News by DAVID JENSEN posted 08.14.2017 Californias $3 billion stem cell research agency, which is facing its financial demise in a few short years, has formed a team of its directors to tackle transition planning and examine possible alternatives, including ones that would extend its life. The first meeting of the group of directors is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 18.Jonathan Thomas, chairman of the governing board of theCalifornia Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM), as the agency is formally known, said earlier this summer: The legislature has asked that we put together and start thinking about a transition plan, which can contemplate a variety of factors.In response to a question last week, a spokesman for the agency,Kevin McCormack, said that a notice with more details would be posted 10 days prior to the meeting. At a meeting in June, Thomas laid out the need for the transition team. He said all options are on the table including asking the legislature for cash or to place a measure on the ballot for more bond funding. The agencys only real source of money is state bonds, authorized by voters in 2004. It has roughly $600 million left. The agency has projected it will run … Continue reading →

Scientists have discovered a new way to stimulate the stem cells in the hair follicle to make hair grow, opening the door to the development of new drugs for those with baldness or alopecia. UCLA researchers have revealed a new way to activate stem cells within hair follicles that stimulate hair growth. The hope is this discovery will lead the way to the development of drugs that allow bald individuals and those with alopecia to once again grow hair. The research was led by scientists William Lowry and Heather Christofk of UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research. The details of theirfindings were recently published in Nature Cell Biology. About Hair Follicle Stem Cells Hair follicle stem cells are best described simply as older cells within hair follicles that are present in human skin. They generate hair across an individual's lifetime. These cells are quiescent, meaning they are typically dormant yet they can activate quite rapidly in a new hair cycle when the growth of new hair occurs. The hair follicle stem cells' quiescence is regulated by an array of factors. In some instances, they do not activate and hair loss occurs. Study Details … Continue reading →

New drugs promoting hair growth may soon be on the market, as researchers from UCLA have developed a new way to activate the stem cells in the hair follicle to make hair grow. Hair follicle stem cells are long-lived cells in the hair follicle that are present in the skin and produce hair throughout a persons lifetime. The stem cells are normally inactive, but can quickly activate during a new hair cycle when growth occurs. The researchers discovered that the hair follicle stem cell metabolism is different from other cells of the skin. The metabolism uses enzymes that alter nutrients to produce metabolites, and as hair follicle stem cells consume glucose from the bloodstream, they process the glucose to eventually produce a metabolite called pyruvate. The cells then can either send pyruvate to their mitochondriathe part of the cell that creates energy or they can convert pyruvate into another metabolite called lactate. Our observations about hair follicle stem cell metabolism prompted us to examine whether genetically diminishing the entry of pyruvate into the mitochondria would force hair follicle stem cells to make more lactate, and if that would activate the cells and grow hair more quickly, Heather Christofk, a scientist … Continue reading →