Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

I spent the last two days at the annual Washington meeting of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the advocacy organization that CIRM became a founding member of in 2009. Having been CIRMs representative at that first organizing meeting it has been a pleasure to see the organization mature into an effective advocacy group for our field. It has lived up to its goal of creating a community where all the stakeholders in the field, from academic and industry leaders to patient advocates and investors, can come together in a coordinated front. ARM and CIRM share the goal of accelerating the development of regenerative therapies to patients with unmet medical needs. The organization also dovetails well with our effort to inform the public about the great hope in the field. To quote ARMs website: ARM also works to increase public understanding of the field and its potential to transform human healthcare. But that transformation can be fostered or impeded by actions in our nations capital, both regulatory and legislative, the main thrust of the past two days activities. While the iconic Capitol building is the most recognized footprint of our Congress, it is the House and Senate office buildings that … Continue reading →

On the very first day of the fall session, the House took up and passed vital legislation authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to continue Americas bone marrow and cord blood donor registry. Sponsored by Smith with lead co-sponsor Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2015, H.R. 2820, ensures that two collaborative programs that support treatment and therapies derived from adult stem cell lines will not expire at the end of the federal fiscal year, Sept. 30. Under the legislation, the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program will be authorized for 5 years at $30 million annually, while the National Cord Blood Inventory is authorized at $23 million annually for a 5 year period.Smith authored the original law (The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005P.L. 109-129) that created the national cord blood program and expanded the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program. Breathtaking scientific breakthroughs have turned medical wastepost birth placentas and umbilical cord blood into medical miracles treating more than 70 diseases including leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia, said Smith. Not only has God in His wisdom and goodness created a placenta and umbilical cord to nurture and … Continue reading →

Cells Weekly is a digest of the most interesting news and events in stem cell research, cell therapy and regenerative medicine. Cells Weekly is posted every Sunday night! 1. Update on fetal tissues donation/trade scandal StemExpress the company, which resells fetal tissues to researches, announced termination of partnership with US Planned Parenthood. From California Stem Cell Report blog: We value our various partnerships but, due to the increased questions that have arisen over the past few weeks, we feel it prudent to terminate activities with Planned Parenthood. While we value our business relationship with Planned Parenthood, that work represents a small percentage of our overall business activity and we must focus our limited resources on resolving these inquiries. Im skipping mass media coverage, but interesting discussion on the subject was posted by top medical journal NEJM this week. In the first piece, entitled Fetal Tissue Fallout, Alta Charo criticized sting operation of anti-abortionists to discredit Planned Parenthood and highlights the value of fetal tissue research: By using the publics unfamiliarity with the history and realities of fetal tissue research as a back door for attacking Planned Parenthood, abortion opponents have added millions of people to the collateral damage of the … Continue reading →

What is a stem cell? A stem cell is an immature cell that has the potential to become specialized into different types of cells throughout the body. There are two basic types of stem cells: adult stems cells and embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are produced when a newly fertilized egg begins to divide. These stem cells can become any type of cell in the body. Adult stem cells somewhat of a misnomer because they can also be found in infants and children are stem cells that reside in already developed tissue. These stem cells can act like a repair system, dividing regularly to provide new specialized cells to take the place of those that die or are lost. Tissues where adult stem cells have been found include the brain, blood, muscle, skin and bone. Research with adult stem cells has been limited due to the difficulty in growing and differentiating them under laboratory conditions. Why are stem cells important from a medical perspective? For decades, researchers have been studying the biology of stem cells to figure out how development works and to find new ways of treating health problems. Because stem cells can give rise to any tissue … Continue reading →

Researcher Studying Advances in Next-Generation Stem Cell Culture Technologies Aug. 10, 2015 A researcher is studying ways to advance the next generation of cell culture technologiesthe removal of stem cells from an organism and the controlled growth of those cells in an engineering ... read more Aug. 5, 2015 Scientists have, for the first time, found further evidence of how the differentiation of pluripotent cells is tied to and controlled by the cell cycle clock. This deeper understanding of how cells ... read more From Pluripotency to Totipotency Aug. 4, 2015 While it is already possible to obtain in vitro pluripotent cells (i.e., cells capable of generating all tissues of an embryo) from any cell type, researchers have pushed the limits of science even ... read more Aug. 3, 2015 Investigators report that they have been able to drive cells to grow into muscle fibers, producing millimeter-long muscle fibers capable of contracting in a dish and multiplying in large numbers. ... read more July 30, 2015 Evaluating drug-induced liver injury is a critical part of pharmaceutical drug discovery and must be carried out on human liver cells. Now, scientists report that they produced large amounts of ... read more How … Continue reading →

Stem cells can give rise to any tissue found in the body and thus provide nearly limitless potential for medical applications (regenerative medicine). Numerous regulatory and ethical constraints exist for this area of research. Debates often focus onthe sourcefrom whichstem cells are derived: embryonicor adult tissues. To learn more about recent scientific advances in stem cell research and AMA policy in this area, readthe 2003 AMA report entitledCloning and Stem Cell Research. To learn more about the ethical appropriateness of using embryonic stem cells in biomedical research, particularly where stem cells are derived from cloned human embryos, read the 2003 AMA report entitledCloning-for-Biomedical-Research(PDF, 112KB). For more information on stem cell research, visit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stem Cell InformationWeb site. Basics of stem cell research Questions and answers about stem cell research. Human cloning Recent advances in applying somatic cell nuclear transfer technology to produce cloned human embryos has raised concerns about human cloning. More here: Stem Cell Research - American Medical Association … Continue reading →

What Are Stem Cells? Stem cells are undifferentiated, or blank, cells that have the potential to develop into cells that serve many different functions in many parts of the body, such as the heart, lungs, and brain. Most cells in the body are differentiated cells. This means that they can only serve a specific function in a particular organ. For example, red blood cells are cells designed specifically to carry oxygen through the blood. All human beings start out as only one cell. This cell is called a zygote, or a fertilized egg. The zygote divides into two cells, then four cells, and so on. Eventually, the cells begin to specialize and take on the function of a particular part of the body. This process is called differentiation. Stem cells are cells that have not yet differentiated. They have the ability to divide and make an indefinite number of copies of themselves. Other cells in the body can only replicate a limited number of times before they begin to break down. When a stem cell divides, it can either remain a stem cell, or it can turn into a differentiated cell, such as a muscle cell or a red blood … Continue reading →

President Barack Obama said Monday he is allowing federal taxpayer dollars to fund significantly broader research on embryonic stem cells because "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident," and promised his administration would make up for the ground lost under his predecessor. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Mr. Obama signed an executive order expected to set in motion increased research that supporters believe could uncover cures for serious ailments from diabetes to paralysis. Mr. Obama's action, before a packed East Room audience, reverses former President George W. Bush's policy on stem cell research by undoing a 2001 directive that banned federal funding for research into stem lines created after that date. Mr. Bush limited the use of taxpayer money to only the 21 stem cell lines that had been produced before his decision. He argued he was defending human life because days-old embryos - although typically from fertility clinics and already destined for destruction - are destroyed to create the stem cell lines. The Obama order reverses that without addressing a separate legislative ban, which precludes any federal money paying for the development of stem cell lines. The legislation, however, does not prevent funds for research on those lines created … Continue reading →

Toggle: English / Spanish A stem cell is a generic cell that can make exact copies of itself indefinitely. A stem cell has the ability to make specialized cells for various tissues in the body, such as heart muscle, brain tissue, and liver tissue. Stem cells can be saved and usedlater to make specialized cells, when needed. There are two basic types of stem cells: Potential uses for stem cells There are many areas in medicine in which stem cell research could have a significant impact. For example, there are a variety of diseases and injuries in which a patient's cells or tissues are destroyed and must be replaced by tissue or organ transplants. Stem cells may be able to make brand new tissue in these cases, and even cure diseases for which there currently is no good therapy. Diseases that could be helped by stem cells include Stem cells could also be used to gain a better understanding of how genetics work in the early stages of cell development. This can help scientists understand why some cells develop abnormally and lead to medical problems such as birth defects and cancer. This might help scientists learn how to prevent some … Continue reading →

Quick links: Stem cells are cells that have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in culture and give rise to multiple specialized cell types. They can develop into blood, bone, brain, muscle, skin and other organs. Stem cells occur naturally, or they can be created from other kinds of cells. Stem cells form during development (embryonic stem cells). They are also present in small numbers in many different tissues (endogenous adult stem cells). Most significantly, stem cells can be created from skin cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells). iPS cells have emerged in recent years as by far the most significant source of stem cells for ALS research. A simple skin biopsy provides the skin cells (fibroblasts). These cells are treated in a lab dish with a precise cocktail of naturally occurring growth factors that turns back the clock, transforming them back into cells much like those that gave rise to themstem cells. Embryonic stem cells can be isolated from fertilized embryos less than a week old. Before the development of iPS cells, human embryos were the only source of human stem cells for research or therapeutic development. The ethical issues involved hindered development of this research. … Continue reading →