Study maps out abnormal signaling pathways in prostate cancer cells and provides computational approaches to identify individualized targets for therapy
In a study spanning molecular genetics, stem cells and the sciences of both brain and behavior, researchers at University of California San Diego, with colleagues at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and elsewhere, have created a neurodevelopmental model of a rare genetic disorder that may provide new insights into the underlying neurobiology of the human social brain.
Most molecular biologists look at how to switch on and regulate single genes. Scientists at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC) have gone further, and have explored how to reawaken an entire set of inactive genes, a chromosome, that is present in every female human cell.
Researchers have engineered living bone tissue to repair bone loss in the jaw, a structure that is typically difficult to restore. They grafted customized implants into pig jaws that resulted in integration and function of the engineered graft into the recipient’s own tissue.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have made a major advance in understanding how the cells of an organism, which all contain the same genetic information, come to be so diverse. A study published today in Molecular Cell shows that a protein called OCT4 narrows down the range of cell types that stem cells can become. The findings could impact efforts to produce specific types of cells for future therapies to treat a broad range of diseases.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have developed a system that uses transformed human stem cells to speed up screening of existing drugs that might work against rare brain and other cancers.
Cal State LA has been awarded a grant to educate tomorrow’s leaders in the interdisciplinary field of paper microfluidics. The $375,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation aims to engage more than 1,500 undergraduate students annually in the research of paper microfluidics to contribute to solving real-world scientific problems.
An infusion of stem cells could help restore proper drainage for fluid-clogged eyes at risk for glaucoma. That's the upshot of a study led by a Veterans Affairs and University of Iowa team.
In a series of experiments at the University at Buffalo, the embryonic stem cell gene Nanog kicked into action dormant cellular processes that are key to preventing weak bones, clogged arteries and other telltale signs of growing old.
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and Scripps Clinic have received a grant of nearly $2.4 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to support safety and quality tests of a potential stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
Prof. Fiona Doetsch's research team at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has discovered that the choroid plexus, a largely ignored structure in the brain that produces the cerebrospinal fluid, is an important regulator of adult neural stem cells. The study recently published in "Cell Stem Cell" also shows that signals secreted by the choroid plexus dynamically change during aging which affects aged stem cell behavior.
Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have launched a study to determine if a treatment using stem cells could help people with painful knee arthritis. To evaluate safety and efficacy, investigators are currently recruiting patients with osteoarthritis, which comes from wear and tear on a joint.
Biologists have found that a protein that plays a key role in the lives of stem cells can bolster the growth of damaged muscle tissue, a step that could potentially contribute to treatments for muscle degeneration caused by old age and diseases such as muscular dystrophy.
Cedars-Sinai scientists are seeking to build an improved stem-cell model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to accelerate progress toward a cure for the devastating neurological disorder. Their findings demonstrate that current models can be enhanced by the aging of motor neurons to show how ALS damages cells later in life.
With a goal of treating worn, arthritic hips without extensive surgery to replace them, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have programmed stem cells to grow new cartilage on a 3-D template shaped like the ball of a hip joint. What’s more, using gene therapy, they have activated the new cartilage to release anti-inflammatory molecules to fend off a return of arthritis.
Whitehead Institute scientists have created a checklist that defines the “naive” state of cultured human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Such cells provide a better model of early human embryogenesis than conventional ESCs in later stages of development.
International stem cell scientists, co-led in Canada by Dr. John Dick and in the Netherlands by Dr. Gerald de Haan, have discovered the switch to harness the power of cord blood and potentially increase the supply of stem cells for cancer patients needing transplantation therapy to fight their disease.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that using repeated doses of an immunotherapy drug can restore a complete remission for some relapsed stem cell transplant recipients.
Scientists have discovered a new method of creating human stem cells which could solve the big problem of the large-scale production needed to fully realise the potential of these remarkable cells for understanding and treating disease.
Folates can stimulate stem cell proliferation independently of their role as vitamins, according to a collaborative study from the University of Georgia and Tufts University, which used an in vitro culture and animal model system in their findings.
A phase II clinical trial in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, suggests that transplanting human stem cells into the spinal cord may be done safely. The research is published in the June 29, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. While the study was not designed to determine whether the treatment was effective, researchers noted that it did not slow down the progression of the disease.
Researchers have discovered that therapeutic stem cells exit the bloodstream in a different manner than was previously thought. This process, dubbed angiopellosis by the researchers, has implications for improving our understanding of not only intravenous stem cell therapies, but also metastatic cancers.
Researchers at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts, led by Jonathan Garlick, have established for the first time that skin cells from diabetic foot ulcers can be reprogrammed to acquire properties of embryonic-like cells.
The enzyme sirtuin 6, or SIRT6, serves many key biological functions in regulating genome stability, DNA repair, metabolism and longevity, but how its multiple enzyme activities relate to its various functions is poorly understood. A team of Cornell University researchers has devised a method for isolating one specific enzyme activity to determine its contribution and lead to better overall understanding of SIRT6.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have uncovered how changes in metabolism of human embryonic stem cells help coax them to mature into specific cell types — and may improve their function in engineered organs or tissues.
Today, The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced the establishment of a research consortium focused on accelerating the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostics for the benefit of patients.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins report that a type of lab-grown human nerve cells can partner with heart muscle cells to stimulate contractions. Because the heart-thumping nerve cells were derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, the researchers believe the cells — known as sympathetic nerve cells — will allow them to grow nerve cells that replicate particular patients’ diseases of the nervous system.
A new technique developed at Columbia Engineering by Biomedical Engineering Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic repairs large bone defects in the head and face by using lab-grown living bone, tailored to the patient and the defect being treated. This is the first time researchers have grown living bone grown to precisely replicate the original anatomical structure, using autologous stem cells derived from a small sample of the recipient’s fat. (Science Translational Medicine 6/15)
Although brains—even adult brains—are far more malleable than we used to think, they are eventually subject to age-related illnesses, like dementia, and loss of cognitive function. Someday, though, we may actually be able to replace brain cells and restore memory.
Texan Chuck Dandridge became the first adult in the U.S. to receive a newly modified stem cell transplant that uses genetically engineered blood cells from a family member, announced researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center where the procedure was performed.
Babies born with heart defects live longer than ever thanks to advances in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease. Yet, despite substantial progress, many continue to face bleak odds, lifelong medication, multiple surgeries and progressive heart failure, often requiring a transplant.
Cancer stem cells are like zombies — even after a tumor is destroyed, they can keep coming back. These cells have an unlimited capacity to regenerate themselves, making more cancer stem cells and more tumors. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have now unraveled how pre-leukemic white blood cell precursors become leukemia stem cells.
As the promise of using regenerative stem cell therapies draws closer, a consortium of biomedical scientists reports about 30 percent of induced pluripotent stem cells they analyzed from 10 research institutions were genetically unstable and not safe for clinical use. In a study published June 9 by the journal Stem Cell Reports, the multi-institutional research team reports on the comprehensive characterization of a large set of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
UCSF researchers that it is possible to generate healthy new liver cells in the livers of living mice by converting the very cells that drive liver disease, thereby reducing liver damage and improving liver function at the same time.
Intestinal stem cells are located in “pockets” in the intestine to avoid contact with a metabolite abundantly produced by normal gut microbes. That metabolite – butyrate – suppresses stem cell proliferation, potentially interfering with the gut’s ability to repair itself after disease or injury.
Case Western Reserve University will open a new center designed to develop evaluation technology and set standards for testing and improving engineered cartilage that could one day replace a variety of prosthetic devices.
Biology Professor Arnold Caplan and colleagues have received a 5-year, $6.7 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to open and direct the Center for Multimodal Evaluation of Engineered Cartilage.
A growing body of research is revealing associations between birth defects and a father’s age, alcohol use and environmental factors, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center. They say these defects result from epigenetic alterations that can potentially affect multiple generations.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Brazil and Senegal, have described the first “direct experimental proof” that the Brazilian strain of Zika virus can actually cause severe birth defects. The findings are published in the May 11 online issue of Nature.
The Gordie Howe Initiative has been formed to fund a clinical trial to help validate the safety and efficacy of the use of stem cells in the treatment of TBI.