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.

Researchers reveal possible origin of cancer-associated fibroblasts

Researchers at Okayama University describe in Scientific Reports that cancer-associated fibroblasts — cells that play a key role in cancer progression — originate from cancer stem cells. Preventing cancer stem cells from transforming into cancer-associated fibroblast may be a promising approach towards cancer treatment.

12 Sep 2017

Penn researchers find abnormally shortened telomeres in young DMD patients’ muscle stem cells

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have made a discovery about muscular dystrophy disorders that suggest new possibilities for treatment.

7 Sep 2017

Scientists directly convert skin cells from healthy adults into motor neurons

Scientists working to develop new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases have been stymied by the inability to grow human motor neurons in the lab. Motor neurons drive muscle contractions, and their damage underlies devastating diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy, both of which ultimately lead to paralysis and early death.

7 Sep 2017

New human stem cell model could pave way for macular degeneration research

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in older adults, but scientists have long struggled to study and replicate key elements of the disease in the lab.

7 Sep 2017

Study reveals how changes in gene can lead to blindness in middle age

Blindness study shows how gene causes middle-age sight loss. Chemical changes in the eye that can lead to blindness have been identified by scientists, a conference has heard.

6 Sep 2017

Researcher develops bone marrow models to study hematological and musculoskeletal diseases

For her research on the development of hematological and musculoskeletal disorders, Dr. Cornelia Lee-Thedieck, scientist at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, is awarded an ERC Starting Grant: The European Research Council decided to fund her project "bloodANDbone" with EUR 1.5 million for five years. At KIT's Institute of Functional Interfaces, Lee-Thedieck develops models of the human bone marrow to study the regeneration of blood and bone by stem cells and how this regeneration is disturbed in diseases like leukemia or bone metastases.

6 Sep 2017

Researchers investigate link between thyroid hormone and red blood cell production

For more than a century, physicians have anecdotally noted that patients with an underactive thyroid - often caused by iodine deficiency - tended to also have anemia. But the link between thyroid hormone and red blood cell production has remained elusive.

6 Sep 2017

Scientists win new funding to speed up translation of MS research into practice

An innovative multiple sclerosis Research Fellowship designed to fast-track scientific knowledge into clinical practice has been awarded to two researchers at the University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for Medical Research.

6 Sep 2017

Zika virus found to specifically kill glioblastoma brain cancer cells

According to a latest study supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health, the deadly Zika virus could be used to kill a specific type of brain cancer cells and sparing the neighbouring healthy brain cells. Although experimental in stage, this finding has wide implications for those suffering from these cancers.

5 Sep 2017

Zika virus may one day be effective treatment for deadly brain cancer

While Zika virus causes devastating damage to the brains of developing fetuses, it one day may be an effective treatment for glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer.

5 Sep 2017

Scientists question CRISPR human embryo editing claims

A paper published in the journal Nature on the 2nd August described how a gene editing tool CRISPR could be used to correct a genetic mutation that leads to a heart condition. This team had performed the genetic editing on the gene sequences in dozens of viable human embryos to attempt to prevent a genetic heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

31 Aug 2017

St. Kitts launches probe of herpes vaccine tests on U.S. patients

The government of St. Kitts and Nevis has launched an investigation into the clinical trial for a herpes vaccine by an American company because it said its officials were not notified about the experiments.

31 Aug 2017

UChicago Medicine working with Novartis to offer breakthrough gene therapy for pediatric ALL patients

The University of Chicago Medicine is one of a limited number of U.S. sites working to offer a breakthrough gene therapy for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which was just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

31 Aug 2017

St. Jude creates world’s largest collection of pediatric solid tumor samples

In an effort to improve outcomes for patients with some of the deadliest childhood cancers, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have created the world's largest collection of pediatric solid tumor samples, drug-sensitivity data and related information and have made the resource available at no charge to the global scientific community.

31 Aug 2017

Olfactory tissue regeneration requires inflammatory processes that create loss of smell

In a mouse study designed to understand how chronic inflammation in sinusitis damages the sense of smell, scientists at Johns Hopkins say they were surprised to learn that the regeneration of olfactory tissue requires some of the same inflammatory processes and chemicals that create injury and loss of smell in the first place.

30 Aug 2017

Reprogrammed stem cell therapy shows promise in Parkinson's

Japanese investigators have found that their experimental stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease actually works. In their experimental therapy, the team of researchers “reprogrammed” stem cells to make them neurons and implanted them into the brain of monkeys with a version of Parkinson’s disease. Stem cell therapy showed improvement of symptoms in these patients and was found to be safe. The study was published yesterday, 30th August 2017 in Nature.

30 Aug 2017

$Novartis gets FDA approval for novel immunocellular therapy to treat relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL$

Novartis gets FDA approval for novel immunocellular therapy to treat relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL

Novartis announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) suspension for intravenous infusion, formerly CTL019, the first chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, for the treatment of patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that is refractory or in second or later relapse.

30 Aug 2017