From strangers to best friends, a stem cell transplant recipient was asked by the man who saved his life to be his best man. The two men, Brett Dingwall and Paul Rogers, became friends following the transplant. Brett Dingwall was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia more than a decade ago. He survived the illness thanks [Read More]
Caroline Wyatt, a 49-year-old journalist with the British Broadcasting Corporation, has spoken about how a pioneering stem cell treatment has helped lift the brain fog associated with her multiple sclerosis. She says she hasn’t felt this good in a long time. Wyatt’s MS was diagnosed after more than two decades of seeing doctors for unexplained [Read More]
An 8-year-old patient with cancer has found a stem cell donor thanks to efforts by pop star Ed Sheeran. The high-profile appeal was also backed by a number of other celebrities. Eight-year-old Jasmi Lindberg-Cooke was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia three years ago. The Suffolk resident urgently needed a matched unrelated stem cell donor who [Read More]
Three patients in the United States have lost most of their ability to see after undergoing unregulated stem cell treatments. Stem cell surgery is often the last bastion of hope for people hoping for a restoration of sight. However, the treatments are risky when conducted at unsupervised clinics, such as a private one in Florida [Read More]
The University of Leicester has broken a British charity’s record for the maximum number of registrations for stem cell donors in a single day. The event was promoted by a Rik Basra, a policeman who successfully underwent stem cell transplantation a few years ago. Basra has been encouraging blacks and Asians to register as stem [Read More]
Joel Picker-Spence of Farndon in Nottinghamshire died in 2008 before his seventh birthday. But before he died, he did what most 6-year-olds cannot even dream of. Joel potentially saved the lives of 14 people who would have probably not survived without the stem cell donations collected during the Join for Joel campaign. Although there was [Read More]
A mother from Nuneaton has called for the United Kingdom’s public health services provider NHS to review the decision to end stem cell funding for relapsed patients. Her children Charlie, 5, and Zoe, 3, suffer from a rare genetic disorder and have both undergone stem cell transplants. Charlie’s procedure was successful, but his sister Zoe [Read More]
Twenty-four-year-old fraternal twins, Sean and Ryan Collard from the United Kingdom were diagnosed with testicular cancer within weeks of each other. The two are now raising awareness about the condition which affects young men. Ryan was diagnosed first, and at the time, his mother asked experts whether his twin was at risk and needed to [Read More]
Stem cell scientists are trying to better understand cancer and develop drugs that are essentially “tuneable.” The new project by Scottish researchers is based on a technique developed by Strathclyde University scientists in collaboration with a spinoff company. The idea is to develop drugs which can be customized to the patient’s individual needs. The project [Read More]
A scientist in Hong Kong, Professor Ronald Li, has used stem cells to grow tiny human hearts. These lab-grown miniature organs function exactly like a real human heart. Researchers plan to use them to test new drugs. Professor Li’s stem cell company, Novoheart, is marketing the invention to pharmaceutical companies around the world. These tiny [Read More]
Stem cell research is breaking new ground and making the transition from the lab to the real world. Scientists have succeeded in growing a new trachea from a patient’s stem cells and transplanting it back to replace a diseased windpipe. The breakthrough could hold new hope for patients battling serious medical conditions such as heart [Read More]
When Ava Stark was age 3, her family received devastating news. The toddler was born with a rare blood disorder and would die without a stem cell transplant. The family from Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland, sent out a countrywide appeal for donors after a donor who had previously been found had to back out due [Read More]
A laboratory in Lanarkshire in the United Kingdom has begun harvesting stem cells from the teeth of pediatric patients. The hope is that these harvested cells will be available to cure diseases that the children may develop later in life. Parents who avail this service will pay a monthly fee to BioEden, an American company, [Read More]
Leonarda McCourt, a 77-year-old great grandfather from Newcastle in the United Kingdom participated in the world’s first regulated stem cell study for patients who have suffered a stroke. One of only 21 patients enrolled in the trial, McCourt received a direct injection of stem cells into his brain in 2016. This is a pioneering treatment [Read More]
A new scientific revolution is taking place in China in the field of stem cell research. Unlike the Western world, the laws in China are quite lax with no moral or ethical barriers to hold back research in one of the most controversial areas of research. The People’s Republic of China has different cultural views [Read More]
Douglas Melton was studying frog eggs at a laboratory in Harvard University when his 6-month-old son Sam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Later, the Melton’s daughter Emma was diagnosed with the same condition. Melton dropped what he was doing and launched efforts to create insulin-producing pancreatic cells in the laboratory. In people with type [Read More]
When Stephen Sykes, 26, from Shepton Mallet in Somerset, United Kingdom, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an aggressive type of cancer that did not respond to chemotherapy, a desperate hunt for stem cell donors began. Doctors were unable to find a match even after a worldwide search. Brass bands across the United Kingdom got tested [Read More]
Scientists in the United States made a major breakthrough when they used human cloning to produce embryos in the blastocyst stage. Embryos are a good source of stem cells, which can be used to produce brain, bone, muscle, and other types of specialized cells found in the human body. The methods used by the scientists [Read More]
Stem cell researchers in Japan are using regenerative medicine techniques to find a cure for blindness. A paper was first published in 2006 describing a method to restore sight in mice using stem cells. Despite the initial excitement, more than a decade later, there has been no great progress. A 2015 trial in Japan was [Read More]
A team of researchers at Cedars-Sinai has successfully repaired severe fractures with an innovative method that relies on stem cells. The experiments were conducted in laboratory animals, but if proven effective and safe in humans, could change the way broken bones are treated.
Researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center have developed mini lungs or organoids in the laboratory to help study respiratory diseases. The 3-D structures closely mimic adult-sized lungs and have been created from pluripotent stem cells to serve as models of lung diseases in the laboratory. The findings were reported in Nature Cell Biology.
A team of researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, working in collaboration with investigators at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has identified the gene mutation that leads to uncontrolled cell division and tumor formation in some stem cell lines. The Harvard scientists say the findings suggest the need to screen lab-grown stem [Read More]
Researchers have used gene-editing technology and stem cells modified for autonomous regenerative therapy (SMART) to help fight arthritis. Arthritis and many other chronic conditions are associated with inflammation. The idea is to replace arthritic cartilage in the affected joints with stem-cell-produced cartilage and a biological anti-inflammatory agent.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have collaborated to create a novel technique that will allow scientists to observe the interaction of chlamydia with the immune system in humans.
Researchers at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom have identified the stem cells that play a key role in repairing the knee joints. The findings of the team from the Center for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health were published in Nature Communications.
Researchers at California’s Gladstone Institutes have used human stem cells to create a neuron that could potentially benefit people with spinal cord injuries. The special type of neurons created by the group is responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to the spinal cord, a process that is essential for movement control.
Scientists at the Clinic for Small Animal Surgery at the University of Zurich have conducted experiments to regenerate damaged spinal discs in dogs. The neurologists hope that the findings will help pave the way for treatment of intervertebral disc disorders in humans.
Stem cell researchers at the Jacobs School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo have reproduced the brain oscillations seen in Parkinson’s disease in a petri dish in the laboratory. This new research will pave the way for new therapies and maybe even a potential cure for Parkinson’s. The findings were published in the online [Read More]
Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have uncovered previously unknown stem cell-mediated steps in muscle regeneration. The findings were published in the journal Genes and Development. The new insights into age-related muscle degeneration will also help researchers studying muscular dystrophies.
Scientists are testing a pathbreaking technique to treat heart failure. Using a muscle patch made from the patient’s own stem cells, the researchers have succeeded in repairing damaged hearts with promising results. What is heart failure? When the heart can no longer properly perform its function of pumping blood to the body, it is termed [Read More]
Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute, a not-for-profit biomedical research facility, have developed a new approach to make cells resistant to the HIV virus. In laboratory experiments, the HIV-resistant cells promptly replaced infected cells. The method offers a potential cure for people with HIV. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of [Read More]
In the laboratory, pluripotent stem cells have embryo-like abilities to develop into different types of tissues found in the human body. However, it is only totipotent stem cells that can develop into embryo-supporting tissues such as the placenta. Since extra-embryonic tissues play an important role in healthy growth and development, scientists at Salk Institute have [Read More]
A study at the Stanford University School of Medicine has revealed that a single protein is key in priming stem cells to respond to injury. Experiments in mice showed that the primer protein helped in quicker recovery from muscle injury. In fact, the skin also healed more rapidly and hair grew back quicker in the [Read More]
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth have collaborated with biologists at the University of Zurich and University of Lyon to discover drugs for brain repair. The team has identified drugs that activate signals to specific types of cells in the adult neurological system. The experiments in mouse models may prove useful in developing treatments of [Read More]
The human brain has the ability to adapt in response to changes. This quality is known as brain plasticity. It enables humans to learn throughout life. New neurons are generated in specific areas of the adult brain and are instrumental in learning new processes. Molecular Basis for Production of New Neurons Until now, the molecular [Read More]
In what could prove to be groundbreaking research in “manufacturing” blood in the laboratory, scientists at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee have used time-lapse videos to study blood stem cells. The findings were revealed in the journal Nature Cell Biology. Video Surveillance of Blood Stem Cells Akin to private investigators, the scientists [Read More]
Scientists at the Washington State University have developed new technology to improve preservation of sperm stem cells. Sperm stem cells need to be saved to preserve fertility in boys who are scheduled to undergo cancer therapy. Saving Sperm to Preserve Fertility If an adult man is diagnosed with a cancer of the reproductive organs, it [Read More]
Statins are a class of drugs used to treat high cholesterol levels in the body. Specifically, these medications lower bad cholesterol (LDL). However, these lipid-lowering drugs are associated with several side effects including muscle aches, headache, flushing, difficulty sleeping, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, drowsiness, and dizziness. Moreover, not all patients respond to statins. Now, researchers [Read More]
Established cell lines and experiments in animals do not always mimic conditions in the human body well and results can be vastly different in actual human populations compared to the laboratory. Researchers at the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University have tried to overcome this challenge of developing a good research model by [Read More]
Research teams at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Bergen in Norway have collaborated to study a thousand different drugs and their effect on the risk of Parkinson’s disease. New Research on Parkinson’s Treatments The findings of a study authored by Harvard University’s Shuchi Mittal were published in the journal Science. The [Read More]
Researchers have found that a low-calorie diet has effects on the stem cell circadian rhythm that could slow down the aging process. Experiments in mice have revealed that, with age, the biological clock in stem cells begins to focus on alternate cell processes. Instead of focusing on maintaining tissues, it begins to focus on DNA [Read More]
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that differentiate in response to certain signals. Researchers have long understood that cancerous cells are in some ways similar to stem cells. Now scientists are investigating whether a stem cell protein can be used to kill breast cancer cells. Stem Cells and Breast Cancer
A team of researchers at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has gained considerable ground in a quest to engineer digestive system tissue. The ability to create replacement digestive tissue offers exciting possibilities in the treatment of a number of gastrointestinal conditions, ranging from inflammatory bowel disease and fecal incontinence to short gut syndrome [Read More]
Approximately 28,000 Americans receive a new diagnosis of gastric cancer each year. At any given time, close to 100,000 Americans are living with gastric cancer. The disease claims more than 10,000 lives annually. Stomach cancer is most commonly diagnosed in men and women between the ages of 65 and 74. In addition to age, diet [Read More]
Many people have suffered a broken bone in their lives. Although painful, broken bones heal quite well and the person can return to normal activity. The secret of healing bones lies in stem cells which give this tissue a natural ability to repair and renew. Bones: A Dynamic Tissue Most people think of bones as [Read More]
A new study has indicated cancer treatment may be possible with a combined therapy of antibiotics along with a nontoxic agent like vitamin C. This novel strategy may pave the way to treat resistant or recurrent cancers. Cancer Treatment with Antibiotic and Vitamin C Researchers used combined therapy of doxycycline (an antibiotic) and vitamin C [Read More]
Researchers at China’s Zhejiang University and the University of Alabama in Birmingham have mapped cell mechanisms and shed light on the development of age-related osteoporosis. Age-Related Osteoporosis: An Overview Osteoporosis is known as the brittle bone disease. The condition is associated with weak bones that are at an increased risk of fractures. In healthy people, [Read More]
Researchers at the UC – San Diego School of Medicine have led an international team of investigators to create a stem cell model for a rare neurological condition known as Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome (AGS). AGS: A Devastating Neurological Condition Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome (AGS) is an inherited autoimmune disorder that is progressive and associated with inflammation in the [Read More]
Researchers at the University of Rochester have discovered that stem cells are the key to strong muscles in old age. They found that muscle stem cells in animal models drive muscle loss in old age, contrary to the currently prevailing idea that muscular decline with advancing age is on account of motor neuron loss. The [Read More]
Researchers are conducting an exciting new clinical trial with the hope of finding a way to reduce the severity of organ injury and improve recovery in people with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Phase 2 of the study is in progress and participants are being recruited at University of California – San Francisco, Ohio State [Read More]
