ALSO NOTED: Stem cell therapy escapes immune system attack; P53 insights;New genetic triggers for disease;

Stem Cell Research

Geron announced that its embryonic stem cell therapy for spinal cord injuries is not attacked by the immune system, a finding that could lower or eliminate the need for immune-suppressing drugs for patients. Report

In what is seen as an important step toward a cure for Parkinson's, researchers have injected human stem cells into monkeys with the disease. Report

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has handed out $50 million in grant money to fund the development of new laboratory facilities at 17 institutions. Report (.pdf)

Scientists report that normal tissue cells can be reprogrammed to exhibit many of the properties that are characteristic of embryonic stem cells, including the ability to give rise to multiple cell types and contribute to the germline. Release

Lawmakers in New South Wales have voted to lift a ban on human cloning. Report

Dartmouth Professor Ronald M. Green examines the moral questions and the scientific feasibility of deriving hESC lines in ways that avoid destroying living human embryos in a paper published in the June 2007 issue of Nature Reviews Genetics. Report

Disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk is in Thailand to discuss joining a team of embryonic stem cell researchers. He is currently on trial for criminal fraud. Report

Cancer Research

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory researchers led by Lin He, Xingyue He, and Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Greg Hannon have identified a family of micro RNAs (miRNAs) that enable a critical tumor suppressor network, called the p53 pathway, to fight cancer growth. Report

Researchers in Milan say they have discovered a stem cell switch that can interfere with the development of malignant brain tumors. Report

Umbilical cord blood transplants may offer blood cancer patients better outcomes than bone marrow transplants, according to an analysis of outcome data performed at the Statistical Center, Center for Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Release

Results from a new study have made it easier for scientists to distinguish between growing blood vessels in healthy tissues and those that are associated with tumors. Release

Mutations in the cell adhesion molecule known as integrin alpha 7 (integrin α7) lead to unchecked tumor cell proliferation and a significantly higher incidence in cancer spread, or metastasis, in several cancer cell lines, report researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Report

More Research

In the largest-ever genetics study of its kind, a team of British scientists has found 24 genetic triggers to seven common diseases. Half of those links are new and should cast new light on drug development efforts. Report

Northwestern University researchers have discovered a drug that slows--and may even halt--the progression of Parkinson's disease. D. James Surmeier at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, and his team of researchers have found that isradipine, a drug widely used for hypertension and stroke, restores stressed-out dopamine neurons to their vigorous younger selves. Release

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have built the largest synthetic gene ever developed, which has helped explain the development of drug-resistant malaria. "Now that we have these genes expressed in a convenient yeast system, we can work to understand the molecular basis of anti-malarial drug resistance, providing insight into how future drugs might be designed to effectively kill the parasite," said Paul Roepe, Ph.D. Release

Researchers at the University of Manchester have identified evidence of several new genes behind the chronic inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis, which affects 387,000 people in the UK. Report

In head-to-head trials of two drugs, the one deemed better appears to depend largely on who is funding the study, according to an analysis of nearly 200 statin-drug comparisons carried out between 1999 and 2005. Release

An international research consortium investigating the genetic causes of intestinal inflammatory conditions has identified a new genetic risk factor for coeliac disease. Release