In a Pilot Study, Stem Cell Therapy Found to be Effective For Stroke

Medical News Today – 12 August 2014

A stroke therapy using stem cells extracted from patients’ bone marrow has shown promising results in the first trial of its kind in humans.

Five patients received the treatment in a pilot study conducted by doctors at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and scientists at Imperial College London. The therapy was found to be safe, and all the patients showed improvements in clinical measures of disability.

The findings …

Growing Cell Lines from Individual Patients May Lead to Personalized Treatments

Medical News Today – 11 August 2014

A method of growing human cells from tissue removed from a patient’s gastrointestinal (GI) tract eventually may help scientists develop tailor-made therapies for inflammatory bowel disease and other GI conditions.
Reporting online recently in the journal Gut, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said they have made cell lines from individual patients in as little as two weeks. They have created more than 65 …

Gross High School gives to NCER through Ice Bucket Challenge

Thank you to all of the Daniel J Gross Cougar Family for participating in today’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

We are a statewide advocate for biomedical research that promotes the life, dignity and rights of every human being at each developmental stage. We thank you for supporting our mission with your generous contribution today. Please like us on our Facebook page and signup for our monthly email blast. We are honored to have been chosen …

Welcome to the improved NCER website!

Please consider sending your “ice-bucket” challenge donation to NCER in order to advocate for the cessation of the destruction of embryos in research, and to educate the citizens of Nebraska.

The Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research is a statewide advocate for biomedical research that promotes the life, dignity and rights of every human being at each developmental stage. Our volunteer Board of Directors is passionate about our mission, which is to keep Nebraskans educated and …

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Stem-cell collection: is there a cure in the cord blood?

Declan and Helena O’Shea with twins Theon and Asha at home in Kilmihil, Co Clare. Photograph: Eamon WardDeclan O’Shea was on holiday in Portugal in 2011 when he fell off a third-floor balcony while sleepwalking. He ended up in a coma for two weeks. When he woke, he couldn’t move any of his limbs and he was given the devastating news that he had broken his neck.

After a long, gruelling period of rehabilitation …

Duke Studies Cord Blood Cures for Autism With the Help of $15M

Duke University recently received $15 Million from the Marcus Foundation to fund a new study on possible cord blood cures for autism. The money coming from the Atlanta-based philanthropic organization will finance two out of the five years of study.

The full study will cost $41 million in total and will be headed by Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, chief scientific and medical officer of Duke’s Robertson Cell and Translational therapy program and Geraldine Dawson, director of …

Combating Sickle Cell Disease with Cord Blood Stem Cells

June 19 is designated as World Sickle Cell Day. The international observance provides an opportunity to heighten awareness of the formidable public health challenge presented by the common, non-malignant blood disorder.

Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder in which the body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. The sickled or c-shaped red blood cells can block blood vessels, reducing blood flow in many parts of the body. This process results in tissue and organ …

Light Coaxes Stem Cells to Repair Teeth: Noninvasive Laser Therapy Could Radically Shift Dental Treatment

Harvard-led team is the first to demonstrate the ability to use low-power light to trigger stem cells inside the body to regenerate tissue, an advance they reported in Science Translational Medicine. The research, led by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member David Mooney, Ph.D., lays the foundation for a host of clinical applications in restorative dentistry and regenerative medicine more broadly, such as wound healing, bone regeneration, and more.

The team used a low-power laser to …

MS Mice Regain Ability to Walk After Stem Cell Therapy

Multiple sclerosis is an often disabling disease of the central nervous system that interrupts information between the brain and the body. Now, in mice crippled by a similar autoimmune disease, scientists have shown that they were able to walk and run after their spinal cords were implanted with human stem cells.

The researchers – from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), University of Utah and University of California-Irvine – say their findings could potentially lead to …

Patient Stem Cells Used to Make ‘Heart Disease-on-a-Chip’

Harvard scientists have merged stem cell and ‘organ-on-a-chip’ technologies to grow, for the first time, functioning human heart tissue carrying an inherited cardiovascular disease. The research appears to be a big step forward for personalized medicine, as it is working proof that a chunk of tissue containing a patient’s specific genetic disorder can be replicated in the laboratory.

The work, published in Nature Medicine, is the result of a collaborative effort bringing together scientists from …