Skin Cells News and Research

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Scientists find surprising link between iPS cell reprogramming, blood cell formation and cancer

The ability to reprogram cells has revolutionized stem cell research with major implications for almost all fields of modern biology. A decade ago Shinya Yamanaka described a procedure that revolutionized stem cell biology. Using a genetic trick that introduces a cocktail of four genes into cultured cells from human biopsies, he was able to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) from mature skin or blood cells

15 Mar 2016

Researchers identify potential drug target in skin for itchy feeling

No matter the trigger -- bug bites, a medication side-effect or an itchy wound -- the urge to scratch can be a real pain. Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center have identified a potential drug target in the skin for that itchy feeling.

14 Mar 2016

Hematopoietic reprogramming can lead to differentiated blood products for cell-replacement therapy

Building upon previous work, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai identified cells in the embryos of mice that are precursors to blood stem cells or hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.

9 Mar 2016

Researchers develop new technique to create naïve pluripotent stem cells

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have for the first time shown that it is possible to derive from a human embryo so-called 'naïve' pluripotent stem cells - one of the most flexible types of stem cell, which can develop into all human tissue other than the placenta.

7 Mar 2016

Cardiac reprogramming could shrink heart scar tissue, improve patients' heart function

Patients with heart failure often have a buildup of scar tissue that leads to a gradual loss of heart function. In a new study published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine report significant progress toward a novel approach that could shrink the amount of heart scar tissue while replenishing the supply of healthy heart muscle.

4 Mar 2016

Lilly announces CHMP positive opinion for ixekizumab for treatment of adults with plaque psoriasis

Eli Lilly and Company announced today that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has issued a positive opinion for ixekizumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults in the European Union who are candidates for systemic therapy.

26 Feb 2016

UNC-Chapel Hill pharmacy researchers use skin cells to destroy brain tumors

In a first for medical science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pharmacy researchers turn skin cells into cancer-hunting stem cells that destroy brain tumors known as glioblastoma - a discovery that can offer, for the first time in more than 30 years, a new and more effective treatment for the disease.

25 Feb 2016

Study reveals role of 'Kurly' protein found in cilia

A new study of a protein found in cilia - the hair-like projections on the cell surface - may help explain how genetic defects in cilia play a role in developmental abnormalities, kidney disease and a number of other disorders.

24 Feb 2016

New approach could be used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Scientists at the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at UCLA have developed a new approach that could eventually be used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

14 Feb 2016

Discovery could lead to new leukaemia therapies

Human blood cells have olfactory receptors that respond to Sandalore. This could provide a starting point for new leukaemia therapies, as researchers from Bochum report in in the journal "Cell Death Discovery".

3 Feb 2016

MGH study may lead to first nonsurgical treatment for seborrheic keratoses

An investigation into the molecular mechanisms responsible for the most common type of benign skin lesion may lead to the first nonsurgical treatment for the growths called seborrheic keratoses (SKs), which in addition to being cosmetically unattractive are often worrisome to patients.

30 Jan 2016

Access for new melanoma treatment remains uncertain for patients despite UK launch

Novartis announced today that Tafinlar (dabrafenib) + Mekinist (trametinib), the first oral combination therapy to be licensed for advanced melanoma, is now available in the UK for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with a BRAF V600 mutation.

29 Jan 2016

Stopping disruptions in cellular 'trash removal' may guard against neurodegenerative diseases

Stopping disruptions in cellular "trash removal" brought on by errors in molecular marks on DNA may guard against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's.

27 Jan 2016

Using skin cells to treat injured hearts

Following a heart attack or other heart trauma, the heart is unable to replace its dead cells. Patients are often left with little option other than heart transplants, which are rarely available, or more recently cell therapies that transplant heart cells into the patient's heart. In far too many cases, however, the transplanted heart cells do not engraft well, resulting in poor recovery.

11 Jan 2016

Research could lead to new treatment for Rett Syndrome, other forms of autism

Penn State scientists have discovered a novel drug target and have rescued functional deficits in human nerve cells derived from patients with Rett Syndrome, a severe form of autism-spectrum disorder.

11 Jan 2016

Scientists successfully create fully-functional pancreatic cells from human skin cells

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco have successfully converted human skin cells into fully-functional pancreatic cells. The new cells produced insulin in response to changes in glucose levels, and, when transplanted into mice, the cells protected the animals from developing diabetes in a mouse model of the disease.

6 Jan 2016

Synthetic biomaterial aids in regeneration of skin cells to improve wound healing

Some skin wounds, such as diabetic ulcers, are chronic and may never heal; others, such as burn wounds, are often large and difficult to treat, resulting in pain, infection and scarring. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, funded by the National Institutes of Health, have developed a synthetic biomaterial that fills wounds and aids in regeneration of skin cells, which ultimately improves wound healing.

18 Dec 2015

UW-Madison scientist creates serotonin neurons from stem cells

Su-Chun Zhang, a pioneer in developing neurons from stem cells at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has created a specialized nerve cell that makes serotonin, a signaling chemical with a broad role in the brain.

16 Dec 2015

UB researchers develop a way to ramp up conversion of skin cells into dopamine neurons

For decades, the elusive holy grail in Parkinson's disease research has been finding a way to repair faulty dopamine neurons and put them back into patients, where they will start producing dopamine again. Researchers have used fetal material, which is difficult to obtain and of variable quality. Embryonic stem cells represented a tremendous innovation, but making dopamine neurons from stem cells is a long process with a low yield.

8 Dec 2015

Cotellic (cobimetinib) approved to be used in combination with vemurafenib for melanoma treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Cotellic (cobimetinib) to be used in combination with vemurafenib to treat advanced melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body or can't be removed by surgery, and that has a certain type of abnormal gene (BRAF V600E or V600K mutation).

10 Nov 2015