News

Mice induced to develop Parkinson’s disease (PD) show an increase in the growth of new neurons after they are treated with a well known growth factor. The research, to be published May 16 in The Journal of Neuroscience, based on work by scientists at the Buck Institute, highlights a potential new therapy for this incurable, neurodegenerative disorder that affects 1.5 million Americans.

The Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM) Leipzig, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and the Free State of Saxony, is charged with the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as well as preclinical models in regenerative medicine.

CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE: CRY), a biomaterials, medical device and tissue processing company, today announced the first implantation of the combination aortic-mitral allograft heart valve in a patient at the Cleveland Clinic. The surgery was performed by Dr. Jose Navia, a cardiac surgeon with the Heart and Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

The British doctor who pioneered test-tube babies has forecast that within decades stem-cell technology will make it possible to grow replacements for virtually any part of the human body.

Source: The Sunday Times

The governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency, voted today to distribute $271 million to 12 institutions to build stem cell research facilities throughout California. The institutions committed an additional $560 million from charitable donations and their internal reserves, bringing the total statewide investment in new research space to $831 million. This leverage of the state’s stem cell funds was further increased by additional institutional commitments for faculty recruitment packages and other related capital costs. In total, the state funding will have leveraged $1.1 billion in new resources to accelerate the pace toward therapies for patients with chronic and debilitating disease and injury.

A new study by UC Davis researchers provides evidence that methods using human bone marrow-derived stem cells to deliver gene therapy to cure diseases of the blood, bone marrow and certain types of cancer do not cause the development of tumors or leukemia. The study was published online in the May 6 issue of Molecular Therapy.

STANFORD, Calif. — The Stanford University School of Medicine has received a $43.58 million grant toward funding a new building that will house stem cell research on campus, a facility that will consolidate stem cell researchers, speed the path toward new stem cell-based therapies and help recruit new faculty.

Exposure to secondhand smoke even for a brief period is injurious to health, a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco has found.

Source: University of California, San Francisco

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have grown functioning cardiac cells using mouse skin cells that had been reprogrammed into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells.

Source: UCLA

Pioneering University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell scientist James Thomson was elected today (April 29) to the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison

No scalpel, no scars, no silicon: Lasting, natural breast augmentation with body-own adipose tissue derived stem cells instead of “football breasts”.

Source: Newsfox

Stem cells can differentiate into 220 different types of body cell. The development of these cells can now be systematically observed and investigated with the aid of two new machines that imitate the conditions in the human body with unprecedented accuracy.

The Appeal Court has ruled an NHS advisory body should have been more transparent in the way it made decisions over Alzheimer’s drugs.

Source: BBC

Canadian scientist, Dr. Gordon Keller, and his team of international researchers have successfully grown human heart progenitor cells from embryonic stem cells. With this advancement, Dr. Keller, director of Toronto’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University Health Network, and his team, have taken a significant step towards the creation of functioning heart tissue.