Cloning And Stem Cell News, Research and Resources Archives Page 8

Researcher IDs Regenerative Cells in Tendons (9/12/2007)

USC School of Dentistry researcher's findings promise new treatments for tendon injury and disease. ...> Full Article

Stem cells make new heart valves (9/11/2007)

Advance could mean fewer heart surgeries for kids ...> Full Article

Researcher works toward safer gene therapy (9/9/2007)

In work that could lead to safe and effective techniques for gene therapy, MIT researchers have found a way to fine-tune the ability of biodegradable polymers to deliver genes. ...> Full Article

Plant Cell Biologist to Study How Plant Stem-Cells Maintain and Change Their Identity (9/8/2007)

A plant cell biologist at UC Riverside has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate how plant stem-cells maintain their identity and how they eventually get specialized into different cell types. ...> Full Article

Scientists speed healing of bone damage (9/7/2007)

Blocking a naturally occurring inhibitor of bone formation accelerates healing of skull defects in mice, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The finding advances the understanding of how the skeleton develops and opens new therapeutic avenues for many of the disorders that are expected to afflict aging baby boomers. ...> Full Article

Embryonic stem cells used to grow cartilage (9/7/2007)

Method is first to yield cartilage-like cells, engineer human cartilage ...> Full Article

Federal grant anchors Texas embryonic stem cell research (9/6/2007)

An $8.7 million five-year grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences promises to kick-start research with human embryonic stem cells in Texas, involving scientists from Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, said its BCM principal investigator. ...> Full Article

Study Links Low Level of Neuronal Receptor to Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's (9/6/2007)

Results of a new study indicate a strong link between the loss of the neuronal receptor LR11 and onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often a harbinger of Alzheimer's disease. ...> Full Article

Molecules that Play Role in Bone Size (9/5/2007)

Mice that do not make the protein CD200 have bigger bones, a finding that raises possibilities for treating osteoporosis, according to a report this week by a Yale School of Medicine researcher in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

NIGMS awards University of Washington $10 million for human embryonic stem cell research (9/5/2007)

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the National Institutes of Health, has funded a new research program at the University of Washington focused on the study of the basic biology of human embryonic stem cells. ...> Full Article

Alzheimer's: High Stress And Genetic Risk Factor Lead To Increased Memory Decline (8/31/2007)

High stress levels may contribute to memory loss among people at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. The A4 variant of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene contributes to the risk for memory loss related to Alzheimer's disease. Similarly, high circulating levels of cortisol, associated with high stress levels, also impairs memory. However, the interactive effects of this risk genotype and chronic stress are not well understood, so a new study being published in the September 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry was designed to explore this relationship. ...> Full Article

Mighty Mice Made Mightier (8/31/2007)

The Johns Hopkins scientist who first showed that the absence of the protein myostatin leads to oversized muscles in mice and men has now found a second protein, follistatin, whose overproduction in mice lacking myostatin doubles the muscle-building effect. ...> Full Article

Researchers dispute widely held ideas about stem cells (8/30/2007)

How do adult stem cells protect themselves from accumulating genetic mutations that can lead to cancer? ...> Full Article

Brain implants relieve Alzheimer's damage (8/30/2007)

Genetically engineered cells implanted in mice have cleared away toxic plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. ...> Full Article

Human derived stem cells can repair rat hearts damaged by heart attack (8/29/2007)

When human heart muscle cells derived from embryonic stem cells are implanted into a rat after a heart attack, they can help rebuild the animal's heart muscle and improve function of the organ, scientists report in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology. The researchers also developed a new process that greatly improves how stem cells are turned into heart muscle cells and then survive after being implanted in the damaged rat heart. The findings suggest that stem-cell-based treatments might one day help people suffering from heart disease, the leading cause of death in most of the world. ...> Full Article

New MRI Finding Sheds Light on Multiple Sclerosis Disease Progression (8/29/2007)

Using magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain, researchers have identified a new abnormality related to disease progression and disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology. ...> Full Article

When Is A Stem Cell Not Really A Stem Cell? (8/28/2007)

Working with embryonic mouse brains, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists seems to have discovered an almost-too-easy way to distinguish between "true" neural stem cells and similar, but less potent versions. Their finding, reported in Nature, could simplify the isolation of stem cells not only from brain but also other body tissues. ...> Full Article

Embryonic Stem Cells Are Identifiable By Appearance Alone (8/28/2007)

Some scientific results are hard to spot, especially in genetic research. Often scientists are unable to physically see if the gene they inserted into a cell has produced the desired trait. To overcome this problem researchers use various genetic markers that contain pieces of foreign DNA that cause cells to, for example, glow when exposed to ultraviolet light. ...> Full Article

New Red Fluorescent Protein Used to See Inside Living Animals (8/27/2007)

A new red fluorescent protein-derived from a brilliant red sea anemone purchased in a Moscow pet shop-can reveal body tissues more vividly than other fluorescent proteins in use today. The Russian researchers who developed the new protein said it can render cancers and other target tissues easily visible in living animals, making them glow like Christmas bulbs. ...> Full Article

Building Muscle Requires Foxo1 (8/26/2007)

The mechanisms by which Foxo proteins regulate metabolism are relatively well characterized. However, little was known about the mechanisms by which these same proteins regulate cellular differentiation. ...> Full Article

Isolation of a new gene family essential for early development (8/24/2007)

Researchers at BRIC, University of Copenhagen, have identified a new gene family (UTX-JMJD3) essential for embryonic development. The family controls the expression of genes crucial for stem cell maintenance and differentiation, and the results may contribute sig-nificantly to the understanding of the development of cancer. ...> Full Article

One step closer to transplanting stem cells in the brain (8/22/2007)

Stem cells transplanted into the brains of mice generate more numerous and more mature nerve cells if the brain cells called astrocytes are not activated. This discovery at the Sahlgrenska Academy is an important step forward for stem cell research. ...> Full Article

Researcher Goes 'Through The Nose' To Delay Onset Of Alzheimer's Disease (8/21/2007)

Scientists working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease find it hard to develop drugs that will pass through the highly selective blood-brain barrier. That may be why a Tel Aviv University researcher decided to take an alternate route - through the nose. ...> Full Article

MS Society Of Canada Continues Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Trial (8/19/2007)

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

Stem cell subtypes discovered (8/18/2007)

New finding could lead to improved bone marrow transplants ...> Full Article

Blood-clotting protein may be new target for Alzheimer's drugs (8/17/2007)

Despite the rapid rise of Alzheimer's disease - the Alzheimer's Association predicts as many as 7.7 million cases by 2030 - there are no preventative treatments available, few in the pharmaceutical pipeline, and those drugs being developed all share the same two molecular targets. Now Rockefeller University researchers report that by targeting a different molecule, a blood-clotting protein called fibrin, they could reduce inflammation in the brains of mice with different models of the disease. ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover Novel Regulator for the Development of the Nervous System (8/15/2007)

Nerve cells must perform millions of neuronal processes and form connections between them during embryonic development to ensure that the nervous system will function properly. Dr. Marta Rosário and Prof. Walter Birchmeier from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch (Germany), a member of the Helmholtz-Association of National Research Centres, have discovered a novel regulator which is crucial for this process and which they named NOMA-GAP (Neurite-Outgrowth MultiAdaptor RhoGAP). ...> Full Article

Human stem cells help monkeys recover from Parkinson's (8/15/2007)

The same treatment might work in humans ...> Full Article

Team Finds Way To Create Cancer Stem Cells (8/14/2007)

MIT achievement could aid cancer research ...> Full Article

Draining Away Brain's Toxic Protein To Stop Alzheimer's (8/14/2007)

Scientists are trying a plumber's approach to rid the brain of the amyloid buildup that plagues Alzheimer's patients: Simply drain the toxic protein away. ...> Full Article