Embryoid Bodies approximate true embryos

- Clusters of mouse embryonic stem cells called embryoid bodies more closely approximate true embryos in organization and structure than previously thought, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Harnessing the signals that influence the cells' fate may help researchers more accurately direct the differentiation of embryonic stem cells for use in therapy. 
The researchers found
that embryoid bodies have hallmarks of gastrulation -- a remarkable developmental step that launches a hollow ball of cells toward becoming an organism with three distinct types of precursor cells. The scientists showed that this process is initiated by a single signaling pathway in embryoid bodies and in real embryos. Enhancing or blocking this signal affects what the cells become, the scientists found. 

http://www.pr-inside.com/stanford-research-sheds-light-on-key-r903395.htm

Tags: Embryoid Bodies

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First Steps for Stem Cell Use

Many people hoped those products would be therapies, essentially stem cells grown into replacement cells that could be transplanted to replace cells or tissue destroyed by disease.

While that hope has not died, scientists are learning it remains distant. Science must overcome several issues, such as immune-system rejection of transplanted cells or the risk of the cells creating tumors, said Joseph Wu, of Stanford University's School of Medicine.

Tags: stem cells, therapy

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Michigan's Prop 2 passes, biology enters the twenty-first century in the state.

The proposal to loosen restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research in Michigan passed early this morning as election results trickled in from across the state. The initiative was up 52%-48%, with 87% of precincts reporting, mirroring an exit poll conducted for the Free Press and other media outlets. The vote was 2,143,101 in favor to 1,945,035 against.
Proposal 2 would amend the state constitution to allow Michigan researchers to use embryos left over from fertility treatments to create embryonic stem-cell lines for disease research. It is currently prohibited to destroy an embryo for "nontherapeutic" purposes, and is illegal to donate an embryo to science.

Michigan has great research universities that were previously hamstrung by the repressive law in the state.  That situation is now altered.  To the more conservative voters of Michigan, --there will be more chances to review this decision but the discussion need to continue from the basis of more experience.  We will find out what embryonic stem cells mean to humanity.  Now, Michigan will be a more meaningful participant in the discussion.

Tags: ESC, Stem Cells, Prop 2, Michigan, Proposal 2

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Saddleback Forum Video & Transcript: Obama / McCain with Rick Warren « Kingdom People

Obama seems to have a limiting view on ESC research

 

Saddleback Forum Video & Transcript: Obama / McCain with Rick Warren « Kingdom People

 

Technorati Tags: Stem cells,Saddleback Church,Obama

Ovarian cancer stem cells identified, characterized

This is another indication of stem cell involvement with cancer 

“Present chemotherapy modalities eliminate the bulk of the tumor cells, but cannot eliminate a core of these cancer stem cells that have a high capacity for renewal,” said Mor, who is also a member of the Yale Cancer Center. “Identification of these cells, as we have done here, is the first step in the development of therapeutic modalities.”

Mor and colleagues isolated cells from 80 human samples of either peritoneal fluid or solid tumors. The cancer stem cells that were identified were positive for traditional cancer stem cell markers including CD44 and MyD88. These cells also showed a high capacity for repair and self-renewal.

The isolated cells formed tumors 100 percent of the time. Within those tumors, 10 percent of the cells were positive for cancer stem cell marker CD44, while 90 percent were CD44 negative.

Mor and his team were able to isolate and clone the ovarian cancer stem cells. They found that these cells were highly resistant to conventional chemotherapy while the non-cancer stem cells responded to treatment. “Isolating and cloning these cells will lead to development of new treatments to target and eliminate the cancer stem cells and hopefully prevent recurrence,” said Mor.

Ovarian cancer stem cells identified, characterized

Technorati Tags: Ovarian Cancer

BBC NEWS | Health | UK's first hybrid embryos created

 

Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal.

The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses.

It comes a month before MPs are to debate the future of such research.

The Catholic Church describes it as "monstrous". But medical bodies and patient groups say such research is vital for our understanding of disease.

They argue that the work could pave the way for new treatments for conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Egg shortages

Under the microscope the round bundles of cells look like any other three-day-old embryos.

In fact they are hybrids - part-human, part-animal.

BBC NEWS | Health | UK's first hybrid embryos created

 

Technorati Tags: chimera,hybrid embryos

Same process discovered to both form skeleton and protect it for life

A protein signaling pathway recently discovered to guide the formation of the skeleton in the fetus also keeps bones strong through adult life, according to two papers published recently in the journal Nature Medicine. Furthermore, the same mechanism may be at the heart of osteoporosis, where too little bone is made over time, and bone cancer, where uncontrolled bone growth contributes to tumors. Lastly, the results argue that an experimental Alzheimer’s drug may also be useful against bone cancer.
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The current results demonstrate for the first time in live, adult animals that genetic changes made to increase Notch signaling specifically in bone-making cells (osteoblasts) resulted in thickened, abnormal bone similar in some ways to that seen in osteosarcomas, a type of bone cancer. Conversely, eliminating notch resulted over the long term in the weaker bones seen in osteoporosis. The studies confirm that Notch plays a role in bone development, and suggest it also maintains bone strength with aging. The data also provide the first evidence that Notch, connected in the past with leukemia and intestinal tumors, may also play a role in the development of osteosarcoma.

This is a very interesting and strange link between cancer and alzheimer's disease.

Tags: Bone Cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, Osteosarcomas

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Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed Into Embryonic Stem Cells

 

ScienceDaily (Feb. 12, 2008) — UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells without using embryos or eggs

Led by scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, UCLA researchers used genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used to create the cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells.

"Reprogramming normal human cells into cells with identical properties to those in embryonic stem cells without SCNT may have important therapeutic ramifications and provide us with another valuable method to develop human stem cell lines," said Lowry, an assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, a Broad Stem Cell Center researcher and first author of the study. "It is important to remember that our research does not eliminate the need for embryo-based human embryonic stem cell research, but rather provides another avenue of worthwhile investigation."

The combination of four genes used to reprogram the skin cells regulate expression of downstream genes and either activate or silence their expression. The reprogrammed cells were not just functionally identical to embryonic stem cells. They also had identical biological structure, expressed the same genes and could be coaxed into giving rise to the same cell types as human embryonic stem cells.

Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed Into Embryonic Stem Cells

Finnish patient gets new jaw from own stem cells - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Scientists in Finland said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient's upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.

Finnish patient gets new jaw from own stem cells - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Monkey Cloned

Link

 

See the process explained

Device able to pull stem cells from blood - UPI.com

 

In the study, published in the British Journal of Haematology, the researchers implanted the device in a living rat and they were able to capture stem cells straight out of the bloodstream,
"One of our ultimate goals is to develop an implantable device that will selectively remove metastatic cells from the blood," King said in a statement.

Device able to pull stem cells from blood - UPI.com

 

Technorati Tags: stem cells,bloodstream,metastic cells

Approval for stem cell heart trial - Telegraph

 

British surgeons will next month begin ground-breaking research which could lead to improved chances of survival and quality of life for millions of heart attack patients.

A team at Bristol University has been given the go ahead to inject stem cells into the hearts of patients during bypass operations.

Approval for stem cell heart trial - Telegraph

George Daley on Korean stem cells' true source on Technorati

George Daley on Korean stem cells' true source on Technorati

This video explains why it was so hard for the Koreans to tell that SNCT did not occur in the creation of their stem cell line. 

91. Disgraced Korean Cloner Accidentally Created Novel Stem Cells | Stem Cell Research | DISCOVER Magazine

 

To create an embryonic stem cell line using SCNT, a biologist sucks out the nucleus of an egg cell and replaces it with the nucleus of another cell—ideally one taken from the patient in need—creating a patient-specific stem cell line. Ongoing attempts to create human stem cell lines using SCNT have yet to achieve success.

Another process, called parthenogenesis, could yield stem cell lines that are genetically matched to a patient—in this case, the egg donor. In parthenogenesis, an egg is prodded to develop into an embryo without fertilization. Human parthenogenetic embryos are not viable—they run into developmental snags and cannot give rise to a person—but the stem cells derived from these embryos could still have research or therapeutic value.

Hwang claimed his stem cells did not result from parthenogenesis, but George Daley, head of the study, showed that the genome of Hwang’s cell line has a genetic signature that indicates it sprang from a parthenogenetic embryo.

Since 2004, several groups have reported creating stem cell lines through parthenogenesis. But Daley says his study shows “with very, very high certainty that the first Hwang line was in fact also the world’s first parthenogenetic line.”

91. Disgraced Korean Cloner Accidentally Created Novel Stem Cells | Stem Cell Research | DISCOVER Magazine

Technorati Tags: parthenogenesis,George Daley,Hwang,SCNT

HEART CELLS GENERATED FROM STEM CELLS

One of the main goals of stem cell research is to re-grow damaged tissue with fresh tissue that is genetically matched to the patient. This would not only prevent rejection of the implanted tissue but also get around the problem of the chronic shortage of human organs for transplant. In April, a team of British scientists at the Heart Science Centre at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex, UK, led by the world's leading heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, turned stem cells from bone marrow into functioning heart cells and then used these to make tissue that worked like a heart valve. This marks a significant step towards growing whole replacement hearts from stem cells, an objective that Yacoub said could be achieved in just 10 years.

Tags: stem cells, heart cells, Sir Magdi Yacoub

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Biomaterial scaffolds provide cues to Regenerating Endochondral vs. Intramembraneous Bone

Healing critical-size defects (defects that would not otherwise heal on their own) in intramembraneous bone, the flat bone type that forms the skull, is a vivid demonstration of new techniques devised by researchers at John Hopkins University to use hESCs for tissue regeneration.

Using mesenchymal precursor cells isolated from hESCs, the Hopkins team steered them into bone regeneration by using "scaffolds," tiny, three-dimensional platforms made from biomaterials
Physical context, it turns out, is a powerful influence on cell fate. Nathaniel S. Hwang, Jennifer Elisseeff, and colleagues at Hopkins demonstrated that by changing the scaffold materials, they could shift mesenchymal precursor cells into either of the body's osteogenic pathways: intramembraneous, which makes skull, jaw, and clavicle bone; or endochondral, which builds the "long" bones and involves initial formation of cartilage, which is then transformed into bone by mineralization.

It appears that material in the environment, the scaffolds,  can influence the generation of different cell types for ESC.  Usually, growth factors etc have been used so this is a different approach.

Tags: ESC, intramembraneous, endochondral, bone, stem cells, embryonic stem cells

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