One giant photo looks like a cocoon enmeshed in strands of silk. Another, like a distant nebula as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. A third brings to mind rivulets of lava pouring down the sides of a volcano atnight.

Yet all of the images in Toronto artist Radha Chaddahs latest exhibition show the same thing: adult-human stem cells that have been reprogrammed to change from skin into neural tissue. The overall effect is similar to taking a voyage through a world that is both utterly exotic yet intimately related to thevoyager.

These are the most striking pictures for me, said Ms. Chaddah, directing attention to a photo in which a cell has been carefully prepared to reveal its cytoskeleton a network of protein fibres that helps maintain shape and function. People dont generally think of cells as having an internalarchitecture.

The Fall.

Courtesy of ArtaGallery

This is not the classic microscope view of the cell, familiar to anyone who has cracked open a high-school biology textbook. Often, the images do not show cell membranes or other recognizable components. Instead, they highlight the hidden structures within cells, which Ms. Chaddah tags with fluorescent antibodies and then blasts with a laser so they glow with vivid colour at the moment she captures the photo. Once the photo is taken, Ms. Chaddah can never go back. So intense are the exposures she requires, that her tiny subjects are destroyed in the act of imagingthem.

Researchers are keen to exploit the potential of stem cells because they can be induced to switch identity. This property holds tremendous promise for regenerative medicine. For example, in the future, a patients skin cells may be reprogrammed and used to help restore ailing vision due to a deterioratingretina.

This is the kind of possibility that Ms. Chaddah was helping to explore when she was a graduate student in cell and molecular biology a decade ago, eventually publishing her work on stem cells in the Journal ofNeuroscience.

Exodus.

courtesy of ArtaGallery

But, like the cells that fascinate her, Ms. Chaddah found herself changing identities. She had started off with training in fine arts and art conservation before going back to school to become a stem-cell researcher. After completing her masters degree, she turned to the arts again, this time with science as herinspiration.

Her current exhibition, which has been on display in Toronto as part of the annual Contact photography festival, is the product of a meeting of those two worlds. As a graduate student, she needed to repeatedly image the cells she was working with a laborious and frequently frustrating process that could sometimes produce results that were beautiful to look at even when they werent scientificallyusable.

I would go into that little microscope room and be lost in there for five or six hours, she said. Then Id come out with zero data, a major headache and a few amazingpictures.

Regents.

Courtesy of ArtaGallery

Recognizing the visual potential of the technique, Ms. Chaddah made a deal with her supervisor, University of Toronto stem-cell scientist Derek van der Kooy: In exchange for some additional research she conducted in the lab, she was given access to the microscope to pursue herart.

I think its a great idea because we look at these cells under the microscope and they look fantastic to us, but they should be fantastic to everyone, Dr. van der Kooysaid.

He added that while he was delighted to see Ms. Chaddahs images appreciated as art, he wished there was more about the science behind them in the exhibition. Ms. Chaddah has taken a less direct route, sparking the viewers curiosity by giving the images biblical titles a choice that is also meant to draw attention to the way medical discoveries can be viewed with something approaching religious reverence. While stem cells are the subject of legitimate research, they have also spurred the desperate to seek miracle treatments based on questionableevidence.

Genesis.

Courtesy of ArtaGallery

Yet, there is also plenty to feed a sense of wonder at the machinery of life. In a piece called Exodus, which is also the name of the exhibition, Ms. Chaddah has captured a neural cell in the act of migration a reminder, she said, that when human cells are cultured in a Petri dish they can revert to acting as individuals rather than as part of a larger organism. On another level, it also refers to the new world of medical benefits and risks that the manipulation of cells is leading us to as asociety.

But even without such layers of meaning, Ms. Chaddah said she is often surprised by the sense of connection her images seem to evoke, even when visitors are not entirely sure what they are looking at as they wander into thegallery.

Its interesting how many people stand amazed in front of these things and they have some feeling that it has something to do with them even before they read that it came from human skin, she said. I want to draw people in with beauty but I would love it if people would think beyond thebeauty.

Covenant.

Courtesy of ArtaGallery.

Exodus is on display until May 31 at the Arta Gallery, 14 Distillery Lane, Toronto, as part of the Scotiabank Contact PhotographyFestival.

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Toronto artist exposes the hidden architecture of cells - The Globe ... - The Globe and Mail

For the first time, scientists have discovered that a common type of immune cell directly triggers stem cells in the skin that are responsible for hair growth in mice. Without this trigger, hair follicles just don't do their job -even if they have the stem cells necessary to proceed.

As the mechanisms for hair growth in mice are similar in humans, the researchers hope their newly uncovered mechanism could lead to a better understanding of conditions like alopecia, and other types of baldness.

Among the various immune system players we have in the body, there's a subclass of immune cells called regulatory T cells, or Tregs for short.

The vast majority of Tregs live in our lymph nodes, where they help to control inflammation throughout the body. But we also have subsets of Tregs that reside in other body parts, such as muscle or lung tissue.

And studies are starting to show that these 'tissue-resident' Tregs may be performing unique roles specific to the part of body they're in.

Researchers know that both mice and humans have a lot of Tregs in the skin, but so far we know very little about their function there.

Seeing that skin-specific Tregs tend to sit around hair follicles, a team led by researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) investigated the hypothesis that these immune cells were somehow involved in hair growth.

What they discovered is not just involvement, but a direct trigger - making Tregs a super-important part of the hair growth process.

"Our hair follicles are constantly recycling: when a hair falls out, a portion of the hair follicle has to grow back," senior researcher Michael Rosenblum said in a press statement.

"This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential."

In mammals, hair follicles regenerate in a specific pattern, cycling between growth phases (known as anagen) and rest phases (telogen).

The team tracked the amount of Tregs in the skin of mice during these different phases of hair growth, and found a tight correlation - in the telogen phase these immune cells were much more abundant.

What's more, highly active Tregs were crowding around hair follicles at three times the normal rate, right towards the end of the hair growth rest phase.

Intrigued by this correlation, the scientists took a step further to uncover the biological mechanism involved in the relationship between Tregs and the stem cells that make hair follicles do their job.

To do this, they took genetically modified mice whose Treg cells could be 'knocked out' with a simple intervention.

The researchers clipped the hair on the mice's backs and then applied a depilatory cream for 30 seconds - when you depilate the skin, hair follicles kick into the active hair growth phase.

They monitored the hair regrowth for 14 days, comparing the regrowth between control mice and the ones whose Tregs they had tampered with.

In mice whose Tregs were knocked out in the first three days after depilation, the hair just didn't grow back, leaving them with a bald patch on their backs.

A closer look revealed that Tregs directly trigger the activation of stem cells in the hair follicle through a well-known cell communication mechanism called the Notch signalling pathway, which involves a specific protein called Jag1.

They even found that when they replaced Tregs with microscopic beads covered in Jag1, it triggered the activity in the hair follicles just like Tregs would.

"It's as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved, so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work," Rosenblum said.

"Now the stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when it's time to start regenerating."

It's a really elegant demonstration of a previously unknown mechanism for hair growth in mice, but there's a lot more work to be done before we can tell whether defective skin Tregs could be the culprits behind hair loss in humans.

But there's at least one tantalising clue that the study is onto something here. In genome-wide association studies of alopecia areata, a condition characterised by 'patchy' hair loss, researchers have found mutations on genes that are involved in Treg function.

Next up, the researchers are hoping to expand their results and investigate how Tregs in the skin could be involved in wound healing, and also various hair loss conditions in humans.

"It will be important to determine whether this principle extends to human diseases of epithelial dysfunction and whether Tregs can be exploited to develop new therapies for stem-cell-mediated tissue regenerative disorders," they write in the study.

These new results are also an exciting addition to the growing body of knowledge scientists have about hair growth. Earlier this month, researchers reported the discovery of a protein that causes skin stem cells to develop into hair cells in mice. They are now investigating whether this protein is involved in hair loss in people.

The research has been published in Cell.

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We now have the first evidence that immune cells in the skin directly ... - ScienceAlert

In experiments in mice, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered that regulatory T cells (Tregs; pronounced tee-regs), a type of immune cell generally associated with controlling inflammation, directly trigger stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth. Without these immune cells as partners, the researchers found, the stem cells cannot regenerate hair follicles, leading to baldness.

"Our hair follicles are constantly recycling: when a hair falls out, the whole hair follicle has to grow back, said Michael Rosenblum, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and senior author on the new paper. This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential. If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesnt grow.

The new study published online May 26 in Cell suggests that defects in Tregs could be responsible for alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, and could potentially play a role in other forms of baldness, including male pattern baldness, Rosenblum said. Since the same stem cells are responsible for helping heal the skin after injury, the study raises the possibility that Tregs may play a key role in wound repair as well.

Anti-Inflammatory Immune Cells Activate Skin Stem Cells

Normally Tregs act as peacekeepers and diplomats, informing the rest of the immune system of the difference between friend and foe. When Tregs dont function properly, we may develop allergies to harmless substances like peanut protein or cat dander, or suffer from autoimmune disorders in which the immune system turns on the bodys own tissues.

Like other immune cells, most Tregs reside in the bodys lymph nodes, but some live permanently in other tissues, where they seem to have evolved to assist with local metabolic functions as well as playing their normal anti-inflammatory role. In the skin, for example, Rosenblum and colleagues have previously shown that Tregs help establish immune tolerance to healthy skin microbes in newborn mice, and these cells also secrete molecules that help with wound healing into adulthood.

Rosenblum, who is both an immunologist and a dermatologist, wanted to better understand the role of these resident immune cells in skin health. To do this, he and his team developed a technique for temporarily removing Tregs from the skin. But when they shaved patches of hair from these mice to make observations of the affected skin, they made a surprising discovery. We quickly noticed that the shaved patches of hair never grew back, and we thought, Hmm, now thats interesting, Rosenblum said. We realized we had to delve into this further.

In the new research, led by UCSF postdoctoral fellow and first author Niwa Ali, PhD, several lines of evidence suggested that Tregs play a role in triggering hair follicle regeneration.

First, imaging experiments revealed that Tregs have a close relationship with the stem cells that reside within hair follicles and allow them to regenerate: the number of active Tregs clustering around follicle stem cells typically swells by three-fold as follicles enter the growth phase of their regular cycle of rest and regeneration. Also, removing Tregs from the skin blocked hair regrowth only if this was done within the first three days after shaving a patch of skin, when follicle regeneration would normally be activated. Getting rid of Tregs later on, once the regeneration had already begun, had no effect on hair regrowth.

Tregs role in triggering hair growth did not appear related to their normal ability to tamp down tissue inflammation, the researchers found. Instead, they discovered that Tregs trigger stem cell activation directly through a common cell-cell communication system known as the Notch pathway. First, the team demonstrated that Tregs in the skin express unusually high levels of a Notch signaling protein called Jagged 1 (Jag1), compared to Tregs elsewhere in the body. They then showed that removing Tregs from the skin significantly reduced Notch signaling in follicle stem cells, and that replacing Tregs with microscopic beads covered in Jag1 protein restored Notch signaling in the stem cells and successfully activated follicle regeneration.

Its as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved, so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work, Rosenblum said. Now the stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when its time to start regenerating.

Relevance to Autoimmune Hair Loss Rosenblum said the findings may have implications for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that interferes with hair follicle regeneration and causes patients to lose hair in patches from their scalp, eyebrows, and faces. Alopecia is among the most common human autoimmune diseases its as common as rheumatoid arthritis, and more common than type 1 diabetes but scientists have little idea what causes it.

After his team first observed hair loss in Treg-deficient mice, Rosenblum learned that the genes associated with alopecia in previous studies are almost all related to Tregs, and treatments that boost Treg function have been shown to be an effective treatment for the disease. Rosenblum speculates that better understanding Tregs critical role in hair growth could lead to improved treatments for hair loss more generally.

The study also adds to a growing sense that immune cells play much broader roles in tissue biology than had previously been appreciated, said Rosenblum, who plans to explore whether Tregs in the skin also play a role in wound healing, since the same follicle stem cells are involved in regenerating skin following injury.

We think of immune cells as coming into a tissue to fight infection, while stem cells are there to regenerate the tissue after its damaged, he said. But what we found here is that stem cells and immune cells have to work together to make regeneration possible.

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided byUCSF. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Reference:

Ali, N., Zirak, B., Rodriguez, R. S., Pauli, M. L., Truong, H., Lai, K., . . . Rosenblum, M. D. (2017). Regulatory T Cells in Skin Facilitate Epithelial Stem Cell Differentiation. Cell. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2017.05.002

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Regulatory T Cells Play Essential Role in Hair Growth - Technology Networks

The late actor Telly Savalas said it best: Were all born bald, baby.

And bald CAN be beautiful.

But for many follicly-challenged folks, news out of UC San Francisco this week offers some hope of finally having a bad hair day.

In experiments in mice, researchers there have discovered that regulatory T cells (Tregs; pronounced tee-regs), a type of immune cell associated with controlling inflammation, directly trigger stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth.

Without these immune cells as partners, the researchers found, the stem cells cannot regenerate hair follicles, leading to baldness.

Our hair follicles are constantly recycling: when a hair falls out, the whole hair follicle has to grow back, said Dr. Michael Rosenblum, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and senior author on the new paper.

This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential. If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesnt grow.

In other words: no Tregs, no tresses.

The new study appeared online Friday in Cell, a journal that publishes peer-reviewed articles reporting findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology.

For 35 million U.S. men and 21 million women who are experiencing hair loss, according to Statistic Brain Research Institute,the UCSF report would probably qualify as significant.

The study suggests that defects in Tregs could be responsible for alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, and could potentially play a role in other forms of baldness, including male pattern baldness, Rosenblum said.

And since the same stem cells are responsible for helping heal the skin after injury, the researchers note, the study raises the possibility that Tregs may play a key role in wound repair as well.

Normally, the researchers say, Tregs act as peacekeepers and diplomats, informing the rest of the immune system of the difference between friend and foe. When Tregs dont function properly, people may develop allergies to harmless substances like peanut protein or cat dander, or suffer from autoimmune disorders in which the immune system turns on the bodys own tissues.

Like other immune cells, most Tregs reside in the bodys lymph nodes, but some live permanently in other tissues, where researcher say they seem to have evolved to assist with local metabolic functions as well as playing their normal anti-inflammatory role. In the skin, for example, Rosenblum and colleagues have previously shown that Tregs help establish immune tolerance to healthy skin microbes in newborn mice, and these cells also secrete molecules that help heal wounds into adulthood.

Rosenblum wanted to better understand the role of these resident immune cells in skin health. To do this, he and his team developed a technique for temporarily removing Tregs from the skin. But when they shaved patches of hair from these mice to make observations of the affected skin, they made a surprising discovery.

We quickly noticed that the shaved patches of hair never grew back, and we thought, Hmm, now thats interesting, Rosenblum said. We realized we had to delve into this further.

The researchers including UCSF postdoctoral fellow and first author Niwa Ali believe a betterunderstanding of Tregs critical role in hair growth could lead to improved treatments for hair loss more generally and have implications for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes patients to lose hair in patches from their scalp, eyebrows, and faces.

For many other baldly confident folks, however, Fridays findings may just warrant a shrug.As they say, No hair, dont care.

Here is the original post:
Baldness treatment discovered at UCSF - The Mercury News

A new cause of baldness has been accidentally discovered by scientists in the US in a breakthrough that could help develop a way to regrow hair.

The researchers were investigating the role played by anti-inflammatory immune cells called Tregs in skin health generally.

They found a way to temporarily remove the Tregs from the skin of laboratory mice, who had been shaved to allow the effects to be observed.

But the scientists then noticed something unexpected the hairfailed to grow back.

Previously it was thought that stem cells cause hairs to regrow after they fall out, but the team discoveredthat this only happens if Tregs are present.

One of the scientists, Professor Michael Rosenblum, an immunologist and dermatologist at University of California San Francisco, said: Our hair follicles are constantly recycling. When a hair falls out, the whole hair follicle has to grow back.

This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential.

If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesn't grow.

Its as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved, so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work.

The stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when it's time to start regenerating.

The researcher believe that defects in Tregs could be responsible for the immune disease, alopecia areata, which causes hair to fall out in patches and possibly also play a part in other kinds of baldness.

The same stem cells that regrow hair are also involved in healing damage to the skin, so Tregs may also be involved in this process.

Tregs role as previously understood was mainly to regulate the immune system, helping it tell what to attack and what to leave alone.

When they malfunction it can lead to allergies to peanuts and other harmless substances or cause the immune system to attack the body.

Professor Rosenblum and colleagues had previously showed that Tregs help the immune systems of baby mice learn which skin microbes are not harmful and also that they secrete molecules that help heal wounds.

They were investigating these effects further when they noticed that patches of shaved hair on the lab mice were not regrowing.

We thought, Hmm, now thats interesting, Professor Rosenblum said. We realised we had to delve into this further.

Using sophisticated imaging techniques, the researchers were able to show that Tregs gathered around follicle stem cells at the start of the process to regrow a hair.

When Tregs were removed from the skin, this prevented the regrowth of hair but only if this was done within three days of the hair being shaved. After this time, the hair would regrow normally despite the absence of Tregs.

The cause of alopecia is poorly understood, but previous studies have showed genes associated with the condition are mostly related to Tregs. Boosting Treg function has been found to help.

Professor Rosenblum suggested further research into Tregs role could lead to improved treatments for hair loss generally and better understanding of their role in wound healing.

We think of immune cells as coming into a tissue to fight infection, while stem cells are there to regenerate the tissue after it's damaged, he said.

But what we found here is that stem cells and immune cells have to work together to make regeneration possible.

The research was described in the journal Cell.

See the original post here:
New baldness cause accidentally discovered by scientists could lead to hair loss treatment - The Independent

The new research showed that adult stem cells could help beat heart failure.

A sticking plaster made from adult stem cells could be a significant step towards combatting heart failure, scientists say.

Researchers discovered that stem cells taken from a patients thigh and transplanted onto the heart led to improved heart function after one year.

Heart failure is thought to affect between 500,000 to 900,000 people in the UK. It occurs when the heart becomes too weak to efficiently pump blood around the body.

The authors of the study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, said the therapy was potentially a long-term solution to the problem.

They said that, promising results in the safety and functional recovery warrant further clinical follow-up and larger studies, which they hope will confirm the treatments potential.

Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, hailed the exciting breakthrough.

He said: Heart failure is a cruel and debilitating illness affecting more than half a million people across the UK. Currently, heart failure is incurable, but stem cell-based treatments may offer new hope to people suffering from the disease.

He echoed the call for further research, saying: The study involved only a small number of patients. In order to establish the long-term safety and benefits of the exciting new treatment we would need larger studies.

Heart failure often leaves sufferers struggling for breath and exhausted while carrying out simple everyday tasks, such as eating or getting dressed.

It can be caused by several issues including heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, but can also be the result of an unhealthy lifestyle.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that a remarkable new technique allows adult stem cells to be used to treat burn victims.

Taking a sample of skin stem cells and spraying them onto a victims burn caused new layers of skin to form over the burn, potentially healing even severe burns within weeks.

And in January, scientists released findings showing that synthetic cardiac stem cells could be used to treat patients who had suffered a heart attack by repairing the heart muscle damage.

Originally posted here:
Stem cell 'plaster' could help heart failure patients - The Christian Institute

May 24, 2017 by Collene Ferguson Jeff Biernaskies research identifies a factor essential for dermal stem cells to continuously divide during tissue regeneration. Credit: Riley Brandt, University of Calgary

Stem cell researchers at the University of Calgary have found another piece of the puzzle behind what may contribute to hair loss and prevent wounds from healing normally.

Jeff Biernaskie's research, published recently in the scientific journal npj Regenerative Medicine identifies a key signalling protein called platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). This protein is critical for driving self-renewal and proliferation of dermal stem cells that live in hair follicles and enable their unique ability to continuously regenerate and produce new hair.

"This is the first study to identify the signals that influence hair follicle dermal stem cell function in your skin," says Biernaskie, an associate professor in comparative biology and experimental medicine at the University of Calgary'sFaculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing. Biernaskie is also a member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute.

"What we show is that in the absence of PDGF signalling hair follicle dermal stem cells are rapidly diminished because of their inability to generate new stem cells and produce sufficient numbers of mature dermal cells within the hair follicle."

Biernaskie and his team of researchers study dermal stem cells located within hair follicles. They are looking to better understand dermal stem cell function and find ways to use these cells to develop novel therapies for improved wound healing after injury, burns, disease or aging.

This study, co-authored byRaquel Gonzalez and Garrett Moffatt,shows that PDGF is key to maintaining a well-functioning stem cell population in skin. And in normal skin, if you don't have enough of it the stem cell pools start to shrink, meaning eventually the hair will no longer grow and wounds will not heal as well.

"It's an important start in terms of how we might modulate these cells towards developing future therapies that could regenerate new dermal tissue or maintain hair growth" says Biernaskie.

Biernaskie's lab is looking at the potential role of stem cells in wound healing and the potential to stimulate these cells to improve skin regeneration, as opposed to forming scars.

Explore further: Using stem cells to grow new hair

More information: Raquel Gonzlez et al. Platelet-derived growth factor signaling modulates adult hair follicle dermal stem cell maintenance and self-renewal, npj Regenerative Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41536-017-0013-4

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Read more from the original source:
Researchers identify 'signal' crucial to stem cell function in hair follicles - Medical Xpress

Stem cell researchers at the University of Calgary have found another piece of the puzzle behind what may contribute to hair loss and prevent wounds from healing normally.

Jeff Biernaskies research, published recently in the scientific journal npj Regenerative Medicine identifies a key signalling protein called platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). This protein is critical for driving self-renewal and proliferation of dermal stem cells that live in hair follicles and enable their unique ability to continuously regenerate and produce new hair.

This is the first study to identify the signals that influence hair follicle dermal stem cell function in your skin, says Biernaskie, an associate professor in comparative biology and experimental medicine at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing. Biernaskie is also a member of the Alberta Childrens Hospital Research Institute.

What we show is that in the absence of PDGF signalling hair follicle dermal stem cells are rapidly diminished because of their inability to generate new stem cells and produce sufficient numbers of mature dermal cells within the hair follicle.

Biernaskie and his team of researchers study dermal stem cells located within hair follicles. They are looking to better understand dermal stem cell function and find ways to use these cells to develop novel therapies for improved wound healing after injury, burns, disease or aging.

This study, co-authored by Raquel Gonzalez and Garrett Moffatt, shows that PDGF is key to maintaining a well-functioning stem cell population in skin. And in normal skin, if you dont have enough of it the stem cell pools start to shrink, meaning eventually the hair will no longer grow and wounds will not heal as well.

Its an important start in terms of how we might modulate these cells towards developing future therapies that could regenerate new dermal tissue or maintain hair growth says Biernaskie.

Biernaskies lab is looking at the potential role of stem cells in wound healing and the potential to stimulate these cells to improve skin regeneration, as opposed to forming scars.

The research is funded by a grant from Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and the Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society.

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided bythe University of Calgary. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

The rest is here:
'Signal' Crucial to Stem Cell Function in Hair Follicles Identified - Technology Networks

Beauty elicits a deep, instinctive need to share from an early age. In fact, we defy you to find a more generous creature than a 7-year-old with a sparkly, new lip gloss in her backpack. Cooties be damned, she will prettify every second grader in sight. And we get it: weve built careers on swapping beauty secrets (and, okay, maybe a gloss or two).

We see this same communal spirit, shall we say, within the industry. Across brands and categories, this borrowing of ideas and technologies sparks trends and spawns knock-offs. In 2017, cosmetic ingredients flow freely, breaking all boundaries: Those once reserved for creams find their way into compacts . The same earthy clay and charcoal that purify pores can also whiten teeth and degrease roots.

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And were all for spreading the love when the science is legit. But the latest take-over hair-care companies co-opting buzzy skin-care actives, like peptides, stem cells, and antioxidants has us questioning just how translatable such technology truly is. Are we going too far in attempting to anti-age and revitalize something thats technicallydead?

Because, facts, after all: While skin and hair are composed of similar proteins and fats, living (innervated, blood-perfused) skin cells are in a constant state of renewal, rising up, plump and fresh, from the basal layer before eventually flattening out and sloughing off, says cosmetic chemist Randy Schueller . When injured or damaged, skin has the capacity to heal itself through normal biological processes, adds cosmetic chemist Jim Hammer . Hair, on the other hand, is dead at least the grown-out lengths of which we see and style and twirl. Hairs only vital part is nestled deep within the scalp: The cells of the hair follicles reproduce rapidly, pushing out hair fibers in the process, explains Melissa Piliang, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic. But once sprouted from the scalp, those strands possess no living cells or repair mechanisms.

These distinctions have long dictated product goals: Skin care aims to affect biological processes, such as boosting cell turnover, increasing collagen synthesis, and inhibiting pigment production, says cosmetic chemist NiKita Wilson. Knowing this, we obsess over penetration can those actives actually get into the skin to do their good work? and chemists devise deep-diving delivery systems and penetration enhancers to guarantee performance. For hair, there really isnt much that can be done on a biological front short of improving the condition of the scalp to promote healthier strands, adds Wilson. It makes sense, then, that the majority of hair potions are designed to work on the surface, moisturizing and sealing hair to make it glassy, smooth, and full, while minimizing friction and breakage. While certain perfectly sized and shaped hydrators and proteins can seep past the hairs outer cuticle layer, into the deeper cortex, says Wilson, their effect is short-lived. Only chemicals like hair dyes and relaxers can alter hair in a lasting way.

So what of these new skin-inspired #hairgoals were hearing about, like anti-aging, anti-pollution, and high-tech hydration? Most of this is marketing driven with maybe a kernel of truth underneath, says Schueller. That kernel could be a single lab test showing a specific active, when dripped on cells in a glass dish, has some sort of effect which, by the way, doesnt mean it will work when delivered in final products on real people, he notes. Or perhaps a company finds a common water contaminant causes some degree of hair damage and then concocts an antioxidant to combat it. Even if the trauma to hair is miniscule compared to ordinary wear and tear, theyve now got enough data to make an antipollution claim and a new line of products to go with it, Schueller says. Across beauty lines, science sells: How do you make hair care more innovative? By using skin-care ingredients that elevate the level of sophistication, says cosmetic chemist Ginger King.

A successful tactic, judging from the proliferation of skin-inspired shampoos and serums on shelves, real and virtual. But why are we so eager to buy? Our population is aging, of course; yearning to maintain a healthy appearance, to look as young as we feel, says psychologist and marketing consultant Vivian Diller, PhD. Any product that promotes youth, well being, and vitality will be enormously appealing.

According to Rachel Anise, a communication studies professor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, CA, there may also be social-psychology constructs at work here. People, on the whole, are largely swayed by what she calls the halo effect: We see stem cells, for example, as good at a basic level, and thereby extend their goodness to everything else in which they may be included, even if that reasoning is fundamentally flawed. And then theres the way we process advertising claims, she says, quickly and effortlessly, without thinking critically about them. Instead of questioningif or whyantioxidants may work on hair as they do skin, we'll just see a model with beautiful hair, acknowledge from past experience that antioxidants benefit skin, and automatically make the connection in two seconds, no less that they'll give our hair a youthful edge as well, says Anise.

Lucky for you, beauty analysis is sort of our jam. Here, we reality-check three adapted-for-hair-care claims:

THE CLAIM: Slowing down the aging process

WHAT IT MEANS FOR HAIR: The way hair ages has a lot to do with genetics and overall health, says dermatologist Lindsey Bordone. Hair tends to become finer over time as follicles miniaturize after menopause, she adds. It may turn coarse and brittle, and as pigment production wanes, fade to gray. On the scalp, cell turnover slows, giving rise to oil and flakes. UV rays a main cause of skin aging can degrade hairs proteins and color, but youd need a lot of concentrated sun exposure for that to be a real problem, says Schueller.

WHAT WORKS: Collagen and elastin proteins can cling to hairs surface, plumping and softening but only until your next shampoo. Plant-based stem cells essentially serve as antioxidants, curbing free radical damage, but their ability to thicken hair (or skin for that matter) is largely unproven. Surprisingly, peptides, which rev up collagen production, do show promise for aging hair. On the face, they plump skin to delay wrinkles and sagging. When applied to the scalp in a leave-on formula, they aid in anchoring the follicles to help strands remain firmly planted for a thicker head of hair, says Wilson. According to dermatologist Jeannette Graf , peptides are especially beneficial for thinning hair, which results from weakened scalp skin and circulation. Alongside peptides, she suggests looking for essential oils of lavender, orange, sage, and lemon peel to improve microcirculation, and enhance the delivery of nutrients to the hair bulb for healthier strands. As for sun care, hats trump UV filters. Think about how much sunscreen you need to put on skin to truly protect it, Schueller says. Its the same for hair and scalp: Youd need a tremendous amount, and whos going to apply that heavy of a coating?

THE CLAIM: Combatting pollution

WHAT IT MEANS FOR HAIR: Every day, our hair, like our skin, is exposed to free radical-inciting pollutants in the air and water. According to dermatologist Michelle Henry, all types of pollution, including particulate matter, dust, smoke, nickel, lead, and sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide [emitted from vehicles and power plants] can settle on the scalp and hair causing significant inflammation, dryness, dullness, even hair loss.If that werent devastating enough, ground-level smog, which contains high levels of ozone, can bleach our hair color, says Hammer. Other contaminants may rob it completely: Premature graying is seen more in smokers than non-smokers as a result of oxidative stress, says dermatologist Nicole Rogers, adding that free radicals from all sources not just cigarettes can affect the follicles' ability to repigment. That said, pollutions precise toll on hair is unknown. I havent seen a ton of research proving its a major threat, says Schueller. Of all the things that can harm hair chemicals, brushing, heat Id imagine free radicals are low on the list.

WHAT WORKS: With thinning and graying as potential consequences, why take chances? While only a diet rich in free radical-quelching antioxidants can truly defend hair at a follicular level, certain products and practices can help safeguard strands from the environment. For starters, washing your hair thoroughly, and with sufficient frequency for your hair type, is key to curbing the scalp inflammation that contributes to hair loss, says Henry.Shampoos with chelating agents, like EDTA, will gently extract heavy metals (found in car exhaust, cigarette smoke, hard water). Youll also want to look for leave-ins with concentrated doses of antioxidants (think: vitamins, tea extracts, idebenone, resveratrol) to neutralize free radicals, and strand-coating silicones, proteins, and polymers, which provide a physical barrier, walling off hair from pollutants, says Hammer.

THE CLAIM: Healing hydration

WHAT IT MEANS FOR HAIR: With a rich blood supply and an abundance of oil glands, the scalp is an extension of our skin, says dermatologist Francesca Fusco . It shares the same lipids and humectants, and is equally prone to dryness and irritation. Hair suffers from dehydration, too, particularly when its cuticle is eroded (by water, heat, and chemicals).

WHAT WORKS: Hyaluronic acid, a water-binding humectant, and ceramides, moisture-retaining lipids, are both found naturally in the skin (and in countless creams and serums). Since they improve the functioning of skin cells, making them more resilient and efficient, both can help keep the scalp in peak condition. When applied to hair (again, leave-on products work best), they coat strands to lock in moisture while also shielding from heat and styling damage, says Rogers, noting a 2002 study in which ceramides were shown to bind to African hair, helping to reduce breakage. Coconut oil and panthenol (a B vitamin) also nourish the scalp, and unlike most other ingredients, can penetrate inside the hair shaft, hydrating from within to enhance pliability, and keeping the cuticle tight and intact.

Bottom Line: The secret to beautiful hair is a healthy scalp. When the scalp is out of whack meaning theres poor circulation, an oil imbalance, or a build-up of cells we see not only flakes and inflammation, but hair that looks and feels unhealthy, and may even shed before its time, says Fusco. Seek out proven actives that take aim at the scalp (many of which do hail from the skin realm): dandruff-fighting pyrithione zinc (in Doves new DermaCare Scalp collection); clays that absorb excess oil and calm irritation (like those in LOral Paris Extraordinary Clay Pre-Shampoo Mask ); exfoliating salicylic acid or willowbark extract, which keep cells shedding at a normal clip to prevent pile-ups; and the aforementioned hydrators to soothe and replenish dry, depleted follicles.

Check out the best new drugstore beauty products of 2017:

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Trendy Skin Care Ingredients Are Being Added to Hair Care Products - Allure Magazine

UCalgary researchers identify 'signal' crucial to stem cell function in hair follicles UCalgary News This is the first study to identify the signals that influence hair follicle dermal stem cell function in your skin, says Biernaskie, an associate professor in comparative biology and experimental medicine at the University of Calgary's Faculty of ... and more »

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UCalgary researchers identify 'signal' crucial to stem cell function in hair follicles - UCalgary News

knowledge center home stem cell research all about stem cells what are stem cells?

Stem cells are a class of undifferentiated cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types. Commonly, stem cells come from two main sources:

Both types are generally characterized by their potency, or potential to differentiate into different cell types (such as skin, muscle, bone, etc.).

Adult or somatic stem cells exist throughout the body after embryonic development and are found inside of different types of tissue. These stem cells have been found in tissues such as the brain, bone marrow, blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscles, skin, and the liver. They remain in a quiescent or non-dividing state for years until activated by disease or tissue injury.

Adult stem cells can divide or self-renew indefinitely, enabling them to generate a range of cell types from the originating organ or even regenerate the entire original organ. It is generally thought that adult stem cells are limited in their ability to differentiate based on their tissue of origin, but there is some evidence to suggest that they can differentiate to become other cell types.

Embryonic stem cells are derived from a four- or five-day-old human embryo that is in the blastocyst phase of development. The embryos are usually extras that have been created in IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinics where several eggs are fertilized in a test tube, but only one is implanted into a woman.

Sexual reproduction begins when a male's sperm fertilizes a female's ovum (egg) to form a single cell called a zygote. The single zygote cell then begins a series of divisions, forming 2, 4, 8, 16 cells, etc. After four to six days - before implantation in the uterus - this mass of cells is called a blastocyst. The blastocyst consists of an inner cell mass (embryoblast) and an outer cell mass (trophoblast). The outer cell mass becomes part of the placenta, and the inner cell mass is the group of cells that will differentiate to become all the structures of an adult organism. This latter mass is the source of embryonic stem cells - totipotent cells (cells with total potential to develop into any cell in the body).

In a normal pregnancy, the blastocyst stage continues until implantation of the embryo in the uterus, at which point the embryo is referred to as a fetus. This usually occurs by the end of the 10th week of gestation after all major organs of the body have been created.

However, when extracting embryonic stem cells, the blastocyst stage signals when to isolate stem cells by placing the "inner cell mass" of the blastocyst into a culture dish containing a nutrient-rich broth. Lacking the necessary stimulation to differentiate, they begin to divide and replicate while maintaining their ability to become any cell type in the human body. Eventually, these undifferentiated cells can be stimulated to create specialized cells.

Stem cells are either extracted from adult tissue or from a dividing zygote in a culture dish. Once extracted, scientists place the cells in a controlled culture that prohibits them from further specializing or differentiating but usually allows them to divide and replicate. The process of growing large numbers of embryonic stem cells has been easier than growing large numbers of adult stem cells, but progress is being made for both cell types.

Once stem cells have been allowed to divide and propagate in a controlled culture, the collection of healthy, dividing, and undifferentiated cells is called a stem cell line. These stem cell lines are subsequently managed and shared among researchers. Once under control, the stem cells can be stimulated to specialize as directed by a researcher - a process known as directed differentiation. Embryonic stem cells are able to differentiate into more cell types than adult stem cells.

Stem cells are categorized by their potential to differentiate into other types of cells. Embryonic stem cells are the most potent since they must become every type of cell in the body. The full classification includes:

Embryonic stem cells are considered pluripotent instead of totipotent because they do not have the ability to become part of the extra-embryonic membranes or the placenta.

A video on how stem cells work and develop.

Although there is not complete agreement among scientists of how to identify stem cells, most tests are based on making sure that stem cells are undifferentiated and capable of self-renewal. Tests are often conducted in the laboratory to check for these properties.

One way to identify stem cells in a lab, and the standard procedure for testing bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cell (HSC), is by transplanting one cell to save an individual without HSCs. If the stem cell produces new blood and immune cells, it demonstrates its potency.

Clonogenic assays (a laboratory procedure) can also be employed in vitro to test whether single cells can differentiate and self-renew. Researchers may also inspect cells under a microscope to see if they are healthy and undifferentiated or they may examine chromosomes.

To test whether human embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, scientists allow the cells to differentiate spontaneously in cell culture, manipulate the cells so they will differentiate to form specific cell types, or inject the cells into an immunosuppressed mouse to test for the formation of a teratoma (a benign tumor containing a mixture of differentiated cells).

Scientists and researchers are interested in stem cells for several reasons. Although stem cells do not serve any one function, many have the capacity to serve any function after they are instructed to specialize. Every cell in the body, for example, is derived from first few stem cells formed in the early stages of embryological development. Therefore, stem cells extracted from embryos can be induced to become any desired cell type. This property makes stem cells powerful enough to regenerate damaged tissue under the right conditions.

Tissue regeneration is probably the most important possible application of stem cell research. Currently, organs must be donated and transplanted, but the demand for organs far exceeds supply. Stem cells could potentially be used to grow a particular type of tissue or organ if directed to differentiate in a certain way. Stem cells that lie just beneath the skin, for example, have been used to engineer new skin tissue that can be grafted on to burn victims.

A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital reported in PNAS Early Edition (July 2013 issue) that they were able to create blood vessels in laboratory mice using human stem cells.

The scientists extracted vascular precursor cells derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells from one group of adults with type 1 diabetes as well as from another group of healthy adults. They were then implanted onto the surface of the brains of the mice.

Within two weeks of implanting the stem cells, networks of blood-perfused vessels had been formed - they lasted for 280 days. These new blood vessels were as good as the adjacent natural ones.

The authors explained that using stem cells to repair or regenerate blood vessels could eventually help treat human patients with cardiovascular and vascular diseases.

Additionally, replacement cells and tissues may be used to treat brain disease such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's by replenishing damaged tissue, bringing back the specialized brain cells that keep unneeded muscles from moving. Embryonic stem cells have recently been directed to differentiate into these types of cells, and so treatments are promising.

Healthy heart cells developed in a laboratory may one day be transplanted into patients with heart disease, repopulating the heart with healthy tissue. Similarly, people with type I diabetes may receive pancreatic cells to replace the insulin-producing cells that have been lost or destroyed by the patient's own immune system. The only current therapy is a pancreatic transplant, and it is unlikely to occur due to a small supply of pancreases available for transplant.

Adult hematopoietic stem cells found in blood and bone marrow have been used for years to treat diseases such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other immunodeficiencies. These cells are capable of producing all blood cell types, such as red blood cells that carry oxygen to white blood cells that fight disease. Difficulties arise in the extraction of these cells through the use of invasive bone marrow transplants. However hematopoietic stem cells have also been found in the umbilical cord and placenta. This has led some scientists to call for an umbilical cord blood bank to make these powerful cells more easily obtainable and to decrease the chances of a body's rejecting therapy.

Another reason why stem cell research is being pursued is to develop new drugs. Scientists could measure a drug's effect on healthy, normal tissue by testing the drug on tissue grown from stem cells rather than testing the drug on human volunteers.

The debates surrounding stem cell research primarily are driven by methods concerning embryonic stem cell research. It was only in 1998 that researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison extracted the first human embryonic stem cells that were able to be kept alive in the laboratory. The main critique of this research is that it required the destruction of a human blastocyst. That is, a fertilized egg was not given the chance to develop into a fully-developed human.

The core of this debate - similar to debates about abortion, for example - centers on the question, "When does life begin?" Many assert that life begins at conception, when the egg is fertilized. It is often argued that the embryo deserves the same status as any other full grown human. Therefore, destroying it (removing the blastocyst to extract stem cells) is akin to murder. Others, in contrast, have identified different points in gestational development that mark the beginning of life - after the development of certain organs or after a certain time period.

People also take issue with the creation of chimeras. A chimera is an organism that has both human and animal cells or tissues. Often in stem cell research, human cells are inserted into animals (like mice or rats) and allowed to develop. This creates the opportunity for researchers to see what happens when stem cells are implanted. Many people, however, object to the creation of an organism that is "part human".

The stem cell debate has risen to the highest level of courts in several countries. Production of embryonic stem cell lines is illegal in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Ireland, but permitted in Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. In the United States, it is not illegal to work with or create embryonic stem cell lines. However, the debate in the US is about funding, and it is in fact illegal for federal funds to be used to research stem cell lines that were created after August 2001.

Medical News Today is a leading resource for the latest headlines on stem cell research. So, check out our stem cell research news section. You can also sign up to our weekly or daily newsletters to ensure that you stay up-to-date with the latest news.

This stem cells information section was written by Peter Crosta for Medical News Today in September 2008 and was last updated on 19 July 2013. The contents may not be re-produced in any way without the permission of Medical News Today.

Disclaimer: This informational section on Medical News Today is regularly reviewed and updated, and provided for general information purposes only. The materials contained within this guide do not constitute medical or pharmaceutical advice, which should be sought from qualified medical and pharmaceutical advisers.

Please note that although you may feel free to cite and quote this article, it may not be re-produced in full without the permission of Medical News Today. For further details, please view our full terms of use

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What are Stem Cells? - Health News - Medical News Today

By 2027 to 2037 scientists will likely be able to create a baby from human skin cells that have been coaxed to grow into eggs and sperm and used to create embryos to implant in a womb.

The process, in vitro gametogenesis, or I.V.G., so far has been used only in mice. But stem cell biologists say it is only a matter of time before it could be used in human reproduction opening up mind-boggling possibilities.

With I.V.G., two men could have a baby that was biologically related to both of them, by using skin cells from one to make an egg that would be fertilized by sperm from the other. Women with fertility problems could have eggs made from their skin cells, rather than go through the lengthy and expensive process of stimulating their ovaries to retrieve their eggs.

IVF (Invitro fertilization) produces 70,000, or almost 2 percent, of the babies born in the United States each year. Worldwide there been more than 6.5 million babies born worldwide through I.V.F. and related technologies.

I.V.G. requires layers of complicated bioengineering. Scientists must first take adult skin cells other cells would work as well or better, but skin cells are the easiest to get and reprogram them to become embryonic stem cells capable of growing into different kinds of cells.

Then, the same kind of signaling factors that occur in nature are used to guide those stem cells to become eggs or sperm.

Last year, researchers in Japan, led by Katsuhiko Hayashi, used I.V.G. to make viable eggs from the skin cells of adult female mice, and produced embryos that were implanted into female mice, who then gave birth to healthy babies.

Nature Reconstitution in vitro of the entire cycle of the mouse female germ line

The female germ line undergoes a unique sequence of differentiation processes that confers totipotency to the egg. The reconstitution of these events in vitro using pluripotent stem cells is a key achievement in reproductive biology and regenerative medicine. Here we report successful reconstitution in vitro of the entire process of oogenesis from mouse pluripotent stem cells. Fully potent mature oocytes were generated in culture from embryonic stem cells and from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from both embryonic fibroblasts and adult tail tip fibroblasts. Moreover, pluripotent stem cell lines were re-derived from the eggs that were generated in vitro, thereby reconstituting the full female germline cycle in a dish. This culture system will provide a platform for elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying totipotency and the production of oocytes of other mammalian species in culture.

Scientists could make an egg out of skin cells from women who cant produce viable eggsor who have other fertility problems, or who dont want to go through the difficult process of surgical removal of their eggs for IVF. Or men with fertility problems involving their sperm. Two women could make a child that was truly theirs, with eggs from one and sperm made from skin cells of the other. Or two men, vice-versa.

Mouse oocytes created from embryonic stem cells. Credit: Katsuhiko Hayashi, Kyushu Univ

In a couple of decades, Greely predicts, it will be possible to examine and select an embryo not just for a particular genetic disease but also for other traits, ranging from hair color to musical ability to potential temperament.

Greely concedes that Easy PGD will be mostly available in rich countries, but he also thinks it will be widely available in those countries because it will be free. Preventing the birth of people with genes that increase their risk of serious (and expensive) disease will save health care systems so much money that Easy PGD will be convincingly cost-effective.

That will be a powerful incentive to encourage prospective parents to further decouple procreation from sexual intercourse, and make it easy for them to drop off their skin cells at a lab. The lab will then generate a big supply of embryos containing the couples genes, embryos that can be examined for desirable characteristics as well as disease genes. The winner of this elimination contest will, presumably, be selected for implantation.

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Mice embryos from skin cells and by 2037 human embryos from skin cells - Next Big Future

Rio Sugimura

Researchers made these blood stem cells and progenitor cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells.

After 20 years of trying, scientists have transformed mature cells into primordial blood cells that regenerate themselves and the components of blood. The work, described today in Nature1, 2, offers hope to people with leukaemia and other blood disorders who need bone-marrow transplants but cant find a compatible donor. If the findings translate into the clinic, these patients could receive lab-grown versions of their own healthy cells.

One team, led by stem-cell biologist George Daley of Boston Childrens Hospital in Massachusetts, created human cells that act like blood stem cells, although they are not identical to those found in nature1. A second team, led by stem-cell biologist Shahin Rafii of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, turned mature cells from mice into fully fledged blood stem cells2.

For many years, people have figured out parts of this recipe, but theyve never quite gotten there, says Mick Bhatia, a stem-cell researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, who was not involved with either study. This is the first time researchers have checked all the boxes and made blood stem cells.

Daleys team chose skin cells and other cells taken from adults as their starting material. Using a standard method, they reprogrammed the cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are capable of producing many other cell types. Until now, however, iPS cells have not been morphed into cells that create blood.

The next step was the novel one: Daley and his colleagues inserted seven transcription factors genes that control other genes into the genomes of the iPS cells. Then they injected these modified human cells into mice to develop. Twelve weeks later, the iPS cells had transformed into progenitor cells capable of making the range of cells found in human blood, including immune cells. The progenitor cells are tantalizingly close to naturally occurring haemopoetic blood stem cells, says Daley.

Bhatia agrees. Its pretty convincing that George has figured out how to cook up human haemopoetic stem cells, he says. That is the holy grail.

By contrast, Rafiis team generated true blood stem cells from mice without the intermediate step of creating iPS cells. The researchers began by extracting cells from the lining of blood vessels in mature mice. They then inserted four transcription factors into the genomes of these cells, and kept them in Petri dishes designed to mimic the environment inside human blood vessels. There, the cells morphed into blood stem cells and multiplied.

When the researchers injected these stem cells into mice that had been treated with radiation to kill most of their blood and immune cells, the animals recovered. The stem cells regenerated the blood, including immune cells, and the mice went on to live a full life more than 1.5 years in the lab.

Because he bypassed the iPS-cell stage, Rafii compares his approach to a direct aeroplane flight, and Daleys procedure to a flight that takes a detour to the Moon before reaching its final destination. Using the most efficient method to generate stem cells matters, he adds, because every time a gene is added to a batch of cells, a large portion of the batch fails to incorporate it and must be thrown out. There is also a risk that some cells will mutate after they are modified in the lab, and could form tumours if they are implanted into people.

But Daley and other researchers are confident that the method he used can be made more efficient, and less likely to spur tumour growth and other abnormalities in modified cells. One possibility is to temporarily alter gene expression in iPS cells, rather than permanently insert genes that encode transcription factors, says Jeanne Loring, a stem-cell researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. She notes that iPS cells can be generated from skin and other tissue that is easy to access, whereas Rafiis method begins with cells that line blood vessels, which are more difficult to gather and to keep alive in the lab.

Time will determine which approach succeeds. But the latest advances have buoyed the spirits of researchers who have been frustrated by their inability to generate blood stem cells from iPS cells. A lot of people have become jaded, saying that these cells dont exist in nature and you cant just push them into becoming anything else, Bhatia says. I hoped the critics were wrong, and now I know they were.

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Lab-grown blood stem cells produced at last - Nature.com

Nearly 40 years after the world was jolted by the birth of the first test-tube baby, a new revolution in reproductive technology is on the horizon and it promises to be far more controversial than in vitro fertilization ever was.

Within a decade or two, researchers say, scientists will likely be able to create a baby from human skin cells that have been coaxed to grow into eggs and sperm and used to create embryos to implant in a womb.

The process, in vitro gametogenesis, or I.V.G., so far has been used only in mice. But stem cell biologists say it is only a matter of time before it could be used in human reproduction opening up mind-boggling possibilities.

With I.V.G., two men could have a baby that was biologically related to both of them, by using skin cells from one to make an egg that would be fertilized by sperm from the other. Women with fertility problems could have eggs made from their skin cells, rather than go through the lengthy and expensive process of stimulating their ovaries to retrieve their eggs.

It gives me an unsettled feeling because we dont know what this could lead to, said Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher at UC Davis. You can imagine one man providing both the eggs and the sperm, almost like cloning himself. You can imagine that eggs becoming so easily available would lead to designer babies.

Some scientists even talk about what they call the Brad Pitt scenario when someone retrieves a celebritys skin cells from a hotel bed or bathtub. Or a baby might have what one law professor called multiplex parents.

There are groups out there that want to reproduce among themselves, said Sonia Suter, a George Washington University law professor who began writing about I.V.G. even before it had been achieved in mice. You could have two pairs who would each create an embryo, and then take an egg from one embryo and sperm from the other, and create a baby with four parents.

Three prominent academics in medicine and law sounded an alarm about the possible consequences in a paper published this year.

I.V.G. may raise the specter of embryo farming on a scale currently unimagined, which might exacerbate concerns about the devaluation of human life, Dr. Eli Y. Adashi, a medical science professor at Brown; I. Glenn Cohen, a Harvard Law School professor; and Dr. George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School, wrote in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Still, how soon I.V.G. might become a reality in human reproduction is open to debate.

I wouldnt be surprised if it was five years, and I wouldnt be surprised if it was 25 years, said Jeanne Loring, a researcher at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla who, with the San Diego Zoo, hopes to use I.V.G. to increase the population of the nearly extinct northern white rhino.

Loring said that when she discussed I.V.G. with colleagues who initially said it would never be used with humans, their skepticism often melted away as the talk continued. But not everyone is convinced that I.V.G. will ever become a regularly used process in human reproduction even if the ethical issues are resolved.

People are a lot more complicated than mice, said Susan Solomon, chief executive of the New York Stem Cell Foundation. And weve often seen that the closer you get to something, the more obstacles you discover.

I.V.G. is not the first reproductive technology to challenge the basic paradigm of baby-making. Back when in vitro fertilization was beginning, many people were horrified by the idea of creating babies outside the human body. And yet, I.V.F. and related procedures have become so commonplace that they now account for about 70,000, or almost 2 percent, of the babies born in the United States each year. According to the latest estimate, there have been more than 6.5 million babies born worldwide through I.V.F. and related technologies.

Of course, even I.V.F. is not universally accepted. The Catholic Church remains firm in its opposition to in vitro fertilization, in part because it so often leads to the creation of extra embryos that are frozen or discarded.

I.V.G. requires layers of complicated bioengineering. Scientists must first take adult skin cells other cells would work as well or better, but skin cells are the easiest to get and reprogram them to become embryonic stem cells capable of growing into different kinds of cells.

Then, the same kind of signaling factors that occur in nature are used to guide those stem cells to become eggs or sperm. (Cells taken from women could be made to produce sperm, the researchers say, but the sperm, lacking a Y chromosome, would produce only female babies.)

Last year, researchers in Japan, led by Katsuhiko Hayashi, used I.V.G. to make viable eggs from the skin cells of adult female mice, and produced embryos that were implanted into female mice, who then gave birth to healthy babies.

The process strikes some people as inherently repugnant.

There is a yuck factor here, said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University. It strikes many people as intuitively yucky to have three parents, or to make a baby without starting from an egg and sperm. But then again, it used to be that people thought blood transfusions were yucky, or putting pig valves in human hearts.

Whatever the social norms, there are questions about the wisdom of tinkering with basic biological processes. And there is general agreement that reproductive technology is progressing faster than consideration of the legal and ethical questions it raises.

We have come to realize that scientific developments are outpacing our ability to think them through, Adashi said. Its a challenge for which we are not fully prepared. It would be good to be having the conversation before we are actually confronting the challenges.

Some bioethicists take the position that while research on early stages of human life can deepen the understanding of our genetic code, tinkering with biological mechanisms that have evolved over thousands of years is inherently wrongheaded.

Basic research is paramount, but its not clear that we need new methods for creating viable embryos, said David Lemberg, a bioethicist at National University in California. Attempting to apply what weve learned to create a human zygote is dangerous, because we have no idea what were doing, we have no idea what the outcomes are going to be.

Lewin writes for The New York Times.

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Growing an entire baby from skin cells could happen in a decade ... - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Its one of those times when serendipity went to work. As a team of UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers were studying a rare form of genetic cancer called Neurofibromatosis Type 1 that causes tumors to grow on nerves, what they discovered instead were hair progenitor cells. Essentially, these are the cells that cause hair to grow. With this new information on hand, the path towards managing hair growth problems, including hair discoloration (a.k.a greying of hair) now seems to have become clearer.

As explained by Dr. Lu Le, one of the researchers and currently an Associate Professor of Dermatology: With this knowledge, we hope in the future to create a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems.

Prior to this discovery, researchers were already aware that skin stem cells located in the bulge on bottom of hair follicles were involved, in one way or another, in the growth of hair. What they didnt know was how these skin cells turn into hair cells, specifically, what happens after those cells move down to the bulb or the base of hair follicles. This also meant they had no idea what to do to stimulate and manipulate their growth.

As they were studying the nerve cells and how tumors formed on them, they discovered a protein that differentiates the skin stem cells from other types of cells. The protein is called KROX20 and as far as they knew, this protein was more commonly associated with nerve development. In the hair follicles of their mice test subjects, however, they found out that KROX20 becomes activated in the skin cells which eventually turn into hair shafts that cause hair to grow. That said, though, its not as simple as that.

It turned out that KROX20 works in tandem with another protein called SCF (short for stem cell factor) and without either one, hair growth happens abnormally, or not at all.

When KROX20 turns on in a skin cell, it causes the cell to produce SCF. With both proteins now active, they move up the hair bulb, interact with melanocyte cells (the cells that produce pigment), and grow into healthy, colored hairs.

When the team removed the KROX20-producing cells, the mice did not grow any hair, meaning, they became bald. And when they removed the SCF gene, the mices hair started out as gray-colored, then turned white with age.

From these results, the obvious way forward is to backtrack whats happening, possibly try to figure out why and how aging affects KROX20 protein production. Another aspect that will also be looked at is the reason why the SCF gene stops functioning, thereby resulting in gray hair production. The findings could also help provide answers on why hair loss and graying of hair are among the first indications of aging.

The research was recently published in the journal Genes & Development.

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Cells Responsible for Hair Growth Discovered - Wall Street Pit

The new technique heals burns much faster and more effectively than traditional skin grafting.

Burn victims may no longer be forced to undergo painful skin grafts, thanks to a revolutionary piece of technology that uses adult stem cells.

Instead of taking skin from one part of the body and transplanting it onto the burned area, a stem-cell spraying device simply covers the affected area with the victims own stem cells.

By taking adult stem cells from a healthy section of skin, placing them in a solution, and spraying the solution onto the wound, the patients own skin grows back and heals naturally.

The procedure has been in development for some time, and is not yet commercially available, but its capability was publicised in the press earlier this month.

The technology was featured in the Journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries, and showed incredible before and after images of the horrific injuries, and the victims almost full recoveries.

Patients who have benefitted from early treatments say their new skin is virtually indistinguishable from the rest of their body.

Commenting on the journals research, Thomas Bold, CEO of RenovaCare a company developing this technology said, the skin that regrows looks, feels and functions like the original skin.

By using adult stem cells, the healing process of the victims was also vastly accelerated.

While a skin graft treatment can take weeks or even months, and leave scarring, these patients were able to grow healthy skin in as little as four days.

In one case, a man who had suffered electrical burns to over a third of his body after touching a live wire had 24 million adult stem cells harvested and then sprayed back onto his body.

The process itself lasted only 90 minutes, and within four days, he had regrown a thin layer of skin over his arms and chest, where the burns were least severe.

After 20 days, all of the areas treated by the stem cell grafting process were described as completely healed.

RenovaCare is applying for a licence to use the technology in routine practice in Europe.

In January, it was revealed that a new technique allowed adult stem cells to be used in the treatment of heart problems.

The technique involves implanting synthetic cardiac stem cells which repair heart muscle. It has been praised as both an ethical and less risky alternative to other treatments.

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renovacareinc.com - The Christian Institute

New York Times

Babies From Skin Cells? Prospect Is Unsettling to Some Experts ... New York Times Researchers say that scientists may soon be able to create a baby from human skin cells that have been coaxed to grow into eggs and sperm. and more »

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Babies From Skin Cells? Prospect Is Unsettling to Some Experts ... - New York Times

Nick Wells, CTVNews.ca Published Wednesday, May 17, 2017 7:04AM EDT Last Updated Wednesday, May 17, 2017 12:28PM EDT

An Ottawa-area boy who suffers from a rare and painful blistering skin disease is recovering in a Minneapolis hospital, after undergoing a second potentially life-changing transplant.

Jonathan Pitre, known as the "Butterfly Boy" because of his delicate, blistering skin, received a second transfusion of his mother Tina Boileaus stem cells in April.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Boileau said the donor study tests are showing that her son is officially growing her cells.

Pitre was born with a severe form of epidermolysis bullosa (EB), an incurable genetic collagen disorder. The condition causes a never-ending series of raw and painful blisters -- some of which hes had for years.

His mother told CTV News on Wednesday that the positive turn in Pitres long and painful treatment was exactly what we needed.

Boileau said her son has had infections on top of infections and endured much pain over the past year. The second stem cell transplant has been really hard on his body, she said, but there now seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday was just the greatest day. We were speechless. Jonathan hugged me and we were like, We did it, she said in an interview from the hospital.

Boileau said that even some of the nurses were crying when Pitre received the good news.

Its finally now feeling like its all been worth it.

However, she pointed out that if Pitre is unable to grow his own cells, he could be diagnosed with Graft vs. Host disease a condition where the donor's cells take over the host's organs and bodily functions, leading to complications.

We still have a long road ahead of us, but you know what, this is definitely what weve been waiting for, Boileau said.

The $1.5-million transplant procedure Pitre is undergoing is currently only performed as a University of Minnesota clinical trial.

Continued here:
Encouraging results after Jonathan Pitre's transplant, mother says - CTV News

International Stem Cell Corporation Announces Operating Results for the Quarter ended March 31, 2017 P&T Community ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology (www.lifelinecelltech.com), and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin ... and more »

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International Stem Cell Corporation Announces Operating Results for the Quarter ended March 31, 2017 - P&T Community

Ella1977/DreamstimeIn the not too distant future most human babies will be born using eggs and sperm produced from the skin cells of their parents, claims Stanford University law professor and bioethicist Hank Greely in his book, The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction. Basically, Greely is making informed speculation how in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) will progress over the next few years. And considerable progress has been made.

For example, Japanese researchers have turned skin cells from mice into eggs which they fertilized to produce embryos that were implanted into surrogates that then gave birth to healthy mouse pups. In April, Spanish researchers announced that they had made significant progress toward transforming human skin cells into viable sperm.

Harvard bioethicist Glenn Cohen and his colleagues described how "disruptive reproductive technologies" derived from IVG might evolve in a January article in the journal Science Translational Medicine. They go on to assert that "IVG raises vexing ethical and social policy challenges in need of redress."

First let's consider the biomedical benefits of IVG. One result would be the creation of an unlimited supply of early-stage embryos for research. In the reproductive realm, IVG could produce sperm or eggs for people suffering from various forms of infertilty, e.g., congenital and chemotherapy-induced. In addition, IVG could be used to prevent mitochondrial diseases by creating eggs without those mutations and boost regenerative medicine by creating patient-specific stem cell lines that could be used as transplants to replace diseased tissues and organs.

More speculatively, IVG could be used by same sex couples to produce genetically related children. In addition, since skin cells could be used to produce both sperm and eggs, they might be used to create single-parent children (Women wanting a boy would have to find a donated Y-chromosome.) In addition, there is the possibility that someone lift some cells left behind on a glass or comb by a celebrity and turn them into gametes without their permission. Furthermore, the ability to produce unlimited quantities of gametes and embryos will make it feasible to use genome-editing techniques to correct genetic defects and, perhaps, eventually introduce gene variants that could enhance physical and mental functioning.

Glenn and his colleagues observe that some religious believers object to the creation of embryos outside of human bodies and that doctrinaire anti-market folks oppose the "commodification" of human reproduction. Certainly, opponents are entitled to their opinions, but there is no ethical reason why their beliefs should be permitted to interfere with the biomedical and reproductive choices of those who don't agree with them.

Safety concerns will be paramount before rolling out this technology. With regard to reproduction, one benchmark might be that the likelihood of producing birth defects in babies using IVG is no greater than IVF. As I explained in my Designer Babies and Human Enhancement lecture in Moscow:

Greely believes that in about 40 years half of all American babies will born using what he calls Easy PGD. At that time most people will use gametes produced from their skin cells to create scores of IVF embryos that will each have his or her entire genomes sequenced. Prospective parents will then choose among the embryos based on which combination of genetic traits they would prefer. Presumably they would tend avoid those embryos afflicted with debilitating genetic diseases.

Greely believes that Easy PGD will be extremely cheap, e.g., whole genome testing should fall to around $10 by the beginning of the next decade. Easy PGD would also make it possible for same sex couples to have offspring genetically related to both parents and it might even be possible for a person to have both sperm and eggs created from their skin cells, enabling them to be both mother and father of their child.

Interestingly, biologist Craig Venter, the leader of the group that raced the government to a tie in sequencing the human genome, and now founder of the life extension company Human Longevity, Inc. can sequence a fetal genome and give the mother "a picture of what her future child will look like at 18."

"There is a yuck factor here," said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University in The New York Times today. "It strikes many people as intuitively yucky to have three parents, or to make a baby without starting from an egg and sperm. But then again, it used to be that people thought blood transfusions were yucky, or putting pig valves in human hearts." Just so.

Naturally, Glenn and his colleagues call for a vigorous ethical debate and government regulation of the technologies. I would gently suggest that a front page article in the Times means that a vigorous public debate is already taking place.

With regard to government regulation - there may be a role for it to the extent that safety issues cannot be handled by developers of the technology. However, the government should certainly stay far, far away from any eugenic efforts to tell people when and what sort of children they may have. The last time the U.S. government started meddling with the reproductive decisions of Americans, it didn't turn out well.

For more background, see my article, "Is Heaven Populated Chiefly by the Souls of Embryos?"

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Skin Cells Into Babies: Bioethicists Freakout Again - Reason (blog)