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

Researchers decipher blood stem cell attachment, communication (3/28/2009)

Finding has implications for leukemia treatment, artificially culturing blood cells ...> Full Article

Therapeutic cloning gets a boost with new research findings (3/27/2009)

San Antonio and Honolulu researchers make important discoveries about point mutation rates in cloned mouse fetuses ...> Full Article

CellThera and WPI advance in regeneration study (3/25/2009)

CellThera, a biotechnology company located in Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park, has received a contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to extend its research program in tissue regeneration. Under the terms of the contract, CellThera, which is part of WPI's Bioengineering Institute, and the university will continue their joint efforts aimed at restoring tissues damaged or lost due to traumatic injury. ...> Full Article

New stem cell therapy may lead to treatment for deafness (3/25/2009)

A new study has successfully isolated human auditory stem cells from fetal cochleae ...> Full Article

Human adult testes cells can become embryonic-like (3/24/2009)

Using what they say is a relatively simple method, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have extracted stem/progenitor cells from testes and have converted them back into pluripotent embryonic-like stem cells. Researchers say that the naïve cells are now potentially capable of morphing into any cell type that a body needs, from brain neurons to pancreatic tissue. ...> Full Article

Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny (3/20/2009)

Protein that controls access to genes plays an important role in embryonic skin stem cells ...> Full Article

Protein is key to embryonic stem cell differentiation (3/19/2009)

Burnham scientists identify protein that controls differentiation in human and mouse embryonic stem cells ...> Full Article

Researchers clone key sperm-binding proteins (3/18/2009)

University of Montreal and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Center study published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction ...> Full Article

Multiple route bone marrow stem cell injections show promise to treat spinal cord injury (3/14/2009)

A joint American and Ecuadorian research team has found that injecting a patient's own bone marrow cells directly into the spinal column using multiple routes was effective in treating spinal cord injury, returning some quality of life but without serious adverse events. Improved blood flow and oxygen supply may have contributed to the success, even for a gunshot wound victim. Functional improvements, including improved bladder control, were observed. ...> Full Article

Empire State Stem Cell Board awards $12.7 million to Albert Einstein College of Medicine (3/13/2009)

Additional funding to support promising medical advancements ...> Full Article

'Seeing' stem cells helps in fight against peripheral arterial disease (3/12/2009)

Unique interventional radiology research puts puzzle pieces together in regenerating blood vessels to open clogged arteries, uses firefly-like bioluminescence imaging agent ...> Full Article

The difference between eye cells is…sumo? (3/11/2009)

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine have identified a key to eye development -- a protein that regulates how the light-sensing nerve cells in the retina form. While still far from the clinic, the latest results, published in the Jan. 29 issue of Neuron, could help scientists better understand how nerve cells develop. ...> Full Article

Vet researchers identify a critical growth factor that stimulates sperm stem cells to thrive (3/10/2009)

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and Pennsylvania State University have identified for the first time a specific "niche factor" in the mouse testes called colony stimulating factor 1, Csf1, that has a direct effect on sperm stem cell self-renewal. ...> Full Article

Stem cells replace stroke-damaged tissue in rats (3/9/2009)

Effective stem cell treatment for strokes has taken a significant step forward today as scientists reveal how they have replaced stroke-damaged brain tissue in rats. The team of scientists show that by inserting tiny scaffolding with stem cells attached, it is possible to fill a hole left by stroke damage with brand new brain tissue within seven days. ...> Full Article

Research team identifies stem cells that repair injured muscles (3/9/2009)

A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has identified a type of skeletal muscle stem cell that contributes to the repair of damaged muscles in mice, which could have important implications in the treatment of injured, diseased or aging muscle tissue in humans, including the ravages of muscular dystrophy. ...> Full Article

Study sheds light on how stem cells develop into blood cells (3/8/2009)

The pathway works by organizing the cells so that they can respond to signals for blood development ...> Full Article

Stem cells could halt osteoporosis, promote bone growth (3/6/2009)

MUHC team describes a new pathway that controls bone remodelling ...> Full Article

Misplaced metamorphosis (3/5/2009)

Penn researchers identify source of cells that spur aberrant bone growth ...> Full Article

Technique may help stem cells generate solid organs, study shows (3/4/2009)

Stem cells can thrive in segments of well-vascularized tissue temporarily removed from laboratory animals, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ...> Full Article

Researchers piggyback to safer reprogrammed stem cells (3/3/2009)

Exciting recent developments in stem cell research have revealed how specialized cells, such as skin cells, can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) that can form all the body's tissues. But the reprogramming techniques currently in use rely on potentially harmful viruses to deliver the reprogramming factors required for this change. Now Cambridge stem cell scientists report in the journal Development a new and safer way to generate such stem cells. ...> Full Article

Cell microenvironments hold key to future stem cell therapies (3/2/2009)

Researchers led by Berkeley Lab's Mark LaBarge and Mina Bissell have shown that the ultimate fate of a stem or progenitor cell in a woman's breast -- whether the cell develops normally or whether it turns cancerous -- may depend upon signals from multiple microenvironments. Their results suggest that modulations of microenvironmental signals are a promising pathway for future cancer and regenerative medicine therapies ...> Full Article

Spun-sugar fibers spawn sweet technique for nerve repair (3/1/2009)

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a technique using spun-sugar filaments to create a scaffold of tiny synthetic tubes that might serve as conduits to regenerate nerves severed in accidents or blood vessels damaged by disease. ...> Full Article