Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources - December 2007 Archives

Stanford provides additional planning funds for stem cell researchers (12/27/2007)

The Stanford University School of Medicine is providing $200,000 in planning grants to four multidisciplinary groups of researchers who want to develop new stem cell-based therapies and diagnostics for specific disease targets. ...> Full Article

Researchers Initiate Gene Therapy Trial in Patients with Advanced Skin Cancer (12/26/2007)

Researchers at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center are the first in the region to have joined a nationwide clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a gene therapy in patients with advanced melanoma which is aimed to help a patient's own immune system fight their cancer. ...> Full Article

New Mechanical Insights Into Wound Healing And Scar Tissue Formation (12/25/2007)

New research illuminates the mechanical factors that play a critical role in the differentiation and function of fibroblasts, connective tissue cells that play a role in wound healing and scar tissue formation. ...> Full Article

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Created That Avoid Immune Rejection (12/24/2007)

In a groundbreaking experiment scientists from International Stem Cell (ISC) Corp. derived four unique embryonic stem cell lines that open the door for the creation of therapeutic cells that will not provoke an immune reaction in large segments of the population. The stem cell lines are "HLA-homozygous," meaning that they have a simple genetic profile in the critical areas of the DNA that code for immune rejection. The lines could serve to create a stem cell bank as a renewable source of transplantable cells for use in cell therapy to replace damaged tissues or to treat genetic and degenerative diseases. ...> Full Article

New Gene Therapy Heals Growth Deficiency Disorder In Live Animal (12/23/2007)

A team of Vanderbilt researchers have demonstrated for the first time that a new type of gene therapy, called RNA interference, can heal a genetic disorder in a live animal. ...> Full Article

Scientists find new way to sort stem cells (12/22/2007)

Method could speed the production of future stem cell therapies ...> Full Article

Researcher Receives New Faculty Award for Stem Cell Research from The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (12/21/2007)

The latest round of grants for stem cell research has been approved for funding by the 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The New Faculty Award to David Traver, assistant professor of biological sciences at the UC-San Diego, will fund his research into how the stem cells of the blood-forming system are generated, providing $2,803,375 over five years. ...> Full Article

An ambulance man for muscle damage (12/20/2007)

Scientists harness a natural emergency response to increase the regeneration ability of muscle ...> Full Article

Researcher orks toward engineered blood vessels (12/19/2007)

Vessels could be used in human body ...> Full Article

Stem cell grant will spur research on rejuvenating muscle (12/17/2007)

Irina M. Conboy, a young assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who hopes embryonic stem cells can rejuvenate aging muscles, is the recipient of a $2.25 million research grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). ...> Full Article

Engineer awarded $2.1 million for stem cell research (12/16/2007)

A UC Irvine engineer was awarded $2.1 million from the state to support a study on the effect of embryonic stem cells on heart disease. ...> Full Article

New Marker To Identify Cancer Stem Cells Discovered (12/16/2007)

Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a marker that can be used to identify stem cells in breast tumors, suggesting a potential simple test that could help determine the best treatment for breast cancer. ...> Full Article

Researchers identify granddaddy of human blood cells (12/15/2007)

Researchers have isolated a human blood cell that represents the great-grandparent of all the cells of the blood, a finding that could lead to new treatments for blood cancers and other blood diseases. ...> Full Article

Researchers Continue Studies Using Bone Marrow Stem Cells to Treat Heart Attacks (12/14/2007)

Doctors at Emory University, in clinical studies with heart attack patients, are continuing to learn more about how those patients' own bone marrow stem cells (progenitor cells) may be used to improve heart function. ...> Full Article

Cord Blood Viable Option for Kids with Life-Threatening Metabolic Disorders (12/14/2007)

Children born with inherited metabolic disorders that cause organ failure and early death can be treated successfully with umbilical cord blood transplants from unrelated donors and, in some cases go on to live for many years, according to a study led by Duke University Medical Center researchers. ...> Full Article

Gentler Chemotherapy Before Blood Stem Cell Transplant Causes Long-Term Complete Remission in Relapsed Follicular Lymphoma Patients (12/13/2007)

Treating relapsed follicular lymphoma patients with a milder chemotherapy regimen before they receive a blood stem cell transplant from a donor resulted in long-term complete remission for 45 of 47 patients in a clinical trial, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology Meeting in Atlanta. ...> Full Article

Brain Stem Cells Sensitive to Space Radiation (12/12/2007)

Scientists recently led a team of researchers to study potential effects of space radiation on astronauts. The results of their study are revealing and will provide the foundation for ensuring the safety of crew members participating in long distance space travel. Measures to protect astronauts from health risks caused by space radiation will be important during extended missions to the moon or Mars, say researchers in a paper currently online in Experimental Neurology. ...> Full Article

Reprogrammed adult cells treat sickle-cell anemia in mice (12/11/2007)

Mice with a human sickle-cell anemia disease trait have been treated successfully in a process that begins by directly reprogramming their own cells to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the use of eggs. This is the first proof-of-principle of therapeutic application in mice of directly reprogrammed "induced pluripotent stem" (IPS) cells, which recently have been derived in mice as well as humans. ...> Full Article

New method exploits ancient mechanism to switch genes on and off at will (12/10/2007)

Since our ancestors first harnessed fire, we've used heat to cook burgers, forge steel and power rockets. Now, Rockefeller University researchers are using heat for another purpose: turning genes on and off at will. By exploiting the heat shock response, an ancient mechanism that protects cells from dangerously high temperatures, researchers have developed a new method to introduce foreign genes, called transgenes, into an organism and control when and where these transgenes are expressed. Unlike other techniques, which are labor intensive and inefficient, this new method makes controlling transgene expression as easy as turning the dial on an oven. ...> Full Article

Stem cells show power to predict disease, drug toxicity (12/10/2007)

For the first time, scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to predict the toxic effects of drugs and provide chemical clues to diagnosing disease. ...> Full Article

Promising Cell Transplantation after Heart Attack (12/9/2007)

Implanted 'spare cells' prevent life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia in mice ...> Full Article

Gene regulates polarity in flatworms (12/9/2007)

When cut, a planarian flatworm can use a population of stem cells called neoblasts to regenerate new heads, new tails or even entire new organisms from a tiny fragment of its body. Mechanisms have been sought to explain this process of regeneration polarity for over 100 years, but until now, little was known about how planaria can regenerate heads and tails at their proper sites. ...> Full Article

Canada's first cloned pigs born (12/8/2007)

Long-term cloning program will aid in research on treating human diseases ...> Full Article

Preventing arrhythmias in damaged hearts (12/8/2007)

When researchers at Cornell, the University of Bonn and the University of Pittsburgh transplanted living embryonic heart cells into cardiac tissue of mice that had suffered heart attacks, the mice became resistant to cardiac arrhythmias, thereby avoiding one of the most dangerous and fatal consequences of heart attacks. ...> Full Article

New marker identifies cancer stem cells (12/7/2007)

Marker corresponds to worse outcomes, could help determine treatments ...> Full Article

Sculpted 3-D particles could aid diagnostics, tissue engineering (12/5/2007)

Engineers have used ultraviolet light to sculpt three-dimensional microparticles that could have many applications in medical diagnostics and tissue engineering. For example, the particles could be designed to act as probes to detect certain molecules, such as DNA, or to release drugs or nutrients. ...> Full Article

Stem-cell therapies for brain more complicated than thought (12/2/2007)

Stem cell therapies for the brain could be much more complicated than previously thought, an MIT research team's latest finding suggests. ...> Full Article

Yamanaka Reports Additional Success in Reprogramming Human Adult Cells into Embryonic-like Stem Cells (12/1/2007)

Building on their research reported last week, acclaimed stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD), and colleagues have shown how to convert adult mouse or human skin cells into cells that resemble embryonic stem cells without using the tumour-causing gene c-Myc. The paper will be published online in Nature Biotechnology. Elimination of c-Myc is considered a critical step in making these so-called "reprogrammed" cells safe for clinical applications in patients. ...> Full Article