Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

An internationally known stem cell scientist and entrepreneur will join the ranks of candidates trying to unseat Republican incumbents in contested House races next year when he announces Thursday his challenge of 18-term Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Hans Keirstead, a 50-year-old Democrat from Laguna Beach, said Wednesday that he will run in the 48th Congressional District, one of more than half a dozen in California that have been targeted by Democrats seeking to harness sentiment against President Trump in their fight for a House majority. Keirsteads candidacy has been sought by some national Democratic figures, who see his science and business background as a good fit for the district. It runs along the Orange County coastline from Laguna Beach to Seal Beach, and includes some nearby inland cities. Republicans represent a plurality of the district with more than 40% of its registration, to about 30% for Democrats. A quarter of voters are registered as nonpartisan. The Huntington Beach-based Rohrabacher, who is 69, has served in the House since 1988. Part of the reason for the Democratic drought in the 48th and other districts now seen as competitive has been the partys candidates; Rohrabacher last faced a serious challenge in 2008, when … Continue reading →

Texas Governor Greg Abbott just signed a law making it easier for unproven stem cell therapies to be given to patients in his state. Marjorie Kamys Cotera/Bob Daemmrich Photography/Alamy Stock Photo By Kelly ServickJun. 15, 2017 , 11:15 AM Texas Governor Greg Abbott yesterday signed a bill allowing clinics and companies in the state to offer people unproven stem cell interventions without the testing and approval required under federal law. Like the right to try laws that have sprung up in more than 30 states, the measure is meant to give desperately ill patients access to experimental treatments without oversight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In a state where unproven stem cell therapies are already offered widely with little legal backlash, bioethicists and patient advocates wonder whether the states official blessing will maintain the status quo, tighten certain protections for patients, or simply embolden clinics already profiting from potentially risky therapies. You could make the argument thatif [the new law] was vigorously enforcedits going to put some constraints in place, says Leigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who last year co-authored a study documenting U.S. stem cell clinics marketing directly to consumers … Continue reading →

Studies on diseases like ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's jeopardized if GOP-controlled Congress cuts funding for embryonic stem cell research. In 2010, when renowned stem cell scientist Lawrence Goldstein, PhD, published his groundbreaking book Stem Cells for Dummies, with co-author Meg Schneider, the forecast for human embryonic stem cell research had just begun to brighten. In 2001, former President George W. Bush cast a cloud over this field of science by barring the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding research that used embryonic stem cells beyond the 60 cell lines that already existed. But in 2009, then-President Barack Obama signed an executive order repealing Bushs policy. Obamas decision enabled researchers like Goldstein, director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program, and Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center, to make real progress, inching closer to human clinical trials. Goldsteins work focuses on discovering clinical applications for human embryonic stem cells, also known as ESC. His work looks specifically at clinical applications for neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and Huntingtons diseases. After 10 years, weve seen a variety of projects that use embryonic stem cells moving closer to clinical applications and in clinical trials, Goldstein … Continue reading →

The Berkeley Stem Cell Center supports research and teaching in stem cell biology, engineering, and medicine at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Children's Hospital and Research Center at Oakland. Activities sponsored by the Center include seminars, roundtables, and an annual retreat. The Center's CIRM funded Shared Stem Cell Research Laboratories in Stanley Hall and LSA provide investigators with fully equipped stem cell tissue culture and flow cytometry facilities and outstanding technical expertise. Its CIRM Center of Excellence, located in the Li Ka-Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, provides additional state of the art laboratory space and core facilities for tissue culture and flow cytometry, as well as molecular and cellular and whole animal imaging. Through its CIRM training program, the Center annually awards stem cell research fellowships to 16 highly talented pre-doctoral, postdoctoral, and physician scientists in training. The Siebel Stem Cell Institute - UC Berkeley supports stem cell research collaborations between Berkeley Stem Cell Center and Stanford University investigators, and provides funding to bring notable visiting scholars to campus. Original post: Berkeley Stem Cell Center - Research UC Berkeley … Continue reading →

Researchers are working to revive a radical treatment for Parkinson's disease. The treatment involves transplanting healthy brain cells to replace cells killed off by the disease. It's an approach that was tried decades ago and then set aside after disappointing results. Now, groups in Europe, the U.S. and Asia are preparing to try again, using cells they believe are safer and more effective. "There have been massive advances," says Claire Henchcliffe, a neurologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. "I'm optimistic." "We are very optimistic about ability of [the new] cells to improve patients' symptoms," says Viviane Tabar, a neurosurgeon and stem cell biologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Henchcliffe and Tabar joined several other prominent scientists to describe plans to revive brain cell transplants during a session Tuesday at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in Boston. Their upbeat message marks a dramatic turnaround for the approach. During the 1980s and 1990s, researchers used cells taken directly from the brains of aborted fetuses to treat hundreds of Parkinson's patients. The goal was to halt the disease. Parkinson's destroys brain cells that make a substance called dopamine. Without enough dopamine, nerve cells can't … Continue reading →

Californias taxpayer-funded $3 billion stem cell research program, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is spending money at the rate of $22,000 an hour, and expected to run out of cash in three years, reports Capitol Weekly. The multi-billion-dollar bond borrowing was authorized by state voters in 2004 after elite scientists and Hollywood stars, including Parkinsons sufferer Michael J. Fox and quadriplegic Christopher Reeve, argued in a $34 million ballot campaign that medical miracles were just around the corner. They teased the public, Jim Lott, an ex-vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California and critic of the program told Capitol Weekly. They teased us with Proposition 71. And they did not deliver on the tease, and I dont want them to be able to get away with that again. Additional funding sought by the institute, critics say, should be conditioned on reforming the way cash grants are handed out, which currently go overwhelmingly to those affiliated with institutions who control seats on the stem cell groups board. We need to do this in a more responsible and accountable way, according to Lott. As the battle for new money ramps up, UCSDs Sanford Stem Cell Clinical … Continue reading →

SCIENTISTS at Beijings Tsinghua University are leading the world in inducing in-vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into follicle-like cells. The breakthrough is expected to help the study of premature ovarian failure and improve assisted reproductive technology. The achievement of the research team led by Professor Kehkooi Kee was published in the latest issue of academic journal Nature Communications. The research showed the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into follicle-like cells can be achieved under the combined action of two RNA-binding proteins specifically expressed in germ cells, DAZL and BOULE, and growth factors GDF9 and BMP15. Kee, a Malaysian Chinese scientist, said that unlike somatic cells, germ cells can transmit the genetic chromosomes of the father and mother to the next generation. In the genetic process, germ cells undergo unique meiosis and genetic recombination. How do the germ cells regulate this process? How do they keep the balance between passing the genes to the next generation and creating a diverse genome? That is the most interesting question for me in this field of study, said Kee. However, scientists must overcome difficulties. Although they can obtain some human germ cell samples by patient agreement, the sample size is far … Continue reading →

knowledge center home stem cell research all about stem cells what are stem cells? Stem cells are a class of undifferentiated cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types. Commonly, stem cells come from two main sources: Both types are generally characterized by their potency, or potential to differentiate into different cell types (such as skin, muscle, bone, etc.). Adult or somatic stem cells exist throughout the body after embryonic development and are found inside of different types of tissue. These stem cells have been found in tissues such as the brain, bone marrow, blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscles, skin, and the liver. They remain in a quiescent or non-dividing state for years until activated by disease or tissue injury. Adult stem cells can divide or self-renew indefinitely, enabling them to generate a range of cell types from the originating organ or even regenerate the entire original organ. It is generally thought that adult stem cells are limited in their ability to differentiate based on their tissue of origin, but there is some evidence to suggest that they can differentiate to become other cell types. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a four- or five-day-old human embryo that … Continue reading →

A US company has revealed it will start tests in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year ATTEMPTS to bring people back from the dead could start in a few months, its been reported. A US company has revealed it will start new stem cell therapy trials in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year. Getty Images In the majority of countries, to be officially declared dead requires an complete and irreversible loss of brain function. But Bioquark says it has developed a series of injections that can reboot the brain and bring people back to life, according to MailOnline. CEO Ira Pastor revealed the firm will begin testing itsmethod on humans and have no plans to try it out on animals first. Pastor and orthopaedic surgeon Himanshu Bansal initially hoped to carry out tests in India last year. Butthe Indian Council of Medical Research pulled the plug on their plans and asked them to to take the trials elsewhere. In details published on a clinical trials database, scientists plan to examine individuals aged between 15 and 65 who have been declared brain dead from a traumatic brain injury. They intend to use MRI scans to … Continue reading →

President Donald Trump has decided to appoint the director of the National Institutes of Health even though pro-life advocates called on Francis Collins to be replaced because of his support for embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life. Last month, 40 Republicans in the House of Representatives wrote president Trump urging him to get rid of NIH director Francis Collins because of his support for the practice, which is opposed by pro-life organizations. While we deeply respect Dr. Collins Christian faith and commitment to public service, the stances that Dr. Collins has taken in the past regarding embryonic stem cell research and human cloning are not life-affirming and directly conflict with the pro-life direction of your new presidency, the GOP lawmakers wrote. It is because of this troubling paradox that we ask you to re-consider his leadership role at NIH. While pro-life advocates strongly support scientific research, they oppose embryonic stem cell research because the only way to obtain embryonic stem cells is to destroy unique human beings just days after conception. On the other hand, ethical adult stem cell research has produced cures or treatments for well over 100 diseases or medical conditions and involves … Continue reading →