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

Stem Cells Speed Growth Of Healthy Liver Tissue (3/31/2007)

For the first time, researchers have used adult bone marrow stem cells to regenerate healthy human liver tissue, according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Radiology. ...> Full Article

Researcher Develop X-Ray System for Tracking Stem Cells (3/30/2007)

In a first of its kind study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have developed a new technique that transports therapeutic stem cells in a multilayer microcapsule that not only protects the cells from being attacked by the body's immune system but also enables them to be seen on X-ray. ...> Full Article

Ultrathin films deliver DNA as possible gene therapy tool (3/30/2007)

Gene therapy - the idea of using genetic instructions rather than drugs to treat disease - has tickled scientists' imaginations for decades, but is not yet a viable therapeutic method. One sizeable hurdle is getting the right genes into the right place at the right time. ...> Full Article

Intelligent materials to regenerate bone tissue (3/30/2007)

Scientists working on the regeneration and repair of bone tissue by developing a support matrix out of a compound that is intelligent. ...> Full Article

Scientists create a sheep that's 15% human (3/30/2007)

Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep hybrid with the body of a sheep and containing organs that are human. ...> Full Article

Muscle Stem Cells May Offer A New Treatment Option for Congestive Heart Failure (3/29/2007)

As a new wave of stem cell research continues, cardiologists are trying to tap into the self-renewing cells' life-saving potential. Scientists have performed the first U.S. controlled, randomized Phase I clinical trial using a three-dimensional guided catheter system to deliver muscular stem cells to the heart. The study was presented Mar 25, 2007, at the American College of Cardiology's Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit in New Orleans, La. ...> Full Article

Stem cell therapy shows promise for rescuing deteriorating vision (3/29/2007)

For the millions of Americans whose vision is slowly ebbing due to degenerative diseases of the eye, the lowly neural progenitor cell may be riding to the rescue. ...> Full Article

First Human Trial Tests Stem Cell Based Treatment for Heart Attacks (3/28/2007)

Despite the enduring controversy surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells for disease research, scientists continue to evaluate therapeutic potential of other types of stem cells. Previous research on the efficacy of stem cell therapy for heart repair has shown possible benefit from mesenchymal cells (MSCs) - cells found in bone marrow that create connective tissue, bone and cartilage. A study presented Mar 25th, 2007 at the American College of Cardiology's Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit, reveals the results of the first human trial using MSCs for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI, or heart attack). ...> Full Article

DNA layer reduces risk of reserve parts being rejected (3/27/2007)

Dutch researchers Jeroen van den Beucken and John Jansen have given body implants a DNA layer. This layer ensures a better attachment, more rapid recovery of the surrounding tissue and less immune responses. The older we get the more 'reserve-parts' we need. Up until now placing such parts yielded advantages, but also disadvantages such as inflammations and immune responses. Van den Beucken's invention makes it easier and more reliable to use implants and has already been patented. ...> Full Article

Scientists Progress In Successful Tissue Engineering (3/26/2007)

Tissue engineering is a relatively new field of basic and clinical science that is concerned, in part, with creating tissues that can augment or replace injured, defective, or diseased body parts. The approach to fabricating the tissues involves adding specific cell types to grow on a polymer scaffold having the shape of the tissue to be restored. The scaffold gradually disappears, while the cells continue developing in the scaffold shape. With the use of non-human animal cells, there has been considerable recent progress made in the engineering of skin, bladder, cartilage, and several other tissues. ...> Full Article

Scientists Re-grow Dental Enamel From Cultured Cells (3/26/2007)

Dental enamel is the hardest tissue produced by the body. It cannot regenerate itself, because it is formed by a layer of cells that is lost by the time the tooth appears in the mouth. The enamel spends the remainder of its lifetime vulnerable to wear, damage, and decay. ...> Full Article

Stem Cell Signaling Mystery Solved (3/25/2007)

University of Southern California researchers have discovered a small molecule that may allow for growth of human stem cells without threat of contamination. ...> Full Article

Tiny Clue Reveals New Path Toward Heart Disease (3/24/2007)

Geneticists have discovered a new gene that may put individuals at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. ...> Full Article

Genetic Studies Endow Mice with New Color Vision (3/23/2007)

Scientists with Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of California have created a mouse with color vision by introducing a human gene into a mouse chromosome. ...> Full Article

Stitches Made of Biopolymer can be Absorbed by Body (3/23/2007)

With the help of a new type of suture based on MIT research, patients who get stitches may never need to have them removed. ...> Full Article

Repairing Heart Tissues with Lab Grown Cells (3/21/2007)

University of Minnesota researchers have found a cell type in adult rat hearts that can make all types of cardiac cells. This offers hope that someday these cells could be used to repair heart muscle damaged by a heart attack or to grow new blood vessels for use in bypass surgery. ...> Full Article

Reconstructing an aging eye with Stem cells (3/20/2007)

Due to damage from injuries or disease, the ability of the eyes to produce replacement corneal epithelial cells may be impaired. The cornea becomes cloudy, the vision deteriorates and the patient experiences considerable discomfort. A new technique is being test to replace the stem cells in the eye, so that it can continue to regenerate. ...> Full Article

Building bone marrow with Stem Cells (3/20/2007)

A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota and Stanford University has found that a type of adult stem cell can replace the bone marrow and regenerate the immune systems of mice. If the finding can be extended to humans, it could mean a new and more abundant supply of cells for bone marrow transplant patients. ...> Full Article

Molecular Switch Holds Key to Reserve Supply of Muscle Stem Cells (3/17/2007)

After injury, even adult muscles can heal very well because they have a reserve supply of muscle stem cells, called satellite cells, which they can utilize for repair. Until now, it was unclear how this supply of satellite and muscle progenitor cells, out of which both muscle cells as well as satellite cells develop, keeps itself “fresh”. ...> Full Article

Researchers test adult stem cells to repair heart damage (3/16/2007)

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is among the first medical centers in the country taking part in a novel clinical trial investigating if a subject's own stem cells can treat a form of severe coronary artery disease. ...> Full Article

Biologists Trace Cause Of Early Blindness To Tissue Defect (3/15/2007)

Researchers at Texas A&M University are shedding light on a rare form of early blindness, identifying the cells involved and paving the way for possible therapies to treat or even prevent what is currently an incurable disease. ...> Full Article

Gene Therapy Shows Promise as Treatment for Diseased Limbs (3/14/2007)

New research suggests that gene therapy is a safe treatment method to explore in patients whose lower limbs are at risk for amputation because of poor circulation caused by blocked blood vessels. ...> Full Article

Gene therapy for blindness clears hurdle in mice (3/14/2007)

University of Florida researchers have used an experimental therapy in mice to shut down a gene that plays a crucial role in a leading cause of inherited blindness ...> Full Article

Stem cells repair neurodegenerative disease damage in mice (3/13/2007)

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise for benefiting degenerative diseases, and do so by invoking multiple mechanisms. Such cells can be grown in a manner compatible with clinical use (i.e., without animal feeder layers) and even without the need for immunosuppression. These were a few of a number of conclusions arrived at by an international collaboration led by Evan Y. Snyder, M.D., Ph.D., and spearheaded by a member of his lab, Jean-Pyo Lee, Ph.D., of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (“Burnham”). The study, to be published in Nature Medicine, will be made available by advanced publication at the journal’s website on March 11, 2007. ...> Full Article

Growing Eyes on Biomimetic Scaffolds (3/10/2007)

New sight for those who are blinded by macular degeneration may be moving closer to the list of medical miracles. In the young field of regenerative medicine, a UCSF scientist has invented unique microscopic scaffolds to support the growth of new cells to replace those lost to disease. ...> Full Article

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Could Help With Transplant Rejection (3/9/2007)

A University of Michigan Health System study is important step on path to reducing transplant rejection rates. ...> Full Article

Eye color due to multiple genes (3/8/2007)

A study by researchers from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research is the first to prove conclusively that there is no single gene for eye color. ...> Full Article

Spanish scientists discover substance called cardiotrophin that protects liver (3/6/2007)

Scientists have discovered that the liver produces a substance named cardiotrophin-1 when it suffers stress or damage; for instance, when the blood flow is interrupted. ...> Full Article

Rare Mutation Causes Early Heart Disease and Metabolic Syndrome (3/5/2007)

Yale School of Medicine researchers have identified a rare defect in a single gene that poses a substantial risk for metabolic syndrome and early heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. ...> Full Article

Algorithm Improves Kidney Transplant Chances for Sensitized Patients (3/5/2007)

Approximately one-third of the patients on the national waiting list for kidney transplants have only a small chance of receiving a new organ, no matter how long they are on the list. Due to prior transplants, pregnancies or blood transfusions, these patients have developed antibodies that make it very difficult to match them with donor organs. ...> Full Article

Scientists grow lung epithelial cells for transplants (3/5/2007)

Molecular scientists at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) – which is part of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – have developed a new procedure for the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, with which they have created the first transplantable source of lung epithelial cells. ...> Full Article

Genetic testing sheds light on degenerative eye disease (3/5/2007)

Genetic testing for eye disease is providing vital information about complex retinal diseases, especially when used to confirm a clinician’s diagnosis. ...> Full Article

Scientists re-grow tadpole tail hoping to learn how to regenerate limbs in humans (3/2/2007)

Scientists at the Forsyth Institute may have moved one step closer to regenerating human spinal cord tissue by artificially inducing a frog tadpole to re-grow its tail at a stage in its development when it is normally impossible. ...> Full Article

Bioengineer advances survival and promise of adult stem cells (3/1/2007)

MIT researchers have developed a technique to encourage the survival and growth of adult stem cells, a step that could help realize the therapeutic potential of such cells. ...> Full Article

Teeth grown in lab transplanted into mice (3/1/2007)

Researchers in Japan have successfully grown mice teeth in their laboratory and transplanted them into living mice. ...> Full Article

New Procedure To Differentiate Human Embryonic Stem Cells Developed (3/1/2007)

Molecular scientists at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) – which is part of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – have developed a new procedure for the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, with which they have created the first transplantable source of lung epithelial cells. ...> Full Article

Mayo Clinic Researchers Safely Regenerate Failing Mouse Hearts with Programmed Embryonic Stem Cells (3/1/2007)

Mayo Clinic researchers have safely transplanted cardiac preprogrammed embryonic stem cells into diseased hearts of mice successfully regenerating infarcted heart muscle without precipitating the growth of a cancerous tumor -- which, so far, has impeded successful translation into practice of embryonic stem cell research. ...> Full Article