Stem cell research has historically been a controversial topic in modern science, provoking human rights activists to split sides, and now involving legal disparities among patent owners. Reports describe a new legal suit against the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has a patent on stem cells derived from human embryos, has been brought on by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog in what Consumer Watchdog claims is research that is too similar to earlier work and therefore undeserved to be owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Part of the debate centers around the very incendiary core of the research into stem cells to begin with. The idea that naturally occurring material -- genetic material in this case -- can be patented doesn't sit right with some, and furthermore some say complicates research costs and hinders research altogether. And despite the claims that patenting stem cell work hinders research, part of the issue is the money that would go to the organization that patents the work on the stem cells then used in medical treatments -- ones that are increasing in usage for spinal cord and other fatal disease treatments. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2013 that isolated human … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Jan-2014 Contact: Joshua Brickmann joshua.brickman@sund.ku.dk 45-51-68-04-38 University of Copenhagen Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have gained new insight into how both early embryonic cells and embryonic stem cells are directed into becoming specialised cell types, like pancreatic and liver cells. The results have just been published in the scientific journal eLife. This latest research from the Danish Stem Cell Center (Danstem) at the University of Copenhagen, helps identify how stem cells create so called pathways and roads supporting their own specialisation. This understanding is an important step towards stem cell-based cell therapies for conditions like diabetes and liver diseases. "The new insight that we have gained into the impact of the physical environment on cell development is highly valuable," says Professor Joshua Brickman from DanStem, "It enables us to create the optimal physical environment in the laboratory for stem cells and progenitor cells to develop into specific, mature cells." On the road Developing cells constantly move and while moving around, they organise and build a physical environment very much like a small city with pathways and roads. The new research published in the scientific journal eLife shows two important things. Firstly the embryonic cells receive signals … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Jan-2014 Contact: David McKeon DMckeon@nyscf.org 212-365-7440 New York Stem Cell Foundation NEW YORK, NY (January 7, 2014) Scientists at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute, working in collaboration with scientists from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), for the first time generated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells lines from non-cryoprotected brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These new stem cell lines will allow researchers to "turn back the clock" and observe how Alzheimer's develops in the brain, potentially revealing the onset of the disease at a cellular level long before any symptoms associated with Alzheimer's are displayed. These reconstituted Alzheimer's cells will also provide a platform for drug testing on cells from patients that were definitively diagnosed with the disease. Until now, the only available method to definitively diagnose Alzheimer's disease that has been available to researchers is examining the brain of deceased patients. This discovery will permit scientists for the first time to compare "live" brain cells from Alzheimer's patients to the brain cells of other non-Alzheimer's patients. NYSCF scientists successfully produced the iPS cells from frozen tissue samples stored for up to eleven years at the New York Brain Bank at Columbia … Continue reading →