Recent News
- Found: Another molecule needed at the origin of life
- For real: A new way to produce electricity
- New: Single molecule sensor array
- Finally(?)…artificially making blood stem cells in quantity
- Update: Chinese space station
- Looking at the strange face of antimatter
- Life on Mars, if it exists, is below the surface
- A different kind of lens for time
- Oh please, “skinput”
- Update: More Moon water
- Cutting cancer cell immortality short
- First time: Watching the unfolding story of proteins in living cells
- Newly named: Copernicum (element 112)
- Making jet fuel from biomass
- Nanobubbles are really slick
Tag Archives: stem cells
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
Beyond the genome: Mapping the epigenome
Given all the coverage, most people have heard about the ‘mapping of the human genome.’ It was a big project, taking many years (1990-2003) and costing about three billion dollars. Typically it was heralded as ‘one of the greatest scientific achievements of the century.’ It was that, although among those involved it was clearly a [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged DNA, epigenome, genes, microbiology, pathways, pluripotent Leave a comment
Stem cell converts
Along many different pathways scientists are learning how to re-program stem cells into a variety of other cells. Some of the crucial genes have been identified, and certain chemicals have been used to manipulate their properties. A new study, reported in Stem Cell Digest, has made initial steps in a better way to convert stem [...]
Skin cells – to stem cells – to liver cells
The potential and versatility of stem cells continues to expand. Future Pundit reports on a new use:
Researchers converted human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells and then converted the stem cells into liver cells that were able to function in the livers of mice.
Scientists at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have successfully [...]
Stem cells from the umbilical cord
The sources for stem cells continue to proliferate.
Umbilical cord blood cells can successfully be reprogrammed to function like embryonic stem cells, setting the basis for the creation of a comprehensive bank of tissue-matched, cord blood-derived induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for off-the-shelf applications, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and [...]
Can we stimulate repair of old muscles?
Yes, we probably can stimulate more repair of muscle cells in older people.
Berkeley — A study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, has identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle. By manipulating these pathways, the researchers were able to turn back the clock on old human muscle, [...]
Posted in News: Longer Life Also tagged aging, biochemistry, cancer, gerontology, muscles, pathways Leave a comment
Finally(?)…artificially making blood stem cells in quantity