Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and The Scripps Research Institute have made the first comparative, large-scale phosphoproteomic analysis of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and their differentiated derivatives.
The promise of stem cell therapy may lie in uncovering how adult cells revert back into a primordial, stem cell state, whose fate is yet to be determined. Now, cell scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have identified key molecular players responsible for this reversion in fruit fly sperm cells. Reporting online this week in Cell Stem Cell, researchers show that two proteins are responsible redirecting cells on the way to becoming sperm back to stem cells.
The accepted dogma has been that bone-forming cells, derived from the body's connective tissue, are the only cells able to form the skeleton. However, new research shows that specialized cells in the blood share a common origin with white blood cells derived from the bone marrow and that these bloodstream cells are capable of forming bone at sites distant from the original skeleton. This work represents the first example of how circulating cells may contribute to abnormal bone formation.
Biomedical engineering students have demonstrated a practical way to embed a patient's stem cells in the surgical thread used to repair serious orthopedic injuries. The goal is to enhance healing and reduce the likelihood of re-injury.
In a proof-of-concept study, Mayo Clinic investigators have demonstrated that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be used to treat heart disease. iPS cells are stem cells converted from adult cells. In this study, the researchers reprogrammed ordinary fibroblasts, cells that contribute to scars such as those resulting from a heart attack, converting them into stem cells that fix heart damage caused by infarction. The findings appear in the current online issue of the journal Circulation.
This summit will attract more than 1,200 experts from more than 25 countries and across the United States. This is your chance to meet and talk to all the experts at one location and time with on-the-record sessions, press briefings and interviews. The World Stem Cell Summit is the only conference that combines this mix of researchers, policy makers, business leaders, ethics and legal advocates.
In a new study that could transform embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered why mouse ES cells can be easily grown in a laboratory while other mammalian ES cells are difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.
The Society is pleased that the new guidelines will allow for federally funded research using existing stem cell lines, so long as those lines were created according to the ethical standards set forth.
Statement from Sean J. Morrison, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Stem Cell Biology, in response to the National Institutes of Health's release today of revised guidelines for federally funded human embryonic stem cell research.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research, together with co-sponsors the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona (CMRB), prepare for the opening of what is considered the largest conference specifically for stem cell professionals at the ISSCR 7th Annual Meeting to be held at the Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona (CCIB) in Barcelona, Spain, July 8-11, 2009.
Dr. John Dick, Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, the research arm of Princess Margaret Hospital, co-led a multinational team that has developed the first leukemia therapy that targets a protein, CD123, on the surface of cancer stem cells that drive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is an aggressive disease with a poor outcome.
More than 40 scientists, bioethicists, lawyers and science journal editors are calling on their colleagues, policy makers and the public to begin developing guidelines for the research and reproductive use of stem cell-derived eggs and sperm, even though such use may be a decade or more away.
Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has been appointed by Governor David Paterson to the Empire State Stem Cell Board Funding Committee.
UCLA researchers have found that embryonic stem cells and skin cells reprogrammed into embryonic-like cells have inherent molecular differences, demonstrating for the first time that the two cell types are clearly distinguishable from one another.
The Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, comprised of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Athersys, Inc. has received $5 million from Ohio's Third Frontier Commission under the Research Commercialization Program. The funding will help support new and innovative stem cell technologies including two commercial, four emerging and three pilot projects. This funding will be matched by each of the projects to create a $10 million grant benefiting stem cell and regenerative medicine in Ohio.
A groundbreaking study conducted by Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to reveal a new avenue for harvesting stem cells "“ from a woman's placenta, or more specifically the discarded placentas of healthy newborns. The study also finds there are far more stem cells in placentas than in umbilical cord blood, and they can be safely extracted for transplantation.
The Jackson Laboratory has received a $3.4 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state's stem cell agency, to develop new mouse models of human disease that can be used to test innovative stem cell treatments.
A study led by Children's Hospital Boston stem cell researcher George Daley, MD, PhD, shows that a protein that keeps embryonic stem cells in their stem-like state, called LIN28, is also important in cancer. It offers a new target to attack, especially in resistant and hard-to-treat cases.
A study led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has catapulted the field of regenerative medicine significantly forward, proving in principle that a human genetic disease can be cured using a combination of gene therapy and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology. The study, published in the May 31, 2009 early online edition of Nature, is a major milestone on the path from the laboratory to the clinic.
Once placed into a patient's body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of the clinician. But gene therapy has the potential to solve this problem, according to a perspective article from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornel published in a recent issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Once placed into a patient's body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of the clinician. But gene therapy has the potential to solve this problem, according to a perspective article from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornel published in a recent issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Driving Miranda, a protein in fruit flies crucial to switch a stem cell's fate, is not as complex as biologists thought, according to University of Oregon biochemists. They've found that one enzyme (aPKC) stands alone and acts as a traffic cop that directs which roads daughter cells will take.
Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Two papers next week in Cell and Nature show that the mechanical stresses of a beating heart and blood flow are required for the blood system to develop, and offer clues that may help in developing cell-based therapies for blood diseases such as leukemia, immune deficiency and sickle cell anemia.
Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Two papers next week in Cell and Nature show that the mechanical stresses of a beating heart and blood flow are required for the blood system to develop, and offer clues that may help in developing cell-based therapies for blood diseases such as leukemia, immune deficiency and sickle cell anemia.
Pfizer Inc., a major biopharmaceutical company, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the private, nonprofit patenting and licensing organization for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, announced May 5 that they have signed a license for human embryonic stem (hES) cell patents for the development of new drug therapies.
A team of researchers from the University of Utah, Salt Lake city-based Q therapeutics Inc., and The John Hopkins University School of Medicine is collaborating on a stem cell therapy to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
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, a theme issue on diabetes.
It's a very exciting time in the field of stem-cell research as scientists around the world are finding new sources for creating stem cells. For example, in the United States, President Barack Obama has lifted the ban on federal funding for stem-cell research. But with these advances comes challenges for governments who need to create legislation for the controversial research.
A new report on embryonic stem cell research from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) reviews key issues likely to be debated in the coming months as Congress and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) determine how the research will move forward.
Cells isolated from the eye that many scientists believed were retinal stem cells are, in fact, normal adult cells, investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found.
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reports that it has created induced human pluripotent stem (iPS) cells completely free of viral vectors and exotic genes.
A team of scientists has advanced stem cell research by finding a way to endow human skin cells with embryonic stem cell-like properties without inserting potentially problematic new genes into their DNA. The team was led by James A. Thomson, V.M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and supported in part by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have identified a signaling pathway that helps regulate the movement of blood-forming stem cells in the body"”a finding that provides important new insight into how stem cells move around the body and which may lead to improvements in the efficiency of bone marrow transplants.
Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research have learned that a protein called Shp2 plays a critical role in the pathways that control decisions for differentiation or self-renewal in both human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs).
Research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identifies a marker in stem cells that scientists can use to try to stop cancer cell growth in chronic myeloid lymphoma, and perhaps other forms of cancer. Potential applications: test cancer drugs in development, test effectiveness of cancer treatment to ensure stem cells were eliminated.
An unlikely brew of seaweed and glow-in-the-dark biochemical agents may hold the key to the safe use of transplanted stem cells to treat patients with severe peripheral arterial disease (PAD), according to a team of veterinarians, basic scientists and interventional radiologists at Johns Hopkins.
While President Obama's decision"”and the opening it provides Congress regarding a reconsideration of the Dickey-Wicker amendment"”is cause for celebration among medical researchers, scientists, and patients' groups alike, the controversy surrounding stem cell use will not disappear overnight," says Kenneth C. Aldrich, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of International Stem Cell Corporation.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) applauds President Barack Obama's decision to expand federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research by rescinding the policy of Aug. 9, 2001, which restricted federally-funded researchers to using only the small number of cell lines created before that date.
Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are on the forefront of stem cell research, developing novel therapies designed to generate heart cells, repair traumatic lung injuries, grow new bone and stanch the spread of cancer cells.
On Wednesday, March 25, from 4:30-6:30 pm, the Brooke Ellison Project and Stony Brook University will present a scientific symposium, "Stem Cell Research: The Science, the Ethics, the Promise." Held in the Student Activities Center Auditorium, and open to community members, the symposium will provide an educational framework by which to better understand the basic science, ethical considerations, and legislative factors inherent in the issue of stem cell research.
The ISSCR is concerned and saddened by the recent report of nervous system tumors that developed in a child who had previously received injections of cell preparations referred to as "neural stem cells." This illustrates the concerns that prompted the ISSCR to develop Guidelines for the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells, released in December 2008.
Stem cells scientists at UCLA showed for the first time that human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be differentiated into electrically active motor neurons, a discovery that may aid in studying and treating neurological disorders.
A Johns Hopkins engineer is trying to coax human stem cells to turn into networks of new blood vessels that could someday be used to replace damaged tissue in people with heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses.
A little more than a year after University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists showed they could turn skin cells back into stem cells, they have pulsating proof that these "induced" stem cells can indeed form the specialized cells that make up heart muscle.
For the first time, UCLA researchers have reprogrammed human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into the cells that eventually become eggs and sperm, possibly opening the door for new treatments for infertility using patient-specific cells.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) shares in the excitement generated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration"˜s landmark decision to approve the first clinical trials using the products of human embryonic stem cells, yet advises the public to maintain realistic expectations at this early stage.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the way for the first human trials of human embryonic stem cell research, authorizing Geron Corporation to test whether cells are safe for use in spinal injury patients. Ethical and patient immune rejection issues still surround stem cell research, says industry expert.
Researchers led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center identified an apparent population of cancer stem cells for neuroblastoma, then used a reprogrammed herpes virus to block tumor formation in mice by targeting and killing the cells.
Using cancer cells from an ovarian cancer patient, human embryonic stem cells and mice, Israeli researchers have created a pre-clinical experimental model that mimics the way a tumor would develop in the patient's body. The researchers say their findings could facilitate the development of personalized cancer therapies.
Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine The Turek Clinic in San Francisco have succeeded in isolating stem cells from human testes. The cells bear a striking resemblance to embryonic stem cells - they can differentiate into each of the three main types of tissues of the body - but the researchers caution against viewing them as one and the same.