Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

Touring McMaster Universitys stem cell research labs felt like a real-life science fiction movie for Moses Cook. Like a surreal trip inside his own head. And in a sense, it was the Hamilton teen was diagnosed with a brain tumour two years ago. And after he completed radiation treatments a couple months ago, the 16-year-old decided he wanted to see what goes on behind the scenes of cancer care. Its so surreal, he said Friday afternoon, touring the labs where his own tumour was studied. Its just so crazy to know this is where this work is done. The Sherwood student in remission now has wanted to be a neurosurgeon since long before his diagnosis, and is fascinated, still, by the science of it all. Dr. Sheila Singh was happy to show him around. As both a pediatric neurosurgeon and stem cell researcher, Singh is accustomed to the clinical and the scientific sides of cancer. She organized the tour for patients like Cook and their families to see the research in action at Macs Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. There arent that many people that get to see it from both sides, she said. Its really a huge pleasure … Continue reading →

GULF SHORES, Ala., July 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Eight years ago, Frank Orgel, a former NFL football player and college coach, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Orgel's quality of life declined to the point that he could not move his left arm or leg, walk or even stand on his own. But, within a few days of undergoing a new stem cell reprogramming technique performed by Dr. Jason R. Williams at Precision StemCell (http://www.precisionstemcell.com), Orgel's constant muscle fasciculation (muscle twitching) lessened significantly. Within weeks, he was able to walk in a pool of water and stand unassisted. The technique performed on Orgel is InVivo reprogramming, which reprograms adult stem cells into neural stem cells. The procedure involves harvesting adult stem cells from the patient's own fat, which Dr. Williams obtains via minimally invasive liposuction, and then using image-guided therapy to insert the stem cells into the patient's spine. For three to five days after the procedure, Dr. Williams places the patient on an oral medication that, as laboratory research has shown, causes stem cells to reprogram, converting them into neural stem cells. "We are the only facility in the United States performing … Continue reading →

BEVERLY, MA and TORONTO--(Marketwire -07/26/12)- Hamilton Thorne Ltd. (HTL.V), a leading provider of precision laser devices and advanced image analysis systems for the fertility, stem cell and developmental biology research markets, today announced that the European Patent Office has issued a notice of Intention to Grant a European Patent on the "Modular Objective Assembly" utilized in the Company's LYKOS and XYRCOS lasers under patent application number 09752647.9-2217. Upon final approval, the patent can be officially filed in over 30 European countries. "The European Patent Office's Intention to Grant notice further validates the advanced optics and resolution technology that the LYKOS laser brings to the clinical market," said Diarmaid Douglas-Hamilton, Chief Technology Officer of Hamilton Thorne Ltd. "This patent application represents Hamilton Thorne's commitment to expanding our global patent portfolio. Additionally, this brings further substantiation of our other European accreditations for the LYKOS such as our recently received CE Mark under the European Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC in May 2012." David Wolf, Hamilton Thorne's President and Chief Executive Officer, added, "The Patent on the Modular Objective Assembly utilized in the LYKOS and XYRCOS lasers is extremely valuable, as this patent broadly covers the concept of building a laser into a microscope … Continue reading →

UC Davis will receive grants totaling $53 million for stem cell research after a vote today by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarding the money. The grants are a major milestone for the university, which had received $73 million in past funding from the agency. "We're here to bring this new era of medicine to patients," UC Davis stem cell program director Jan Nolta said. Nolta will oversee the three grant projects for Huntington's disease, limb ischemia and osteoporosis. UC Davis researchers said they are close to finding effective treatments for the diseases. Neurologist Dr. Vicki Wheelock, who will head the Huntington's project, said the grants wouldn't have been possible without the advocacy of patients and their families. "They really rallied to secure the funding," she said. "This will be for the families." Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved. What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.) Here are some rules of the road: Read the original here: … Continue reading →

FARMINGTON, Conn., July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Businesses looking to capture a larger slice of the lucrative mesenchymal stem cell product market need the best market research to stay ahead of the competition. Global Information Inc, in partnership with research firm BioInformant Worldwide, is pleased to present three new reports on stem cells and regenerative medicine. This new research will help businesses in the stem cell industry understand their customers by providing insight into the needs of research scientists; boost effective product development decisions; streamline marketing budgets; learn how to gain more market share; understand the key strengths and weaknesses of competitors and identify opportunities. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120725/CG46150) Mesenchymal Stem Cells Advances & Applications In BioInformant's recently launched market report, analysis of grant activity, publications, and patent applications reveals that Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) research activity increased 112% from 2009 to 2010, and 116% from 2010 to 2011. Mesenchymal stem cells now represent fastest growing area of stem cell research. While competitors are guessing, this report divulges exactly where to focus R&D and marketing spend to create the most profitable MSC research products. The new report identifies recent advances in MSC research applications, explores research priorities by market segment, highlights individual … Continue reading →

Technology from Cambridge UK personalised medicines pioneer, Horizon Discovery, is being used for a major stem cell project in the US. The agreement will enable the NIH CRM to apply Horizons GENESIS genome editing technology to engineer stem cells in order to create isogenic disease models with induced mutations and/or lineage markers. These disease models will be used to help researchers understand the effects of specific genes and mutations as stem cells differentiate, as well as create lineage reporters for stem cell differentiation. The NIH CRM was recently established through support from the NIH Common Fund to provide the infrastructure to support and accelerate the clinical translation of stem cell-based technologies, and to develop widely available resources to be used as standards in stem cell research. The GENESIS technology harnesses rAAV vectors to perform accurate and efficient gene-editing functions in human cells, by switching on a natural high-fidelity DNA-repair mechanism called homologous recombination (HR). When harnessed using rAAV gene-editing vectors, HR allows the precise alteration of any DNA sequence, permitting the accurate modelling of genetic diseases in human cells, including stem cells, in vitro. The use of these models in oncology is well established, and has predicted patient responses to … Continue reading →

CLEVELAND, Ohio-- Imagine cooking up a new recipe for carrot cake and trying to figure out what it tastes like by feeding it to your dog. You might be able to learn something from his reactions -- Does he eat some? A lot? Does he, heaven forbid, keel over afterward? -- but you'd be pretty limited by some basic differences between you and your canine friend. Even if he could somehow tell you what he thinks, there's just no telling if cake tastes the same to a dog. This is something like the problem faced by researchers who are trying to understand and treat devastating human brain diseases like Parkinson's and Huntington's by working with mice. The mouse brain has told us a lot about the diseases, but, in the end, it's only a stand-in for working with the real thing. Now the real thing is here. Two groups of Parkinson's and Huntington's researchers working in 13 labs nationwide have used advanced stem-cell technology to make human brain cells from skin cells donated by patients with those diseases. The brain cells look and act like cells affected by the diseases, and they can be manipulated in a petri dish. Working … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) Damaged and aged heart tissue of older heart failure patients was rejuvenated by stem cells modified by scientists, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions. The study is simultaneously published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The research could one day lead to new treatments for heart failure patients, researchers said. "Since patients with heart failure are normally elderly, their cardiac stem cells aren't very healthy," said Sadia Mohsin, Ph.D., one of the study authors and a post-doctoral research scholar at San Diego State University's Heart Institute in San Diego, Cal. "We modified these biopsied stem cells and made them healthier. It is like turning back the clock so these cells can thrive again." Modified human stem cells helped the signaling and structure of the heart cells, which were biopsied from elderly patients. Researchers modified the stem cells in the laboratory with PIM-1, a protein that promotes cell survival and growth. Cells were rejuvenated when the modified stem cells enhanced activity of an enzyme called telomerase, which elongates telomere length. Telomeres are "caps" on the ends of chromosomes that facilitate cell replication. Aging and disease … Continue reading →

MOBILE, Alabama -- Damaged and aged heart tissue of older heart failure patients was rejuvenated by stem cells modified by scientists, according to research presented today at the American Heart Associations Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans. The study is simultaneously published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The stem cell research could lead to new treatments for heart failure patients, researchers said. Since patients with heart failure are normally elderly, their cardiac stem cells arent very healthy, said Sadia Mohsin, Ph.D., one of the study authors and a post-doctoral research scholar at San Diego State Universitys Heart Institute in San Diego. We modified these biopsied stem cells and made them healthier. It is like turning back the clock so these cells can thrive again. Modified human stem cells helped the signaling and structure of the heart cells, which were biopsied from elderly patients, according to information provided by the American Heart Association. Researchers modified the stem cells in the laboratory with PIM-1, a protein that promotes cell survival and growth. Cells were rejuvenated when the modified stem cells enhanced activity of an enzyme called telomerase, which elongates telomere length. Telomeres are caps on … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2012) To date, few fundamentals have been known about the most common gland in the body, the sweat glands that are essential to controlling body temperature, allowing humans to live in the worlds diverse climates. Now, in a tour de force, researchers at The Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have identified, in mice, the stem cell from which sweat glands initially develop as well as stem cells that regenerate adult sweat glands. In their study, published in Cell, the scientists devised a strategy to purify and molecularly characterize the different kinds of stem cell populations that make up the complex sweat duct and glands of the skin. With this information in hand, they studied how these different populations of stem cells respond to normal tissue homeostasis and to different types of skin injuries, and how the sweat glands differ from their close cousins, the mammary glands. No sweat. Researchers in Elaine Fuchs's lab identified four different types of paw-skin progenitor cells that are responsible for homeostasis and wound repair. This image shows that the sweat ductal and epidermal progenitors (in red) proliferate and repair an epidermal scratch wound; the sweat gland progenitors (in blue … Continue reading →