skin cells

Drug slows eye disease; Stem cells cure brain disorder; New pathway for epilepsy therapies

John Carroll — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:52:44 -0400

Stem Cell Research

Neural stem cells have been used to cure myelin deficiency disorder in mice. Report

Inspired by the suffering of his patients, Dr. Shelley Chawla wrote a book about a family's struggle with embryonic stem cell research. And now the neurologist's book is being made into a movie. Story

A Nobel laureate says his work has led him to conclude that more than one type of adult stem cell exists in the intestine, indicating that the science may be both more complicated that previously believed as well as ultimately more promising in terms of delivering effective therapies. Report

Scientists in Melbourne have obtained Australia's first shipment of induced pluripotent stem cells from the University of Wisconsin--derived from reprogrammed skin cells. Report

Researchers studying embryonic stem cells have explored the first fork in the developmental road, getting a new look at what happens when fertilized eggs differentiate to build either an embryo or a placenta. Release

Scientists have used human stem cells to dramatically improve the condition of mice with a neurological condition similar to a set of diseases in children that are invariably fatal, according to an article in the June issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell. Release

Bolstered by supportive policies and public research dollars, the United Kingdom, Israel, China, Singapore and Australia are producing unusually large shares of human embryonic stem cell research, according to a report from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the June 2008 issue Cell Stem Cell. Release

Genetic Research

New insights offered by genetics have helped Iowa researchers identify a new pathway for epilepsy that can stop seizures from occurring. That insight offers a new approach to developing epilepsy drugs. Report

Scientists say they have found a genetic trigger behind the development of enlarged hearts, a potentially lethal condition. The discovery could lead the way to new therapies. Story

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a genetic variation associated with an earlier age of onset in Alzheimer's disease. Release

Genetic engineers in Korea have developed a chicken that produces a valuable protein. Story

Researchers at the University of Southern California have helped identify a genetic variant that regulates glucose levels and also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. Release

By genetically altering the malaria parasite through gene knock-out technology, a research team consisting of scientists at the University of Copenhagen and John Hopkins University, Baltimore, has prevented the parasite from going through the normal stages of its life cycle and developing a cyst (egg-like structure or occyst), which spawns new infectious parasites. Release

Cancer Research

A New Zealand Scientist is studying whether a substance produced by a sea sponge can be an effective cancer fighter. Report

More Research

Researchers at UCLA say that the drug rosiglitazone appears to slow the advancement of eye disease in diabetics. Report

ALSO NOTED: StemCyte to open NJ facility; Cornell researchers win million-dollar grant;

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Stem Cell Research

California's StemCyte will open a facility in New Jersey and hire 12 people to do stem cell research work. The company was drawn to the state with $589,000 in state grants. StemCyte plans to do work in collaboration with scientists at Rutgers. Report

Two stem cell research projects at the University of Edinburgh have received 3.6 million pounds sterling from Scottish Enterprise, the Medical Research Council and the UK Stem Cell Foundation. Scientists will use the money to study how ESCs could be used to treat liver disease. The awards follow on from a collaboration set up in August 2006 between Geron and the University of Edinburgh to develop hESC-derived hepatocytes for the treatment of liver failure and for use in cell-based assays. Report

UW-Madison biologist James Thomson and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka have been listed as two of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine. Both researchers found ways to reprogram skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells, revolutionizing the field. Story

Genetics

The Miami Herald profiles Margaret Pericak-Vance and her husband, Dr. Jeffery Vance, two of the world's top geneticists. The two were recruited by the University of Miami medical school from Duke and developed the Miami Institute for Human Genomics with more North Carolina transplants and $34 million in research grants. Report

An international team of scientists have pointed to a link between high glucose levels and a mutated form of the G6PC2 gene. The mutated gene blocks the work of glucokinase, which controls glucose levels and raises the risk of an early death from cardiovascular disease. Story

Researchers in London are developing a genetic test to reveal the genetic disposition to myalgic encephalomyelitis, a debilitating disease. Report

Congress has now sent President Bush a bill that bars insurers and employers from discriminating against people based on their genetic profile. Report

Cancer Research

Scientists in Spain say that the more a prostate lesion expresses the PTOV1 gene, the more likely it will lead to cancer. While there is much yet to learn about the PTOV1 gene, researchers have found that high levels are often linked to cancer, just as a lack of the gene is associated with a lower cancer risk. Article

Whole-organ maps that superimpose genetic information over the terrain of cancerous bladders chart the molecular journey from normal cell to invasive cancer, an international research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports online at the journal Laboratory Investigation. Release

More Research

The Hartwell Foundation has provided a million-dollar grant to Cornell researchers involved in translational biomedical research work. Report

Prana Biotechnology says it has identified new pre-clinical drug candidates for Parkinson's disease. Release

Australian researchers investigating a virus that triggers arthritic inflammation say that they have found an existing therapy that can treat the condition. Report

Cloning advance could lead to designer babies

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

A new cloning method that relies on skin cells is far more efficient and easier to use than the antiquated methods employed to create Dolly the sheep. And some critics of the science are concerned that the bar may be lowered so far that researchers will be tempted to use the technology to begin to routinely offer designer babies--a realm once exclusively the preserve of science fiction writers. In the new approach, scientists injected skin cells into an early-stage embryo created through in vitro fertilization. The process produced both partial and full clones and can be replicated without the severe defects that afflicted many earlier cloned animals.

"It's unethical and unsafe, but someone may be doing it today," Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of American biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology, told The Independent. "Cloning isn't here now, but with this new technique we have the technology that can actually produce a child. If this was applied to humans it would be enormously important and troublesome."

- read the report in The Independent

Related Articles:
Single-parent stem cells may skirt cloning controversy. Cloning report
Mature stem cells prove effective in cloning. Stem cell report
U.S. scientists renew stem cell cloning efforts. Cloning report

Skin cells used to treat neurodegenerative disease

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

In new work that has both political as well as scientific implications, a team of scientists has been able to reprogram skin cells into functioning neurons and used them to eliminate symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This is the first time that reprogrammed cells have addressed a neurodegenerative disease, Marius Wernig, a scientist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, tells the Boston Globe. In the animal study, rats bred to develop symptoms of Parkinson's were given transplants of normal neurons derived from skin cells. After the therapy, eight of the nine rats stopped walking in an endless circling pattern, indicating a clear improvement.

"This shows that (reprogrammed) cells are able to function in the therapeutic manner that people have ascribed to them," said Rudolf Jaenisch, the pioneering Whitehead and MIT stem cell scientist who oversaw the work. "These cells are more readily available and much less controversial than embryonic stem cells. But they seem to have identical potential."

- read the article in the Boston Globe
- check out the report in MIT Technology Review

Related Articles:
In breakthrough, scientists reprogram skin cells into ESCs. Report
In research, stem cells make another breakthrough. Report
Cloned embryos offer possible Parkinson's cure. Report