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Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources - February 2010 Archives
A spray-on skin product and an injectable cell therapy for heart attack patients are among 17 regenerative medicine technologies that will be showcased during the Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum, set for April 6-8 in Winston-Salem.
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 | An international research team led by Columbia University Medical Center successfully used mouse embryonic stem cells to replace diseased retinal cells and restore sight in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. This strategy could potentially become a new treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, a leading cause of blindness that affects approximately one in 3,000 to 4,000 people, or 1.5 million people worldwide. The study appears online ahead of print in the journal Transplantation. ...> Full Article |
Some 200 veterinarians, stem cell researchers and other medical professionals from throughout the United States and abroad will gather March 5-6 in the heart of California’s Central Coast horse region for a groundbreaking conference on the use of stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine to treat horses and other animals. This two-day working meeting will include scientific presentations, live demonstrations and discussion sessions.
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 | How do you study -- and try to cure in the laboratory -- an infection that only humans can get? A team led by Salk Institute researchers does it by generating a mouse with an almost completely human liver. This "humanized" mouse is susceptible to human liver infections and responds to human drug treatments, providing a new way to test novel therapies for debilitating human liver diseases and other diseases with liver involvement such as malaria. ...> Full Article |
 | Regulatory proteins common to all eukaryotic cells can have additional, unique functions in embryonic stem cells, according to a study in the Feb. 22 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. If cancer progenitor cells -- which function similarly to stem cells -- are shown to rely on these regulatory proteins in the same way, it may be possible to target them therapeutically without harming healthy neighboring cells. ...> Full Article |
Brain researcher Hiroshi Kawabe has discovered the workings of a process that had been completely overlooked until now, and that allows nerve cells in the brain to grow and form complex networks. The study shows that an enzyme which usually controls the destruction of protein components has an unexpected function in nerve cells: it controls the structure of the cytoskeleton and thus ensures that nerve cells can form the tree-like extensions that are necessary for signal transmission in the brain.
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A UCSF team, led by bioethicist Bernard Lo, M.D., recommends that the National Institutes of Health ethics guidelines for embryonic stem cell research be modified to better protect the rights of individuals donating egg or sperm to patients undergoing in vitro fertilization.
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 | A completely novel approach to analyzing time-lapse images of live stem cell behaviors has yielded a tool for successfully predicting outcomes of stem and progenitor cells. It will allow scientists to search for mechanisms that control stem cell specialization, the main obstacle in advancing the use of stem cell therapy for treatment of disease. ...> Full Article |
In an effort to sidestep the ethical dilemma involved in using human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases, scientists are developing non-controversial alternatives: in particular, they are looking for drug-like chemical compounds that can transform adult skin cells into the stem cells now obtained from human embryos. That's the topic of a fascinating article in Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly news magazine.
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The great promise of induced pluripotent stem cells is that the all-purpose cells seem capable of performing all the same tricks as embryonic stem cells, but without the controversy.
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A new study from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institut and the University of Ottawa shows for the first time that stem cells intentionally cut and then repair their own DNA as a mechanism of activating genes that promote the development of new tissues. This is a new way of activating a gene, and it could change how researchers think about tissue development, stem cells and cancer.
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Scientists have discovered a molecular pathway that works through the immune system to regenerate damaged kidney tissues and may lead to new therapies for repairing injury in other organs. The study in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may have significant medical ramifications as currently there are no effective treatments for acute kidney injury -- a growing problem in hospitals and clinics.
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 | Biologists have identified the specific region in vertebrates where adult blood stem cells arise during embryonic development. The researchers say their time-lapse imaging of the process, by which primitive embryonic tissues first produce the parent stem cells that produce all adult blood cells over the life of an individual, should help guide future efforts to repair and replace this cell population for therapeutic purposes. ...> Full Article |
Clinical testing and development of novel therapies based on advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine will one day enable the repair and replacement of diseased or damaged human muscle, bone, tendons and ligaments depends on the availability of good animal models. The highlights of a recent workshop that explored the need for and current status of animal models for musculoskeletal regenerative medicine are presented in a special issue of Tissue Engineering, Part B: Reviews.
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 | Medical College of Georgia researchers are conducting the first FDA-approved clinical trial to determine whether an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood can improve the quality of life for children with cerebral palsy. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and CSIC report on the formation of the small-diameter respiratory tubes of the fly Drosophila, a process that resembles the development of the finest blood vessels, the capillaries, in mammals. These tubes or capillaries, formed by a single cell, connect the main tubes of the respiratory system with organs and tissues, thereby providing oxygen. The study has been published in the journal Current Biology, part of the Cell group. ...> Full Article |
 | Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into the cells or permanently alter a cell's genome. ...> Full Article |
In Nature, Singapore scientists report that Tbx3 significantly improves quality of induced pluripotent stem cells.
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Researchers at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná and Instituto Carlos Chagas have evaluated the therapeutic potential of purified and expanded CD133+ cells human umbilical cord blood (HUCB)-derived in treating myocardial infarction by intramyocardially injecting them into a rat model. Patients who have high cardiovascular risks have fewer endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and their EPCs exhibit greater in vitro senescence. The results appear in the January 2010 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine.
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 | Stem cell researchers exploring a new approach for the care of respiratory diseases report that an experimental treatment involving transplantable lung cells was associated with improved outcomes in tests on mice with acute lung injury. The lung cells were derived from human embryonic stem cells. Findings by investigators at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are scheduled to appear in the March issue of Molecular Therapy. ...> Full Article |
 | Stem cell research at the University of California, Riverside will soon gather speed thanks to the establishment of a new Stem Cell Core Facility -- a shared facility providing infrastructure, equipment, and trained personnel for doing stem cell research. The SCCF is expected to produce breakthroughs at a much faster pace than before, assisted by its Nikon BioStation CT incubator. UCR is the first institution in the country to purchase the Nikon BioStation CT technology. ...> Full Article |
 | Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. The therapy is minimally invasive, utilizes bone marrow stem cells and produces natural cartilage. Unlike bone, cartilage does not grow back, and it cannot effectively be replaced. Countless people learn this all too well when they bring their bad knees, shoulders and elbows to an orthopedic surgeon. ...> Full Article |
Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown how transplanted stem cells can connect with and rescue threatened neurons and brain tissue. The results point the way to new possible treatments for brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases.
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Alternatives to liver transplantation are needed because of the shortage of liver donors. A research team in Taiwan has evaluated the transplantation of liver cells in animal models to assess efficacy. They found that enhanced proliferation of even small numbers of liver cells could reverse liver failure. Additionally, they found prolonged hepatic stellate cell activation, that is crucial for liver repair and plays a role in hepatocyte engraftment, which declined after four weeks.
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 | A natural material derived from crustacean shell and algae supports the growth of human embryonic stem cells. ...> Full Article |
Linheng Li, Ph.D., investigator, together with Hans Clevers, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands, co-authored a prospective review published today by the journal Science that proposes a model of mammalian adult stem cell regulation that may explain how the coexistence of two disparate stem cell states regulates both stem cell maintenance and simultaneously supports rapid tissue regeneration.
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In a major step toward commercialization of a promising therapeutic treatment, Oak Ridge National Laboratory contractor UT-Battelle has exclusively licensed patents on inventions based on the Nell-1 gene to NellOne Therapeutics, Inc. (NellOne), a company spun out of the Department of Energy laboratory.
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