Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources Archives Page 10

Scientists Invent Novel Hydrogels For Repairing And Regenerating Human Tissue (7/21/2007)

University of Delaware scientists have invented a novel biomaterial with surprising antibacterial properties that can be injected as a low-viscosity gel into a wound where it rigidifies nearly on contact - opening the door to the possibility of delivering a targeted payload of cells and antibiotics to repair the damaged tissue. ...> Full Article

MS Society Announces $2.4 Million To Continue Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Trial (7/20/2007)

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada announced a $2.4 million grant to continue a closely-watched clinical trial involving an experimental bone marrow stem cell transplant therapy. The trial is being conducted by a team of Canadian MS specialists led by Dr. Mark Freedman and Dr. Harry Atkins in Ottawa. ...> Full Article

Can Heart Tissue Be Regenerated? (7/19/2007)

Mature heart cells, given the right environment, can replicate ...> Full Article

Researchers Experiment With Stem Cells That Can Regenerate Bone And Skin Tissue (7/18/2007)

If Songtao Shi's latest discovery ever reaches Southern California clinics, "Oh, she's had a stem cell job," may one day replace the ubiquitous "She's had work done" as a tabloid euphemism for the efforts of the well-heeled to turn back the clock. ...> Full Article

Chitin From Lobster Shell Shows Great Healing And Bio-Stimulant Properties (7/18/2007)

Scientists from the University of Havana have used lobster waste to generate chitin and chitosan, two key compounds in biomedicine and agriculture. They used these compounds to produce surgical materials with great healing and antiseptic properties as well as to enhance growth speed and germination in seeds. Research results have been published in international research journals such as Macromol, Food Hydrocolloids, Journal of Applied Polymer Science or Polymer Bulletin. ...> Full Article

Scientists Peer Into Stem Cells in Live Brain (7/17/2007)

Observations Reveal How Brain Cells Move to Proper Functional Location; May Offer New Ways to Target Malfunctioning Brain Cells ...> Full Article

Study Provides New Data About The Laws Governing Embryo Development In Organisms (7/16/2007)

Research aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying embryo development has taken a step forward thanks to collaborative work between biologists specialized in the study of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and scientists specialized in the design of mathematical models that simulate the functioning of biological systems. ...> Full Article

One Man's Junk May be a Genomic Treasure (7/16/2007)

Scientists have only recently begun to speculate that what's referred to as "junk" DNA – the 96 percent of the human genome that doesn't encode for proteins and previously seemed to have no useful purpose – is present in the genome for an important reason. But it wasn't clear what the reason was. Now, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered one important function of so-called junk DNA. ...> Full Article

Team Finds New Mechanism Of Gene Control (7/15/2007)

Further understanding might aid regenerative medicine, more ...> Full Article

Breakthrough Leads To Better Understanding Of Human Stem Cell Growth (7/14/2007)

A startling discovery on the development of human embryonic stem cells by scientists at McMaster University will change how future research in the area is done. ...> Full Article

Progenitor Cell Acts Like Changeling to Become Whatever Cell Is Needed (7/13/2007)

Human development has long been seen as a one-way street. During gestation, stem cells were thought to develop into a succession of ever more specialized cells. As Dr. R. Ariel Gomez has discovered, the final identity of these cells is not as definite as once thought. "The identity of many cell types is in a constant state of flux," Gomez says. ...> Full Article

Scientists Establish Essential Markers to Characterize Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines (7/13/2007)

Scientists with the International Stem Cell Initiative (ISCI) have identified a set of common gene expression markers that may be used to reliably characterize diverse human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines. The initiative represents the first internationally coordinated effort to provide a systematic and comparative survey of the hESC lines available from various research groups around the world. The results of the groundbreaking study were published today in the July issue of Nature Biotechnology. ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover Human Embryonic Stem Cells Are The Ultimate Perpetual Fuel Cell (7/12/2007)

A startling discovery on the development of human embryonic stem cells by scientists at McMaster University will change how future research in the area is done. ...> Full Article

Scientists Find Brown Fat Master Switch (7/12/2007)

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a long-sought "master switch" in mice for the production of brown fat, a type of adipose tissue that generates heat and counters obesity caused by overeating. ...> Full Article

Bacteria Suggest New Approach To Alzheimer's Therapy (7/11/2007)

New insights into how bacteria form fibers called curli offer intriguing clues to the formation of harmful protein tangles in diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's, University of Michigan researchers report. Their results will be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of July 9-13. ...> Full Article

New Risk Factors Discovered For Alzheimer's Disease (7/10/2007)

A recent study in Journal of Neuroimaging suggests that cognitively normal adults exhibiting atrophy of their temporal lobe or damage to blood vessels in the brain are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Older adults showing signs of both conditions were seven-times more likely to develop Alzheimer's than their peers. ...> Full Article

When Tissue Repair Backfires (7/9/2007)

A new molecular link between inflammation and cancer, discovered through experiments with mice, has revealed how the body's natural repair response to tissue injury can actually spur tumor growth. ...> Full Article

Blood Clotting Protein May Inhibit Spinal Cord Regeneration (7/9/2007)

Fibrinogen, a blood-clotting protein found in circulating blood, has been found to inhibit the growth of central nervous system neuronal cells, a process that is necessary for the regeneration of the spinal cord after traumatic injury. The findings by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, may explain why the human body is unable to repair itself after most spinal cord injuries. ...> Full Article

Engineered Blood Vessels Function like Native Tissue (7/8/2007)

Blood vessels that have been tissue-engineered from bone marrow adult stem cells may in the future serve as a patient's own source of new blood vessels following a coronary bypass or other procedures that require vessel replacement, according to new research from the University at Buffalo Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. ...> Full Article

First Baby Is Born After Oocytes Were Matured In The Lab And Frozen (7/8/2007)

The first baby to be created from an egg that had been matured in the laboratory, frozen, thawed and then fertilised, has been born in Canada. Three other women are pregnant by the same process. The research was presented to the 23rd annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday 2 July). ...> Full Article

Extracting Eggs From Pre-pubertal Cancer Patients Brings Hope For Future Fertility (7/7/2007)

Scientists in Israel have been able to obtain and freeze eggs from the ovarian tissue of girls as young as 5 years old, the 23rd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology was told today (Tuesday 3 July). Dr. Ariel Revel, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel, said that the growing number of survivors of childhood cancers meant that such techniques would become increasingly important in preserving fertility in young patients. ...> Full Article

Researchers Use Adult Stem Cells to Create Soft Tissue (7/7/2007)

Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to use stem cells to engineer soft tissue, developing a process that should ultimately allow scientists to use a patient's own stem cells to develop tissue for facial reconstruction following disfiguring injuries from war, cancer surgery or accidents. ...> Full Article

How We Can Stop Stress From Making Us Obese (7/6/2007)

In what they call a "stunning research advance," investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center have been able to use simple, non-toxic chemical injections to add and remove fat in targeted areas on the bodies of laboratory animals. They say the discovery, published online in Nature Medicine on July 1, could revolutionize human cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery and treatment of diseases associated with human obesity. ...> Full Article

New Method For Reading DNA Sheds Light On How Cells Define Themselves (7/6/2007)

As a fertilized egg develops into a full-grown adult, mammalian cells make many crucial decisions - closing doors of opportunity as they adopt careers as liver cells, skin cells, and even neurons. One of the most fundamental mysteries in biomedicine is how cells make such different career decisions despite having exactly the same DNA. ...> Full Article

Alzheimer's Prevention Role Discovered For Prions (7/6/2007)

A role for prion proteins, the much debated agents of mad cow disease and vCJD, has been identified. It appears that the normal prions produced by the body help to prevent the plaques that build up in the brain to cause Alzheimer's disease. The possible function for the mysterious proteins was discovered by a team of scientists led by Medical Research Council funded scientist Professor Nigel Hooper of the University of Leeds. ...> Full Article

Expanding The Genetic Code In Living Mammalian Cells (7/5/2007)

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a novel strategy to expand the natural repertoire of 20 amino acids in mammalian cells, including neurons, and successfully inserted tailor-made amino acids into proteins in these cells. In a powerful demonstration of the method's versatility, they then used unnatural amino acids to determine the operating mechanism of the "molecular gates" that regulate the movement of potassium ions in and out of nerve cells. ...> Full Article

Turning Stem Cells Taken from Fat Tissue into Personalized, Cancer-Targeted Therapeutics (7/5/2007)

Researchers in Slovakia have been able to derive mesenchymal stem cells from human adipose, or fat, tissue and engineer them into "suicide genes" that seek out and destroy tumors like tiny homing missiles. This gene therapy approach is a novel way to attack small tumor metastases that evade current detection techniques and treatments, the researchers conclude in the July 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. ...> Full Article

Newfound Mechanisms May Unlock Answers To Alzheimer's Disease (7/5/2007)

Four million people in the United States and 15 to 20 million people worldwide are affected by Alzheimer's disease. These numbers are likely to triple by 2050 due to the fact that 24 percent of the population will be more than 65 years old. In their attempt to combat the disease, two University of Missouri-Columbia professors have identified new mechanisms that could have major implications in the development of treatments for the disease. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded a $6 million grant to the Mizzou researchers to continue their study. ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover How Cells Decide What Type Of Tissue To Become (7/4/2007)

As a fertilized egg develops into a full-grown adult, mammalian cells adopt careers as different cell types, from liver cells to neurons. One of the most fundamental mysteries in biomedicine is how cells make such different career decisions despite having exactly the same DNA. ...> Full Article

Step Toward Synthetic Genomes (7/2/2007)

For the first time, researchers have replaced the whole genome of a bacterial cell with the genome of a closely related species. In a study published Thursday 28 June by the journal Science at its Science Express Web site, Carole Lartigue and colleagues describe how they transplanted the genome - in the form of naked DNA, virtually free of protein - and effectively turned one species of bacteria into another. ...> Full Article