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The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) handed out the first payments in a multi-million-dollar project to explore epigenomics last month. But some researchers are voicing concerns about the scientific and economic justification for this latest 'big biology' venture. Epigenetics, described as "inheritance, but not as we know it"1, is now a blisteringly hot field. It is concerned with changes in gene expression that are typically inherited, but not caused by changes in gene sequence. In theory, epigenetic studies can help explain how the millions of cells in the human body can carry identical DNA but form completely different cell...

Artificial Bladder: John Carnett Almost 100,000 people languish on organ-transplant waiting lists. But new tissue-fabrication techniques should make swapping in a man-made liver as easy as snapping Lego bricks into place. Blood vessels Method: 3-D printer When: 5 years Gabor Forgacs, a tissue engineer at the University of Missouri, is making blood-vessel networks by culturing three types of vessel cells and loading them into a fridge-size bioprinter. This machine prints out the cells to build capillaries in preprogrammed patterns. Liver Method: Grown using stem cells from umbilical-cord blood When: 15–25 years Colin McGuckin has made silver-dollar-size, functional “mini livers.”...

Reanimating lifeless organs brings new hope for the millions on transplant waiting lists Born to Beat: a rat heart fused with rat cells incubates in a bioreactor at the University of Minnesota: Courtesy Emily Jensen In late 2005, cardiac researcher Doris Taylor revived the dead. She rinsed rat hearts with detergent until the cells washed away and all that remained was a skeleton of tissue translucent as wax paper—a ghost heart, as Taylor calls it. She injected the scaffold with fresh heart cells from newborn rats. Then she waited. What she witnessed four days later, once the cells had a...

WASHINGTON – Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field. The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues, according to a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. But because of their source, their highest promise would apply to only half the world's population: men. Embryonic stem cells can give rise to virtually any tissue in the body and scientists believe they may offer treatments for diseases like Parkinson's and...

The University of Minnesota has concluded that falsified data were used in a 2001 article published by one of its researchers on adult stem cells. The school is asking that the article be retracted. The conclusion follows an 18-month investigation into research published by stem-cell expert Dr. Catherine Verfaillie. The investigation clears Verfaillie of misconduct but points to a former graduate student, Dr. Morayma Reyes, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Washington. The university blames Verfaillie for "inadequate training and oversight," and says it has asked for a retraction of the published article, which appeared in...

Obama's Dirty Trick Barack Obama likes to talk about his refusal to engage in the negative politics of the past but his campaign tactics have hit a new low when it comes to truth. I am certainly one who understands the pugilistic nature of politics and the need for hardball messaging that drives voters into your column. These messages must have some arguable interpretation of the facts. When John McCain's campaign put a lame TV ad up on the Internet that charged that Senator Obama favored sex education for kindergarteners, the media was swift to decry the Arizona Senator's drop...

(UWIRE.com) This story was written by June Q. Wu, Harvard Crimson Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute are one step closer to achieving the ultimate promise of stem cell research creating tissues for every part of the body without the use of harmful viruses or cancer-causing genes. Harvard Medical School professor Konrad A. Hochedlinger and his colleagues reported last week on the Web site of the journal Science that they have created mouse induced pluripotent stem cells without permanently altering the genetic makeup of the cells. Their technique allows scientists to genetically manipulate a patients cells typically skin cells...

An ad has run quite a few times on the radio over the past few days, and it goes something like this. A mother’s voice says, “Eight times a day I have to test my daughter’s blood sugar, because she’s diabetic, and eight times a day I pray [her voice deepens] I pray for a cure. Obama supports stem cell research, but McCain is opposed to the stem cell research that could cure my little girl.” Wow, so many subliminal messages in one ad! Where do I begin? ... Continue Reading

Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign has enlisted the aid of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in reaffirming McCain’s support of taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research in the face of an Obama for President campaign radio ad that accuses McCain of not supporting stem cell research. “The fact is John McCain has been a champion for stem cell research, which holds the promise of curing devastating diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease,” Specter said in a press release put out by the McCain campaign on Wednesday. “John McCain bucked the majority of our party in standing strong with me...

ADELAIDE, Australia, September 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers within the University of Adelaide's new Centre for Stem Cell Research are aiming by the end of this year to show repair in stroke-damaged brains using stem cells taken from adult teeth. The world-leading research using dental pulp stem cells from extracted human teeth and stroke-affected rat brain tissue will be outlined as part of the launch of the Centre for Stem Cell Research. The focus of the new Centre will be on turning novel basic research into potential life-saving treatments and cures for serious conditions and diseases. The Centre will draw...

For the second consecutive day, neither the McCain-Palin campaign nor the Republican National Committee would respond to questions from CNSNews.com about an ambiguous radio ad that says McCain will push for more federal spending on stem-cell research if he is elected president. The ad, however, does not specify whether that research will be limited to stem-cell research that does not involve the killing of human embryos. In the Senate, McCain has twice voted to use tax dollars to fund research using stem cells taken from human embryos that are killed in the process.

There has been some evidence during the campaign that McCain position on embryonic stem cell research was softening. I was skeptical of drawing any conclusions having discussed it with McCain several times. But now the more optimistic prediction has come to pass We have Sen. Sam Brownback to thank for this, I am sure. In response to a questionnaire submitted by ScienceDebat2008, the McCain campaign indicated a McCain administration would continue the present limitations on research instituted by President Bush and would seek to outlaw somatic cell transfer completely. The scientists quoted in the article are not too happy with...

In 1987, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Holy See issued its important teaching entitled “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation”. Among the many questions it answered was: “What Respect is due to the human embryo, taking into account his nature and identity?” The answer:“The human being must be respected - as a person - from the very first instant of his (her) existence.” The prevailing view of human rights entrenched in American judicial precedent and legislation denies the equal protection of the law to the human...

-"As president, John McCain will strongly support funding for promising research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research and other types of scientific study that do not involve the use of human embryos". - www.johnmccain.com

Republican presidential nominee John McCain debuted a radio ad Friday designed to declare his unequivocal support for stem cell research. McCain voted in the Senate to expand federal funding for the controversial research but Democrats and advocates of the science have expressed concern that McCain’s support has wavered. Not so, according to the radio spot and a McCain spokesman. The ad does not specifically refer to embryonic research, which is opposed by most politicians and activists who, like McCain, do not support abortion rights. The omission is not a signal that McCain is backing away from his record in favor...

With a nearly paralyzed right side, Chloe Levine was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 1. A year later, she can say her nickname and is walking normally and jumping on beds. With one simple word from the back seat of a car cruising between North Carolina and New York, 2-year-old Chloe Levine signaled a great leap forward. "Coco," the Colorado toddler said, uttering her nickname for the first time. Those two syllables marked a milestone in stem-cell therapy, helping prove that infusing a baby with its own stem cells can repair a brain ravaged by cerebral palsy. Before a one-time...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As scientists continue to gather evidence that adult stem-cells hold great potential for healing and rebuilding human tissue, The Pentagon has announced it is investing a quarter-billion dollars into the research, reports CitizenLink.com.The Pentagon plans to speed research in a five-year initiative to further unlock the ability of adult stem-cells to stop scarring, rebuild tendons and grow bones, in order to aid injured military personnel.  Adult stem-cell therapy works by harnessing the patient's own regenerative ability, since the cells are harvested from the patient's own skin, bones, or wisdom teeth.Col. Bob Vandre...

When people envision using human embryonic stem cells for “regenerative medicine,” they often talk about making neurons to treat Parkinson’s disease, cardiac cells to... --snip-- The idea faces other challenges beyond the huge volume of cells needed. The red cells produced from embryonic stem cells so far tend to resemble embryonic or fetal red cells more than adult ones. They tend to be larger and often contain nuclei, which could impede their passage through the body. And they have a different form of the globin molecule, which carries oxygen. --snip-- “The real test is in vivo,” said Dr. Thalia Papayannopoulou,...

No particular Republican is named but it’s no mystery whom this is aimed at. Was Joe Biden referring to Sarah Palin, a mother of a child with Down syndrome, when he made this comment? “I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”...

Joe Biden’s comment today, suggesting some contradiction between support for those born with developmental disabilities and opposition to embryo-destructive research is among his more appalling and insulting gaffes to date. As CBS reports it, Biden said: "I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there's joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don't you support stem...

WASHINGTON, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released four new print ads, two addressing stem cell research and two focusing on abortion.   The ads were initially published in the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and were distributed at the Democratic Convention in Denver and at the Republican Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul, by pro-life groups. The stem cell research ads highlight scientific advances using adult stem cells that are making embryonic stem cells obsolete. One ad shows a commuter running for a train, and asks: "Science is moving...

In a discovery that’s being hailed as a leap forward in regenerative medicine, researchers have found a way to transform common pancreatic cells in an adult mouse into the rare, insulin-producing beta cells that are destroyed in type 1 diabetes. Previously, researchers believed that the only way to transmute an adult cell was to first coax it back into stem cell form and then to reprogram it; this new research removes the first step entirely.

August 20, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Blinded by ScienceDiana DeGette’s memoir of confusion. By Yuval Levin Diana DeGette is a sixth-term Democratic congresswoman from Colorado’s first district, and the Democrats’ chief deputy whip in the House. Ever since her arrival in Congress, replacing the retiring Pat Schroeder in 1997, DeGette has focused her attention on abortion, reproductive issues, and — most prominently — the stem-cell debate. She is one of the chief sponsors of a bill to use tax dollars to encourage the ongoing destruction of human embryos for research. The measure, which would overturn President Bush’s stem-cell-funding policy, had...

SYDNEY, Australia, August 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A team of researchers at the Wake Forest University in North Carolina has extracted stem cells from amniotic fluid that have been found able to grow new organ tissue. This could be used, the scientists say, to treat newborns with serious health problems diagnosed in utero. The technique of creating tissue from amniotic fluid and placental stem cells, said Dr. Anthony Atala, could potentially work to cure "any abnormality that would not be lethal before a baby is born". Professor Atala told The Age newspaper, "The hope is … that if you have...

Enlarge ImageDowns in a dish. Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 (circled). This is one of the diseases whose development researchers will now be able to study in the lab.Credit: I. Park et al., Disease-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Cell (2008) First a drop, then the deluge. Last week, scientists at Harvard University and Columbia University announced that they had proved the viability of a new way to study a disease--amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--by reprogramming cells from a patient to become pluripotent stem cells, which can then become any type of cell or tissue. Yesterday,...

Reprogrammed cells may offer insight into neurodegenerative disease. Skin cells from an elderly patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been ‘reprogrammed’ to generate motor neurons, the type of nerve cells that die as the disease progresses. It is the first time that an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell line has been created from a patient with a genetic illness (J. T. Dimos et al. Science doi:10.1126/science.1158799; 2008). Like embryonic stem cells, iPS cells have the potential to develop into almost any of the body’s cell types and offer new disease insights. Patient-specific motor neurons, with a transcription factor called...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two consumer groups have filed an appeal with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office contesting its March ruling upholding the exclusive patents for stem cells. The office said the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds the original patent on embryonic stem cells, can keep its patents. The patents cover all embryonic stem cells used in the United States and any scientists or research firms wanting them must pay WARF's hefty prices for them. The California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Consumer Watchdog Foundation are the groups behind the lawsuit and it said WARF...

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have demonstrated for the first time that transplanted muscle stem cells can both improve muscle function in animals with a form of muscular dystrophy and replenish the stem cell population for use in the repair of future muscle injuries. "I'm very excited about this," said lead author Amy J. Wagers, Ph.D., Principal Investigator in the Joslin Section on Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, principal faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. "This study indicates the presence of renewing muscle stem cells...

Barcelona, Spain: For the first time in the world scientists have succeeded in developing human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) from a single cell, or blastomere, of a 4-cell stage embryo, the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Wednesday 9 July). Dr. Hilde Van de Velde, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium, said that their research meant that it might be possible in the future to produce hESC lines at an earlier stage without destroying the embryo. Blastomeres are formed in the very early stages of embryonic development. About 24 hours...

In the ongoing debate about stem cell research, few people differentiate between adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Also, few know that there are over 70 successful treatments from adult stem cells and none from embryonic.1What has many up in arms is that the production of embryonic stem cells endangers the life of a very small, but distinctly human, person. Once a human egg has been fertilized, a new cell results, called a zygote. This single cell contains all the instructions required to mature and develop a full-term baby and is therefore rightly considered an immature person. The...

There's been a lot of controversy over the use of embryonic stem cells in recent years, but adult stem cells, which few people oppose using, are already giving some patients a new lease on life. Donald Reid is hoping adult stem cells will give him more time. The 57-year-old has clogged arteries and heart disease so bad he's not a candidate for surgery. Instead, he's joined an experimental study. It involves a machine that takes his blood and pulls out stem cells. But these aren't stem cells from an embryo. These are Donald's own adult stem cells. In the coming...

Study: Stem Cells Used To Fix Your Broken Heart It's Called The Marvel Study The Largest Clinical Trial Investigating Adult Stem Cells To Treat Congestive Heart Failure For More Info, Call Jim Moran Heart & Vascular Center At (954) 229-8400 MIAMI (CBS4) ― Doctors are discovering a new way to fix your broken heart. A study is underway in South Florida that could revolutionize the way heart attack patients help their damaged hearts by using their own stem cells. It's called The Marvel Study and under the direction of Dr. Alan Neiderman with the Jim Moran Heart & Vascular Research...

Mumbai: Seven years after its inception amid much fanfare, Reliance Life Sciences, or RLS, is finally rolling out stem cell-based therapies in India, beginning with a treatment that can restore or improve vision. “This is the first commercial stem cell treatment in ophthalmology in the country,” said K.V. Subramaniam, CEO and president, RLS, part of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group. The company, which has invested around Rs1,000 crore in the business, has lined up other stem cell therapies for cardiac infarction, diabetic ulcer, and stable vitiligo or leukoderma (a skin disease), among others, to be offered in clinics in the...

Spine surgeons at Pine Creek Medical Center in Dallas have established themselves as the leaders of a cutting-edge surgical procedure that utilizes a patient's own adult stem cells to regenerate tissue.   Doctors Douglas Won, Michael Rimlawi, and Francisco J. Battle, all spine surgeons, have extensive experience in harvesting adult stem cells during routine spinal procedures and delivering those cells back to their patients to aid in the treatment of severe back pain.  According to the World Research Group, disorders of the spine are one of the largest public health problems in the U.S. and as the population ages, incidents of...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a $1 billion embryonic stem cell research bill on Monday. The measure is meant to provide the controversial research with more taxpayer money after President Bush refused to force taxpayers to fund the destruction of human life. Patrick pushed the plan through the state legislature to force the state's taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research to the tune of $1 billion over 10 years.He said he wanted the northeastern state to keep up with others like California, Illinois, and neighboring Connecticut, which have publicly funded the grisly research.   Under his plan, the state would...

NICE, France: In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), immunosuppressive therapy followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation elicited high response rates and improved quality of life for up to 6 years. The results of the study were presented here at the 18th Meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS) by Tatiana Ionova, MD, PhD, Department of Haematology, Pirogov National Medical Surgical Center, Moscow, Russia. During the last decade, high-dose immunosuppressive therapy followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation has been used with increasing frequency as a therapeutic option for patients with MS. "The aim of the study was to assess...

New York is set to spend $600 million in taxpayer dollars on stem cell research. A recently released draft plan drooling over the potential of embryonic cells to cure a variety of diseases has drawn this blast from Rev. Ruben Diaz, the state senate's sole pro-life Democrat: June 13, 2008Judy Doesschate, J.D.Director of Board OperationsWadsworth CenterNew York State Department of HealthEmpire State Plaza, Box 509Albany, NY 12208-0509Dear Ms. Doesschate:This letter is to express my response to the Empire State Stem Cell Board’s strategic framework that will guide New York State’s $600 Million, 11-year investment in stem cell research. The...

Dr. Rodriguez discussed use of stem cells for treating SUI (Stress Urinary Incontinence). A stem cell is embryonic, adult, or engineered. Embryonic stem cells come from the blastocyst which is totipotent or pluripotent. These cells are immortal, identical clonal cells with long-term self renewal. Controversies include possible tumor formation, the difficulty maintaining cell cultures and ethical issues. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. Adult stem cells include hematopoetic stem cells, such as derived from bone marrow. This requires a bone marrow harvest, with low yield and difficulty to expand clones. A variety of other tissues have...

Australian scientists have discovered that stem cells found in the back of a patient's nose can produce the chemical which is missing in people with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease occurs when the brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine stop working.  Without dopamine, nerve cells cannot function, leading to muscle problems. Researchers from Griffith University and the University of Queensland harvested adult stem cells from the noses of Parkinson's disease patients.  They found that once the nose cells were cultured and infused into animals with Parkinson's disease, the cells began to produce dopamine.  Professor Peter Silburn from the University of...

iZumi Bio has agreed to license some patents from the J. David Gladstone Institutes as they begin to work together on new adult stem cell technology involved in devising cardiovascular therapies. ReportStem cell transplants were used to restore the sight of six blind patients at a London hospital. StorySome 2,500 delegates attended the recent International Society for Stem Cell Research in Philadelphia. And insiders say that the development of induced pluripotent stem cells has clearly energized the entire field. ReleaseIn a new study regarding age-related diseases, researchers identified two key regulatory pathways that control how well adult stem cells...

Adult stem cell research, for the pro-life community, is ethically superior to embryonic stem cell research because it doesn't involve the destruction of human life. Scientists at Griffith University in Australia are advancing the notion that its effectiveness is superior as well. The researchers published an article on Friday in the medical journal Stem Cells showing that the use of adult stem cells may be getting closer to a cure, or at least an effective treatment, for Parkinson's. Their new studies show adult stem cells from a patient's own nose could treat their condition. The paper showed the finding that...

Once an Embryo… June 23rd, 2008 by Fr. Frank Pavone The US bishops have issued a very clear statement on embryonic stem cell research. It does not dwell upon the scientific nuances of the issue, but rather assists the reader to focus on the moral issues involved. The statement is not marked by condemnation, but rather by explanation. It is not a rejection of research or of those who stand to benefit from research, but rather a call to pursue the well being of those very individuals by preserving the moral standards that protect their dignity and that of the...

The Perth scientist who made the world-first discovery that human breast milk contains stem cells is confident that within five years scientists will be harvesting them to research treatment for conditions as far-reaching as spinal injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. But what Dr Mark Cregan is excited about right now is the promise that his discovery could be the start of many more exciting revelations about the potency of breast milk. He believes that it not only meets all the nutritional needs of a growing infant but contains key markers that guide his or her development into adulthood. “We already...

BERKELEY – Old muscle got a shot of youthful vigor in a stem cell experiment by bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, setting the path for research on new treatments for age-related degenerative conditions such as muscle atrophy or Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Old muscles renewedIrina Conboy and Morgan Carlson have learned how to trigger the rejuvenation of old, damaged muscles. View full-size videoIn a new study published June 15 in an advanced online issue of the journal Nature, researchers identified two key regulatory pathways that control how well adult stem cells repair and replace damaged tissue. They then...

The US bishops have issued a very clear statement on embryonic stem cell research. It does not dwell upon the scientific nuances of the issue, but rather assists the reader to focus on the moral issues involved. The statement is not marked by condemnation, but rather by explanation. It is not a rejection of research or of those who stand to benefit from research, but rather a call to pursue the well being of those very individuals by preserving the moral standards that protect their dignity and that of the rest of us. The statement reminds us that there is...

How America came to accept using human embryos for research In the ten years since Dr. James Thomson at the University of Madison first procured human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), support for the prospect of using human embryos and fetuses for research purposes has gradually seeped into the American mindset to the point at which it is now broadly tolerated, if not openly endorsed, especially in the political arena, in academia, and certainly within the scientific community. [1] As we continue to advance as a nation into the age of developmental biology there is reason to fear that Americans are...

Stem Cells Could Replace Plastic Surgery Silicone breast implants and botox could one day be things of the past thanks to promising new techniques that would allow doctors to work plastic surgery miracles using only a patient's own stem cells. Traditionally, plastic and reconstructive surgery has relied heavily on fillers. Bags full of saline or silicone are used to plump up breasts. Chunks of fat are taken from one area of the body and grafted into another. These techniques, which like other body enhancement procedures have soared in popularity in recent years, can work successfully but they also have drawbacks....

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced that it is funding a new adult stem-cell treatment that could treat diabetes-induced retinal damage, a leading cause of blindness. Forbes Magazine says that Pfizer is funding the creation of a San Diego biotech company named EyeCyte to develop stem-cell treatments for eye diseases. The company will base its work upon Scripps Research Institute ophthalmologist Martin Friedlander’s research involving stem-cells from blood and bone marrow. EyeCyte will receive about $3 million from Pfizer, which in return has the right of first refusal regarding the new company’s products. In animal experiments, adult stem-cells have shown...

A recent medical breakthrough at UNC may help thousands every year whose broken bones do not heal.  Researchers who transplanted adult mouse stem cells into mice with fractured bones showed that the cells could help heal the fractures. Anna Spagnoli, associate professor of pediatrics and biomedical engineering at UNC and senior author of the study, said it was meant to determine whether adult stem cells could be used to improve the healing tissue at a fractured site and whether the cells went directly to the injury once transplanted.  She said that as a pediatrician, she has worked with children...

Two Canadians have been injected with a genetically modified version of their own adult stem cells in an attempt to cure pulmonary hypertension, a rare, debilitating lung disease. The procedure, which has successfully cured rats with pulmonary hypertension, has halted the progress of the disease in the patients. The first patient, who has had the disease for 13 years, is reporting no ill effects from the treatment and has seen her condition improve. Researchers are hopeful that the treatment eventually will reverse or even cure the disease. "The use of ethical stem cells to treat disease is a positive and...