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.

Sensory deprivation reduces new cell size in the olfactory system

Sensory deprivation causes changes in new cell size and excitability in the olfactory system, which governs the ability to smell, according to a study in Neuron by a Yale School of Medicine researcher.

6 Apr 2005

New technology to help heart and lung patients awaiting transplants

Promising new technology may extend the life of a failing organ for patients suffering from heart or lung disease while they wait for a donor organ. The use of stem cells may eliminate the need for a transplant and even eradicate heart disease in patients.

6 Apr 2005

Method of gene therapy accurately corrects mutations in disease-causing genes

Harnessing the strength of a natural process that repairs damage to the human genome, a researcher from UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped establish a method of gene therapy that can accurately and permanently correct mutations in disease-causing genes.

5 Apr 2005

Canada spends more on stem cell research

Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler gave Canadian stem cell research an extra boost with the announcement of $5.3 million in annual funding.

5 Apr 2005

Method of gene therapy that can accurately and permanently correct mutations in disease-causing genes

4 Apr 2005

Mesoblast moves towards adult stem cell human trials

Exciting Australian adult stem cell company, Mesoblast Limited, today announced that it is set to begin the first human clinical trials using its specialist adult stem cells for orthopaedic and cardiovascular diseases.

30 Mar 2005

Hair follicle stem cells may provide an accessible source of stem cells for therapeutic applications

Hair grows quickly and is continually replenished which makes it an attractive source to harvest the amount of stem cells needed for treatments, but this, along with controversy surrounding the ethics of harvesting cells from embryos, has been a major stumbling block of stem cell research.

28 Mar 2005

Adult stem cells could be used to treat deaf patients in the future

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are several steps closer to the day when a profoundly deaf patient's own bone marrow cells could be used to let him or her hear the world.

28 Mar 2005

Ultrafast laser detection of cancer cells also may improve understanding of stem cells

To investigate tumors, pathologists currently rely on labor-intensive microscopic examination, using century-old cell-staining methods that can take days to complete and may give false readings.

23 Mar 2005

Tiny scaffolding allows stem cells to become working fat cells

Researchers here have used a new microscopic, three-dimensional scaffolding to coax mouse stem cells to transform themselves into fat cells, and then to function identical to how fat cells naturally do in the body.

22 Mar 2005

Research to improve bone marrow transplant outcomes

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and its affiliate, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIMBTR), are supporting clinical trials to determine the best unrelated marrow and blood cell transplant procedures for patients and donors.

21 Mar 2005

UK grows stem cells free of animal products

Dr Paul de Souza and scientists at the Roslin Institute have successfully created human cells without using animal products.

17 Mar 2005

UK leads race to produce world’s first clinical grade stem cells

The University of Sheffield has received a £2.6m grant to create some of the world’s first embryonic stem cell lines that can be used for medicinal purposes.

16 Mar 2005

Method for mass-producing embryonic stem cells

That's important because traditional laboratory methods used to grow these cells are costly and don't produce cells fast enough to respond to increasing demands for human embryonic stem cells, said Shang-Tian Yang, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University.

16 Mar 2005

Time for ethical reflection is before experimentation begins

The time for ethical reflection is before experimentation begins, especially in the case of potential new methods for creating human embryos for research, according to bioethicists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic in the spring issue of Ethics & Medicine.

16 Mar 2005

Cancer survival comes at its own price

Patients who hear the dreaded words "you have cancer" invariably look forward to the day the doctor tells them "you're cured." But University of Florida researchers say survival often comes at its own price -- the mind may need mending even after the body heals.

16 Mar 2005

ViaCell and Genzyme announce collaboration - ViaCell announces patent issuance

ViaCell and Genzyme Corporation announced today that the two companies entered into a collaboration related to diabetes.

15 Mar 2005

Most comprehensive genome-wide experimental analyses of sense-antisense transcripts to date

A team of scientists led by Dr. Kuniya Abe from the RIKEN BioResource Center in Japan has performed one of the most comprehensive genome-wide experimental analyses of sense-antisense transcripts to date. Their findings are published in the April issue of the journal Genome Research.

15 Mar 2005

$1.5 million for adult stem cell research in Australia

Australian adult stem cell company, Mesoblast Limited, today announced that its chief scientific advisor and founder, Professor Silviu Itescu, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant for pre-clinical and clinical development of mesenchymal lineage adult stem cells.

14 Mar 2005

Overlapping signals in embryo help get the backbone right

A major step in the development of the vertebrate embryo - the establishment of a back that morphs into a brain, spinal cord and muscles - turns out to be so important that the body uses at least three signals to make sure it happens properly.

9 Mar 2005