New cells may help treat diabetes
As seen in Science Daily January 28, 2015
Starting from human skin cells, researchers at the University of Iowa have created human insulin-producing cells that respond to glucose and correct blood-sugar levels in diabetic mice. The findings may represent a first step toward developing patient-specific cell replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes.
In the new study, published Jan. 28 in the journal PLOS ONE, the UI team led by Nicholas Zavazava, MD, PhD, UI professor …
Wisdom teeth stem cells can transform into cells that could treat corneal scarring
As seen in Science Daily 2/23/15
Stem cells from the dental pulp of wisdom teeth can be coaxed to become cells of the eye’s cornea and could one day be used to repair corneal scarring due to infection or injury, according to researchers. The findings indicate they also could become a new source of corneal transplant tissue made from the patient’s own cells
Corneal blindness, which affects millions of people worldwide, is typically treated with …
In The News – Three Parent Embryos:
The US Institute of Medicine is currently requesting regulatory approval for 3-person IVF, so this issue is of immediate concern for Americans as well as for the Brits. Embryos will be created and destroyed during research and implementation of this technique, all in an effort to genetically engineer the prevention of a disease in those embryos who are then “allowed” to be born. This procedure opposes every ethical principle in medicine: Respect for Persons, Beneficence, …
Report on remission in patients with MS 3 years after stem cell transplant
Three years after a small number of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were treated with high-dose immunosuppressive therapy (HDIT) and then transplanted with their own hematopoietic stem cells, most of the patients sustained remission of active relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and had improvements in neurological function, according to a study published online by JAMA Neurology.
MS is a degenerative disease and most patients with RRMS who received disease-modifying therapies experience breakthrough disease. Autologous (using a patient’s …
What you need to know about 3D-printed organs
Sure, 3D printers that can spit out chocolates, create shoes, handcraft cars and help astronauts sound fun and magical, but a lot of scientists are working to make models that aren’t just fun. They’re developing 3D printers that can also save and change lives by printing out functional human organs. Think about it: If we can make organs on demand, patients don’t have to wait as long for transplanted organs. In the United States alone, …
NuVascular Technologies and Worcester Polytechnic Institute commercializing stem cell treatment to repair heart damage
NuVascular Technologies, Inc. has recently obtained exclusive licensing rights to commercialize a breakthrough medical device that will provide a minimally invasive treatment for heart disease, the No. 1 cause of death in the United States accounting for one in every four deaths.
The BioGenerator stem cell device allows the heart to repair itself and could improve heart function in as little as two to four weeks. NuVascular Technologies is teaming up with researchers at both …
Delivery of stem cells into heart muscle after heart attack may enhance cardiac repair and reverse injury
As seen in Science Daily October 19, 2014
Summary:
Delivering stem cell factor directly into damaged heart muscle after a heart attack may help repair and regenerate injured tissue. A novel SCF gene transfer delivery system induced the recruitment and expansion of adult c-Kit positive (cKit+) cardiac stem cells to injury sites that reversed heart attack damage in a pre-clinical model. In addition, the gene therapy improved cardiac function, decreased heart muscle cell death, increased …
Nov
Major Advance Using Ethical Stem Cells
As seen in NRL News October 2014
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a Madison, Wisconsin-based company, has been awarded a $1.2 million contract from the National Eye Institute to engineer stem cells acquired ethically for potential treatment of macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of blindness. This contract represents CDI’s first venture into making cells for therapeutic use.
The Eye Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, will send blood and tissue …
Lab-developed intestinal organoids form mature human tissue in mice
As seen in Science Daily October 19, 2014
Summary:
Researchers have successfully transplanted ‘organoids’ of functioning human intestinal tissue grown from pluripotent stem cells in a lab dish into mice — creating an unprecedented model for studying diseases of the intestine. Scientists said that, through additional translational research, the findings could eventually lead to bioengineering personalized human intestinal tissue to treat gastrointestinal diseases.
Reporting their results Oct. 19 online in Nature Medicine, scientists from Cincinnati …
Paralyzed man walks again after nose cells repair his spinal cord
As seen in Medical News Today – 21 October 2014 at 3am PST
A 40-year-old paralyzed man from Poland can now walk again with the aid of a frame after breakthrough surgery transplanted cells from his nose into his spinal cord, which had been severed in a knife attack.
The procedure effectively provided a “bridge” over the injury site so nerve cells – encouraged by the special nose cells – could regrow across the scar …