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Tag Archives: stem cells
Stem cell injection improves aging cells in mice
“The provocative findings urge further research,” said Dr. Niedernhofer, one of the senior investigators on a University of Pittsburgh (USA) stem cell project. The context is injecting stem cells from young mice into very old mice and mice with progeria, a disease that causes rapid aging. As described in Nature Communications [03 January 2012, Open [...]
Stem Cells: An excellent coverage of the medical reality
I’ve posted before about the most unusually frank, thorough and intelligent postings on current health issues by the British National Health Service (NHS) called NHS choices, [SciTechStory: Behind the headlines, a systematic source of science candor]. This time I’m drawing attention to a longer piece made available through the site, called Hope and hype: stem [...]
Posted in Commentable Also tagged Media, medical application, National Health Service, NHS, tourist medicine, UK Leave a comment
Synthetic biology: Pituitary glands from stem cells
Research into the uses stem cells is at that stage where almost every month a new application is announced, typically in the replacement of damaged cells or tissues. The most recent application is the creation of pituitary gland tissue from the embryonic stem cells of mice. Researchers at the Japanese RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology [...]
Posted in News: Synthetic Biology Also tagged embryonic stem cells, pituitary gland, RIKEN, Sasai, synthetic biology, synthetic organs 2 Comments
lincRNA: A recently discovered RNA organizes stem cell differentiation
What makes a scientist’s heart go pitter-patter? Something like this: When the Broad team discovered more than 3,500 unique lincRNAs in the human and mouse genomes in 2009, “the potential was enormous, and we wanted to know what they could be doing.” [Source: Technology Review] Here’s the scenario: A team of researchers at the Broad [...]
Posted in News: Proteomics Also tagged Broad Institute, cell development, DNA, genetics, Guttmann, lincRNA, pluripotent, proteomics, RNA 1 Comment
Reprogramming cells: The post stem cell future?
Sixth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell reprogramming, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged cell biology, cell reprogramming, DNA, embryonic stem cells, epigenetics, genetic modification, genetics, Gurdon, iPSC, pluripotent, proteomics, Yamanaka Leave a comment
First steps: Converting skin cells to blood cells without stem cells
This is an important story about stem cell research because it doesn’t involve stem cells. I know that sounds odd, but it’s true. Of course, I’m being coy. The research by Mick Bhatia, Eva Szabo and colleagues at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), published in the November 7, 2010 online issue of Nature [ Direct [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged blood cells, cell conversion, cytokines, DNA, epigenetic, fibroblast, multipotent, OCT4, pluripotent, POU5F1, progenitor, skin cells Leave a comment
First clinical trial: Embryonic stem cells for spinal repair
Normally clinical trials, especially Phase 1 clinical trials (the ‘do no harm’ test) are not considered particularly auspicious. Lots of drugs and procedures never make it through this first step. Nor is a Phase 1 trial normally the stuff of media coverage. A Phase 1 trial of embryonic stem cells is another matter. Just when [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged clinical trial, embryonic, FDA, Geron, hESC, oligodendrocytes, phase 1, spinal repair 1 Comment
Reversing silenced genes improves quality of induced stem cells
As has been the case for more than a decade, the promise of stem cells to create breakthroughs in cell biology and medicine has been hampered by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of high quality pluripotent stem cells (cells capable of changing into almost any other kind of cell). Human embryonic stem cells are [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged DNA, embryonic stem cells, gene, genetic, iPSC, molecular genetics, pluripotent, RNA, transcription Leave a comment
Growing stem cells to become hair cells of the inner ear
Each human ear has about 30,000 specialized hair cells that convert the vibrations of sound in the air to electrical impulses for the brain. A very loud rock concert will kill some of them. The body can’t repair or replace them. The losses are cumulative; eventually hearing loss becomes detectable. About 30% of people over [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged cochlea, deafness, ear hairs, ectoderm, inner ear, otic-progenitor, pluripotent, stereocilia, vestibula Leave a comment
Small steps toward understanding the epigenome
“You can think of it this way,” said Ren. “Neurons and skin cells share the identical set of genetic material – DNA – yet their structure and function are very different. The difference can be attributed to differences in their epigenome. This is analogous to computer hardware and software. You can load the same computer [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged adult cells, cell biology, chromatin, DNA, epigenetics, epigenome, fibroblasts, genetics, histones, mitochondria, nESC, nucleus, organic chemistry, RNA 1 Comment
Genetic pause control
Did you know that the genetic production process (gene expression) can be paused? A few years ago, most geneticists didn’t know either, and now it appears that the ability to pause genetic expression is not limited to a handful of genes (as originally thought) and may be a general capability for cells at all stages [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged c-Myc, chromosome, DNA, DSIF, genes, genetics, mRNA, NELF, nucleus, polymerase enzyme, protein, transcription Leave a comment
Neural stem cells: Going back to a brain with more plasticity
Of mice and men: If it works in mice it (might) work in people. So the thinking goes when scientists do brain research with mice. Only, as a rule, the scientists would say it’s possible that something they observe in mice might also be observed in human beings (they usually hope so), but there is [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged MGE, neural stem cells, neuron, neuroscience, ocular dominance plasticity, plasticity, visual cortex 1 Comment
Finally(?)…artificially making blood stem cells in quantity
This story begins with an insight: The cells of a vascular system (veins, arteries, capillaries) – called endothelial cells – do more than make up the tissue that transports blood; they also play a role in maintaining blood (hematopoietic) stem cells by producing novel stem-cell-growth factors. A research team at the Ansary Stem Cell Institute [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged adult cells, endothelial cells, genetic modification, hematopoietic, vascular Leave a comment
Induced stem cells: Not such good news…
It’s one of the hazards of reading science journalism, most of the news is positive – this advance, that breakthrough, etc. It’s easy to get the impression that a particular science – in this case research that creates pluripotent stem cells from adult (non-embryonic) cells – is rushing headlong to great things. It might be, [...]
New method: Creating stem cells from fat cells
Creating stem cells from adult cells – rather than using controversial embryonic material – is near the top of the list for stem cell research. So creating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS – cells that can become almost any other kind of cell) from fat cells (yes, human fat cells, of which there is no [...]
Stem cell epigenomic development mapped
Completing the map of the human genome, back in 2000 and 2003, was a monumental task and a milestone on the road to understanding our genetics. Here’s another milestone: A map that shows in detail how the human genome is modified during embryonic development. Just completed and published by a team of researchers from the [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged DNA methylation, genetics, genome, genome map, methyl, mRNA, pluripotent Leave a comment
Why do some cancers resist treatment?
Sometimes one of the most important things about research is the questions it provokes. In this case, the question “Why do some cancers resist treatment?” comes out of research that has found a plausible answer. The work involved a standing question in stem cell research – How does the body regulate the two different kinds [...]
The potentially polymorphous cell (a revolution in the making?)
One of the hazards of constant bombardment with science or technology announcements heralding something as “breakthrough,” “revolutionary,” “unprecedented,” and the like, is developing superlative fatigue. These results can’t all be great; and they’re not. Sometimes it’s just hype. Sometimes the people involved really do think they’re on to something, but they’re not. Occasionally the superlatives [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged DNA, epigenetic, iPS, neurons, pluripotent, skin cells, totipotent Leave a comment
Stem cells to neurons to live transplant
You know stem cell research is gaining on practical applications when it can go from Petri dish to the in vitro environment. In this case, scientists at Stanford Medical School (California, USA) started with embryonic stem cells. These undifferentiated cells were cultivated in a Petri dish to exhibit initial characteristics of cortical (brain) neuron cells [...]
Research finding: Possibly a new way to create stem cells
Let’s describe this research backwards – from (potential) result to experiment. One of the most important areas of stem cell research involves how to make stem cells, bypassing the need for extracting and maintaining (controversial) embryonic stem cell lines. So far there have been two approaches. One way is to introduce adult cell nuclei into [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged demethylation, embryonic, epigenetic, somatic cells Leave a comment
Watch for impact: Stem cells in China
For a science or technology to have real impact on people, it must have the potential; but it must also have commitment. The first automobiles had potential, clunky though they were. The potential was seen most clearly in the United States, which then provided commitment – commercial (auto companies), governmental (roads, laws), and personal (a [...]
A new type of stem cell: Dermal
Another new stem cell heard from…dermal stem cells, found by a research team in Toronto, Canada. Over several years of work, these cells have finally been identified as true stem cells (limited multipotent) that can produce a variety of other cells including skin, bone, cartilage, and neuron. It’s another advance in the fund of stem [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged dermal stem cells, dermis, embryos, epidermis Leave a comment
Amniotic stem cells show more promise
The amniotic fluids of human gestation are emerging as source of laboratory and medically useful stem cells. Early research had suggested this might not be the case, but techniques outlined in a new study show that not only can amniotic stem cells be used for (possibly) pluripotent stem cells, but they have a lower incidence [...]
The race for safe stem cells
I’m loath to call anything in science a ‘race,’ since modern society is being overloaded with the race metaphor (politics, for example). There is the example of Watson and Crick racing the Pauling team to nail down the shape of DNA, but on the whole ‘racing’ in science is usually at-a-distance, not foot-to-foot. However when [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged biochemistry, cell, cell biology, DNA, genes, iPS Leave a comment
ePSC: A new type of pluripotent stem cell