Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

Technology Networks Brain Organoid Created from Stem Cells Technology Networks For ethical reasons, researchers cannot take cells from thesubstantia nigrato study them. Research groups around the world are therefore working on cultivating three-dimensional structures of the midbrain in petri dishes. The LCSB team led by stem cell ... and more » Read this article: Brain Organoid Created from Stem Cells - Technology Networks … Continue reading →

CINCINNATI An Elder High School grad who was critically injured has been accepted into a stem cell research study at Rush University in Chicago, his family reported. Ryan Custer, a Wright State University freshman, was injured during a pool party near Miami University earlier this month. He suffered a traumatic head injury, fracturing his vertebrae and sending him to the intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Family and friends said he's undergone multiple surgeries on his spine, was put on a breathing tube and has had a tracheotomy performed. As of Tuesday, he was talking and breathing on his own for a few hours at a time, and feeling had returned to his feet. Custer will leave for Chicago to participate in the study as soon as he is able, his family said. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Ryan Custer and his family during this difficult time. Read more from the original source: Cincinnati native hurt in pool party accident accepted into stem cell research study - WLWT Cincinnati … Continue reading →

April 18, 2017 Credit: martha sexton/public domain Like drag car racers revving their engines at the starting line, stem cells respond more quickly to injury when they've been previously primed with one dose of a single protein, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. Mice given the priming protein recover muscle function more quickly after damage, their skin heals more rapidly and even the shaved area around the injury regrows hair more quickly, the study found. Harnessing the power of this protein may one day help people recover more quickly from surgery or restore youthful vigor to aging stem cells. "We're trying to better understand wound healing in response to trauma and aging," said Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences. "We've shown that muscle and bone marrow stem cells enter a stage of alertness in response to distant injury that allows them to spring into action more quickly. Now we've pinpointed the protein responsible for priming them to do what they do better and faster." Rando, who also directs Stanford's Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, is the senior author of the study, which will be published April 18 in Cell … Continue reading →

Salk Institute and Chinese researchers report creating a new kind of stem cell, one that is more versatile than any other normally grown in the lab. Called an extended pluripotent stem cell, it can give rise to every cell type in the body, the researchers say in a recent study. This includes the extra-embryonic tissues such as the placenta that support the developing baby. Just one cell can generate a complete organism. Embryonic stem cells and artificial embryonic stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells cant make these extra-embryonic tissues. So neither embryonic nor IPS cells can give rise to a complete embryo, because the supportive tissues necessary for an embryo to survive arent there. But the extended pluripotent stem cells can reliably give rise to both types of cells, and thus whole embryos and offspring, the scientists report. The EPS cells were made from human and mouse embryonic stem cells. In addition, they were produced from skin cells, or fibroblasts by treating them with a chemical cocktail. IPS cells, invented in 2006, are generated from fibroblasts by a similar reprogramming process. Use of IPS cells is regarded as morally acceptable by those who oppose use of human embryonic stem … Continue reading →

Stem cells have been touted as treatments for everything from hair loss to heart disease. But are those claims scientifically sound? Research on the technology continues to look promising, but many of its human applications are still preliminary and their effectiveness anecdotal. Samumed, a $12 billion biotech start-up based in San Diego, profiled this month in Business Insider, exemplifies both sides of the coin. The company has promised a bevy of age-reversing cures, including regrowing hair, treating wrinkles, and regenerating cartilage in people with osteoarthritis However, their research isnt conclusive. None of their treatments have received government approval yet. Read more: Rheumatoid arthritis and stem cell treatments Its easy to get excited about all this research. Samumed Is Trying to Create the Fountain of Youth, says one headline. Samumed Aims to Reverse Aging with Eternal Youth Treatments, says another. Combined with $300 million in investment funding, the company has more than just buzz going for it in the biotech industry. Their treatment for androgenetic alopecia (hair loss) is currently in phase II trials. Its program to help people with osteoarthritis regrow cartilage in their knees is in phase III. In total, the company has seven drugs in phase II trials, … Continue reading →

The most complex organ in humans is the brain. Due to its complexity and, of course, for ethical reasons, it is extremely difficult to do scientific experiments on it -- ones that could help us to understand neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, for example. Scientists at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have now succeeded in turning human stem cells derived from skin samples into tiny, three-dimensional, brain-like cultures that behave very similarly to cells in the human midbrain. In the researchers' petri dishes, different cell types develop, connect into a network, exchange signals and produce metabolic products typical of the active brain. "Our cell cultures open new doors to brain research," says Prof. Dr. Jens Schwamborn, in whose LCSB research group Developmental & Cellular Biology the research work was done. "We can now use them to study the causes of Parkinson's disease and how it could possibly be effectively treated." The team publishes its results today in the scientific journal Stem Cell Reports. The human midbrain is of particular interest to Parkinson's researchers: it is the seat of the tissue structure known medically as the substantia nigra. Here, nerve cells -- specifically dopaminergic neurons … Continue reading →

by Kathleen Raven April 13, 2017 Jason Thomson, a core lab manager at the Yale Stem Cell Center, rebounded after large pharmaceutical companies retrenched in Connecticut. Photo credit: Robert Lisak Six years ago, Jason Thomson learned that his 13-year position in research at Pfizer would come to an end. He was among 1,100 employees laid off at the companys drug development laboratory in Groton. He feared that his career was in jeopardy. He didnt want to move his family and worried he wouldnt be able to land a comparable job in Connecticut. But things worked out much better than he expected. I was fortunate, says Thomson, a resident of Colchester. I was out of work for just over six months. Today, hes a lab manager at the Yale Stem Cell Center in New Haven. He plays a key role at the center, overseeing the preparation of stem cells that other researchers use to pursue their studies. Thomsons personal journey illustrates an economic shift in Connecticut. Over the past decade, several large pharmaceutical companies have either closed their doors here or cut hundreds of jobs from their local payrolls. These moves pose a threat to the state economy. For Connecticut to … Continue reading →

Science Daily Graphene, electricity used to change stem cells for nerve regrowth ... Science Daily Iowa State University researchers, left to right, Metin Uz, Suprem Das, Surya Mallapragada and Jonathan Claussen are developing technologies to promote ... and more » Go here to read the rest: Graphene, electricity used to change stem cells for nerve regrowth ... - Science Daily … Continue reading →

Credit: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Like private investigators on a stake out, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital scientists used patience and video surveillance-like tools to identify cells that trigger blood cell development. The findings offer clues for making blood-forming stem cells in the laboratory that may ultimately help improve access to bone marrow transplantation. The research will likely open new avenues of investigation in stem cell biology and blood development and provide insight to aid efforts to make transplantable hematopoietic stem cells in the lab, said corresponding author Wilson Clements, Ph.D., an assistant member of the St. Jude Department of Hematology. Blood-forming stem cells are capable of making any type of blood cell in the body. They are also used in transplant therapies for cancers like leukemia or other blood diseases like sickle cell. They are starting to be used to deliver gene therapy. However, a shortage of suitable donors limits access to treatment, and efforts to produce blood from pluripotent stem cells in the laboratory have been unsuccessful. Pluripotent stem cells are the master cells capable of making any cell in the body. All blood-forming stem cells normally arise before birth from certain endothelial cells found in the … Continue reading →

StemedicaLAS VEGAS (CN) Founders of a Nevada stem cell research firm skimmed money from the $110 million they raised to develop treatments for Alzheimers disease, a member of the companys own board claims in court. Tiara Holdings II LLC sued Stemedica Cell Technologies Inc. and its top three officers on April 6 in Clark County Court. The officers are CEO and Chairman of the Board Roger Howe, Vice Chairman and CEO Maynard Howe and President and Chief Medical Officer Nikolai Tankovich. Dr. Anthony M. Marlon, a medical doctor and businessman, holds 430,000 shares of Stemedica through Tiara Holdings, where he is a member. He also is a member of the board of Stemedica, he says in the complaint. He says Stemedicas founders have kept Tiara and independent auditors in the dark about its financial records and transactions. Stemedicas founders have operated a nearly 10-year investment scheme, wherein they have raised over $110 million dollars from various individual investors for the purported purpose of funding and establishing a stem cell company, Tiara says in the lawsuit. Tiara claims the Howes and Tankovich have used these investor funds, in whole or in part, to benefit themselves and their associates through excessive compensation … Continue reading →