Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Thursday will organise a conference to promote adult stem cell research as an alternative to research using destroyed human embryos, which is considered by the Roman Catholic Church as deeply unethical and less effective. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, at a briefing on Tuesday said several leading world scientists would attend including Britain's John Gurdon, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine last year. Ravasi said the upcoming meeting showed that the Church did "not intervene only negatively" in the debate on stem cell research and that its commitment to finding cures was not only "words". The cardinal said he would personally present Pope Francis with the results of the three-day conference, which will include examples of successful therapy using adult stem cells. The conference follows a similar one held in November 2011 and like the previous one it is being organised together with the US laboratory NeoStem, headed up by Robin Smith, who is also president of the "Stem for Life Foundation". Read the rest here: Vatican supports adult stem cell research … Continue reading →

When a former stem cell researcher at the Joslin Diabetes Center was found to have committed scientific misconduct last year, the report detailing her wrongdoing was brief and succinct. An investigation had revealed that Shane Mayack reused images from unrelated experiments in two scientific papers, according to a note government authorities published in the Federal Register in August. The full report of the internal Harvard Medical School investigation on which the federal authorities based their finding has now been released to the Globe through a Freedom of Information Act request. It provides deeper insight into how this particular case of misconduct was first detected and gives a sense of how the highly secretive investigations of serious, potentially career-ending allegations unfurl. The penalties Mayack agreed to last year were typical of how such cases are resolved: she must have her research supervised if she receives federal funding for public health research for three years and cant serve on advisory panels, among other concessions. But the case was also unusual in some respects. First, it triggered the retraction of a high-profile finding that had been published in a top scientific journal, with exciting implications for anti-aging research. That retracted paper, published in … Continue reading →

Vatican Conference on Regenerative Medicine To Focus on Complex Subject of Stem Cell Research Vatican City, April 09, 2013 (Zenit.org) Junno Arocho Esteves | 305 hits The Holy See Press Office held a briefing today to present the Second International Vatican Adult Stem Cell Conference, entitled Regenerative Medicine: A Fundamental Shift in Science & Culture. The conference will take place at the Synod Hall of the Paul VI Audience Hall on April 11-13th. Presenting at the press briefing were Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Dr. Robin Smith, president of the The Stem for LIfe Foundation and CEO of NeoStem; and Msgr. Tomasz Trafny, head of the Pontifical Council for Cultures Science and Faith foundation. Cardinal Ravasi commented on the significance of the conference as a means to show the Churchs role in what he called a very complex subject. Stem cell research has been the center of an ethical debate between proponents of embryonic stem cell research and those of adult stem cell research. Adult stem cells are taken from adult tissue samples as opposed to embryonic stem cells, which are derived from destroyed human embryos. Scientists are discovering that adult stem cells as a … Continue reading →

OPP #6 Japanese Stem Cell Research By: Sadie Pearson … Continue reading →

Apr. 7, 2013 A new separation process that depends on an easily-distinguished physical difference in adhesive forces among cells could help expand production of stem cells generated through cell reprogramming. By facilitating new research, the separation process could also lead to improvements in the reprogramming technique itself and help scientists model certain disease processes. The reprogramming technique allows a small percentage of cells -- often taken from the skin or blood -- to become human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) capable of producing a wide range of other cell types. Using cells taken from a patient's own body, the reprogramming technique might one day enable regenerative therapies that could, for example, provide new heart cells for treating cardiovascular disorders or new neurons for treating Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. But the cell reprogramming technique is inefficient, generating mixtures in which the cells of interest make up just a small percentage of the total volume. Separating out the pluripotent stem cells is now time-consuming and requires a level of skill that could limit use of the technique -- and hold back the potential therapies. To address the problem, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated a tunable process that … Continue reading →

Politics is the art of the possible. Jonathan Thomas, who chairs the oversight committee for California's stem cell institute, has taken important steps in reducing the potential for conflicts within this agency. He hasn't gone as far as we would like, or that independent outside reviewers have recommended, in reforming governance of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. But he's persuaded CIRM's oversight board to make some changes it has long resisted. He's achieved what's possible, at least for now, and the board may empower him to go further. Since voters agreed to create the institute in 2004 through Proposition 71, CIRM has become the most influential funder of stem cell research in the world. To date, it has issued more than 520 grants and committed more than $1.5 billion money that has attracted hundreds of scientists to California so they can seek research funding. The goal is to make California an international epicenter for developing new therapies to treat a wide range of diseases. Yet because of the way Prop. 71 was crafted by Robert Klein the bond financier who wrote the initiative and chaired the institute until 2011 CIRM has always held serious potential for insider dealings. By … Continue reading →

University of Wisconsin-Madison professor James Thomson received the McEwen Award for Innovation, an award given for ground-breaking stem cell research Thursday for his research in the area. The International Society for Stem Cell Research honored Thomson with the award for his work, which first utilized embryonic stem cells in 1998, as well as his work with turning human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, which are cells that have not yet been differentiated to fit a specific purpose within the body. Thomson also served as the director of regenerative biology at UW-Madisons Morgridge Institute for Research and is the universitys James Kress professor of embryonic stem cell biology. "It's an honor to be recognized with the McEwen Award, Thomson said in a university release. I'm pleased that my work and the work of many key collaborators in this field has created new avenues for understanding and addressing challenges in human health. The ISSCR will present the award to Thomson at a ceremony in June. Continued here: UW professor honored for stem cell research … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Bones / Orthopedics Article Date: 05 Apr 2013 - 12:00 PDT Current ratings for: "Nanokicking" Stem Cells Offers Cheaper And Easier Way To Grow New Bone 3.57 (7 votes) Matt Dalby from the Centre for Cell Engineering at the University of Glasgow, and colleagues, write about their work in a study that was published recently in the journal ACS Nano. In a statement released this week, Dalby says their new method offers a simple way of "converting adult stem cells from the bone marrow into bone-making cells on a large scale without the use of cocktails of chemicals or recourse to challenging and complex engineering". Scientists have found it is possible to grow these tissue types in the lab by isolating MSCs and culturing them in an environment that simulates that which occurs naturally in the human body. But current methods of coaxing the stem cells to differentiate are notoriously problematic and require expensive and highly engineered materials or complex chemical cocktails. Nanokicking replicates a vibration that occurs in the membranes of bone cells when they stick together to form new bone naturally in the body. The vibration, … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry;GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology Article Date: 05 Apr 2013 - 3:00 PDT Current ratings for: Stem Cells Harvested From Human Gut For First Time 5 (1 votes) Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and other colleagues, report their findings in the 4 April online issue of Stem Cells. In their background information they explain that while important facts about stem cells have been uncovered using stem cells from mice, to find information that is clinically useful, you eventually have to work with actual human stem cells. A UNC press release describes the finding as a "leap forward" in stem cell research. Senior author Scott T. Magness, assistant professor in the departments of medicine, biomedical engineering, and cell and molecular physiology at UNC, says: "Not having these cells to study has been a significant roadblock to research. Until now, we have not had the technology to isolate and study these stem cells - now we have to tools to start solving many of these problems." Magness and his team were the first US lab to isolate and grow single gut stem cells from … Continue reading →

A prestigious scientific honor adds to the legacy of stem cell pioneer James Thomson. James Thomson Thomson, who first derived human embryonic stem cells in 1998 and reprogrammed human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells in 2007, has earned the McEwen Award for Innovation from the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). He is being honored for his work in isolating human pluripotent stem cells, which revealed new possibilities for basic biology, drug discovery and cell-based therapies. "It's an honor to be recognized with the McEwen Award and I'm pleased that my work-and the work of many key collaborators in this field has created new avenues for understanding and addressing challenges in human health," said Thomson. Thomson is director of regenerative biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research and the James Kress professor of embryonic stem cell biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a John D. MacArthur professor at UW-Madison's School of Medicine and Public Health and a professor in the department of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Thomson's regenerative biology lab at the Morgridge Institute for Research focuses on how cells maintain or change identity as well … Continue reading →