sac tissue. What's more, the researchers showed that these same lung stem cells are rapidly deployed in a dynamic process of lung regeneration to combat damage from infection or chronic disease. The findings will be reported in the Oct. 28 issue of Cell.

Seeking superior stem cells New technique produces one hundred-fold increase in efficiency in reprogramming human cells

Source: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Date: 10 October 2011

Summary:

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have today (07/10/2011) announced a new technique to reprogramme human cells, such as skin cells, into stem cells. Their process increases the efficiency of cell reprogramming by one hundred-fold and generates cells of a higher quality at a faster rate.

Until now cells have been reprogrammed using four specific regulatory proteins. By adding two further regulatory factors, Liu and co-workers brought about a dramatic improvement in the efficiency of reprogramming and the robustness of stem cell development. The new streamlined process produces cells that can grow more easily.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Human Intestinal Stem Cell Breakthrough for Regenerative Medicine

Source: Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)
Date: 4 September 2011

Summary:

Human colon stem cells have been identified and grown in a petri dish in the lab for the first time. This achievement, made by researchers of the Colorectal Cancer Lab at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and published in Nature Medicine, is a crucial advance towards regenerative medicine.

Throughout life, stem cells of the colon regenerate the inner layer of our large intestine in a weekly basis. For decades scientists had evidences of the existence of these cells yet their identity remained elusive. Scientists led by the ICREA Professor and researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) Eduard Batlle discovered the precise location of the stem cells in the human colon and worked out a method that allows their isolation and in vitro expansion, that is their propagation in lab-plates (petri dishes).

Stony Brook Pathology Team Demonstrates Breakthrough Method Of Stem Cell Expansion

Source: Stony Brook University School of Medicine
Date: June 6, 2011

Summary:

Researchers in the Department of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine have discovered a laboratory method to expand adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) using the SALL4 gene. Professor Yupo Ma, M.D., Ph.D., Lead Author, and colleagues used this method to produce a more than 10,000-fold increase in HSCs derived from normal human bone marrow. Their findings define a new mechanism of stem cell self-renewal, providing a means to produce large numbers of HSCs that could be used to treat hematological malignancies and other blood disorders. Their results are reported in the early online edition of Blood.

Scientists Discover Switch To Speed Up Stem Cell Production To Facilitate Development Of Treatments For Diseases

Source: Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
Date: May 18, 2011

Summary:

A team of scientists from Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have shown how proteins involved in controlling genes work together to carry out their functions in stem cells and demonstrated for the very first time, how they can change interaction partners to make other types of cells. The work highlighted the collaborative nature of modern biology in which techniques and knowledge from bioinformatics analysis, structural biology, biochemistry and stem cell molecular biology were used together to find the specific amino acid within the protein that facilitated the molecular switch between stem cells and other types of cells. This discovery, published in the journal Stem Cells, has implications for generating stem cells more efficiently for biomedical applications and could help facilitate the development of treatments for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease.

‘Universal’ virus-free method turns blood cells to beating heart cells

Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Date: April 11, 2011

Summary:

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a simplified, cheaper, all-purpose method they say can be used by scientists around the globe to more safely turn blood cells into heart cells. The method is virus-free and produces heart cells that beat with nearly 100 percent efficiency, they claim.

To get stem cells taken from one source (such as blood) and develop them into a cell of another type (such as heart), scientists generally use viruses to deliver a package of genes into cells to first get them to turn into stem cells. However, viruses can mutate genes and initiate cancers in newly transformed cells. To insert the genes without using a virus, Zambidis’ team turned to plasmids, which are rings of DNA that replicate briefly inside cells and eventually degrade.

Adding to the complexity of coaxing stem cells into other cell types is the expensive and varied recipe of growth factors, nutrients and conditions that bathe stem cells during their transformation. The recipe of this “broth” differs from lab to lab and cell line to cell line.

Reporting in the April 8 issue of Public Library of Science ONE (PLoS ONE), Zambidis' team described what he called a "painstaking, two-year process" to simplify the recipe and environmental conditions that house cells undergoing transformation into heart cells. They found that their recipe worked consistently for at least 11 different stem cell lines tested and worked equally well for the more controversial embryonic stem cells, as well as stem cell lines generated from adult blood stem cells, their main focus.

New Highly Efficient Way to Make Reprogrammed Stem Cells

Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Date: April 7, 2011

Summary:

PHILADELPHIA - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have devised a totally new and far more efficient way of generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), immature cells that are able to develop into several different types of cells or tissues in the body. The researchers used fibroblast cells, which are easily obtained from skin biopsies, and could be used to generate patient-specific iPSCs for drug screening and tissue regeneration. The promise of this line of research is to one day efficiently generate patient-specific stem cells in order to study human disease as well as create a cellular "storehouse" to regenerate a person's own cells, for example heart or liver cells. Despite this promise, generation of iPSCs is hampered by low efficiency, especially when using human cells.

The study is published this week in Cell Stem Cell.

Stem Cells Take Cues From Fluid in the Brain

Source: George Washington University Medical Center
Date: March 11, 2011

Summary:

Proteins in fluids bathing the brain are essential for building the brain, discover scientists in a report published March 10 in the journal Neuron. The finding promises to advance research related to neurological disease, cancer and stem cells. Before now, the fluid surrounding the brain was generally considered to be a sort of salt-solution that simply maintained the brain's ionic balance. Recent reports of fluctuating proteins in the fluid suggested otherwise, however. And thus, a multi-institutional research teams at the Children's Hospital in Boston, led by Maria Lehtinen, Mauro Zappaterra and Christopher Walsh and researchers from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., decided to take a closer look at what proteins in the fluid do. What they found shocked them: As embryos and their brains are growing, a type of protein that tells brain cells to multiply increases in the so-called cerebrospinal fluid.

The current team extracted cerebrospinal fluid from mouse embryos around two weeks after conception, when their brains develop most quickly. The fluid contained high levels of a protein, insulin-like growth factor or Igf2, which is known to help stem cells multiply and differentiate. Notably, the protein isn’t elevated after birth. When the authors blocked Igf2, stem cells in the brain stopped making brain cells, which resulted in abnormally tiny mice brains. And when the team placed brain stem cells in a dish filled with Igf2-rich, embryonic cerebrospinal fluid, the cells proliferated rapidly.

How Long Do Stem Cells Live?

Source: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
Date: March 1, 2011

Summary:

When patients receive a bone marrow transplant, they are getting a new population of hematopoietic stem cells. Fresh stem cells are needed when a patient is low on red blood cells, as in anemia, or white blood cells, which can be caused by cancer or even cancer treatments such as irradiation or chemotherapy. The problem is that a bone marrow transplant might not succeed because the transplanted stem cells don't live long enough or because they proliferate too well, leading to leukemia.

To help determine how long a bone marrow (stem cell) graft will last, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have developed a mathematical model that predicts how long a stem cell will live and tested those predictions in a mouse model. The study, led by Christa Muller-Sieburg, Dr. rer. nat., was published online the week of February 28, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Stem Cells: A 'Stitch in Time' Could Help Damaged Hearts

Source: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: December 9, 2010

Summary:

A research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has demonstrated the feasibility of a novel technology that a surgeon could use to deliver stem cells to targeted areas ofthe body to repair diseased or damaged tissue, including cardiac muscle damaged by a heart attack. The technique involves bundling biopolymer microthreads into biological sutures and seeding the sutures with stem cells. The team has shown that the adult bone-marrow-derived stem cells will multiply while attached to the threads and retain their ability to differentiate and grow into other cell types. The results are reported in the the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.

Embryonic stem cell culturing grows from art to science

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Date: November 14, 2010

Summary:

Growing human embryonic stem cells in the lab is no small feat. Culturing the finicky, shape-shifting cells is labor intensive and, in some ways, more art than exact science. Now, however, a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports the development of a fully defined culture system that promises a more uniform and, for cells destined for therapy, safer product. Writing this week (Nov. 14, 2010) in the journal Nature Methods, a team led by Laura Kiessling, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry, unveiled an inexpensive system that takes much of the guess work out of culturing the all-purpose cells.

Researchers engineer adult stem cells that do not age

Source: University at Buffalo
Date: September 22, 2010

Summary:

Biomedical researchers at the University at Buffalo have engineered adult stem cells that scientists can grow continuously in culture, a discovery that could speed development of cost-effective treatments for diseases including heart disease, diabetes, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. UB scientists created the new cell lines - named "MSC Universal" - by genetically altering mesenchymal stem cells, which are found in bone marrow and can differentiate into cell types including bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and beta-pancreatic islet cells. The researchers say the breakthrough overcomes a frustrating barrier to progress in the field of regenerative medicine: The difficulty of growing adult stem cells for clinical applications.

Scientific breakthrough to pave the way for human stem cell factories

Source: University of Nottingham
Date: 31 August 2010

Summary:

Large scale, cost-effective stem cell factories able to keep up with demand for new therapies to treat a range of human illnesses are a step closer to reality, thanks to a scientific breakthrough involving researchers at The University of Nottingham. In a paper published in the September edition of Nature Materials, a team of Nottingham scientists led by Professor Morgan Alexander in the University’s School of Pharmacy, reveal they have discovered some man-made acrylate polymers which allow stem cells to reproduce while maintaining their pluripotency. Stem cells tagged with a fluorescent agent which allow them to be seen were placed onto the polymer spots. The scientists were then able to watch the stem cells and observe which polymers were most successful at promoting the most growth while also maintaining the pluripotency of the stem cells.

Researchers develop a better way to grow stem cells

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: August 22, 2010

Summary:

Human pluripotent stem cells, which can become any other kind of body cell, hold great potential to treat a wide range of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. However, scientists who work with such cells have had trouble growing large enough quantities to perform experiments -- in particular, to be used in human studies. Furthermore, most materials now used to grow human stem cells include cells or proteins that come from mice embryos, which help stimulate stem-cell growth but would likely cause an immune reaction if injected into a human patient.

To overcome those issues, MIT chemical engineers, materials scientists and biologists have devised a synthetic surface that includes no foreign animal material and allows stem cells to stay alive and continue reproducing themselves for at least three months. It's also the first synthetic material that allows single cells to form colonies of identical cells, which is necessary to identify cells with desired traits and has been difficult to achieve with existing materials. The research team, led by Professors Robert Langer, Rudolf Jaenisch and Daniel G. Anderson, describes the new material in the Aug. 22 issue of Nature Materials.

MicroRNA molecule increases number of blood stem cells, may help improve cancer treatment

Source: Massachusetts General Hospital
Date: August 4, 2010

Summary:

Investigators have identified a new mechanism that controls the number of hematopoietic stem cells - cells that give rise to all blood and immune system cells. In a report in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute identify a tiny RNA molecule that increases the number of these blood stem cells, an advance that may improve treatment of blood system cancers.

Natural Substance NT-020 Aids Aging Brains in Rats, Study Finds

Source: University of South Florida
Date: July 19, 2010

Summary:

A combination of nutrients called NT-020 promoted adult neural stem cell proliferation in aged rats and boosted their memory performance, reported University of South Florida researchers studying natural therapeutic approaches to promoting the health of neurons in the aging brain.

Researchers from the USF Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair tested two groups of aged laboratory rats; one group received NT-020 and another, the control group, did not. In the NT-020 group, the process by which neurons are generated -- called neurogenesis -- increased. The study was published in the current issue of Rejuvenation Research (Vol. 13 No. 5, June, 2010). The NT-020 formula was patented by USF and licensed to Natura Therapeutics, Inc.