Skin Cells News and Research

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Stem cell study may help to unravel how genetic mutation leads to Parkinson's symptoms

By reprogramming skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients with a known genetic mutation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified damage to neural stem cells as a powerful player in the disease.

20 Oct 2012

IL-36 might be a useful therapeutic target in treatment of psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder that affects approximately 2% of the world's population. A group of inflammatory molecules known as interleukins activate an immune response that causes itchy skin, but it is unclear how the skin cells and immune cells communicate.

16 Oct 2012

Protocol allows researchers to generate functional thyroid tissue from stem cells

The generation of functional thyroid tissue from stem cells could allow the treatment of patients, which suffer from thyroid hormone deficiency due to defective function, or abnormal development of the thyroid gland.

12 Oct 2012

Skin's outmost layer is the first line of defense against UV radiation

Reinhold Dauskardt, PhD, of Stanford's Department of Materials Science and Engineering has been studying skin for years. But when he sent his students to look for data on the mechanical properties of skin, they came back empty-handed. A lot was known about skin structure and disease, but few papers actually talked about its mechanical function - its ability to stretch and resist tension without tearing.

6 Oct 2012

Experimental stem cell treatment improves vision in blind mice

An experimental treatment for blindness, developed from a patient's skin cells, improved the vision of blind mice in a study conducted by Columbia ophthalmologists and stem cell researchers.

3 Oct 2012

Researchers identify several kinase inhibitors that help generate many iPSCs

The process researchers use to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-a special type of stem cell that can be made in the lab from any type of adult cell-is time consuming and inefficient. To speed things up, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) turned to kinase inhibitors.

26 Sep 2012

Case Western Reserve researcher to identify mechanistic link between psoriasis and CVD

Armed with a new $1.8 million grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, dermatology researcher Nicole Ward, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology and neurosciences at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, will lead a study examining the link between psoriasis and heart attack and stroke.

21 Sep 2012

Scientists identify unique molecular signature in iPSCs that show promise in regenerative medicine

Salk scientists have identified a unique molecular signature in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), "reprogrammed" cells that show great promise in regenerative medicine thanks to their ability to generate a range of body tissues.

20 Sep 2012

Scientists describe how natural selection occurs at the cellular level

Scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) describe how natural selection also occurs at the cellular level, and how our body's tissues and organs strive to retain the best cells in their ranks in order to fend off disease processes.

15 Sep 2012

Allele’s scientists describe important advance in generation of human stem cells

This week in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists from Allele Biotechnology describe an important advance in the generation of stem cells capable of producing all the different tissues of the human body.

15 Sep 2012

Sanford-Burnham professor to develop personalized models of inherited heart conditions

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded a $1.58 million grant to Huei-Sheng Vincent Chen, Ph.D., associate professor at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham). Chen's proposal was one of 28 new projects funded as part of CIRM's Basic Biology IV awards program, which supports basic research aimed at increasing our understanding of stem cells and how to work with them.

13 Sep 2012

Therapeutic targets for pemphigus vulgaris discovered

Researchers have identified the primary target of the autoantibodies found in the serum of patients with the blistering skin disorder pemphigus vulgaris.

7 Sep 2012

Researchers turn skin cells into embryonic Sertoli-like cells

Using a stepwise trans-differentiation process, Whitehead Institute researchers have turned skin cells into embryonic Sertoli-like cells.

7 Sep 2012

Converting blood cells to a stem cell state: an interview with Elias Zambidis, M.D., Ph.D.

The primitive stem cell state we created is called an “induced pluripotent stem cell” (iPSC). iPSC are a new, unique, and artificially-created type of stem cell that were first described in 2006 by a Japanese scientist named Shinya Yamanaka.

4 Sep 2012

ABCD4 and CblF proteins responsible for hereditary vitamin B12 deficiency

Vitamin B12 is vital for cell division, the synthesis of red blood cells and the functioning of the nervous system. Unable to produce the vitamin itself, the human body has to obtain it via animal proteins. So far it has been known that on its way into the cell vitamin B12 is absorbed by little organelles, so-called lysosomes. From there, the vitamin enters the cell interior with the aid of the transport protein CblF, which was discovered by the same research team three years ago.

28 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

Blood cells returned to stem cell state by Johns Hopkins researchers

22 Aug 2012

ACS National Meeting & Exposition focuses on DNA wires and their potential use in identifying diseases

In a discovery that defies the popular meaning of the word "wire," scientists have found that Mother Nature uses DNA as a wire to detect the constantly occurring genetic damage and mistakes that ― if left unrepaired ― can result in diseases like cancer and underpin the physical and mental decline of aging.

20 Aug 2012

Inhibiting over-production of Panx1 protein can treat melanoma

New research from Western University, Canada, has identified a potential new target for the treatment of melanoma, the deadliest of all skin cancers. Silvia Penuela and Dale Laird discovered a new channel-forming protein called Pannexin (Panx1) that is expressed in normal levels on the surface of healthy skin cells.

16 Aug 2012

Pathway describes how alpha hydroxyl acids cause skin exfoliation

A team of investigators from UC Davis and Peking University have discovered a mechanism that may explain how alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs) -- the key ingredient in cosmetic chemical peels and wrinkle-reducing creams -- work to enhance skin appearance. An understanding of the underlying process may lead to better cosmetic formulations as well as have medical applications.

14 Aug 2012