Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources - August 2009 Archives

Researchers improve zebrafish cloning methods (8/31/2009)

New cloning method could further human health research ...> Full Article

Idaho researchers win grant to explore DNA frontier (8/27/2009)

Three Idaho researchers are recipients of the National Science Foundation's EUREKA Award and the youngest participants in the program's history. With a 3-year, $523,000 grant, they will explore new approaches to gene therapies by using locked nucleic acids or LNAs as invaders to target specific sections of chromosomes. ...> Full Article

Wisconsin team grows retina cells from skin-derived stem cells (8/26/2009)

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Improvement of liver stem cell engraftment by protein delivery (8/25/2009)

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Switching on the power of stem cells (8/22/2009)

New research gives insight into how stems cells develop into other types of cells ...> Full Article

Watching stem cells repair the human brain (8/21/2009)

Tel Aviv University researcher shows viability of bone marrow stem cells with unique MRI tracking methods ...> Full Article

How to make a lung (8/20/2009)

Cell-regeneration molecules essential signals for early lung development ...> Full Article

Researcher says microchannels could advance tissue engineering methods (8/19/2009)

Utilizing fractal patterns similar to those created by lightning strikes, Victor Ugaz, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has created a network of microchannels that could advance the field of tissue engineering by serving as a three-dimensional vasculature for the support of larger tissue constructs, such as human organs. ...> Full Article

Nanomagnets guide stem cells to damaged tissue (8/18/2009)

Microscopic magnetic particles have been used to bring stem cells to sites of cardiovascular injury in a new method designed to increase the capacity of cells to repair damaged tissue, UCL scientists announced today. ...> Full Article

Noninsulin-producing alpha cells in the pancreas can be converted to insulin-producing beta cells (8/17/2009)

Research provides important insight into possible regenerative ...> Full Article

Technique enables efficient gene splicing in human embryonic stem cells (8/16/2009)

A novel technique allows for precise, efficient gene editing into the genomes of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. For years, scientists have easily swapped genes in and out of mouse ESC or iPS cell genomes, but have had a notoriously difficult time disrupting or inserting genes into their human equivalents. This hurdle has hampered efforts to create specific cell types for modeling genetic diseases, like Parkinson's. ...> Full Article

New insights into limb formation (8/15/2009)

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of Connecticut Health Center have gained new understanding of the role hyaluronic acid plays in skeletal growth, chondrocyte maturation and joint formation in developing limbs. ...> Full Article

Vision researchers see unexpected gain a year into blindness trial (8/14/2009)

Scientists have discovered that even in adults born with extremely impaired sight, the brain can rewire itself to recognize sections of the retina that have been restored by gene therapy. The report in The New England Journal of Medicine talks about the brain's surprising adaptability a year after three blind volunteers received doses of corrective genes to selected areas of their retinas at Shands at the University of Florida medical center. ...> Full Article

Scientists make multiple types of white blood cells directly from embryonic and adult stem cells (8/11/2009)

In an advance that could help transform embryonic stem cells into a multipurpose medical tool, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have transformed these versatile cells into progenitors of white blood cells and into six types of mature white blood and immune cells. ...> Full Article

2 lines account for most human embryonic stem cell research, scholar finds (8/9/2009)

For the past eight years, scientists who wanted to use federal funds for research on human embryonic stem cells had to restrict their studies to 21 cell lines approved by the National Institutes of Health. But an analysis by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that only two of those lines have been used routinely. ...> Full Article

Researchers make stem cells from developing sperm (8/8/2009)

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. ...> Full Article

What makes stem cells tick? (8/7/2009)

Researchers identify phosphorylated signaling proteins in human embryonic stem cells ...> Full Article

Adult gut can generate new neurons (8/6/2009)

Animal study finding may lead to new treatments for intestinal disorders ...> Full Article

Protecting cells from their neighbors (8/5/2009)

Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, headed by Jordi Casanova have identified the mechanism that protects somatic cells against an specific action of germ cells during embryonic development. ...> Full Article

Scientists program blood stem cells to become vision cells (8/4/2009)

University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people. The success implies that blood stem cells taken from bone marrow can be programmed to restore a variety of cells and tissues, including ones involved in cardiovascular disorders. ...> Full Article

Reprogramming human cells without inserting genes (8/1/2009)

Research team at WPI and CellThera discovers a way to turn on stem cell genes in human skin cells without using viruses or inserting new genes ...> Full Article