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Post by ML Fan on Mar 26, 2005 16:23:32 GMT -5
UConn Said Close to Creating Stem Cells Friday Mar 25, 2005 9:11 PM ET STORRS, Conn. - As lawmakers consider plans to make the state a hotbed for stem cell research, the University of Connecticut has announced it is poised to become one of the first colleges in the country to launch a program for making human embryonic stem cells. Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang, a cloning expert who directs UConn's Center for Regenerative Biology, said Thursday that his laboratory had become the first to create embryonic stem cells from cloned cattle embryos. The work was done in a partnership with the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Yang said the lab is ready to move from studying stem cells in cows to creating human embryonic cells for research, but he said China is asking him to do the work in Beijing. Although he does not plan to leave UConn, Yang said he or other scientists at the Center for Regenerative Biology would consider moving their work to China if the state does not pass a bill supporting stem cell research. Researchers at Yale University Medical School are also concerned about having enough money to study stem cells. School officials say they are ready to create a new stem cell institute, but are worried about competition from other states such as New Jersey and California, which plan to spend billions of dollars on research. Scientists worldwide are eager to dive into the field because certain stem cells can morph into all cell types found in the body. Some scientists believe that stem cells can be used to repair damaged tissue, replace entire organs and cure diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. UConn's results with cloned cattle embryos are published in the current issue of the journal Biology of Reproduction. Yang said developing a therapeutic cloning program to make human embryonic stem cells will need the backing of Connecticut lawmakers. The U.S. government has prohibited federal funding on human embryonic cells created after the fall of 2001. Embryonic stem cells so far have been created only from cloned embryos in mice and in humans. In his research, Yang plans to implant DNA from a skin cell into an egg that has had its own DNA removed. The egg is electrically stimulated and begins cell division. Within five days, the new embryo creates an interior ball of embryonic stem cells. Yang envisions therapeutic testing beginning within the next 10 years. State Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Cheshire, co-chairman of the legislature's Public Health Committee, said now is a critical time in the stem cell movement for recruiting scientists. He supports a bill that would provide $10 million in bonding for stem cell research in the coming year and ban cloning designed to produce a child. Opponents of the plan, including officials of the Roman Catholic Church, argue that there are not enough safeguards that prevent scientists from creating a human being from a cloned embryo. They also believe the embryos are alive and should not be killed in order to promote research. Dr. Robert Alpern, new dean of the Yale School of Medicine, said Thursday that Yale wants to create a new stem cell center that would bring six or seven top-flight scientists together. To attract and keep top researchers, he said, the center would require lab space and ongoing funding for stem cell research that currently is ineligible for federal grants. Fifteen other states are considering bills similar to the measure before the Connecticut legislature, said Paul Pescatello, president of Connecticut United for Research Excellence, which supports the legislation. "People are being wooed, and they are waiting to see what happens with this legislation and how much money comes to bear on their labs," Pescatello said. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050326/ap_on_sc/stem_cells_1
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Post by ML Fan on Apr 27, 2005 19:39:16 GMT -5
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - A horse has been added to the list of animals successfully cloned by researchers at Texas A&M University. School officials announced Wednesday their partnership with a French company resulted in the cloning. A&M believes this is the first successfully cloned horse in North America. Horses had previously been cloned in Italy. The French-American partnership was a major factor in the horse's name: Paris Texas. "Look at him, he's gorgeous," Katrin Hinrichs, the lead scientist on the project said just before the six-week old light brown foal made his public debut. He whinnied and walked right up to several photographers who snapped his picture. "He's very bold," said Hinrichs, a professor at Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine. She also heads the school's Equine Embryo Laboratory. A&M researchers used adult horse skin cells biopsied from a valuable horse in Europe to clone the foal, which was born March 13. The process, which took 400 attempts over a four-month period, began with dividing the skin cells in an incubator. Horse eggs were also matured in an incubator. Just before the eggs were fertilized, they were taken out. Under a microscope, researchers removed the DNA. The biopsied skin cells were then injected into the eggs, which were then allowed to divide and make an embryo. The embryo was then placed into the uterus of a horse. Six embryos were created but only one, Paris Texas, was successfully gestated in a host horse named Greta during a pregnancy that lasted 12 1/2 months. Horses usually have an 11-month gestation period. "It's very inefficient at this point. People worry that we're going to produce all these cloned champions and they're going to go to horse shows and change the face of showing horses," Hinrichs said. There are no guarantees that Paris Texas will turn out exactly the same as the donor horse but the foal's offspring will have the same characteristics, Hinrichs said. "Really it's a method to save genetics," she said. The knowledge acquired from the successful cloning of the horse should be a powerful tool that will allow scientists to better compare the differential affects of environment and heredity, nature versus nurture, Hinrichs said. "It will be able to bring the frontiers of science forward, using the horse as a model," she said. Hinrichs said the procedure could also one day be used by the private industry to clone horses. Cryozootech, A&M's Paris-based partner, is dedicated to preserving the genes of exceptional horses for their use in producing cloned offspring. With Paris Texas, A&M has become the first academic institution in the world to clone six different species. The first cloned cat was born at the school on Dec. 22, 2001. Since then the university has cloned several litters of pigs, a Boer goat, a disease-resistant Angus bull, the first Brahma bull and a deer. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050428/ap_on_sc/cloned_horse
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Post by ML Fan on May 3, 2005 17:10:14 GMT -5
San Francisco Favored for Stem Cell HQ Mon May 2, 10:09 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO - A panel endorsed San Francisco on Monday as its top pick to host the agency overseeing California's $3 billion public investment in stem cell research. The panel, a subcommittee of the 29-member board that oversees the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, ranked San Diego and Sacramento in a near tie for second. The full agency board is expected to formally choose a site Friday. The institute plans to build an office with a maximum of 50 employees who will help dole out nearly $300 million in research grants annually for 10 years. No actual stem cell research is planned at the headquarters, but it's expected to give the winning city a big dose of prestige that can be used to lure biotechnology companies to settle nearby. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city's bid is worth $17 million in perks, including 10 years free rent in a new building adjacent to the future biotechnology campus of the University of California, San Francisco. Here's the link, story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050503/ap_on_sc/brf_stem_cell_hq
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Post by ML Fan on May 19, 2005 19:29:57 GMT -5
Scientists Speed Creation of Stem Cells By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON - South Korean scientists have dramatically sped up the creation of human embryonic stem cells, growing 11 new batches that for the first time were a genetic match for injured or sick patients. It is a major advancement in the quest to grow patients' own replacement tissue to treat diseases. The same scientists last year were the first to clone a human embryo. Now they have improved, by more than tenfold, their efficiency at culling these master cells, thus making pursuit of therapeutic cloning more practical. "I didn't think they would be at this stage for decades, let alone within a year," said Dr. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh. He acted as an adviser to the Korean lab in analyzing its data, which was being published Friday in the journal Science. "This paper will be of major impact," said stem-cell researcher Dr. Rudolph Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass. "The argument that it will not work in humans will not be tenable after this." This research is not cloning to make babies. Instead, scientists create test-tube embryos to supply stem cells — the building blocks which give rise to every tissue in the body — that are a genetic match for a particular patient and thus won't be rejected by the immune system. If scientists could harness the regenerative power of those stem cells, they might be able to repair damage from spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Parkinson's and other diseases. Stem cells also can come from embryos left over in fertility clinics. But these cells would not be a genetic match for any patient. Any potential therapy is years away from being tested in people. But the new research marks several advances: _Last year's cloned stem cells were from one healthy woman. This time, the Seoul scientists created stem cells that were genetic matches to each of 11 patients — male and female, as young as age 2 and as old as 56, suffering either spinal cord injuries, diabetes or a genetic immune disease. _Last year, it took attempts with 242 donated human eggs to grow one batch of stem cells. This time, it took an average of 17 eggs per batch and 14 eggs if they were from women younger than 30. _The researchers eliminated use of mouse "feeder cells" that, until now, have been used to nourish human stem-cell lines, easing concerns about animal contamination. The research also will add to political sparring over whether to expand government-funded stem cell research in the United States. Because culling stem cells destroys the days-old embryo harboring the cells, President Bush in 2001 banned federally funded research on all but a few old embryonic stem-cell lines. A vote on whether to ease those restrictions could come in the House as early as next week. The South Korean research, funded by the South Korean government, spotlights the frustration that many U.S. scientists feel at being left behind. "It's just going to highlight the tragedy of our current situation in America where there are technologies that are promising that are not being pursued by talented American scientists because of ideologic constraints," said Dr. Janet Rowley of the University of Chicago. The genetics specialist helped write recent national ethics guidelines on stem-cell research. The lead South Korean researcher, Hwang Woo-suk of Seoul National University, said in a telephone interview, "Therapeutic cloning has tremendous, tremendous healing potential, but we have to open so many doors before human trials." More immediately, the research will allow scientists to watch the very earliest origins of diseases such as Alzheimer's form inside an actual patient's cloned, living cells, said neuroscientist Fred Gage of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego. That could point to new ways to prevent and treat illness, said Gage, who plans to perform some of that work. The Seoul researchers collected eggs that were donated by 18 unpaid volunteers and removed the gene-containing nucleus from them. The scientists inserted into those eggs DNA from skin cells of the 11 patients and chemically jump-started cellular division. Thirty-one blastocysts — early-stage embryos of 100 or so cells each — successfully grew. From those, the scientists harvested 11 stem cell lines. Each is a genetic match to the patient who had donated a skin snippet, and each can form other tissues, such as brain cells or bone cells. Next, the scientists must learn how to control that cell development. The work means there may be more demand for donated eggs for medical research. Women considering doing so must understand they get no benefit and face some risk, said Stanford University bioethicists David Magnus and Mildred Cho. The advances do not mean it is time to try reproductive cloning, Hwang said. That, he said, "is unsafe and unethical," noting that animal studies show more failures than successes. "Biologically, it may be impossible." Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050520/ap_on_he_me/stem_cells
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Post by ML Fan on May 20, 2005 17:14:55 GMT -5
Scientist: Stem Cell Work Will Aid Humans By JI-SOO KIM, Associated Press Writer Fri May 20, 2005 SEOUL, South Korea - A leading stem cell researcher said Friday it will be years — and maybe decades — before recent breakthroughs by his team of scientists will benefit humans, but he expressed high hopes that they'll eventually help people with incurable diseases. South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-ksuk was tired but elated after returning from a trip to the United States, where the prestigious journal Science published a review of his work, then to Britain, where he agreed to join forces with a researcher at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute to fight Lou Gherig's disease. Hwang's team, who shocked the world last year by cloning a human embryo, has recently been credited with another major breakthrough — creating the first embryonic stem cells that genetically match injured or sick patients. The genetic match means the stem cells, the building blocks that give rise to all the tissue in the body, are unlikely to be rejected by the body's immune system. Stem cell researchers hope the cells can be used to repair damage caused by disease. Other scientists have lauded the advances made by Hwang's team — and their speed. But Hwang, a professor at Seoul National University, said the researchers were working methodically, especially due to ethical concerns. "We already had the technological know-how last year, at the time of the human embryo cloning," Hwang told a crowd of reporters who met him at Incheon International Airport near Seoul. "But our team imposed a moratorium on our own, because there were ethical issues." "In conducting the new process, we've abided by domestic law governing life ethics and the regulations of the Institutional Review Board," he said, without elaborating. Last year, his team of researchers cloned stem cells from one healthy woman. This year, they created 11 batches of stem cells that genetically match males and females with either spinal cord injuries, diabetes or a genetic immune disease. "It means that we can create stem cells using the ... cells of patients regardless of sex and age," Hwang said. Still, the researchers were cautious about giving a possible timeframe on when patients suffering from incurable diseases would benefit. "Some foreign researchers have said three to five decades, some have said in just several years," said Ahn Curie, a doctor of transplantation medicine at Seoul National University Hospital and a member of Hwang's team. "We will work hard, but we don't want to raise false expectations." Unlike many of his colleagues around the world, Hwang receives full government support. The South Korean government this year provided 2 billion won (US$2 million; euro1.6 million) in pure stem research funds to Hwang's team, and 24.5 billion won (US$24.4 million; euro19.3 million) in facility assistance for stem-cell and other research. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050520/ap_on_sc/skorea_stem_cells
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Post by ML Fan on Aug 22, 2005 8:05:44 GMT -5
Researchers Fuse Skin and Stem Cells WASHINGTON - Harvard scientists announced they've discovered a way to fuse adult skin cells with embryonic stem cells, a promising and dramatic breakthrough that could lead to the creation of useful stem cells without first having to create and destroy human embryos. Members of the research team were to discuss their findings Monday. Preliminary results of the potentially groundbreaking research were disclosed Sunday on the Science magazine web site. The scientists said they were able to show in their early research that the fused cell "was reprogrammed to its embryonic state." "If future experiments indicate that this reprogrammed state is retained after removing the embryonic stem cell DNA — currently a formidable technical hurdle — the hybrid cells could theoretically be used to produce embryonic stem cells lines that are tailored to individual patients without the need to create and destroy human embryos," said a summary of the research reported on the Science site. That could lead to creation of stem cells without having to use human eggs or make new human embryos in the process, thereby sidestepping much of the controversy over stem cell research. The Harvard researchers used laboratory grown human embryonic stem cells — such as the ones that President Bush has already approved for use by federally funded researchers — to essentially convert a skin cell into an embryonic stem cell itself. If a number of hurdles can be overcome in subsequent research, the new technique "may circumvent some of the logistical and societal concerns" that have hampered much of the research in this country, Chad A. Cowan, Kevin Eggan and colleagues from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute report in the Science article. Those social concerns are reflected in the Senate's looming debate over a House-passed bill to force taxpayers to fund stem cell research that would destroy human embryos, legislation President Bush has promised to veto. Bush and many fellow conservatives believe it is immoral to create embryos only to destroy them, even in the name of scientific progress that could cure or treat diseases afflicting millions of people. Debate and a vote on the bill will proceed next month as planned, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's spokeswoman, Amy Call, said Monday. Frist earlier this month said he will vote for the bill, widely expected to pass even in the face of Bush's veto threat. The hybrid cells created by the Harvard team "had the appearance, growth rate, and several key genetic characteristics of human embryonic cells," the summary of their work said. "They also behaved like embryonic cells, differentiating into cells from each of the three main tissue types that form in a developing embryo. The authors conclude that human embryonic cells have the ability to reprogram adult cell chromosomes following cell fusion. " Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050822/ap_on_sc/skin_cells_stem_cells
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Post by ML Fan on Oct 19, 2005 18:57:35 GMT -5
S.Korea launches ambitious global stem-cell project By Edward Davies and Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters)-South Korea launched on Wednesday a an ambitious project to make the country a global hub for stem-cell storage and research, hoping to further cement its status at the forefront of cloning research. Helped by generous government support and an absence of some of the red-tape and ethical debate that has hampered research in countries such as the United States, South Korea is fast becoming a key center for stem-cell research. Stem cells are master cells in the body that can develop into any cell type. Scientists are trying to learn how to manipulate them for transplants to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's or diabetes. "The work being done here is not about getting ahead financially. It's about starting international cooperation that will go on to benefit the entire mankind," President Roh Moo-hyun said at the opening of the World Stem Cell Hub. Stem cells will be stored at Seoul National University Hospital and made available to international researchers under the project. So-called stem-cell banks already exist in Britain and the United States, although South Korea hopes that its excellence in the area will attract maximum global collaboration. South Korea's government had invested 30 billion won in stem-cell research, said Im Jung-gi, chief executive of the hub project. RESEARCH BUZZ IN SOUTH KOREA Professor Hwang Woo-suk and his team of researchers at Seoul National University made world headlines earlier this year when they created stem cells with a patient's specific genetic material, derived through cloned embryos. The same researchers later created Snuppy, the first dog cloned from adult cells by somatic nuclear cell transfer. That is the same technique used by British researchers to create Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal, and other animals. But the research is controversial and some religious groups and politicians oppose embryonic stem-cell research, saying the destruction of an embryo to harvest the stem cells is akin to abortion. Many U.S. scientists say their work in this area is being hurt by the Bush administration's reluctance to fully back the research. In the United States, federal funds for experiments using human embryonic stem cells are restricted, and rival bills in Congress could lift these restrictions or tighten them further. "One concern is the issue of bioethics. But it is the role of us politicians to manage the issue so that it does not hinder the progress of excellent science like this," Roh told an invited audience of academics and diplomats from around the world. Professor Hwang said he felt U.S. debate over the ethics of the research should be respected. But asked if he expected America to eventually be fully on board he said: "Absolutely, absolutely. That's a matter of time." The British scientist who led the team that created Dolly the sheep told Reuters he expected South Korea to make more progress in the research and saw a lot of room for international collaboration. "It is a key component of the international effort to co-operate in research rather than compete," said Professor Ian Wilmut, who works at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051019/sc_nm/science_korea_cells_dc
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Post by ML Fan on Jan 31, 2006 9:43:00 GMT -5
Muscle Stem Cells Transformed Into Cartilage By Ed Edelson HealthDay Reporter Mon Jan 30, 2006 MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they have turned adult muscle stem cells into cartilage, and used them in animals to heal the kind of damage caused by arthritis. That is potentially good news for the many people who now face joint-replacement surgery because there is no available technique to repair cartilage damage from osteoarthritis, the wear-and-tear condition that afflicts many older people. The transformed cells have successfully replaced damaged cartilage in rats for as long as 24 weeks, much longer than has been reported in studies using other methods, according to a report in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. Experiments aimed at extending the benefit to 48 weeks are in the planning stage, with an eye out for human trials, said study leader Johnny Huard, director of the Growth and Development Laboratory at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. "Over the years, a lot of people have tried to use cells to repair cartilage, which doesn't repair by itself," said Huard. "So far, nobody has been able to repair cartilage with those cells. In this study, we found a population of stem cells in skeletal muscle that we give a boost with a protein so they differentiate into cartilage cells. Then we can repair cartilage damage in our animal model." Discovery of the protein that does the transformation was one of those happy accidents, Huard added. It is bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4), so named because it has been used for years to make bone cells. A look at the cells thus treated in a different project showed they resembled cartilage cells, and that observation led to the new breed of cartilage cells. If all works out as hoped, Huard said, treatment of damaged cartilage would start with a biopsy to obtain muscle stem cells from the person needing the treatment. "That is the nice thing about it, because by taking muscle cells from you, we bypass the immune reaction against foreign cells, he said. The cells would then be grown in culture to create patches for the damaged cartilage. The experiments described in the journal report used 36 young rats, all with damaged cartilage, who were divided into three groups. One of those groups got muscle stem cells genetically engineered to produce BMP-4, another got plain muscle stem cells, the third just got a coating of glue. Studies over the next 24 weeks showed repair in the BMP-4 mice, and not in the others. It's not possible to say when human trials of the transformed cells might start, Huard said. But human trials are underway to test the safety of muscle stem cells against a different condition, bladder dysfunction, which causes embarrassing leakage, he said. An accompanying editorial by Dr. Mary B. Goldring, of the New England Baptist Bone and Joint Institute, said the study "provides proof-of-principle for performing muscle-derived stem cell implantation in cartilage of humans, since 12-week-old rats are considered to be young adults," and that "further work is warranted" to see if the method works in humans. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060130/hl_hsn/musclestemcellstransformedintocartilage
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Post by ML Fan on Feb 2, 2006 21:57:08 GMT -5
Stem Cells Offer Hope Against Heart Failure By E.J. Mundell HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- In theory, it seemed simple: Doctors would transplant stem cells into diseased hearts to create new, healthy tissue that could reverse heart failure. But experts gathered in New York City recently for a major conference on stem-cell therapy agreed that such a "cure" is proving elusive. While small studies show modest benefit from these cell-transplant therapies, major improvements in heart function haven't yet materialized. "Nothing that I've seen at this meeting, with regard to cell therapy, show that it prolongs the life of heart-failure patients," said Dr. Eric Rose, chairman of the department of surgery and associate dean of translational research at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York City. He also co-chaired a special symposium on the therapy during the conference. Despite the lack of major breakthroughs, Rose stressed the field is still in its infancy -- barely five years old. And he said the fact that many heart-failure patients in clinical trials have benefited from stem-cell treatments shows the strategy still has great promise. "For some patients, cell therapy may improve their quality of life," he said. "Those are the kinds of early signals that you look for in a field that's this young." Heart failure occurs when the heart cannot pump blood fast enough or efficiently enough to meet the body's needs. In many cases, heart failure involves some kind of residual damage to heart muscle, such as that occurring after a heart attack. Restoring function to dysfunctional cardiac tissue is the goal of stem cell research. Leading researchers from centers around the world presented their findings at the conference symposium. Some used stem cells sourced from the patient's bone marrow, while others turned to cells cultured from cell lines in a laboratory. Others used cells found in the peripheral blood supply, a much less invasive method. The researchers also presented a variety of cell-delivery methods, the most common being injecting the cells directly into dysfunctional areas of the heart, either through invasive surgery or less invasive catheterization procedures. The real problem usually arises after the cells reach the targeted tissue, however. Experts estimate that because this damaged tissue area is often inflamed or otherwise hostile to stem cells, up to 95 percent of the cells will perish before they can do a patient any good. Much of the work presented at the meeting examined the role of cytokines, kinases and other cellular compounds in this process. The bottom line? "We just don't know what the best, most plausible recipe is" for maximizing stem-cell therapy's potential, said Rose, who is also surgeon-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital, in New York City. Still, positive results from small clinical trials are keeping hope alive. Dr. Gustav Steinhoff, of the University of Rostock, Germany, presented six-month results from his phase 2 trial comparing outcomes of 20 heart-failure patients who received bone marrow stem cells, delivered via traditional balloon angioplasty to the heart. Compared to 20 patients who received traditional angioplasty without stem cells, the stem-cell recipients gained a modest improvement in left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction -- the amount of blood forced out of the heart's left ventricle. Ejection fraction rose from an average of 37 percent before the procedure to 47 percent six months later, Steinhoff said. An even bigger improvement was seen in a second study of 10 heart-failure patients treated with peripheral blood stem cells, delivered laparoscopically via a catheter to the heart. All of the patients had tough-to-treat non-ischemic heart failure -- a progressive form of the disease that's unrelated to a previous heart attack. According to lead researcher Dr. Amit Patel, of the University of Pittsburgh, three months after the procedure, LV ejection fraction rose from a patient average of 27 percent to 45 percent -- a significant increase. This benefit has been maintained over the longer term, Patel added, with most patients able to cut back on at least some of their heart medicines. However, Rose cautioned that this study -- conducted at a heart center in Thailand but involving U.S. patients -- was "very small, and had no control group." He also noted that many of the patients were former heavy smokers who had given up the habit prior to undergoing treatment. "Everyone knows that quitting smoking is a formidable treatment for heart failure in itself," Rose said. "This study needs a lot more replication." A major clinical trial will come, he said, as soon as experts arrive at a consensus on the right stem-cell therapy "recipe." And he noted that there's real momentum toward that goal. "At the American Heart Association's annual meeting five years ago, there were just five presentations on cell therapies," he pointed out. "This year, 25 percent of all papers presented were on stem cells or regenerative therapies." So how long till the promise of stem-cell therapy becomes a reality? Rose said he remains cautiously optimistic. "It's likely to be less than 10 years before there will be some routine form of this being used at the bedside, at least for some narrow [therapeutic] indication," he said. "And I think there are going to be a lot of cell therapies used in 25 years." Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060203/hl_hsn/stemcellsofferhopeagainstheartfailure
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Post by ML Fan on Jun 21, 2006 14:35:28 GMT -5
Stem cells help repair rats' paralysis By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Tue Jun 20, 6:53 PM ET WASHINGTON - Scientists have used stem cells and a soup of nerve-friendly chemicals to not just bridge a damaged spinal cord but actually regrow the circuitry needed to move a muscle, helping partially paralyzed rats walk. Years of additional research is needed before such an experiment could be attempted in people. But the work marks a tantalizing new step in stem cell research that promises to one day help repair damage from nerve-destroying illnesses such as Lou Gehrig's disease, or from spinal cord injuries. "This is an important first step, but it really is a first step, a proof of principle that ... you can rewire part of the nervous system," said Dr. Douglas Kerr, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the work being published Monday in the journal Annals of Neurology. Perhaps most importantly, the experiment illustrates that if stem cells eventually live up to their promise, treatment won't be simple — they can't just be injected into a diseased body and repair it on their own. Instead, the new research details a complex recipe of growth factors and other chemicals that entice the delicate cells to form correctly and make the right connections. Miss a single ingredient, and the cells wander aimlessly, unable to reach the muscle and make it move. The study may bring "the appropriate tempering of expectations of stem cells," said Kerr, considered a leader in the field. "Some of my patients say, 'Oh, I'm going to pull into the stem-cell station and get my infusion of stem cells,' and it's never going to be that." Stem cells are building blocks that turn into different types of tissue. Embryonic stem cells in particular have made headlines, as scientists attempt to harness them to regenerate damaged organs or other body parts. They're essentially a blank slate, able to turn into any tissue given the right biochemical instructions. But human embryonic stem cell research is politically controversial, because culling the cells destroys embryos. The Hopkins experiment isn't the first to use stem cells to help paralyzed rodents move. But previous work bridged damage inside the spinal cord that blocked nerve cells from delivering their "move" messages to muscles, sort of like fixing the circuit that brings electricity to a fan. The new work essentially installs new wiring: replacing motor neurons — specialized nerve cells for movement — that have died to make a new circuit that grows neuronal connections out of the spinal cord and down to a leg muscle. "They did something that people have been trying to do for at least 30 years and literally hit a brick wall until now," said Dr. Naomi Keitman of the National Institutes of Health's neurology division, which partly funded the work along with patient advocacy groups. First, Kerr mixed embryonic stem cells from mice with chemicals that caused them to turn into motor neurons. He transplanted them into the spinal cords of partially paralyzed rats. Some rats received neurons treated with substances to boost their survival chances. Even if the fledgling motor neurons lived, insulation called myelin on surrounding nerve cells would inhibit their growth. So some rats also received injections of chemicals, including an antidepressant called rolipram, thought to neutralize myelin's antigrowth effect. Still others were injected with a growth factor called GDNF near the leg muscle, as a signpost to direct the new neurons to form connections there. Only the group of rats that got every extra ingredient improved, Kerr found. The paralysis wasn't completely gone, but six months after treatment, 11 of the 15 animals could bear weight, take steps and push away with the affected leg. Of the roughly 4,000 new motor neurons generated in the rats' spinal cords, about 120 reached the muscle, and 50 were electrically active, further testing showed. The next step, to start this summer: Redoing the experiment in pigs, to see if new neurons can be enticed to grow connections over the longer distances needed to reach from a pig's spinal cord to its leg. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060620/ap_on_sc/stem_cells
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Post by shywriter on Jun 22, 2006 21:15:41 GMT -5
I was listening to the show "The Infinite Mind" on NPR tonight -- and the topic was "neuroprotheses." Peeps, they were talking exos for strength enhancement (in the 2d half of the show) and (their first and most impressive story)using the electronic transmission from the brain's neurons (reached both through surgery and non-surgically, by electrodes or such on the outside of the skull) to allow thought to move computer cursors-- i.e., thinking of your hand moving a mouse in a certain way actually moves the cursor in that pattern. They reported on one quadriplegic subject who had a successful brain implant for the study; others have been implanted but they are too early in the program to report their results. It was the damn exo come to life-- except instead of the pad at the back picking up signals (which is just silly cos there wouldn't BE any signals! : it could be done with a sensor on the skull. I'd put a link here but for some reason the show's website is a week behind (naturally, the show they have as "current" is about sex-- go figure. But in case you're curious (and can wait til they update) the show's site may be found via the NPR site or their own at www.theinfinitemind.com...and just when I thought the exo was so stoopid...
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Post by Black SAT on Aug 7, 2006 13:43:12 GMT -5
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Post by Aerie on Aug 7, 2006 14:55:57 GMT -5
Yikes.
That's interesting SAT, it really fits into this thread.
MAX: Yeah, made-up creature, like in mythology. Head of a lion, body of a goat. Your basic hodgepodge.
From the PILOT
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Post by ML Fan on Aug 23, 2006 16:39:31 GMT -5
New method makes embryo-safe stem cells By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer Wed Aug 23, 2006 NEW YORK - A biotechnology company has developed a new way of creating stem cells without destroying human embryos, billing it as a potential solution to a contentious political and ethical debate. "This will make it far more difficult to oppose this research," said Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology, the Alameda, Calif., company that reported the new method. Stem cell researchers were impressed by the new technique's ability to produce two robust lines of stem cells without requiring the destruction of embryos, and a White House spokeswoman called it encouraging. However, few on either side believe the new procedure will end the long-running bitter impasse over the science. Stem cells have become a sort of holy grail for advocates of patients with a wide variety of illnesses because of the cells' potential to transform into any type of human tissue. But the Vatican, President Bush and others have argued that the promise of stem cells should not be realized at the expense of human life, even in its most nascent stages. "The science is interesting and important," said John Harris, a professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester in Great Britain, commenting on the biotech company's efforts. But a representative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the method "raises more ethical questions than it answers" and criticized the experiment itself as "gravely unethical" because it discarded the actual embryos it used. A number of stem cell researchers and bioethicists dismissed it as scientifically suboptimal and politically ill-advised. "This will please no one," predicted a longtime critic of the company, Glenn McGee, director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute in Albany, N.Y. The new technique takes just a single cell from an early-stage embryo and uses it to seed a line of stem cells. The rest of the embryo retains the potential to develop into a healthy human. A paper describing the method is being published online Wednesday by the British journal Nature. The journal published a similar paper by Advanced Cell Technology researchers last year demonstrating the technique's viability in mice. Stem cell researchers complain that the new approach, though it may hold future promise, simply isn't as efficient as their current method of creating stem cells. That procedure involves the destruction of embryos after about five days of development, when they consist of about 100 cells. Those who oppose any research that destroys a biological entity with the potential for human life argue that the new procedure solves nothing, because even the single cell removed in the technique could theoretically grow into a full-fledged human. "It is widely believed that one cell of a very early embryo may separate and become a new embryo, an identical twin," said Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. U.S. law currently bans federal funding of any research that harms human embryos. A White House spokeswoman said the new method's eligibility for funding could not yet be determined, "but it is encouraging to see scientists at least making serious efforts to move away from research that involves the destruction of embryos." Scientists at Advanced Cell devised a clever means of piggybacking on existing fertility treatments to avoid the creation, manipulation or destruction of embryos specifically for the production of stem cells. The fertility procedure, known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, is used when parents want to avoid having a child with a lethal or severely debilitating birth defect. About 1,000 such procedures are performed each year in the United States. PGD begins with in vitro fertilization to produce numerous embryos. At a very early stage of development, when the embryos are no more than a ball of eight to 10 cells, a technician extracts a single cell from each one. The extracted cells are tested for genetic disorders, and those free of defect are then implanted in the mother in the hope that will develop. The new stem cell production method takes a cell extracted during PGD and allows it to divide. One of the two resulting cells is genetically tested as in normal PGD; the other is cultured to encourage the development of stem cells. "It's nothing revolutionary," said Yury Verlinsky, a Chicago geneticist who specializes in PGD. Advanced Cell Technology was able to produce two viable stem cell lines from a total of 16 embryos. The lines appeared to exhibit the full potential of embryonic stem cells to develop into any type of human tissue, the researchers reported, but additional study is needed to verify that. "I think this will become a standard way of producing stem cell lines," said Ronald M. Green, a Dartmouth College professor of religion who is an unpaid bioethics adviser to Advanced Cell Technology. Embryonic stem cells have great medical potential because of their ability to transform themselves into virtually any human tissue. With further research, they might one day be used to treat patients with cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, spinal cord injuries and other ailments. Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060823/ap_on_sc/stem_cells_1
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Post by ML Fan on Aug 26, 2006 17:10:15 GMT -5
US stem-cell firm optimistic on ethical concerns By Jim Finkle Sat Aug 26, 12:02 PM ET WORCESTER, Massachusetts (Reuters) - A U.S. company that developed a way to make human embryonic stem cells without harming the original embryo said on Friday it was optimistic the technique would overcome ethical concerns that have held back funding for stem cell research. California-based Advanced Cell Technology Inc. developed the technology to quell the raging ethical debate in the United States over the harvesting of embryonic stem cells, which under current methods results in destruction of human embryos. "For most rational people this removes the last rational objection for opposing this research," Advanced Cell's chief scientist, Robert Lanza, said in an interview at the company's Worcester research center. The White House on Thursday said it was encouraged by a new method and Bush believed it deserved a good look. Bush last month vetoed an expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, saying U.S. taxpayers who object to such research should not have to pay for it. Opponents have a range of objections that include a distaste for manipulating or destroying what they see as a potential human life, and some experts said the technique announced on Wednesday would not resolve ethical debates and political battles that have divided the country for years. Although he doubts Bush will support it, Lanza said he hoped the new method addressed the concerns of enough U.S. senators and representatives to generate a majority of votes in Congress to override the White House's veto. WIDE RANGE OF POSSIBLE TREATMENTS "We're still trying to discover how to turn these embryonic stem cells into replacement cell types that we can use to help people with a wide range of diseases," Lanza added. The company, in a conference call with investors on Friday, said its first projects would be treatments for eye disease, such as macular degeneration, developing skin therapies that could result in wounds that heal without scars and reversing the effects of heart failure. Based in Alameda, California, the company hopes to be ready to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to begin its first human trials on a stem-cell derived experimental treatment by the end of next year, Lanza said. "I believe in this science tremendously," said Lanza, a physician who is the company's medical director and vice president of research and scientific development. The company said on Friday it expected to raise $13.5 million by selling convertible debt and through the exercise of warrants on its stock to fund operations. Lanza's team used a method already employed in fertility treatments to remove one cell from a human embryo without harming it. They then grew stem cells from that single cell. But Baptists for Life, a publication for ministers that opposes stem cell research involving embryos, says that single cell must be combined with other cells harvested earlier, presumably from a process that destroyed embryos. (Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Andy Sullivan in Washington) Here's the link, news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060826/pl_nm/science_stemcells_dc
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