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.

New nucleotide could revolutionize epigenetics

Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine - the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code.

16 Apr 2009

New clues to how stem cells form

An Emory University study shows some of the first direct evidence of a process required for epigenetic reprogramming between generations – a finding that could shed more light on the mechanisms of fertilization, stem-cell formation and cloning.

16 Apr 2009

Researchers use stroke patient's own stem cells in trial for first time

For the first time in the United States, a stroke patient has been intravenously injected with his own bone marrow stem cells as part of a research trial at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

15 Apr 2009

A new method for bone-marrow-derived liver stem cells isolation and proliferation

Great interest has been aroused in the identification and isolation of liver stem cells from bone marrow cells.

15 Apr 2009

Type 1 diabetes controlled by stem cell transplants therapy

Scientists in the United States have found that stem cell transplants enabled people with type 1 diabetes to manage for as long as four years without needing insulin injections and to maintain good glycemic control - such patients typically need daily insulin therapy to control their diabetes.

15 Apr 2009

Stem cell transplantation helps patients with diabetes become insulin free

The majority of patients with type 1 diabetes who underwent a certain type of stem cell transplantation became insulin free, several for more than three years, with good glycemic control, and also increased C-peptide levels, an indirect measure of beta-cell function, according to a study in the April 15 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

14 Apr 2009

Scientists discover way to jumpstart bone's healing process

Rarely will physicians use the word "miraculous" when discussing patient recoveries.

14 Apr 2009

Three medical centers awarded funds to study generation of cardiac muscle cells

The American Heart Association, with support from the Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation, has awarded funding for three research centers to study the development and mechanisms of generating new cardiac muscle cells.

13 Apr 2009

Therapeutic effect of imatinib improved with addition of chloroquine

The therapeutic effects of the blockbuster leukemia drug imatinib may be enhanced when given along with a drug that inhibits a cell process called autophagy, researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

13 Apr 2009

Enhancing the effects of imatinib mesylate used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia

Individuals with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are first treated with a drug known as imatinib mesylate.

13 Apr 2009

Creating ideal neural cells for clinical use

Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have developed a protocol to rapidly differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into neural progenitor cells that may be ideal for transplantation.

13 Apr 2009

Chinese scientists use mouse stem cells to grow new eggs

Scientists in China say by using stem cells from the ovaries of young and adult female mice they have been able to generate new eggs.

13 Apr 2009

Transplant program tops in expected one-year survival rate

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's stem-cell transplant program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) was one of only two transplant programs nationwide that consistently outperformed the expected one-year survival rate for unrelated donor transplants, according to an independent report that assessed 122 transplant centers over a five-year period.

12 Apr 2009

microRNAs manipulate cells to one day create safe embryonic-like stem cells

A team of UCSF researchers has for the first time used tiny molecules called microRNAs to help turn adult mouse cells back to their embryonic state.

12 Apr 2009

Stem cell therapy used to restore transparency in corneas

Stem cells collected from human corneas restore transparency and don't trigger a rejection response when injected into eyes that are scarred and hazy, according to experiments conducted in mice by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

12 Apr 2009

Research points to a new approach to treating type 1 diabetes

Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine have demonstrated in mice that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells are protected from the immune system when encapsulated in polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).

12 Apr 2009

For cancer cells, genetics alone is poor indicator for drug response

In certain respects, cells are less like machines and more like people.

12 Apr 2009

Discovery of gene that protects against leukemia

Researchers have identified a gene that controls the rapid production and differentiation of the stem cells that produce all blood cell types -- a discovery that could eventually open the door to more streamlined treatments for leukemia and other blood cancers, in which blood cells proliferate out of control.

9 Apr 2009

Novel method for comprehensive proteome analysis

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have deciphered a large percentage of the total protein complement (proteome) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe) fission yeast.

9 Apr 2009

Discovery of marker for colon stem cells could shed light on tumor growth

Cancer researchers led by Bruce Boman, M.D., Ph.D. director of Cancer Genetics and Stem Cell Biology at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center of the Christiana Care Health System, and a faculty member at the University of Delaware, have discovered an enzyme common to both normal and malignant colon stem cells that will assist scientists searching for a cure for colon cancer.

8 Apr 2009