Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

The Cincinnati Archdiocese asked Catholic schools to refrain from donating to the ALS Association, due to the possibility that the funds will be used to support embryonic stem cell research, the Washington Postis reporting. This summer the ALS Association has raised over $30 million, and counting, in conjunction with the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Catholic schools, are still permitted to participate and film themselves dumping ice-cold water on their heads and to donate. They just must donate to morally acceptable charities, like theJohn Paul II Medical Research Institute in Iowa. We appreciate the compassion that has caused so many people to engage in this, the Archdioceses spokesman Dan Andriaccotold the Cincinnati Enquirer. But its a well-established moral principle that a good end is not enough. The means to that ends must be morally licit. So what is so potentially morally illicit about donating? The Catholic Church fears that they money will go to embryonic stem cell research. With embryonic stem cell research, as opposed to adult stem cell research, the stem cells must be taken from, you guessed it a four to five day old embryo.The destruction of the embryo, to the Catholic Church, is tantamount to abortion. The … Continue reading →

(PIX11) As the Ice Bucket Challenge grows in a popularity by the day, a Catholic archdiocese in Ohio has denounced donations to the ALS Association, because of the organizations position on embryonic stem-cell research. Jimmy Rigg, superintendent of the Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, told 113 schools to immediately cease donations to the association. We appreciate the compassion that has caused so many people to engage in this, said Dan Andriacco, the archdiocese spokesman. But its a well-established moral principle that a good end is not enough. The means to that ends must be morally licit. Father Michael Duffy published a blog poston Pathoes.com condemning the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the practices of the ALS Association. The problem that I have the with ALS Ice Bucket challenge is that the ALS Association is a supporter of embryonic stem cell research, explained Duffy. Because the Catholic Church holds that life begins at conception, many believe destroying an embryo is comparable to taking a life. The American Life League, an anti-abortion organization, has tagged the ALS Association as being not worthy of support from pro-lifers. However, Life League admits the ALS Association primarily funds adult, not embryonic stem cell … Continue reading →

The Cincinnati Archdiocese has warned Catholic school principals against donating to the ALS Association due to concerns that the money could wind up funding research that uses embryonic stem cells. Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Catholic schools are still allowed to participate in the ice bucket challenge, the inescapable viral video sensation that challenges individuals to either dump a bucket of ice water on their heads or donate $100 to the ALS Association. But the archdiocese wants Catholic participants to re-purpose thefundraising juggernaut by donating to a different research group one the archdiocese believes is more in line with Catholic values. We appreciate the compassion that has caused so many people to engage in this, Andriacco told the paper. But its a well-established moral principle that a good end is not enough. The means to that ends must be morally licit. Cincinnati-area Catholic schools participating in the challenge should direct donations to theJohn Paul II Medical Research Institute in Iowa City instead, Andriacco said. Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic schools for the archdiocese, will take the re-purposed version of the ice bucket challenge Thursday morning and make a donation to the archdioceses preferred charity. The ALS … Continue reading →

Coach Will Muschamp and son (August 21, 2014) ChrismaNews blogger Kevin McCullough contends the faddish ice-bucket challenge to raise money for ALS research is dangerous to unborn babies: The ALS association is actively funding embryonic stem-cell research and admitting that they likely will continue to do so in the future. The funding of embryonic stem-cell research means that children are created and at their earliest stages of life they are destroyed so that the stem cells (from usually the base of the brain) can be harvested to perform tests. Embryonic stem-cell research has proven 0 percent effective in combating diseases like ALS and other neurological degenerative ailments. Adult stem cells, which can be harvested from living humans without their being killed, have, on the other hand, proven vastly effective in making progress toward slowing down and in some cases seeing remission or reversal of degenerative defects. ALSA states that it views the funding of both types of research as important toward finding cures. They continue to say this while recognizing the moral conflict of taking innocent human life. Read the rest of the story here: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/45106-warning-icebucketchallenge-could-kill-babies View post: Does the ice-bucket challenge kill babies … Continue reading →

The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION By: Amanda Lee Myers, The Associated Press Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014 at 12:24 PM | Comments: 0 Enlarge Image Major League Baseball Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred participates in the ALS Ice-Bucket Challenge outside the organization's headquarters in New York, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014. Manfred participated with more than 160 other MLB employees to raise more than $16,000 for the ALS Association. (AP Photo/Vanessa A. Alvarez) CINCINNATI - A Roman Catholic diocese in Ohio is discouraging its 113 schools from participating in the ice bucket challenge to benefit the ALS Association, saying the group's funding of embryonic stem cell research is "in direct conflict with Catholic teaching." Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, told the schools in a letter Tuesday to "immediately cease" any plans to raise funds for the association or to instead direct donations to another organization that combats ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease that causes paralysis and almost certain death. The Catholic Church relates the use of embryonic stem cells in research to abortion and says it violates the sanctity of human life. The use of adult stem cells in research is … Continue reading →

TIME Health Research Why Some Catholics Wont Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Concerns raised about stem cell research Not everyone is jumping to take part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has gone viral and raised millions for research into Lou Gehrigs disease. Following the Archdiocese of Cincinnatis decision to ban its schools from donating to the ALS Association and a widely read blog post by a Catholic priest, some Catholics are questioning the ethics of contributing to ALS charities that fund research with embryonic stem cells. We deeply appreciate the compassion, but theres a well established moral principle that goods ends are not enough. The means must also be morally licit, said Cincinnati Archdiocese spokesperson Dan Andriacco. Father Michael Duffy, whose blog post on the issue has been shared on Facebook more than 100,000 times, said he started hearing chatter online two weeks ago suggesting that donations to the ALS Association might be used for embryonic stem cell research, which conflicts with Catholic doctrine. When he was nominated for the challenge himself, he looked into it and discovered that the ALS Association did in fact fund embryonic stem cell research. Catholic church doctrine holds that life begins … Continue reading →

By Estel Grace Masangkay With help from the zebrafish, a team of Australian researchers has uncovered how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) renew themselves, considered by many to be the holy grail of stem cell research. HSCs are a significant type of stem cell present in the blood and bone marrow. These are needed for the replenishment of the bodys supply of blood and immune cells. HSCs already play a part in transplants in patients with blood cancers such as leukemia and myeloma. The stem cells are also studied for their potential to transform into vital cells including muscle, bone, and blood vessels. Understanding how HSCs form and renew themselves has potential application in the treatment of spinal cord injuries, degenerative disorders, even diabetes. Professor Peter Currie, of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Victorias Monash University, led a research team to discover a crucial part of HSCs development. Using a high-resolution microscopy, Prof. Curies team caught HSCs on film as they formed inside zebrafish embryos. The discovery was made while the researchers were studying muscle mutations in the aquatic animal. Zebrafish make HSCs in exactly the same way as humans do, but whats special about these guys is that their … Continue reading →

brindafella (702231) writes Australian scientists have accidentally made one of the most significant discoveries in stem cell research, by studying the transparent embryos of Zebrafish (Danio rerio). The fish can be photographed and their development studied over time, and the movies can be played backwards, to track back from key developmental stages to find the stem cell basis for various traits of the fish. This fundamental research started by studying muscles, but the blood stem cell breakthrough was a bonus. They've found out how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), among the most important stem cells found in blood and bone marrow, is formed. The scientists are based at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University. The research has been published in the Nature medical journal. This discovery could lead to the production of self-renewing stem cells in the lab to treat multiple blood disorders and diseases. See the original post here: Transparent Fish Lead to Stem Cell Research Breakthrough … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise Blood stem cells have the potential to turn into any type of blood cell, whether it be the oxygen-carrying red blood cells, or the immune systems many types of white blood cells that help fight infection. How exactly is the fate of these stem cells regulated? Preliminary findings from research conducted by scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University are starting to reshape the conventional understanding of the way blood stem cell fate decisions are controlled, thanks to a new technique for epigenetic analysis they have developed. Understanding epigenetic mechanisms (environmental influences other than genetics) of cell fate could lead to the deciphering of the molecular mechanisms of many diseases, including immunological disorders, anemia, leukemia, and many more. It also lends strong support to findings that environmental factors and lifestyle play a more prominent role in shaping our destiny than previously realized. The process of differentiation in which a stem cell becomes a specialized mature cell is controlled by a cascade of events in which specific genes are turned on and off in a highly regulated and accurate order. The instructions for this process are contained within the … Continue reading →

Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have proven that when it comes to guiding stem cells into a specific cell type, the stiffness of the extracellular matrix used to culture them really does matter. When placed in a dish of a very stiff material, or hydrogel, most stem cells become bone-like cells. By comparison, soft materials tend to steer stem cells into soft tissues such as neurons and fat cells. The research team, led by bioengineering professor Adam Engler, also found that a protein binding the stem cell to the hydrogel is not a factor in the differentiation of the stem cell as previously suggested. The protein layer is merely an adhesive, the team reported Aug. 10 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Materials. Their findings affirm Engler's prior work on the relationship between matrix stiffness and stem cell differentiations. "What's remarkable is that you can see that the cells have made the first decisions to become bone cells, with just this one cue. That's why this is important for tissue engineering," said Engler, a professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Engler's team, which includes bioengineering graduate student researchers Ludovic Vincent … Continue reading →