hide captionThis mouse egg (top) is being injected with genetic material from an adult cell to ultimately create an embryo and, eventually, embryonic stem cells. The process has been difficult to do with human cells.

Eighteen years ago, scientists in Scotland took the nuclear DNA from the cell of an adult sheep and put it into another sheep's egg cell that had been emptied of its own nucleus. The resulting egg was implanted in the womb of a third sheep, and the result was Dolly, the first clone of a mammal.

Dolly's birth set off a huge outpouring of ethical concern along with hope that the same techniques, applied to human cells, could be used to treat myriad diseases.

But Dolly's birth also triggered years of frustration. It's proved very difficult to do that same sort of DNA transfer into a human egg.

Last year, scientists in Oregon said they'd finally done it, using DNA taken from infants. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, says that was an important step, but not ideal for medical purposes.

"There are many diseases, whether it's diabetes, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, that usually increase with age," Lanza says. So ideally scientists would like to be able to extract DNA from the cells of older people not just cells from infants to create therapies for adult diseases.

Lanza's colleagues, including Young Gie Chung at the CHA Stem Cell Institute in Seoul, Korea (with labs in Los Angeles as well), now report success.

Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, they say they started with nuclear DNA extracted from the skin cells of a middle-age man and injected it into human eggs donated by four women. As with Dolly, the women's nuclear DNA had been removed from these eggs before the man's DNA was injected. They repeated the process this time starting with the genetic material extracted from the skin cells of a much older man.

hide captionDolly, the first mammal to be genetically cloned from adult cells, poses for the camera in 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dolly, the first mammal to be genetically cloned from adult cells, poses for the camera in 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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First Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned From A Man's Skin

Researchers say they have made powerful stem cells from both young and old adults using cloning techniques, and also found clues about why it is so difficult to do this with human beings.

The team, at Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology and the Institute for Stem Cell Research in Los Angeles, say they used the cloning methods to create the stem cells to match a 35-year-old man and a 75-year-old man.

They used a bit of skin from each man, took the DNA from the skin cells and inserted it into the egg cell of a female donor, and grew very early embryos called blastocysts, the team reports in the journal Cell Stem Cell. Cells from these embryos closely match the men and could, in theory, be used to make near-identical tissue, blood or organ transplants for the men.

If verified, it would be only the second confirmed time someones been able to use cloning methods to make human embryonic stem cells, considered the bodys master cells.

Therapeutic cloning has long been envisioned as a means for generating patient-specific stem cells that could be used to treat a range of age-related diseases, said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer for Advanced Cell Technology.

However, despite cloning success in animals, the derivation of stem cells from cloned human embryos has proven elusive. Only one group has ever succeeded, and their lines were generated using fetal and infant cells.

That was last year, at Oregon Health & Science University.

When human embryonic stem cells were first discovered in 1998, scientists immediately dreamed of using cloning technology to help people grow their own organ and tissue transplants, and to use them to study disease. Theyd be perfect genetic matches for each patient, meaning an end to a lifetime of taking dangerous immune-suppressing drugs after an organ transplant.

But in the many years since, no labs been able to do the work easily. It seems it is much harder to clone a human being than it is to clone a sheep, a frog or a mouse.

And using the cloning technique is controversial, because it involves creating, then destroying, a human embryo.

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Group Makes Stem Cells Using Clone Technique

However a team at the Research Institute for Stem Cell Research at CHA Health Systems in Los Angeles and the University of Seoul said they had achieved the same result with two men, one aged 35 and one 75.

"The proportion of diseases you can treat with lab-made tissue increases with age. So if you cant do this with adult cells it is of limited value, said Robert Lanza, co-author of the research which published in the journal Cell Stem Cell

The technique works by removing the nucleus from an unfertilised egg and replacing it with the nucleus of a skin cell. An electric shock causes the cells to begin dividing until they form a blastocyst a small ball of a few hundred cells.

In IVF it is a blastocyst which is implanted into the womb, but with this technique the cells would be harvested to be used to create other organs or tissues.

However, the breakthrough is likely to reignite the debate about the ethics of creating human embryos for medical purposes and the possible use of the same technique to produce cloned babies which is illegal in Britain.

Although the embryos created may not give rise to a human clone even if implanted in a womb, the prospect is now scientifically closer.

However scientists have been trying for years to clone monkeys and have yet to succeed.

Dr Lanza admitted that without strong regulations, the early embryos produced in therapeutic cloning could also be used for human reproductive cloning, although this would be unsafe and grossly unethical.

However, he said it was important for the future of regenerative medicine that research into therapeutic cloning should continue.

Reproductive biologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University, who developed the technique last year said: "The advance here is showing that (nuclear transfer) looks like it will work with people of all ages.

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Breakthrough in human cloning offers new transplant hope

Scientists have replicated one of the most significant accomplishments in stem cell research by creating human embryos that were clones of two men.

The lab-engineered embryos were harvested within days and used to create lines of infinitely reproducing embryonic stem cells, which are capable of growing into any type of human tissue.

The work, reported Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell, comes 11 months after researchers in Oregon said they had produced the world's first human embryo clones and used them to make stem cells. Their study, published in Cell, aroused skepticism after critics pointed out multiple errors and duplicated images.

In addition, the entire effort to clone human embryos and then dismantle them in the name of science troubles some people on moral grounds.

The scientists in Oregon and the authors of the new report acknowledged that the clones they created could develop into babies if implanted in surrogate wombs. But like others in the field, they have said reproductive cloning would be unethical and irresponsible.

The process used to create cloned embryos is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. It involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with a nucleus from a cell of the person to be cloned. The same method was used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, along with numerous animals from other species.

Human cloning was a particular challenge, in part because scientists had trouble getting enough donor eggs to carry out their experiments. Some scientists said SCNT in humans would be impossible.

Dr. Robert Lanza, the chief scientific officer for Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Mass., has been working on SCNT off and on for about 15 years. He and his colleagues finally achieved success with a modified version of the recipe used by the Oregon team and skin cells donated by two men who were 35 and 75.

After swapping out the nucleus in the egg cell, both groups used caffeine to delay the onset of cell division a technique that has been called "the Starbucks effect." But instead of waiting 30 minutes to prompt cell division, as was done in the Oregon experiment, Lanza and his team waited two hours.

It remains unclear exactly how the egg causes the cells in previously mature tissues in this case, skin to transform into a more versatile, pluripotent state.

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Results are a leap for embryonic stem cells

For the first time, scientists have created early-stage embryos using cloned cells from adults.

A study from Advanced Cell Technology published Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell highlights how researchers were able to create embryos from the skin cells of two men, ages 35 and 75. Tissue from the embryos featured exact DNA matches with the donors.

Last year, scientists at Oregon Health and Science University made a major breakthrough with the first early-stage human clones derived from infant and fetal cells. However, the experiment drew criticism because early-stage human embryos are destroyed when cells are extracted from them.

This more recent experiment involving adult cells, funded by the South Korean government and performed in California, has large implications for advances in medical treatment. However, the success ratio was low: Scientists attempted 39 times to create stem cells but succeeded only once with each donor.

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Scientists Clone Stem Cells From Adults For The First Time

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After years of failed attempts, researchers have finally generated stem cells from adults using the same cloning technique that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996.

A previous claim that Korean investigators had succeeded in the feat turned out to be fraudulent. Then last year, a group at Oregon Health & Science University generated stem cells using the Dolly technique, but with cells from fetuses and infants.

MORE: Stem-Cell Research: The Quest Resumes

In this case, cells from a 35-year-old man and a 75-year-old man were used to generate two separate lines of stem cells. The process, known as nuclear transfer, involves taking the DNA from a donor and inserting it into an egg that has been stripped of its DNA. The resulting hybrid is stimulated to fuse and start dividing; after a few days the embryo creates a lining of stem cells that are destined to develop into all of the cells and tissues in the human body. Researchers extract these cells and grow them in the lab, where they are treated with the appropriate growth factors and other agents to develop into specific types of cells, like neurons, muscle, or insulin-producing cells.

Reporting in the journal Cell Stem Cell, Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology, and his colleagues found that tweaking the Oregon teams process was the key to success with reprogramming the older cells. Like the earlier team, Lanzas group used caffeine to prevent the fused egg from dividing prematurely. Rather than leaving the egg with its newly introduced DNA for 30 minutes before activating the dividing stage, they let the eggs rest for about two hours. This gave the DNA enough time to acclimate to its new environment and interact with the eggs development factors, which erased each of the donor cells existing history and reprogrammed it to act like a brand new cell in an embryo.

VIDEO: Breakthrough in Cloning Human Stem Cells: Explainer

The team, which included an international group of stem cell scientists, used 77 eggs from four different donors. They tested their new method by waiting for 30 minutes before activating 38 of the resulting embryos, and waiting two hours before triggering 39 of them. None of the 38 developed into the next stage, while two of the embryos getting extended time did. There is a massive molecular change occurring. You are taking a fully differentiated cell, and you need to have the egg do its magic, says Lanza. You need to extend the reprogramming time before you can force the cell to divide.

While a 5% efficiency may not seem laudable, Lanza says that its not so bad given that the stem cells appear to have had their genetic history completely erased and returned to that of a blank slate. This procedure works well, and works with adult cells, says Lanza.

The results also teach stem cell scientists some important lessons. First, that the nuclear transfer method that the Oregon team used is valid, and that with some changes it can be replicated using older adult cells. It looks like the protocols we described are real, they are universal, they work in different hands, in different labs and with different cells, says Shoukhrat Mitalopov, director of the center for embryonic cell and gene therapy at Oregon Health & Science University, and lead investigator of that study.

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Researchers Clone Cells From Two Adult Men

Othropedic Surgeon Dr. Propper Speaks about Stem Cell Therapy - PRP - BMAC
Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Propper Speaks about the Difference of Stem Cell Injection Therapy PRP - BMAC.

By: Dennis Spoonhour, DC

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Othropedic Surgeon Dr. Propper Speaks about Stem Cell Therapy - PRP - BMAC - Video

By Estel Grace Masangkay

Researchers from the University of Michigan have discovered how mechanical forces in the environment influence stem cell growth and differentiation. The scientists arrived at the findings using a key ingredient in Silly Putty for their experiments.

Using an ultrafine carpet made out of polydimethylsiloxane, a key ingredient in Silly Putty, the scientists were able to coax stem cells to morph into working spinal cord cells. The Silly Putty component was made into a specially engineered growth system with microscopic posts. By varying the post height, the researchers were able to adjust the stiffness of the surface where the cells are made to grow.

Jianping Fu, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, said, This is extremely exciting. To realize promising clinical applications of human embryonic stem cells, we need a better culture system that can reliably produce more target cells that function well. Our approach is a big step in that direction, by using synthetic microengineered surfaces to control mechanical environmental signals.

Stem cells that were grown on tall, softer micropost carpets morphed into nerve cells faster and more often than those grown on stiffer surfaces. The colonies of spinal cord cells that grew on softer micropost carpets were also 10 times larger and four times more pure than those grown on rigid carpets or traditional plates.

The study is the first to directly link physical signals to human embryonic stem cells differentiation, in contrast to chemical signals. Professor Jianping Fu says the findings may lead to a more efficient way of guiding stem cells to differentiate and provide specialized therapies for diseases such Alzheimers, Huntingtons, Lou Gerhrigs disease, and others. Our work suggests that physical signals in the cell environment are important in neural patterning, a process where nerve cells become specialized for their specific functions based on their physical location in the body, said Professor Jianping.

The study from the University of Michigan was published online at Nature Materials this week.

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U-M Researchers Use Silly Putty Ingredient To Study Stem Cells

The first volunteers are expected to be treated by late 2016. If successful, the trial could pave the way to the wide-scale use of artificial blood derived from stem cells.

Blood cells freshly made in the laboratory are likely to have a longer life span than those taken from donors, which typically last no more than 120 days.

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They would also be free from infectious agents such as viruses or the rogue prion proteins that cause Creuzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). Professor Marc Turner, medical director at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), who is leading the 5 million project at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Producing a cellular therapy which is of the scale, quality and safety required for human clinical trials is a very significant challenge. But if we can achieve success with this first-in-man clinical study it will be an important step forward to enable populations all over the world to benefit from blood transfusions.

"These developments will also provide information of value to other researchers working on the development of cellular therapies."

The pilot study will involve no more than about three patients, who may be healthy volunteers or individuals suffering from a red blood cell disorder such as thalassaemia. They will receive a small, five millilitre dose of laboratory-made blood to see how it behaves and survives in their bodies.

The blood cells will be created from ordinary donated skin cells called fibroblasts which are genetically reprogrammed into a stem cell-like state.

The resulting induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have the same ability as embryonic stem cells to develop into virtually any kind of body tissue.

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Scientists pioneer lab-grown red cells

Stem cell scientist Mahendra Rao, former director of the now-defunct Center For Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Photo taken in December, 2013 during a speech by Rao at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego.

One of the nation's top stem cell scientists has become an adviser to San Diego's Stemedica, a developer of stem cell-based therapies.

Dr. Mahendra Rao joined Stemedica's scientific and medical advisory board, and will help guide the company's strategy, said Maynard Howe, chief executive of the privately held company. Rao's career as a scientist who has also worked for companies and federal agencies makes him particularly useful, Howe said.

Rao is a medical doctor with a PhD in developmental neurobiology from CalTech. He headed the neurosciences division of the National Institute on Aging. He also led the stem cell division of Carlsbad-based Life Technologies, now a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific. The two companies are on good terms: Life Technologies sells two kinds of stem cells made by Stemedica, used for research purposes, Howe said.

Rao was most recently founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, which has been shut down. Rao, who resigned at the end of March, said he was disappointed at the slow pace of funding studies with artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells. Stemedica announced his appointment April 8.

Rao said Wednesday that his goal now is to advance stem cell therapies through the private sector. Stemedica drew his attention because it had developed a method of reliably generating "clinically compliant" stem cells suitable for use in therapy.

In addition, Rao said he likes that Stemedica is developing combination stem cell therapies, using a variety called mesenchymal stem cells. This variety of stem cell generates chemicals that promote short-term regrowth and seems to enhance the survival of other transplanted stem cells. For example, mesenchymal stem cells could help transplanted neural stem cells integrate into the brain.

"That's a high-risk process and it's a much more difficult road, but they seem to be willing to do that," Rao said.

He has also rejoined the board of Q Therapeutics, a Salt Lake City company developing treatments for spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. Rao is the company's scientific founder, but had to leave the company when he joined the NIH.

Stemedica and its affiliated companies are undertaking multiple clinical trials of stem cell therapies. One of the most advanced is for stroke, Howe said. See utsandiego.com/stemedicastroke1 for detailed information.

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Top stem cell scientist joins Stemedica

Two Central Pennsylvania dogs are receiving a regenerative therapy for arthritis thats unprecedented for this area and less expensive than standard surgery. Stem Cell therapy is a way to repair damaged tissue and treat injury. When dealing with dogs, veterinarians say its the future of treatments and its becoming less costly.

Gunny is a 7-year-old German Shepard. He underwent the revolutionary stem cell therapy at the Palmyra Animal Clinic. Vets say the stem cell therapy is a way to combat Gunnys arthritis in his hips. Doctors collected fatty tissue from his shoulder, processed the stem cells in the lab and injected the cells back into his hips. This happens all in one day for around $1500. Prior to this, surgery could cost around $3,000.

Dr. Calvin Clements of the Palmyra Animal Clinic says, Injected in a damaged joint or ligament, these cells will take on that characteristic and differentiate into the cartilage or tissue were dealing with and help to regenerate it.

Dr. Clements says results are noticeable in about a month. On average, animals improve 85%.

For more information, contact the Palmyra Animal Clinic at 717-838-5451.

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Stem Cell therapy on animals may be medicine of the future

Tissue engineering has been used to construct natural oesophagi, which in combination with bone marrow stem cells have been safely and effectively transplanted in rats. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that the transplanted organs remain patent and display regeneration of nerves, muscles, epithelial cells and blood vessels.

The new method has been developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, within an international collaboration lead by Professor Paolo Macchiarini. The technique to grow human tissues and organs, so called tissue engineering, has been employed so far to produce urinary bladder, trachea and blood vessels, which have also been used clinically. However, despite several attempts, it has been proven difficult to grow tissue to replace a damaged esophagus.

In this new study, the researchers created the bioengineered organs by using oesophagi from rats and removing all the cells. With the cells gone, a scaffold remains in which the structure as well as mechanical and chemical properties of the organ are preserved. The produced scaffolds were then reseeded with cells from the bone marrow. The adhering cells have low immunogenicity which minimizes the risk of immune reaction and graft rejection and also eliminates the need for immunosuppressive drugs. The cells adhered to the biological scaffold and started to show organ-specific characteristics within three weeks.

The cultured tissues were used to replace segments of the esophagus in rats. All rats survived and after two weeks the researchers found indications of the major components in the regenerated graft: epithelium, muscle cells, blood vessels and nerves.

"We believe that these very promising findings represent major advances towards the clinical translation of tissue engineered esophagi," says Paolo Macchiarini, Director of Advanced center for translational regenerative medicine (ACTREM) at Karolinska Institutet.

Tissue engineered organs could improve survival and quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of patients yearly diagnosed with esophageal disorders such as cancer, congenital anomalies or trauma. Today the patients' own intestine or stomach is used for esophageal replacements, but satisfactory function rarely achieved. Cultured tissue might eliminate this current need and likely improve surgery-related mortality, morbidity and functional outcome.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Karolinska Institutet. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Regenerated esophagus transplanted in rats

Advanced Cell Technology is testing a stem-cell treatment for blindness that could preserve vision and potentially reverse vision loss.

Vision support: The cells used in Advanced Cell Technologys clinical trials produce dark pigments and cobblestone-like patterns that can be readily recognized in cultures.

A new treatment for macular degeneration is close to the next stage of human testinga noteworthy event not just for the millions of patients it could help, but for its potential to become the first therapy based on embryonic stem cells.

This year, the Boston-area company Advanced Cell Technology plans to move its stem-cell treatment for two forms of vision loss into advanced human trials. The company has already reported that the treatment is safe (see Eye Study Is a Small but Crucial Advance for Stem-Cell Therapy), although a full report of the results from the early, safety-focused testing has yet to be published. The planned trials will test whether it is effective. The treatment will be tested both on patients with Stargardts disease (an inherited form of progressive vision loss that can affect children) and on those with age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss among people 65 and older.

The treatment is based on retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells that have been grown from embryonic stem cells. A surgeon injects 150 microliters of RPE cellsroughly the amount of liquid in three raindropsunder a patients retina, which is temporarily detached for the procedure. RPE cells support the retinas photoreceptors, which are the cells that detect incoming light and pass the information on to the brain.

Although complete data from the trials of ACTs treatments have yet to be published, the company has reported impressive results with one patient, who recovered vision after being deemed legally blind. Now the company plans to publish the data from two clinical trials taking place in the U.S. and the E.U. in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Each of these early-stage trials includes 12 patients affected by either macular degeneration or Stargardts disease.

The more advanced trials will have dozens of participants, says ACTs head of clinical development, Eddy Anglade. If proved safe and effective, the cellular therapy could preserve the vision of millions affected by age-related macular degeneration. By 2020, as the population ages, nearly 200 million people worldwide will have the disease, estimate researchers. Currently, there are no treatments available for the most common form, dry age-related macular degeneration.

ACTs experimental treatment has its origins in a chance discovery that Irina Klimanskaya, the companys director of stem-cell biology, made while working with embryonic stem cells at Harvard University. These cells have the power to develop into any cell type, and in culture they often change on their own. A neuron here, a fat cell thereindividual cells in a dish tend to take random walks down various developmental paths. By supplying the cultures with fresh nutrients but otherwise leaving them to their own devices for several weeks, Klimanskaya discovered that the stem cells often developed into darkly pigmented cells that grew in a cobblestone-like pattern. She suspected that they were developing into RPE cells, and molecular tests backed her up.

Now that her discovery has advanced into an experimental treatment, Klimanskaya says she is excited by the hints that it may be able to preserve, and perhaps restore, sight. She recalls a voice mail she received during her second year at ACT: a person blinded by an inherited condition thanked her for her work, whether or not there was a treatment available for him. When you get a message like this, you feel like you are not doing it in vain, she says.

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Stem-Cell Treatment for Blindness Moving Through Patient Testing

Could a component of Silly Putty, the childhood classic from the 1950s that your grandkids probably play with today, help embryonic stem cells turn into working spinal cord cells? Yes, say researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann who published their study online at Nature Materials on April 13th 2014.

A release from the university reports that the team grew the cells on a soft, utrafine carpet made of a key ingredient in Silly Putty. The ingredient, called polydimethylsiloxane, is a type of silicone. This research is the first to directly link physical, as opposed to chemical, signals to human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Differentiation is the process of the source cells morphing into the body's more than 200 cell types that become muscle, bone, nerves and organs, for example.

Jianping Fu, U-M assistant professor of mechanical engineering, says the findings raise the possibility of a more efficient way to guide stem cells to differentiate and potentially provide therapies for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), Huntington's or Alzheimer's.

In the specially engineered growth systemthe carpets Fu and his colleagues designedmicroscopic posts of the Silly Putty component serve as the threads. By varying the post height, the researchers can adjust the stiffness of the surface on which they grow cells. Shorter posts are more rigid ike an industrial carpet. Taller ones are softer and plusher.

The team found that stem cells they grew on the tall, softer micropost carpets turned into nerve cells much faster and more often than those they grew on the stiffer surfaces. After 23 days, the colonies of spinal cord cellsmotor neurons that control how muscles movethat grew on the softer micropost carpets were four times more pure and 10 times larger than those growing on either traditional plates or rigid carpets. The release quotes Fu as saying, "This is extremely exciting. To realize promising clinical applications of human embryonic stem cells, we need a better culture system that can reliably produce more target cells that function well. Our approach is a big step in that direction, by using synthetic microengineered surfaces to control mechanical environmental signals." Fu is collaborating with doctors at the U-M Medical School. Eva Feldman, the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology, studies amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. It paralyzes patients as it kills motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers like Feldman believe stem cell therapiesboth from embryonic and adult varietiesmight help patients grow new nerve cells. She's using Fu's technique to try to make fresh neurons from patients' own cells. At this point, they're examining how and whether the process could work, and they hope to try it in humans in the future.

"Professor Fu and colleagues have developed an innovative method of generating high-yield and high-purity motor neurons from stem cells," Feldman said. "For ALS, discoveries like this provide tools for modeling disease in the laboratory and for developing cell-replacement therapies." Fu's findings go deeper than cell counts. The researchers verified that the new motor neurons they obtained on soft micropost carpets showed electrical behaviors comparable to those of neurons in the human body. They also identified a signaling pathway involved in regulating the mechanically sensitive behaviors. A signaling pathway is a route through which proteins ferry chemical messages from the cell's borders to deep inside it. The pathway they zeroed in on, called Hippo/YAP, is also involved in controlling organ size and both causing and preventing tumor growth. Fu says his findings could also provide insights into how embryonic stem cells differentiate in the body. "Our work suggests that physical signals in the cell environment are important in neural patterning, a process where nerve cells become specialized for their specific functions based on their physical location in the body," he said.

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Silly Putty the Key to Stem Cell Therapies?

By Estel Grace Masangkay

Bone marrow stem cells may help in stroke recovery, according to a team of researchers from the University of California, Irvines Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center.

Neurologist Dr. Steven Cramer and biomedical engineer Weian Zhao together analyzed 46 studies evaluating the use of a type of multipotent adult stem cells mostly processed from the bone marrow called mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) in animal models of stroke. Results showed that MSCs were superior to control therapy in 44 out of the 46 studies.

Dr. Cramer said Stroke remains a major cause of disability, and we are encouraged that the preclinical evidence shows [MSCs] efficacy with ischemic stroke. MSCs are of particular interest because they come from bone marrow, which is readily available, and are relatively easy to culture. In addition, they already have demonstrated value when used to treat other human diseases.

The MSCs effect on functional recovery was shown to be robust regardless of other factors such as dosage, time of administration relative to the stroke onset, or administration method. An earlier report focusing on MSC mechanisms of action explained how the cells were attracted to the injury sites and began releasing a wide range of molecules in response to signals emitted by the damaged areas. The molecules in turn stimulate several activities including blood vessel creation for enhanced circulation, protection of vulnerable cells, brain cell growth, and others. The MSCs also fostered an environment conducive to brain repair.

We conclude that MSCs have consistently improved multiple outcome measures, with very large effect sizes, in a high number of animal studies and, therefore, that these findings should be the foundation of further studies on the use of MSCs in the treatment of ischemic stroke in humans, said Dr. Cramer.

The UCI teams analysis appeared in the April 8 issue of Neurology.

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UCI Team Discovers Bone Marrow Stem Cells' Potential In Stroke Recovery

Scientists have used steroids to enhance the performance of stem cells (Photo: Shutterstock)

Stem cells are highly promising for the treatment of everything from HIV to leukemia to baldness. In many cases, however, a great number of them must be used in order have a noticeable effect, which makes treatments impractical or expensive. Now, scientists at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital have found that a smaller number of stem cells can still get the job done, if they're first hopped up on steroids.

The research was conducted by Doctors Jeffrey Karp and James Ankrum, the former of whom has also helped bring us painless medical tape for newborns, worm-inspired skin grafts, porcupine quill-inspired surgical patches, and superglue for holes in the heart.

The scientists started with ordinary mesenchymal stem cells, and treated them with glucocorticoid steroids. This caused the cells to produce an increased amount of indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), which is an anti-inflammatory agent. Since it was noted that the cells' IDO expression was highest when they were actually being exposed to the steroids, the scientists added steroid-containing microparticles to the cells, so that they could have access to the drugs at all times.

When the 'roided-up stem cells were then introduced to inflamed immune cells, they were found to reduce inflammation twice as effectively as unmodified mesenchymal stem cells.

"Our approach enables fine tuning of cell potency and control following transplantation, which could lead to more successful cell-based therapies," said Ankrum.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Source: Brigham and Women's Hospital

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Scientists give stem cells a performance boost ... by putting them on steroids

Washington (PRWEB) April 15, 2014

Research that resulted in the first stem cells that are pluripotentthose that have the potential to differentiate into almost any cell in the bodywill be the backdrop for a discussion about trends in regulation in the field of regenerative medicine at the DIA 2014 50th Annual Meeting, June 15 to 19 in San Diego.

Chaired by Shinji Miyake, professor of clinical research for the Keio University School of Medicine in Japan, the session Pioneering Regenerative Medicine: Trends in Regulations for New Therapy will introduce the worlds first clinical research of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell products, conducted in Japan, and review updated regulatory guidance to bring regenerative medicine to patients who need healthy tissue or organs. The session will be held June 16 at 8:30 a.m. in the San Diego Convention Center.

iPS cells are stem cells that can be generated directly from adult cells. These cells can multiply indefinitely and represent a single source of cells, such as heart, neural, pancreatic and liver, that can be used to replace damaged cells.

In 2006, Japanese physician and researcher Shinya Yamanaka led a team to generate iPS cells from adult mouse tissue using gene therapy. This work led to a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.

We are honored to host pioneers of this unique field of medicine at the DIA Annual Meeting to share their experiences in the planning of the first clinical research of iPS cell productswhich have the ability to enhance research worldwide, said Barbara L. Kunz, DIA global chief executive. Their expert knowledge of issues and solutions in the application of the regenerative therapies will benefit all who advocate for and drive innovative medicine.

The session will also feature a presentation about the application of iPS cells to retinal diseases by Masayo Takahashi, project leader for the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan, along with a European Medicines Agency (EMA) presentation by Dariusz Sladowski, researcher and member of the Committee for Advanced Therapies at EMA.

ABOUT DIA: DIA is the global connector in the life sciences product development process. Our association of more than 18,000 members builds productive relationships by bringing together regulators, innovators and influencers to exchange knowledge and collaborate in an impartial setting. DIAs network creates unparalleled opportunities for the exchange of knowledge and has the interdisciplinary experience to prepare for future developments. DIA is an independent, nonprofit organization with its global center in Washington, D.C., USA; regional offices covering North and South America (Horsham, Pa., USA); Europe, North Africa and the Middle East (Basel, Switzerland); and Japan (Tokyo), India (Mumbai) and China (Beijing). For more information, visit http://www.diahome.org.

ABOUT DIAs 2014 50th ANNUAL MEETING: Celebrate the Past Invent the Future is the largest multidisciplinary event that brings together a community of life sciences professionals at all levels and across all disciplines involved in the discovery, development and life cycle management of medical products. The meeting aims to foster innovation that will lead to the development of safe and effective medical products and therapies for patients. For more information, visit http://www.diahome.org/dia2014.

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Pioneers in Regenerative Therapy to Discuss New Trends in Stem Cell Medicine

Sam Harrell #39;s Stem Cell Journey: Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
Sam Harrell sent us this homemade video documenting his progress from 2010 until now (2014). Sam was coaching football at Ennis high school in Texas when MS ...

By: http://www.cellmedicine.com

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Sam Harrell's Stem Cell Journey: Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis - Video

Trinity final
At the Trinity Stem Cell Institute our medical team is among the most renowned in the world for their research and development of stem cell therapy for back ...

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Trinity final - Video

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13-Apr-2014

Contact: Nicole Casal Moore ncmoore@umich.edu 734-647-7087 University of Michigan

ANN ARBORThe sponginess of the environment where human embryonic stem cells are growing affects the type of specialized cells they eventually become, a University of Michigan study shows.

The researchers coaxed human embryonic stem cells to turn into working spinal cord cells more efficiently by growing the cells on a soft, utrafine carpet made of a key ingredient in Silly Putty. Their study is published online at Nature Materials on April 13.

This research is the first to directly link physical, as opposed to chemical, signals to human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Differentiation is the process of the source cells morphing into the body's more than 200 cell types that become muscle, bone, nerves and organs, for example.

Jianping Fu, U-M assistant professor of mechanical engineering, says the findings raise the possibility of a more efficient way to guide stem cells to differentiate and potentially provide therapies for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), Huntington's or Alzheimer's.

In the specially engineered growth systemthe 'carpets' Fu and his colleagues designedmicroscopic posts of the Silly Putty component polydimethylsiloxane serve as the threads. By varying the post height, the researchers can adjust the stiffness of the surface they grow cells on. Shorter posts are more rigidlike an industrial carpet. Taller ones are softermore plush.

The team found that stem cells they grew on the tall, softer micropost carpets turned into nerve cells much faster and more often than those they grew on the stiffer surfaces. After 23 days, the colonies of spinal cord cellsmotor neurons that control how muscles movethat grew on the softer micropost carpets were four times more pure and 10 times larger than those growing on either traditional plates or rigid carpets.

"This is extremely exciting," Fu said. "To realize promising clinical applications of human embryonic stem cells, we need a better culture system that can reliably produce more target cells that function well. Our approach is a big step in that direction, by using synthetic microengineered surfaces to control mechanical environmental signals."

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How a Silly Putty ingredient could advance stem cell therapies