Year in Review: Advances in Stem Cell Research 2014 was a year of high-profile advances and one big scandal in the field of stem cell science. WSJ's Gautam Naik reports. By: Wall Street Journal … Continue reading →

Japanese Scientist Resigns in Stem Cell Scandal A Japanese scientist who claimed a major breakthrough in stem cell research has resigned after the government lab where she worked could not replicate her results. Haruko Obokata said in a... By: Mindreader … Continue reading →

Drugs that seem safe in animal studies are sometimes found to be harmful in humans. The health effects of many chemicals on the market in products such as cosmetics, food additives and industrial and household cleaners arent fully known. Theres a huge need to come up with better ways of testing compounds to see if theyre toxic, said James Thomson, the UW-Madison stem cell pioneer. Thomson, who first grew human embryonic stem cells in a lab in 1998 and co-discovered a way to reprogram mature cells to their embryonic state in 2007, is working with researchers across campus on a new quest. Theyre creating tissue chips clusters of interacting cells that mimic specific organs, such as a model of a developing brain. Using stem cells, miniature scaffolds and sophisticated computer programs, theyre crafting prototypes that could someday replace animal testing for drugs and serve as screening tools for environmental toxins. About 80 percent of experimental drugs fail in human clinical trials because they are unsafe or ineffective, with some 30 percent found to be toxic in people despite promising results in animal studies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Largely because of the expensive failures, it costs more than … Continue reading →