Jerianne Lukban - High School Stem Cell Research Intern - Summer 2013 Jerianne Lukban is a Philip Burton High School student doing a stem cell research internship this summer in the laboratory of Deepak Srivastava at the Gladst... By: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine … Continue reading →

Najwa Anasse - High School Stem Cell Research Intern - Summer 2013 Najwa Anasse is a Balboa High School student doing a stem cell research internship this summer in the laboratory of Deepak Srivastava at the Gladstone Instit... By: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine … Continue reading →

Newswise ANN ARBOR, Mich. A new stem cell-based approach to studying epilepsy has yielded a surprising discovery about what causes one form of the disease, and may help in the search for better medicines to treat all kinds of seizure disorders. The findings, reported by a team of scientists from the University of Michigan Medical School and colleagues, use a technique that could be called epilepsy in a dish. By turning skin cells of epilepsy patients into stem cells, and then turning those stem cells into neurons, or brain nerve cells, the team created a miniature testing ground for epilepsy. They could even measure the signals that the cells were sending to one another, through tiny portals called sodium channels. In neurons derived from the cells of children who have a severe, rare genetic form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome, the researchers report abnormally high levels of sodium current activity. They saw spontaneous bursts of communication and hyperexcitability that could potentially set off seizures. Neurons made from the skin cells of people without epilepsy showed none of this abnormal activity. They report their results online in the Annals of Neurology, and have further work in progress to create induced pluripotent … Continue reading →

EAGLE ROCK (CBSLA.com) An Eagle Rock mother hopes stem cell research will help give her young daughter a chance at a full life. Grace Rosewood, 5, suffered a brain injury when she was an infant. Desperate to find help for her daughter, Olivia Rosewood turned to umbilical cord blood, which the family had banked when Grace was born. It set my blood on fire. I think parents know that feeling of, OhI have to get this! I have to do this! said Olivia. More research led Olivia to Duke University Medical Center, where clinical trials were being done on patients with brain injuries using their own stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood. We deal with specialists, therapists, teachers. Nobody knew about this. I found out from other moms. Im really grateful, said Olivia. The Rosewoods flew across the country and documented their journey. So far, Grace has undergone two stem cell infusions. She engages with people. Were still working on speech, but she seems to feel like shes speaking. Shell vocalize with intention, said Olivia. Dr. Peter Weiss, who doesnt treat Grace, has been closely monitoring the advances of stem cell research and said promising results have already been … Continue reading →

July 24, 2013 Research on human embryonic stem cells has been a political and religious lightning rod for more than a decade. The cells long have been believed to be the only naturally occurring pluripotent cells. (Under the right conditions, pluripotent cells can become any other cell in the body.) But some people object to the fact that the embryo is destroyed during their isolation. Induced pluripotent stem cells, created by experimentally manipulating an adult cell such as a skin or nerve cell, are much more ethically palatable. But many researchers feel it is important to continue studying both types of cells. In 2006, a group of researchers led by Mariusz Ratajczak, MD, PhD, at the University of Louisville, described another possible alternative: a special population of very small, pluripotent embryonic-like cells in adult bone marrow of mice and humans. These cells, called VSEL (very small embryonic-like) cells, presumably arise through the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells during the developmental process and, as described, could provide all the benefits of embryonic stem cell research with none of the ethical controversy. However, subsequent research from other labs has provided conflicting results as to the pluripotency -- and even the existence -- … Continue reading →