Published Monday, February 4, 2013, 8:08 AM Updated Monday, February 4, 2013, 8:08 AM As part of austerity measures, Ireland chose to abolish - or absorb into another position - the role of the chief science adviser Photo by Andrei Tchernov Austerity certainly had an impact on Ireland, and the sciences werent spared from the influence. As part of austerity measures, Ireland chose to abolish - or absorb into another position - the role of the chief science adviser, a position that had been around since 2005, in late 2012. According to Nature.com, the CSA helped to persuade the government to spare science, and urged it not to neglect longer-term investments in research capacity, in the wake of the 2008 Irish financial crisis. Since the abolishment of the role, many scientists and researchers in Ireland worry that their work may suffer as a result. One foundation, the Irish Stem Cell Foundation, is particularly against the move to abolish the role of the CSA. The Irish Stem Cell Foundation is an independent, non-profit medical research charity. Established in October 2009, it is composed of researchers, clinicians, patients advocates, patients, science communicators, bioethicists, lawyers, teachers, and students. Stem cells are of particular … Continue reading →

TORONTO - Two small Canadian life science research companies are planning to combine forces to focus on treating cancer with stem cell technologies Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. (TSXV:SSS) will acquire Trillium Therapeutics Inc., both headquartered in Toronto, but all of Trillium's executives and staff will remain with the new company being created and Trillium's chief executive will be its CEO. Under terms of the deal, Trillium's security holders are to receive $1.2 million in cash and shares in the new company also to be called Stem Cell Therapeutics valued at $1.65 million. Trillium CEO Niclas Stiernholm, who is also a director of Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp., will be chief executive of the combined company. Trillium is a private company that was created to advance work done by six Ontario research institutions. It currently has two oncology research programs at the preclinical stage. Stem Cell Therapeutics if focused on acquiring technologies and capital to advance treatments towards commercialization. See the original post here: Two life sciences firms to join forces, create larger Stem Cell Therapeutics … Continue reading →

February 4, 2013 Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online As stem cell research progresses, scientists are becoming more and more specialized in studying the types of cells and tissues that they generate. In pursuing the mechanisms that drive stem cell specialization, scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have identified certain genetic characteristics of taste stem cells and their location on the tongue, according to their report in the journal Stem Cells. Cancer patients who have taste loss following radiation to the head and neck and elderly individuals with diminished taste function are just two populations who could benefit from the ability to activate adult taste stem cells, said study co-author Dr. Robert Margolskee, a molecular neurobiologist at Monell. Taste stems cells differentiate into three different types of taste cells, all of which are found within the tiny taste buds that dot the tongue. Two types of taste cells, also referred to as gustatory cells, contain chemoreceptors that convey the various kinds of taste, including bitter, sweet, sour and umami. The third type of taste cell performs more of a structural function. One of the remarkable properties of taste cells is their ability to regenerate. All three … Continue reading →

Every week, it seems, there's a new breakthrough in 3-D printing that promises us the ability to (eventually) fabricate some new thing in one of those glass-walled wonder boxes. Such things have included everything from spare parts for the International Space Station above to the beef on our dinner plates to the organs inside our bodies. Although this last idea of fabricating body parts may seem the most fanciful, a team of scientists is reporting a breakthrough in the 3-D printing using human embryonic stem cells that could purportedly lead to life-like bioengineered tissue and, eventually, artificial organs tailor-made for specific patients.Researchers have been able to engineer tissue samples in the past by combining artificial scaffold-like structures and animal cells. Depositing human embryonic stem cells in cultures using a 3-D printer offers some advantages. In particular, the cells can be positioned in droplets of uniform size cheaper, faster and more easily than using manual methods. This uniformity is important for researchers trying to generate specific cell types.Whereas human embryonic stem cells have proved too fragile to print in the past, scientists at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University and Roslin Cellab, a stem cell technology company, say they have developed a new technique … Continue reading →