Stem Cells News and Research

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Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Study reveals heart cell defect as possible cause of heart failure in pregnancy

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare form of heart failure that affects women in their last month of pregnancy and up to five months after giving birth. PPCM can be difficult to detect because its symptoms -- swelling in the feet and legs and shortness of breath -- mimic many of those of third trimester pregnancy.

2 Jan 2019

Novel sensor monitors beating heart cells with minimal disruption

For the first time, engineers have demonstrated an electronic device to closely monitor beating heart cells without affecting their behavior. A collaboration between the University of Tokyo, Tokyo Women's Medical University and RIKEN in Japan produced a functional sample of heart cells with a soft nanomesh sensor in direct contact with the tissue.

2 Jan 2019

New study describes various gene therapy strategies for treating Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and nonmotor deficits majorly caused by the loss of dopaminergic cells in the Substantia Nigra pars compacta as well as the destruction of nigrostriatal pathway.

28 Dec 2018

Scientists gain new insight into aggressive breast cancers

Scientists from Cardiff University have uncovered a protein which drives aggressive breast cancer and could be targeted for developing new and improved therapies.

27 Dec 2018

Himalayan marmot genome offers clues to high-altitude adaptation

Himalayan marmots can survive at altitudes up to 5,000 meters in the Himalayan regions of India, Nepal, and Pakistan and on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China, where many of them face extreme cold, little oxygen, and few other resources.

27 Dec 2018

Neuronal cell death in Alzheimer's disease may actually not be a bad thing, shows study

For the first time, scientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, Portugal, have shown that neuronal cell death in Alzheimer's disease may actually not be a bad thing - on the contrary, it may be the result of a cell quality control mechanism trying to protect the brain from the accumulation of malfunctioning neurons.

27 Dec 2018

New method of cancer stem cells activation to destroy tumors

This risky method of anti-cancer therapy was suggested by scientists of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU). Their review of mechanisms for molecular activation of stem cells of gliomas (most widely-spread brain tumors) was approved for publishing in the Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience journal.

26 Dec 2018

Glial cell maturation is severely impaired in patients with Huntington's disease

The neurological disorder Huntington's disease causes behavioral and motor changes, which among other things are a result of dysfunctional maturation or formation of glial cells, the brain's support cells, researchers from the University of Copenhagen demonstrate in a new study based on mice trials.

24 Dec 2018

Researchers reveal novel mechanism for sperm stem cell number control

The steady production of sperm relies on the number of sperm stem cells in the testis remaining constant. Researchers including Asst. Prof. Yu Kitadate and Prof. Shosei Yoshida and Prof. Benjamin Simons have revealed a novel mechanism for stem cell number control.

21 Dec 2018

Micropores in fabricated tissues allow nutrient and oxygen diffusion into core

Micropores in fabricated tissues such as bone and cartilage allow nutrient and oxygen diffusion into the core, and this novel approach may eventually allow lab-grown tissue to contain blood vessels, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

20 Dec 2018

FDA warns Genetech for marketing stem cell products without approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned Genetech, Inc. of San Diego, California and its president, Edwin N. Pinos for marketing stem cell products without FDA approval and for significant deviations from current good tissue practice and current good manufacturing practice requirements, including some violations that may have led to microbial contamination, potentially causing serious blood infections in patients.

20 Dec 2018

New study reveals how fatty diet can lead to serious form of liver disease

A new study by Keck School of Medicine of USC researchers shows there's yet another reason to avoid a high fat, high cholesterol diet: It can trigger changes in the immune system that lead to a serious form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

20 Dec 2018

Advanced stem cell approach could help fight Parkinson's disease

Scientists have taken a key step towards improving an emerging class of treatments for Parkinson's disease.

20 Dec 2018

Researchers discover cost-efficient, accurate method to examine effectiveness of cardiomyocytes

A faster, more cost-efficient, and more accurate method of examining the effectiveness of human pluripotent stem-cell-derived cardiac muscle cells has been discovered, according to researchers from Penn State.

20 Dec 2018

Study investigates why mammals' sense of smell deteriorates in old age

As mammals age, their sense of smell deteriorates. In a study published in the journal 'Cell Reports', an interdisciplinary research team at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University Medical Centre Mainz investigated why this is the case.

19 Dec 2018

Active ingredient in eye drops shows promise for treating aggressive blood cancer

An active ingredient in eye drops that were being developed for the treatment of a form of eye disease has shown promise for treating an aggressive form of blood cancer. Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge, University of Nottingham and their collaborators have found that this compound, which targets an essential cancer gene, could kill leukemia cells without harming non-leukemic blood cells.

19 Dec 2018

Study reveals how stem cells can be induced to differentiate into various ocular lineages

The discovery of pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to differentiate into the huge range of different cell lineages that make up the human body, signaled the start of a new era in biological science and medicine. Although we are also now able to reprogram regular cells to exhibit this pluripotency, we still have much to learn about the different cues that lead such cells towards a particular cell fate, including the cells that make up the eye.

19 Dec 2018