Embryonic Stem Cell News and Research

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Governor Perry attacked for choosing new medical treatment

Recently, the governor of Texas and presidential hopeful had a bad back treated by injecting some of his very own fat cells, after they had been cultured and treated in a laboratory. The innovative use of a patient’s own adult stem cells is showing great promise in many conditions, including damaged joints.

29 Aug 2011

CIRM approves stem cell research planning grants for five UC Davis teams

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state stem cell agency, today approved research planning grants for five UC Davis Health System teams that are working to develop human clinical trials to treat illnesses such as Huntington's disease, vascular disease, osteoporosis, HIV/AIDS and airway disease in children.

29 Aug 2011

Amniotic fluid-derived stem cells show promise against lung disease

Two papers published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation, highlight the rich source of stem cells in human amniotic fluid that can be isolated and transplanted for therapeutic purposes.

25 Aug 2011

New stem cell lines help study genetic, biological underpinnings of bipolar disorder

New stem cell lines developed from the skin of adults living with bipolar disorder are providing researchers at the University of Michigan Health System an unprecedented opportunity to delve into the genetic and biological underpinnings of the devastating mood disorder.

24 Aug 2011

First North American clinical trial to test adult MSC transplantation as a new MS therapy

A team of researchers at three landmark Cleveland institutions have come together to launch a new clinical trial of an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis.

24 Aug 2011

Stem cells of oral mucosa stay young, says Tel Aviv University researcher

While highly potent embryonic stem cells are often the subject of ethical and safety controversy, adult-derived stem cells have other problems. As we age, our stem cells are less pliant and less able to transform into the stem cells that science needs to find breakthrough treatments for disease.

23 Aug 2011

NIH approves BioTime's four GMP human embryonic stem cell lines

BioTime, Inc., a biotechnology company that develops and markets products in the field of regenerative medicine, today announced that four human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines: ESI-035, ESI-049, ESI-051 and ESI-053, developed by a BioTime subsidiary have been approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for inclusion in the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry.

20 Aug 2011

Longer looks: Doctors advocating less care; addiction as a 'disease'

These physicians are not anti-medicine. They are not trying to save money on their copayments or deductibles. And they are not trying to rein in the nation's soaring health-care costs, which at $2.7 trillion account for fully one sixth of every dollar spent in the U.S. They are applying to their personal lives a message they have become increasingly vocal about in their roles as biomedical researchers and doctors: more health care often means worse health.

19 Aug 2011

Human embryonic stem cell, iPS-derived progeny are similar and developmentally immature

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have discovered that three types of cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are similar to each other, but are much more developmentally immature than previously thought when compared to those same cell types taken directly from human tissue.

18 Aug 2011

Scientists reveal why human heart has little regenerative capacity

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have uncovered for the first time why adult human cardiac myocytes have lost their ability to proliferate, perhaps explaining why the human heart has little regenerative capacity.

10 Aug 2011

Human brain cells created from skin cells: Potential for Alzheimer’s

This feat comes a year after researchers at Stanford University performed the same feat in mice, turning cells from the rodents' skin into neurons. The lab-created brain cells act the same as normal human brain cells, the researchers found. These cells have the same ability to send electric signals; they seem to express the same genes in the same ways; and they are able to communicate with other brain cells, as demonstrated in a lab dish and when implanted into mice.

5 Aug 2011

Scientists convert human skin cells into forebrain neurons

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have for the first time directly converted human skin cells into functional forebrain neurons, without the need for stem cells of any kind.

5 Aug 2011

Roadmap to overcome obstacles for using induced pluripotent stem cells

The possibility of developing stem cells from a patient's own skin and using them to treat conditions as diverse as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and cancer has generated tremendous excitement in the stem cell research community in recent years. Such therapies would avoid the controversial need for using stem cells derived from human embryos, and in theory, also bypass immunological problems inherent in using cells from one person to treat another.

5 Aug 2011

Federal judge upholds Obama rule on stem cell research

A U.S. judge Wednesday upheld the government rules that allow federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research that might lead to cures for deadly diseases affecting millions of Americans.

29 Jul 2011

Scientist discovers novel way to convert human skin cells into neurons

A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has discovered a novel way to convert human skin cells into brain cells, advancing medicine and human health by offering new hope for regenerative medicine and personalized drug discovery and development.

29 Jul 2011

First Edition: July 28, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about the ever-growing US health health care tab and about the petition filed by a conservative legal center to bring their health law challenge to the Supreme Court.

28 Jul 2011

Mitochondrial genome undergoes random reorganisation during reprogramming

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are truly talented multi-taskers. They can reproduce almost all cell types and thus offer great hope in the fight against diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. However, it would appear that their use is not entirely without risk: during the reprogramming of body cells into iPS cells, disease-causing mutations can creep into the genetic material.

28 Jul 2011

Insect virus holds key to safer stem cell therapy: Singapore scientists

The future of regenerative medicine lies in harnessing the potential of the human body to renew and repair itself. Now, scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the world's first bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute, have developed a new genetic engineering technique that promises safer stem cell therapy for cancer patients. Using an insect virus, the team of researchers successfully inserted a therapeutic gene into a safe site in the DNA of human embryonic stem cells without compromising the functionality of the engineered cells.

28 Jul 2011

U.S. Judge approves federal funding for embryonic research

Federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research is now legal in the United States. Chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia Royce Lamberth has ruled on the case Sherley et al. v. Sebelius, in favor of hESC research. This overturns an existing law that prohibits the government from funding research that destroys the embryo.

27 Jul 2011

Scientists discover new bases of DNA

For decades, scientists have known that DNA consists of four basic units -- adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. Those four bases have been taught in science textbooks and have formed the basis of the growing knowledge regarding how genes code for life.

22 Jul 2011