Free Republic

Michigan is in the national news because of a disturbing development in human fetal stem cell experimentation. Neuralstem, Inc. announced that it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to expand an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Phase II study to the University of Michigan. The stem cells used in the study come from spinal cord tissue taken from a healthy, 8-week-old aborted baby. Phase I of the trial tested whether human fetal stem cells can safely be injected into the spinal cord. According to Neuralstem, the aim of Phase II is to obtain the maximum tolerated...

First-in-humans study introduces next generation cell therapyROCHESTER, Minn. — Translating a Mayo Clinic stem-cell discovery, an international team has demonstrated that therapy with cardiopoietic (cardiogenically-instructed) or "smart" stem cells can improve heart health for people suffering from heart failure. This is the first application in patients of lineage-guided stem cells for targeted regeneration of a failing organ, paving the way to development of next generation regenerative medicine solutions. Results of the clinical trial appear online of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. VIDEO ALERT: Audio and video resources are available on the Mayo Clinic News Network. The multi-center,...

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have made a discovery in neuroscience that could offer a long-lasting solution to eating disorders such as obesity. It was previously thought that the nerve cells in the brain associated with appetite regulation were generated entirely during an embryo's development in the womb and therefore their numbers were fixed for life. But research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience has identified a population of stem cells capable of generating new appetite-regulating neurons in the brains of young and adult rodents. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally. More than 1.4 billion adults...

Ethical worries have slowed medical research into applications for stem cells. But scientists like Robert Lanza have developed less controversial ways to derive stem cells from normal body cells rather than embryos and are already launching the first clinical trials. … (T)here is a world premiere in the making: Lanza’s team has cultivated blood platelets that could be tested in hospitals as early as this year. The researcher and his team didn’t harvest the cells from embryonic stem cells, but rather from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from normal body cells. …

The promise of repairing damaged hearts through regenerative medicine -- infusing stem cells into the heart in the hope that these cells will replace worn out or damaged tissue -- has yet to meet with clinical success. But a highly sensitive visualization technique developed by Stanford University School of Medicine scientists may help speed that promise's realization. The technique is described in a study published March 20 in Science Translational Medicine. Testing the new imaging method in humans is probably three to five years off. Human and animal trials in which stem cells were injected into cardiac tissue to treat...

The January special issue of Cell Research on Stem Cell Biology brings together the latest reviews and articles in the field. Together with the accompanying web focus, Cell Research delves into our current understanding and investigates recent advances in various aspects of stem cell biology, cell reprogramming, and their relevance to diseases.Special Issue on Stem Cell Biology

Diabetes is a detrimental disease. In order to combat the illness, University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers conducted a study with an industry partner and discovered that stem cells can reverse Type 1 diabetes in mice. The discovery leads the way for the development of innovative treatments of diabetes, which is caused by deficient production of insulin by the pancreas. Insulin allows glucose to be held by the bodyÂ’s muscle, fat, and liver; in turn, itÂ’s used as fuel for the body. Blindness, heart attack, kidney failure, nerve damage, and stroke are possible consequences of low insulin production. The research...

Gerard Cuomo loves to dance. Until recently, however, the 70-year-old couldn’t even do a two-step. After having three heart attacks in the early 1990s, Cuomo’s heart was severely damaged. The scar tissue that had formed around his heart left him easily fatigued. “I felt like an old man,” said Cuomo of Aventura. “I could barely climb the stairs. I could walk for about a quarter of a mile. Shopping at the mall — I wish I did not have to sit down all the time.” In May 2010, he participated in a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s clinical...

University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Suzanne Berry-Miller, veterinary clinical medicine professor Robert O’Brien.Researchers have shown that transplanting stem cells derived from normal mouse blood vessels into the hearts of mice that model the pathology associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) prevents the decrease in heart function associated with DMD. Their findings appear in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the gene for dystrophin, a protein that anchors muscle cells in place when they contract. Without dystrophin, muscle contractions tear cell membranes, leading to cell death. The lost...

16 hours ago TOKYO — Researchers in Japan said Wednesday they have succeeded in growing human kidney tissue from stem cells for the first time in a potential breakthrough for millions with damaged organs who are dependent on dialysis. Kidneys have a complex structure that is not easily repaired once damaged, but the latest findings put scientists on the road to helping a diseased or distressed organ fix itself. Kenji Osafune of Kyoto University said his team had managed to take stem cells -- the "blank slates" capable of being programmed to become any kind of cell in the body...

A new method for generating stem cells from mature cells promises to boost stem cell production in the laboratory, helping to remove a barrier to regenerative medicine therapies that would replace damaged or unhealthy body tissues. The technique, developed by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, allows for the unlimited production of stem cells and their derivatives as well as reduces production time by more than half, from nearly two months to two weeks. "One of the barriers that needs to be overcome before stem cell therapies can be widely adopted is the difficulty of producing enough cells...

Stem cells derived from patients with disorders, such as these Parkinson’s cells, could foster drug screening to find treatments and also provide researchers a valuable tool to study disease. Europe certainly believes in the promise of stem cells.A joint public-private collaboration between the European Union and Europe’s pharmaceutical industry, called the StemBANCC project, will spend nearly 50 million euros to create 1,500 pluripotent stem cell lines. But the initiative’s goal isn’t to find a stem cell-based cure for diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease. They hope instead that their stem cell lines will prove to be faster and more effective drug screens...

U. SHEFFIELD (UK) — Engineers have developed a new technique to graft a biodegradable disc loaded with stem cells onto damaged eyes.The team at the University of Sheffield describes the method, which involves producing membranes to assist with grafting, in the journal Acta Biomaterialia. The goal is to treat damage to the cornea, the transparent layer on the front of the eye, which is one of the major causes of blindness in the world.Using a combination of techniques known as microstereolithography and electrospinning, the researchers made a disc of biodegradable material that can be fixed over the cornea. The disc...

The chief medical ambition of those who study stem cells has always been that the cells would be used to repair and regenerate damaged tissue. That's still a long way off, despite rapid progress exemplified by the presentation of the Nobel Prize next week to Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University for a key stem-cell breakthrough. But there's another, less well known application of stem cells that is already delivering results: disease modeling. Dr. Yamanaka used a retrovirus to insert four genes into a mouse cell to return it to a "pluripotent" state—capable of turning into almost any kind of cell....

The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while her heartbeat provides a soothing constant rhythm. The physical connection between mother and fetus is provided by the placenta, an organ, built of cells from both the mother and fetus, which serves as a conduit for the exchange of nutrients, gasses, and wastes. Cells may migrate through the placenta...

This is an image of an aged stem cell after growth factors were added. A new method of growing cardiac tissue is teaching old stem cells new tricks. The discovery, which transforms aged stem cells into cells that function like much younger ones, may one day enable scientists to grow cardiac patches for damaged or diseased hearts from a patient's own stem cells—no matter what age the patient—while avoiding the threat of rejection. Stem cell therapies involving donated bone marrow stem cells run the risk of patient rejection in a portion of the population, argues Milica Radisic, Canada Research Chair...

Clumps of alpha-synuclein move through dopamine-producing cells, mouse study finds The insidious spread of an abnormal protein may be behind Parkinson’s disease, a study in mice suggests. A harmful version of the protein crawls through the brains of healthy mice, killing brain cells and damaging the animals’ balance and coordination, researchers report in the Nov. 16 Science. If a similar process happens in humans, the results could eventually point to ways to stop Parkinson’s destruction in the brain. “I really think that this model will increase our ability to come up with Parkinson’s disease therapies,” says study coauthor Virginia Lee...

Vol. 4, Issue 160, p. 160sr4 Sci. Transl. Med. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3002717 STATE OF THE ART REVIEW The ability to regenerate damaged tissue is one of the great challenges in biomaterials and medicine. Successful treatments will require advances in areas ranging from basic cell biology to materials synthesis, but there have been major hurdles in translating the biomedical advances, such as scaffolds that direct stem cell differentiation, into marketed products. Careful consideration of the challenges going from bench to bedside is paramount in maximizing the chances that a good idea becomes a good treatment. We look at a variety of material-based...

EASTERN SHORE, Md. (WJZ) — The miracle of stem cells changes the life of a little boy from the Eastern Shore. Adam May has the amazing story of a mother and the choice she made moments after her son was born. Xander McKinley was a beautiful baby–but challenging. The newborn didn’t eat or sleep well, and by two-years-old, he couldn’t walk or even crawl. “Something just wasn’t right,” said Xander’s mother, Jennifer McKinley. Jennifer McKinley got the news every parent fears. Xander had cerebral palsy–a brain condition that slows motor functions. Adam: “Did you ever fear he would never have...

ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients’ own cells for helping restore heart tissue. The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyone’s cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now. The study used a specific...