UI Health Validates Cure for Sickle Cell in Adults
UIC News Center Sept 16, 2015 Sharon Parmet
Physicians at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System have cured 12 adult patients of sickle cell disease using a unique procedure for stem cell transplantation from healthy, tissue-matched siblings.
Ieshea Thomas was the first adult to be cured of sickle cell anemia by chemotherapy-free treatment at UI Health.
The transplants were the first to be performed outside of the National Institutes of Health campus
Still More Blind Can be Cured
Science Daily, Sept 4, 2015, University of Oslo, Faculty of Dentistry
A number of illnesses causing blindness can be cured from transplanting cells from the oral cavity. New findings make the treatment accessible to the places where the condition strikes the most frequently: in developing countries.
A number of illnesses causing blindness can be cured from transplanting cells from the oral cavity. New findings make the treatment accessible to the places where the condition strikes …
Cancer Cells Programmed Back to Normal by US Scientists
Cancer cells have been programmed back to normal by scientists in a breakthrough which could lead to new treatments and even reverse tumour growth.
For the first time aggressive breast, lung and bladder cancer cells have been turned back into harmless benign cells by
Miniature Brains Grown From Skin Cells ‘Provide Autism Insights’
Medical News Today 17 July 2015 by Markus MacGill
![[stem cells]](https://cdn1.medicalnewstoday.com/content/images/articles/296/296807/stem-cells.jpg)
Skin cells from the patients with autism were converted to induced pluripotent stem cells.
The researchers say this method allows them to overcome the difficulties of understanding diseases like autism …
Getting Into the Groove Helps Stem Cells Switch Into Heart Muscle Cells
Colin Smith Imperial London College 18 August 2015
Scientists have shown that they can drive cardiac stem cells to become heart muscle cells using a silicon chip etched with grooves.
The team from Imperial College London have developed a silicon chip with tiny grooves, which are 0.01 millimetres wide and only 0.0003 millimetres deep. They showed that the grooves stimulated a biochemical response in the cardiac stem cells that helps switch them into cardiomyocytes, which …
Stem Cells, Fecal Transplants Show Promise for Crohn’s Disease
US News & World Report April 10, 2015
Two experimental therapies might help manage the inflammatory bowel disorder Crohn’s disease, if this early research pans out.
In one study, researchers found that a fecal transplant — stool samples taken from a healthy donor — seemed to send Crohn’s symptoms into remission in seven of nine children treated.
In another, a separate research team showed that stem cells can have lasting benefits for a serious Crohn’s …
NCER Position Statement on Use of Fetal Tissue in Research
August 6, 2015
The Center for Medical Progress videos showing Planned Parenthood harvesting and allegedly selling organs and body parts from aborted human beings prompts NCER to restate our principles about the unethical nature of fetal tissue research. The following are some of the key principles contained in NCER’s longstanding Position Paper on Aborted Fetal Tissue.
- Human embryos and fetuses are human beings in their earliest stages of development.
- Every human being has a right
The NCER Position on Aborted Fetal Tissue Research
POSITION SUMMARY
The Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research (NCER) opposes the use of human fetal tissue or cells derived from induced abortions. Such use involves complicity with the immoral act of abortion and violates the principle of informed consent. NCER supports the use of human fetal tissue derived from naturally occurring deaths such as miscarriages, stillbirths, or ectopic pregnancies.
EXPLANATION
Science
The process of obtaining and processing fetal tissue from induced abortions for use in …
2 Comments
Supercharging Stem Cells to Create New Therapies
As seen in Science Daily:July 3, 2015
Source:University of Adelaide
Summary:
A new method for culturing stem cells has been developed, which sees the highly therapeutic cells grow faster and stronger. Stem cell therapy is showing promising signs for transplant patients, and the IL-17 treated stem cells should be even more effective at preventing and treating inflammation in transplant recipients — particularly controlling rejection in transplant patients.
Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered …
Gene-Sequence Swap Using CRISPR to Cure Hemophilia
As seen in Science Daily – July 23, 2015
Source: Institute for Basic Science
Summary:
For the first time, chromosomal defects responsible for hemophilia have been corrected in patient-specific iPSCs using CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases. Hemophilia A occurs in about 1 in 5,000 male births and almost half of severe cases are caused by identified “chromosomal inversions.” In a chromosomal inversion, the order of the base pairs on the chromosome are reversed so the gene doesn’t express …