Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources - September 2009 Archives
Chaos brews in the brains of newborns: the nerve cells are still bound only loosely to each other. Under the leadership of Academy Research Fellow Sari Lauri, a team of researchers at the University of Helsinki has been studying for years how a neural network capable of processing information effectively is created out of chaos. The team has now found a new kind of mechanism that adjusts the functional development of nerve cell contacts.
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 | A new study resolves a 130-year-old mystery over the developmental origin of specialized skin cells involved in touch sensation. The findings will appear in the October 5, 2009, issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. ...> Full Article |
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and two other academic institutions have received federal funding to systematically assemble functional human kidney tissue from tissue modeled on a computer. If successful, the research -- which ties together several emerging technologies including virtual tissue modeling and nanofabrication -- could lead to a more predictable way for researchers to engineer tissue outside the body and, consequently, to screen for new drugs.
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University of Utah medical ethics expert Jeffrey R. Botkin will chair a federal panel that will review scientists' requests to conduct government-funded research using embryonic stem cells left over from couples who used "test-tube fertilization" to have babies.
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Private cord blood banking is not cost-effective because it costs an additional $1,374,246 per life-year gained, according to a new analysis by UCSF researchers. The research team also concluded that private cord blood banking is cost-effective only for families with a child with a very high likelihood of needing a stem cell transplant.
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The Stem Cell Charter is a collective call to action in support of stem cell research. It is being released at the World Stem Cell Summit in Baltimore, Md.
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 | In a study published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, EMBL scientists provide conclusive proof that, when a muscle is injured, white blood cells called macrophages play a crucial role in its regeneration and uncovered the genetic switch that controls this process and uncovered the genetic switch that controls this process, opening the door for new therapeutic approaches to sports injuries and to diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. ...> Full Article |
Chemists used to explain combustion as the release of a mysterious substance, which they named "phlogiston." Only when it came to pinning down the distinctive physical properties of phlogiston did it become clear that no such thing exists. Now an opinion piece by Arthur Lander, published in BioMed Central's open-access Journal of Biology, argues that the idea of stem cells is running into similar troubles as investigators try to pin it down to a set of distinctive molecular characteristics.
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Scientists have identified how a protein enables sections of so-called junk DNA to be cut and pasted within genetic code -- a finding which could speed development of gene therapies
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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered how one antioxidant protein controls the activity of another protein, critical for the development of spinal cord neurons. The research, publishing this week in Cell, describes a never-before known mechanism of protein control.
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 | Human iPS cells retain some gene expression of donor cells ...> Full Article |
A new grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of the National Institutes of Health, will provide funding for University of Miami College of Engineering researchers to develop a novel bioreactor system that will control mechano-electrochemical environment for tissue growth and also provide on-line monitoring for the properties of engineered tissues.
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Writing online in the journal Nature, scientists from the University of Florida and the University of Washington cast a rosy light on the potential for gene therapy to treat adult vision disorders involving cone cells -- the most important cells for vision in people. Scientists used gene therapy to cure two squirrel monkeys of color blindness -- the most common genetic disorder in people.
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 | Wounds trigger regeneration in planaria, a flatworm commonly studied for its regenerative capabilities. Until now, no molecular connection between wounding and the onset of regeneration of an entire head or tail in planaria had been identified. Although animals such as planaria and starfish can regrow virtually any part of their bodies, humans have restricted regenerative capabilities. A better understanding of regeneration could one day benefit patients with traumatic injuries, such as amputations or nerve damage. ...> Full Article |
 | Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers will use more than $1 million in grant funding to study engineered tissues that mimic the liver, one of the human body's most complex organs. The primary research goal of these projects is to assemble 3D cellular structures that mimic the liver using the major cell types found in the liver. Liver mimics could eventually form the basis for extracorporeal liver-assist devices. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, in collaboration the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas in Madrid, have discovered two proteins that control when and how stem cells switch to being skin cells. The findings, published online today in Nature Cell Biology, shed light on the basic mechanisms involved not only in formation of skin, but also on skin cancer. and other epithelial cancers. ...> Full Article |
 | The first engineering study of the internal fluid flows of insects, creatures that have evolved efficiently over millions of years, may provide engineers and scientists with new ideas for how to build better artificial tissues and organs, and for the design of new medically implantable microdevices. ...> Full Article |
A new study finds substantial improvement in a mouse model of a rare, hereditary neurodegenerative disease after transplantation of normal human neural stem cells. The research findings, published by Cell Press in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, show that the transplanted cells provided a critical enzyme that was missing in the brains of the experimental mice and represent an important step toward what may be a successful therapeutic approach for a currently untreatable and devastating disease.
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 | Anticoagulant plays unexpected role in maintaining circulatory integrity ...> Full Article |
Blood vessel growth in the cornea is a key contributor to corneal graft rejection. With approximately 46,000 corneal grafts performed worldwide each year, there is always a short supply of donor grafts. GS-101 has designed to inhibit blood vessel growth hence graft rejection.
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A team of Northwestern University researchers has introduced the power of nanodiamonds as a novel gene delivery technology that combines key properties in one approach: enhanced delivery efficiency along with outstanding biocompatibility. The researchers engineered surface-modified nanodiamond particles that successfully and efficiently delivered DNA into mammalian cells. The delivery efficiency was 70 times greater than that of a conventional standard for gene delivery. The new hybrid material could impact many facets of nanomedicine.
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A research report featured on the cover of the September 2009 print issue of the FASEB Journal describes how Australian scientists developed a new gene therapy vector that uses the same machinery that viruses use to transport their cargo into our cells. As a result, therapeutic DNA can be transferred to a cell's nucleus more efficiently than in the past, raising hopes for more effective treatment of genetic disorders and some types of cancers.
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Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
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Chemical competition: Research identifies new mechanism regulating embryonic development
Mathematical innovation turns blood draw into information gold mine in Stanford study
Deceptive model
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Using own skin cells to repair hearts on horizon
Stem cells restore sight in mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa
The mouse with a human liver: A new model for the treatment of liver disease