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

Researchers uncover on-and-off switch for adult stem cells (10/31/2007)

Scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have discovered a protein that acts as a gas pedal and brake for so-called "adult" stem cells. The findings, which appear in the current issue of the scientific journal Blood, could have important treatment implications for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover how gold eases pain of arthritis (10/27/2007)

Scientists may have solved the mystery surrounding the healing properties of gold – a discovery they say may renew interest in gold salts as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. ...> Full Article

Researchers find signal that switches on eye development - Could lead to 'eye in a dish' (10/26/2007)

A British research team discovered signal that triggers eye development. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover important tool in understanding differentiation in human embryonic stem cells (10/25/2007)

Researchers have described how an existing genetic tool can be used to study how human embryonic stem cells differentiate. ...> Full Article

Adult stem cells lack key regulator (10/24/2007)

The protein Oct4 plays a major role in embryonic stem cells, acting as a master regulator of the genes that keep the cells in an undifferentiated state. Unsurprisingly, researchers studying adult stem cells have long suspected that Oct4 also is critical in allowing these cells to remain undifferentiated. Indeed, more than 50 studies have reported finding Oct4 activity in adult stem cells. ...> Full Article

Stem Cell Research Marches On (10/22/2007)

Stem cell research proceeds apace, but many challenges lie ahead ...> Full Article

New Stem Cells by Reprogramming (10/19/2007)

By 'de-programming' existing specialised cells it might be possible to create cells which resemble embryonic stem cells, bypassing many of the ethical and moral objections to using human embryos ...> Full Article

Stem Cell Nuclei Are Soft 'Hard Drives,' Study Finds (10/15/2007)

Biophysicists have discovered that the nuclei of human stem cells are particularly soft and flexible, rather than hard, making it easier for stem cells to migrate through the body and to adopt different shapes, but ultimately to put human genes in the correct nuclear "sector" for proper access and expression. ...> Full Article

Adult stem cells lack key pluripotency regulator (10/14/2007)

The protein Oct4 plays a major role in embryonic stem cells, acting as a master regulator of the genes that keep the cells in an undifferentiated state. Unsurprisingly, researchers studying adult stem cells have long suspected that Oct4 also is critical in allowing these cells to remain undifferentiated. Indeed, more than 50 studies have reported finding Oct4 activity in adult stem cells. ...> Full Article

Application of adult stem cells to regenerate hearts having suffered attacks by means of catheter (10/13/2007)

A team of cardiologists have carried out clinical trials (phase II) on 50 patients in order to test adult stem cell transplants in the heart of persons who have suffered a heart attack. ...> Full Article

Stem cells may enhance capability of heart cells to regenerate (10/12/2007)

During a fatal heart attack, at least 1 billion heart cells are killed in the left ventricle, one of the heart's two big lower pumping chambers that move blood into the body. ...> Full Article

Umbilical Cord Blood Program Launched at Pennsylvania Hospital (10/12/2007)

Families will be able to bank cord blood for the future and donate samples for scientific research ...> Full Article

Discovering a new science (10/11/2007)

The genetic techniques developed by Nobel Laureates are already bringing huge benefits, having been adopted in laboratories the world over for vital research into hundreds of diseases and disorders. ...> Full Article

Neighborly care keeps stem cells young (10/11/2007)

Researchers show that in older flies a steep decline in the growth factor unpaired (upd), which is necessary to maintain stem cells, results in fewer stem cells in the testis of the fruit fly Drosophila. Identifying the reasons for reduced upd expression could reveal how aging leads to changes in stem cell behavior, and counteracting these changes may slow the loss of adult stem cells during aging. ...> Full Article

Scientists repair heart attacks with engineered tissue (10/10/2007)

Research shows that it may be possible to one day repair a person's heart after a heart attack by using a "patch" grown from his or her own cells. ...> Full Article

One Shot of Gene Therapy Spreads Through Brain in Animal Study (10/9/2007)

Method Has Potential for Correcting Devastating Genetic Diseases ...> Full Article

Microchannels for tissue growth (10/9/2007)

laboratories may grow synthetically engineered tissues such as muscle or cartilage needed for transplants. In a major step forward ...> Full Article

Researchers test stem cell therapy for heart patients (10/5/2007)

Doctors on Wednesday (Oct. 3) treated their first patient enrolled in a new study designed to test whether injecting stem cells into the heart helps restore blood flow to the organ by prompting new blood vessels to grow. ...> Full Article

Cilia key to cell signalling that tells a cell what type of cell to become (10/4/2007)

Researchers say they have figured out how human and all animal cells tune in to a key signal, one that literally transmits the instructions that shape their final bodies. It turns out the cells assemble their own little radio antenna on their surfaces to help them relay the proper signal to the developmental proteins "listening" on the inside of the cell. ...> Full Article

New Building for Stem Cell, Cardiovascular, and Immune System Research (10/2/2007)

Yale School of Medicine on October 5 will celebrate the opening of a new four-story building on Amistad Street to house medical researchers working on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and the biology and uses of stem cells. ...> Full Article

Promising Genetic Therapy Uses RNA Interference (10/1/2007)

Researchers from MIT, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and other institutions have demonstrated the safety of a promising type of genetic therapy that could lead to treatments for a wide range of diseases such as cancer. ...> Full Article

'Jumping Genes' Could Make For Safer Gene Delivery System (10/1/2007)

To move a gene from point A to point B, scientists and gene therapists have two proven options: a virus, which can effectively ferry genes of interest into cells, and a plasmid, an engineered loop of DNA that can do the same thing, albeit usually only on a short-term basis. ...> Full Article