Category Archives: Stem Cell Experiments

Stem Cell Research is an amazing field right now, and promises to be a powerful and potent tool to help us live longer and healthier lives. Just last month, for example, Stem Cell Therapy was used to restore sight in patients with severe retinal deterioration, allowing them to see clearer than they had in years, or even decades. Now, there is another form of Stem Cell Treatment on the horizon—this one of a very different form. Stem Cells have now been used as a mechanism to deliver medical treatment designed to eliminate cancer cells, even in hard to reach places. One issue with current cancer treatments is that, treatments that are effective at treating tumors on the surface of the brain cannot be performed safely when the tumor is deeper within the brain's tissues. Stem Cells have the fantastic ability to transform into any other kind of cell within the human body, given the appropriate stimulation. As of today, most of these cells come from Embryonic Lines, but researchers are learning how to backwards engineer cells in the human body, reverting them back to their embryonic state. These cells are known as Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. How Does This Stem … Continue reading →

In 2006, Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka reprogrammed mice fibroblast cells, which can produce only other fibroblast cells, to become pluripotent stem cells, which have the capacity to produce many different types of cells. Takahashi and Yamanaka also experimented with human cell cultures in 2007. Each worked at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan. They called the pluripotent stem cells that they produced induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) because they had induced the adult cells, called differentiated cells, to become pluripotent stem cells through genetic manipulation. Yamanaka received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012, along with John Gurdon, as their work showed scientists how to reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent. Takahashi and Yamanaka's 2006 and 2007 experiments showed that scientists can prompt adult body cells to dedifferentiate, or lose specialized characteristics, and behave similarly to embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Takahashi and Yamanaka worked together at Kyoto University. Takahashi was a post-doctoral researcher who had earned a graduate degree in biology at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Ikoma, Japan. Yamanaka had earned an MD from Kobe University in Kobe, Japan in 1987. In 2004, Yamanaka began working at Kyoto University as a professor, where he … Continue reading →

Teratomas - tumors that arise from what are essenitally partially differentiated stem cells As South Dakota considers repealing the state ban on embryonic stem cell research, this issue is receiving more and more attention on a national level. President Obama came to the White House last month carrying the campaign promise that he would reverse President Bushs 2001 ban on taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research (except for a few specific lines of embryonic stem cells already harvested). The fact that Obama has not yet done so is a matter of consternation for those eager to destroy innocent human life in the hopes that stem cells derived from them might, maybe, someday cure various diseases in other humans. There may be some eagerness for those tax dollars and research grants, too. Even as some work to put the taxpayers on the hook for this destruction of innocent human life and to lift state bans, adult stem cell research has for a number of years been producing successful treatments for various illnesses and injuries. These includemeningitis-relatedlimb damage, brain injury, stroke, retinaregeneration, heart tissueregeneration,angina,diabetes, bone cancer, nerve regeneration,cerebral palsy,cartilage regeneration, Parkinsons,kidney damage,liver cancer, lupus,multiple sclerosis,and leukemia. Adult stem cell therapy also … Continue reading →

The green tips of these chromosomes are telomeres, whose length is a measure of cellular "aging" and determines how many times a cell can divide. In a roomful of kids cancer specialists, like those listening to the keynote speech byGeorge Daley, closinganinternational pediatric oncology meeting in Boston, the Myc gene is better known as a mutated weapon of mass destruction. But this driver of cancer growth is also part of a four-gene cocktail that can reprogram an adult skin cell back into an embryonic-like stem cell that holds great therapeutic potential. Daleys team was among the first to report the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) in human cells. All it takes is a skin biopsy or a simple blood draw to begin to realize the full potential for any patient, Daley said. Bone marrow transplants from donors already save the lives of some kids with cancer. But Daley sees a future where genetic diseases can be cured by creating iPS cells from a childs own diseased cells, rendering them disease-free through genetic intervention, then growing them into healthy tissue that wont be rejected by the patients immune system. The goal is to create customized patient-specific stem cells, … Continue reading →

By Sarah Boseley, The Guardian Thursday, February 6, 2014 19:09 EST Researchers say they have reversed equivalent of type 1 diabetes in mice using stem cell transplants Scientists believe they may have moved a step closer to a cure for the type of diabetes that develops in childhood and usually leads to a lifetime of insulin injections. Researchers in California report that they have reversed the equivalent of type 1 diabetes in mice through transplants of stem cells. Their experiments have replaced cells in the pancreas damaged by the disease that are unable to make insulin. Without insulin, the body has difficulty absorbing sugars such as glucose from the blood. The disease usually first shows in childhood or early adulthood and used to be a killer, but glucose levels can now be monitored and regulated with insulin injections. Scientists have long wanted to try to replace the damaged -cells that normally produce insulin. This has been one of the prime targets of stem cell experiments. But until now, it has proved difficult, partly because mature -cells do not readily regenerate. Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco describe how they took a … Continue reading →

10.17.2013 Joshua Hare Wins Grant to Take Stem Cell Experiments to Space Through his groundbreaking research that showed stem cell therapies repair damaged hearts, the Miller Schools Chief Science Officer Joshua Hare, M.D., already shattered the earthly view that heart muscle cannot rejuvenate. Now, armed with a new grant from the organization that manages research aboard the International Space Station, Hare is ready to expand his stem cell therapy research to the final frontier outer space. Hare, the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute and the Louis Lemberg Professor of Medicine, is among seven stem cell researchers across the nation who this week were awarded up to $300,000 each for the opportunity to use the space stations unique environment to explore the impact of microgravity on fundamental stem cell properties. We believe that microgravity could play an important role in generating new heart muscle, Hare said. We are thrilled that this grant gives us the opportunity to test that theory. Until NASA certifies Hares CASIS proposal, The Effects of Modeled Microgravity on c-kit+ Cardiac Stem Cell Division and Differentiation, as flight-capable, he and his team will conduct ground-based experiments comparing c-kit+ cardiac stem cells cultured in normal gravity … Continue reading →

healthsection Health Topics A-Z Healthy Living Featured Conditions eHow Now eHow Health Conditions & Treatments Brain & Nervous System Stem Cell Experiments Garrett Daun Garrett Daun started writing professionally in 1993. Daun has extensive training in meditation, rock climbing, yoga, martial arts, exercise and massage therapy. His work has appeared in "The Squealor," the "Earth First! Journal" and on numerous websites. Daun earned a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and creative writing from the University of Oregon. He is a yoga and Radical Undoing trainer. On March 9, 2009, the Bush Administration policy restricting federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research was overturned by Barack Obama in the name of easing human suffering. Stem cell research using induced pluripotent stems cells cloned from cells obtained from adult skin and donated embryonic stem cells continues to gain funding and attention from major researchers and funding foundations around the world. Stem cells have the ability to become tissue cells in various different organs of the body. Under certain conditions, stem cells can be induced to repair and replace damaged cells and tissues in various diseases and injuries. Embryonic stem cells were first isolated in mice by researchers at the University … Continue reading →

The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the personal views of the reporter, the Blue Print newspaper or Moffat County School District. Reporters are asked to take a specific position in order to share selected perspectives. NO - by Bear Steadman When Albert Einstein discovered how to split an atom, he envisioned scientific breakthroughs that would better mankinds knowledge of life and the universe. Instead, his research was used to create the atom bomb, which is capable of only one thing, causing death and destruction. So whos to say a similar outcome wont come from stem cell research? It doesnt matter how good someones vision or intentions are, we cannot ignore the fact that this research could be used for the wrong reasons. A large percentage of older scientists are against furthering progress in stem cell research because of the potential negative effects. Many feel messing with human stem cells and DNA can only have detrimental results. There is proof that in some stem cell experiments, the participants suffer horrible side effects. For example, since 1981, the use of embryonic stem cells has had a common result, the development of tumors in the area the stem cells … Continue reading →

michaelsavage.com Savage on Obama's executive order giving federal funding to embryonic stem cell experiments which much of the citizens of the USA oppose. And for good reason. Read the original here: Savage on Embryonic Stem Cells and Obama … Continue reading →