Cloning and Regenerative Medicine News

Blood stem cell growth factor reverses memory decline in mice (7/4/2009)

A human growth factor that stimulates blood stem cells to proliferate in bone marrow reverses memory impairment in mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease, a new study finds. ...> Full Article

Team's advanced nerve cell system could help cure diabetic neuropathy, related diseases (7/3/2009)

University of Central Florida researchers have created the first lab-grown motor nerves that are insulated and organized the same way they are in the body. The group's model system could dramatically improve understanding of the causes of myelin-related conditions such as multiple sclerosis, diabetic neuropathy and Guillian-Barré syndrome, potentially enabling the discovery and testing of new drug therapies. ...> Full Article

Cell transplantation and cardiac repair (7/3/2009)

Two separate studies published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation into cardiac repair by cell transplantation have found, respectively, that the best way to deliver autologous bone-marrow mononuclear cells to the heart following a myocardial infarction was via the anterograde intracoronary vein and that bone marrow cell transplants for limb ischemia induced angiogenesis in patients failing therapy and facing amputation. The first study found higher cell retention; the second demonstrated an alternative to amputation. ...> Full Article

New clue into how brain stem cells develop into cells which repair damaged tissue (7/2/2009)

Insight could lead to new therapies to repair damage caused by MS ...> Full Article

Neural stem cell differentiation factor discovered (7/1/2009)

Neural stem cells represent the cellular backup of our brain. These cells are capable of self-renewal to form new stem cells or differentiate into neurons, astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. The receptors of the Notch family play a significant role in this process. So far, only stimulating extracellular ligands of Notch receptors had been described. Biochemists of Goethe University Medical School now describe a long time assumed but not yet identified soluble Notch inhibitor. ...> Full Article

Xie Lab uncovers molecular machinery related to stem cell fate (6/27/2009)

The Stowers Institute's Xie Lab has revealed how the BAM protein affects germline stem cell differentiation and how it is involved in regulating the quality of stem cells through intercellular competition. The work was published today by PNAS Early Edition. ...> Full Article

Scientists convert pigs' connective tissue cells into stem cells (6/26/2009)

New finding could result in better tests for stem cell therapy, more accurate model ...> Full Article

Researchers work to create more permanent joint replacements (6/24/2009)

With the help of a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, University of Missouri researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at Columbia University in New York City, will expand their biological joint technology that uses living tissue instead of plastic and metal to replace damaged joints. This new technology, which responds in ways similar to normal cartilage in a healthy joint, could prevent patients from having complications that result in repeat joint-replacement surgeries. ...> Full Article

Researchers edit genes in human stem cells (6/19/2009)

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have successfully edited the genome of human- induced pluripotent stem cells, making possible the future development of patient-specific stem cell therapies. Reporting this week in Cell Stem Cell, the team altered a gene responsible for causing the rare blood disease paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH, establishing for the first time a useful system to learn more about the disease. ...> Full Article

Peripheral nerve repair with fat precursor cells led to wider nerves and less muscle atrophy (6/17/2009)

Multipotent, abundant, easily isolated fat (adipose) precursor cells (APCs) demonstrate an ability to differentiate in vitro into cartilage chondrogenic, boneosteogenic, fatadipogenic and muscle tissue myogenic cell types. This study shows that when transplanted APCs can improve nerve regeneration and functional recovery in the injured peripheral nerves of laboratory rats. Conduit-guided, human-derived APCs survived up to 12 weeks in the injured peripheral nerves of laboratory animals and formed more robust nerve cells compared to controls not receiving cell transplants. ...> Full Article

Assessment of safety and efficacy of human embryonic stem cell therapy (6/13/2009)

Advanced Cell Technology and its collaborators at OHSU reported today the long-term safety and efficacy of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived retinal pigment epithelium produced under manufacturing conditions suitable for human clinical trials. The research, which appears online ahead of print in the journal Stem Cells, shows long-term functional rescue using hESC-derived cells in both the RCS rat and Elov14 mouse, animal models of retinal degeneration and Stargardt disease, respectively. ...> Full Article

New interdisciplinary volume focuses on advances in stem cell research (6/8/2009)

A new book from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, "Control and Regulation of Stem Cells," reviews the latest advances in stem cell research from a variety of scientific perspectives. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover new way to enhance stem cells to stimulate muscle regeneration (6/7/2009)

Ottawa scientists have discovered a powerful new way to stimulate muscle regeneration, paving the way for new treatments for debilitating conditions such as muscular dystrophy. The research, to be published in the June 5 issue of Cell Stem Cell, shows for the first time that a protein called Wnt7a increases the number of stem cells in muscle tissue, leading to accelerated growth and repair of skeletal muscle. ...> Full Article

World first: Chinese scientists create pig stem cells (6/6/2009)

Discovery has far-reaching implications for animal and human health ...> Full Article

Tulane receives grant to study limb regeneration (6/5/2009)

Could the salamander's natural ability to grow back severed appendages lead to a scientific breakthrough for humans who have lost limbs? ...> Full Article