Stem Cells News and Research

RSS

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.

Viewpoints: Romney, Ryan rely on 'the magic asterisk'; Frightening voters over Medicare cuts

The press has focused a lot on the similarities between Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. They are both technocratic, they espouse tax cuts, and they believe in a balanced budget. But there is a deeper similarity as well: they both believe deeply in the "magic asterisk." The magic asterisk was the invention of David Stockman, budget director to Ronald Reagan. Stockman, who needed to show a more favorable budget than the Reagan tax cuts would justify, put in an asterisk and noted "future savings to be identified."

31 Aug 2012

Weill Cornell Medical College receives three new research grants for translational blood cancer study

Weill Cornell Medical College has been awarded three new research grants from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society totaling $1.8 million. The funds will support critically-needed translational research for blood cancers, accelerating promising discoveries from the laboratory to the patient's bedside.

31 Aug 2012

Studies examine how PML gene regulates the fatty acid oxidation pathway

Two papers led by scientific teams from the Cancer Genetics Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) shed new light on the genetic mechanisms underlying cellular energy and metabolism and, at the same time, highlight both the challenges and opportunities of genetic approaches to cancer treatment.

31 Aug 2012

PD0325901 drug may hold potential to prevent neurofibromatosis 1 in children

A drug originally developed to stop cancerous tumors may hold the potential to prevent abnormal brain cell growth and learning disabilities in some children, if they can be diagnosed early enough, a new animal study suggests.

31 Aug 2012

CNIO team generates transgenic mouse model for aplastic anaemia associated with short telomeres

Aplastic anaemia is characterised by a reduction in the number of the bone marrow cells that go on to form the different cell types present in blood (essentially red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets). In most cases, the causes of the disorder are hard to determine, but some patients have been found to have genetic alterations leading to a shortening of their telomeres (the end regions of chromosomes that protect and stabilise DNA).

30 Aug 2012

Novelos expects to submit CLR1502 IND with FDA for non-invasive tumor imaging

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer, today announced that it is developing CLR1502 (GLOW2), a preclinical cancer-targeted optical imaging agent for intraoperative tumor margin illumination and non-invasive tumor imaging.

29 Aug 2012

Scientists identify genes that underlie growth of primitive leukemia stem cells

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists believe they are the first to identify genes that underlie the growth of primitive leukemia stem cells, and then to use the new genetic signature to identify currently available drugs that selectively target the rogue cells.

29 Aug 2012

Control of siRNA could aid regenerative medicine, cancer therapy

Some of the body's own genetic material, known as small interfering RNA (siRNA), can be packaged then unleashed as a precise and persistent technology to guide cell behavior, researchers at Case Western Reserve University report in the current issue of the journal, Acta Biomaterialia.

28 Aug 2012

America Stem Cell commences ASC-101 Phase I/II study in hematologic malignancies

America Stem Cell, Inc. announced today the initiation of a single-center study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center evaluating ASC-101 in dual-umbilical cord transplantation in patients with hematologic malignancies.

28 Aug 2012

Neuralstem completes NSI-566 Phase I trial on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Neuralstem, Inc. announced the completion of the Phase I trial of its NSI-566 spinal cord neural stem cells for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), with the eighteenth patient treated.

28 Aug 2012

BioTime amends license agreement with University of Utah for HyStem technology

BioTime, Inc. announced that the company has amended its license from the University of Utah to expand the field of use for which BioTime is licensed to produce and market products covered by the core patents underlying HyStem technology.

27 Aug 2012

Taiwan approves RBC Life Sciences' Stem-Kine for importation and sale

RBC Life Sciences, Inc. announced today that the Company's stem cell supplement, Stem-Kine, has been approved for importation and sale in Taiwan. Stem-Kine is marketed in Taiwan under the name SK Plus.

27 Aug 2012

Appeals Court upholds federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research

Family Research Council (FRC) expressed disappointment in today's Appeals Court ruling that upholds the Obama administration's efforts to use taxpayer funds for human embryonic stem cell research.

27 Aug 2012

New molecular mechanism plays a crucial role in inhibiting TGF-beta signaling

Researchers headed by Maria Macias an ICREA researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and Joan Massagu-, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, have identified a new molecular mechanism that plays a crucial role in the control of the activation of certain genes associated with cancer.

27 Aug 2012

Creighton University research to improve patient care and outcomes in CAD treatment

Since 1990, Creighton University School of Medicine professor and researcher Devendra K. Agrawal, Ph.D., has been awarded more than $20 million in research grants to study coronary artery heart disease. He is determined to eradicate the impact of this heart disease—the number one killer of men and women in the United States.

26 Aug 2012

ALDH enzyme marks melanoma stem cells

Cancer stem cells are defined by three abilities: differentiation, self-renewal and their ability to seed a tumor. These stem cells resist chemotherapy and many researchers posit their role in relapse. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Stem Cells, shows that melanoma cells with these abilities are marked by the enzyme ALDH, and imagines new therapies to target high-ALDH cells, potentially weeding the body of these most dangerous cancer creators.

24 Aug 2012

Study shows how astrocytes control new neuron generation in the brain

Researchers from the Laboratory of astrocyte biology and CNS regeneration headed by Prof. Milos Pekny just published a research article in a prestigious journal Stem Cells on the molecular mechanism that controls generation of new neurons in the brain.

24 Aug 2012

Scientists develop reliable method to convert adult blood cells into iPSCs

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

24 Aug 2012

MOZ protein could explain variations in severity of DiGeorge syndrome

The discovery of a 'switch' that modifies a gene known to be essential for normal heart development could explain variations in the severity of birth defects in children with DiGeorge syndrome.

24 Aug 2012

Proteonomix enters license agreement for new anti-tumor technology

Proteonomix, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics based upon the use of human cells and their derivatives, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement for a novel source of primary human cells that secrete a factor capable of inhibiting tumor cell growth and causing tumor cell death.

23 Aug 2012