Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources - February 2008 Archives

California Stem Cell Agency to Deliver $750 Million in Embryonic Stem Cell Research Grants (2/29/2008)

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) announced today that its Major Facilities Grants program is expected to generate approximately $750 million in potential investment commitments for new stem cell research facilities through the State of California. ...> Full Article

Use Of Adult Stem Cells May Be Beneficial For Some Patients With Certain Cardiovascular Disorders And Autoimmune Diseases (2/27/2008)

A review of previously published research suggests that stem cells harvested from an adult's blood or marrow may provide treatment benefit to select patients for some autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disorders, according to an article in the February 27 issue of JAMA. ...> Full Article

Stem cell pioneer James Thomson to steer regenerative medicine at MIR (2/26/2008)

The Morgridge Institute for Research, the private, not-for-profit side of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, is announcing the appointment of world-renowned stem cell pioneer and researcher James Thomson as the first member of its multidisciplinary scientific leadership team. ...> Full Article

Hospital first to use utilize novel stem cell therapy (2/24/2008)

University Hospitals Case Medical Center's Heart & Vascular Institute is the first hospital in Northeast Ohio to use the NOGA XP Cardiac Navigation System to inject a patient's own stem cells into his/her heart to treat angina. The innovative cardiac mapping system allows physicians to deliver the stem cell therapy into damaged areas of the heart with pinpoint accuracy. ...> Full Article

Scientists Testing Stem Cell Treatment on Injured Horses (2/22/2008)

Researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) are offering stem cell therapy to repair injured tendons and ligaments in horses with the aim of researching the possibility of similar treatment in humans. ...> Full Article

Stem cells helped repair stroke damage in rats, early study shows (2/21/2008)

Neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells helped repair stroke-related damage in the brains of rats and led to improvements in their physical abilities after a stroke, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ...> Full Article

Gift aids U-M stem cell research (2/20/2008)

Gift from Robert and Marge Alpern will aid University of Michigan scientists' efforts in all types of stem cell research ...> Full Article

Bucks for Brains team brings in $4.7 million (2/19/2008)

The Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC) at the University of Louisville has received three federal grants totaling $4.7 million to find therapies for spinal cord injuries. KSCIRC also will receive at $300,000 grant from the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust. ...> Full Article

From Stem Cells To Organs: The Bioengineering Challenge (2/17/2008)

For more than a decade, Peter Zandstra has been working at the University of Toronto to rev up the production of stem cells and their descendants. The raw materials are adult blood stem cells and embryonic stem cells. The end products are blood and heart cells -- lots of them. Enough mouse heart cells that they form beating tissue. ...> Full Article

Major step forward in understanding cell reprogramming (2/15/2008)

Researchers define sequence of events during reprogramming process ...> Full Article

Gene Therapy Protocol Activates Immune System in Patients with Leukemia (2/13/2008)

A research team at the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reports that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells. The study will be published on line the week of February 11-15 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. ...> Full Article

Discovery Of Good - And Bad - Liver Stem Cells Raises Possibility Of New Treatment (2/12/2008)

Many scientists believe up to 40 percent of liver cancer is caused by stem cells gone wild -- master cells in the organ that have lost all growth control. But, despite years spent looking, no one has ever found these liver "cancer stem cells" -- or even normal stem cells in the organ. Until now. ...> Full Article

How the Heart Takes Form (2/11/2008)

Researchers Describe Early Heart Development in Vertebrates ...> Full Article

Heart hormone crucial for skeletal growth in the foetus, children and adolescents (2/10/2008)

Researchers have broken new scientific ground with discoveries regarding a previously little understood heart hormone, showing how it is crucial for bone development and growth after birth. ...> Full Article

Researchers Identify Cell Process That Regulates Wound Healing (2/9/2008)

Researchers have uncovered cell processes that will open new therapeutic approaches to wound healing. ...> Full Article

Bone Marrow Stem Cell Release Regulated By Brain's Biological Clock (2/8/2008)

Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that the release of blood stem cells from bone marrow is regulated by the brain through the cyclical human biological clock, via adrenergic signals transmitted by the sympathetic nervous system. These new findings point out that the harvest of stem cells for transplantation may be improved by timing it at the peak of their release. ...> Full Article

RNA-Associated Introns Guide Nerve-Cell Channel Production, Researchers Find (2/7/2008)

Implications for Studying Learning, Memory, and Neurological Diseases ...> Full Article

Software grant could speed medicinal regeneration technologies (2/6/2008)

Regenerative medicine -- as in re-growing human limbs -- sounds like the basis for a Hollywood action movie. But a research group at Indiana University Bloomington led by biophysicist James Glazier will soon provide the scientific community with a new tool to help bring futuristic medical technologies to real-world laboratories. ...> Full Article

Stem cell lines created from discarded IVF embryos (2/5/2008)

An alternative path to disease-specific stem cells? ...> Full Article

Researchers find trigger gene for muscle development (2/2/2008)

University of Oregon scientists say they have identified a gene that is the key switch that allows embryonic cells to form into muscles in zebrafish. ...> Full Article

Medicine From Milk: Gene Therapy Transforms Goats Into Pharmaceutical Factories (2/1/2008)

University of Pennsylvania researchers have used gene therapy to reduce the time it takes to breed large animals capable of producing therapeutic proteins in their milk, such as insulin or those that fight cancer. This represents a significant milestone in drug development, as current methods involve cloning, which takes more time and generally costs more. ...> Full Article