PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Jan-2014 Contact: Bill Hathaway william.hathaway@yale.edu 203-432-1322 Yale University A fundamental axiom of biology used to be that cell fate is a one-way street once a cell commits to becoming muscle, skin, or blood it always remains muscle, skin, or blood cell. That belief was upended in the past decade when a Japanese scientist introduced four simple factors into skin cells and returned them to an embryonic-like state, capable of becoming almost any cell type in the body. Hopeful of revolutionary medical therapies using a patient's own cells, scientists rushed to capitalize on the discovery by 2012 Nobel Laureate Shinya Yamanaka. However, the process has remained slow and inefficient, and scientists have had a difficult time discovering a genetic explanation of why this should be. In the Jan. 30 issue of the journal Cell, Yale School of Medicine researchers identified a major obstacle to converting cells back to their youthful state the speed of the cell cycle, or the time required for a cell to divide. When the cell cycle accelerates to a certain speed, the barriers that keep a cell's fate on one path diminish. In such a state, cells are easily persuaded to change their identity … Continue reading →

(CNN) We run too hard, we fall down, we're sick - all of this puts stress on the cells in our bodies. But in what's being called a breakthrough in regenerative medicine, researchers have found a way to make stem cells by purposely putting mature cells under stress. Two new studies published Wednesday in the journal Nature describe a method of taking mature cells from mice and turning them into embryonic-like stem cells, which can be coaxed into becoming any other kind of cell possible. One method effectively boils down to this: Put the cells in an acidic environment. "I think the process we've described mimics Mother Nature," said Dr. Charles Vacanti, director of the laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and senior author on one of the studies. "It's a natural process that cells normally respond to." Both studies represent a new step in the thriving science of stem cell research, which seeks to develop therapies to repair bodily damage and cure disease by being able to insert cells that can grow into whatever tissues or organs are needed. If you take an organ that's functioning at 10 percent of normal … Continue reading →

Stem Cell Therapy: Plantar Fasciitis Understand whether the source of your pain might be Plantar Fasciitis, and how biologic regenerative treatments can repair this critical connecting tissue in your foot. For more information,... By: StemCell ARTS … Continue reading →

Work With A Quality Doctor At The Mississippi Stem Cell Treatment Center Every doctor at the Mississippi Stem Cell Treatment Center is dedicated to stem cell research and advancement. Visit us at 1153 Ocean Springs Rd., Ocean Spri... By: Mississippi Stem Cell Treatment Center … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 29-Jan-2014 Contact: Shaun Mason smason@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles Scientists from UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research were today awarded grants totaling more than $3.5 million by California's stem cell agency for their ongoing efforts to advance revolutionary stem cell science in medicine. Recipients of the awards from the California Institute of Renerative Medicine (CIRM) included Lili Yang ($614,400), who researches how stem cells become rare immune cells; Denis Evseenko ($1,146,468), who is studying the biological niche in which stem cells grow into cartilage; Thomas Otis and Bennet Novitch ($1,148,758), who are using new techniques to study communication between nerve and muscle cells in spinal muscular atrophy; and Samantha Butler ($598,367), who is investigating the molecular elements that drive stem cells to become the neurons in charge of our sense of touch. "These basic biology grants form the foundation of the revolutionary advances we are seeing in stem cell science," said Dr. Owen Witte, professor and director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center. "Every cellular therapy that reaches patients must begin in the laboratory with ideas and experiments that will lead us to revolutionize medicine and … Continue reading →

The new kind of stem cell announced yesterday may be the future of regenerative medicine, but Masayo Takahashi's pilot safety study using a type of stem cell to treat age-related blindness is at the cutting edge Later this year, you will make history when you begin the first ever human trial of induced pluripotent stem cells. Why is this such a big deal? Stem cells have enormous medical potential because they can become any other type of cell. If we can use them to replace old or damaged cells, this could have huge implications for treating degenerative diseases. Stem cells can be harvested from embryos, but this is ethically controversial. Despite this, there are several trials of these embryonic stem cells under way. Their use often requires drugs to stop the immune system from rejecting them, which can cause complications for elderly patients. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells offer an alternative. These are made from a patient's own cells, removing the need for the immunosuppressant drugs. Plus there are no ethical issues. How would treatment with iPS cells work? iPS cells are made by injecting several "reprogramming" genes into adult cells that have been removed from the body. This makes … Continue reading →

Autism Treatment A pediatrician will refer the caregiver and the child to a specialist in developmental disorders for the assessment. Some people may want to have this specialist treat their child's condition, but they are free to seek treatment elsewhere. Medical Author: Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland. Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology. Read the original post: Autism Causes, Symptoms, Treatment - Autism Treatment ... … Continue reading →

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) January 30, 2014 In a new study published in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders on Jan. 9, 2014, researchers at Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) find value in the comprehensive Skills Assessment, which helps clinicians develop individualized treatment plans for children with autism. Accurate assessment is vital to curriculum planning and skill acquisition for children with autism as it establishes a foundation from which treatment will be implemented. A comprehensive assessment allows clinicians to gain a thorough understanding of how a child functions across all areas and helps the clinician design the most customized treatment program based on the childs needs, thus maximizing results. The results of the study found that the Skills Assessment has excellent concurrent validity between parent report and direct observation, allowing treatment to be more individualized, targeted and efficient. The comprehensive Skills Assessment addresses over 3,000 skills across every domain of child development, including language, social, play, adaptive, executive functions, cognition, motor and academic. In the study, a childs parent or guardian was asked to answer the assessment questions, and those answers were compared to direct tests of the skills with the children. The study showed that the Skills … Continue reading →