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Stem Cells, Abortion, Baby Parts, & the Ukraine – Physicians for Life

Posted: June 22, 2022 at 2:28 am

June 2007 http://www.hli.org/sr_june_07.pdfUkrainian trafficking in baby partsReported by Brian Clowes, March 2007:

The trafficking of baby parts in the Ukraine & the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Barbados. This follow-up report exposes the horrific industry that connects these distant locales. The March 2006 HLI Special Report described how John Fusto and I visited Barbados in 2005 and exposed the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or IRM.

The doctors at this facility claim on the IRM Website that they can completely cure or ameliorate every disease or injury known to man including spinal cord trauma, Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and diseases of the liver, nervous system, blood, heart, and bowel.

The IRM has gone a long way towards fulfilling its promise to make Barbados the Embryonic Stem Cell Capital of the World. It imports aborted baby parts from Ukraine, liquefies them into a kind of preborn pure, then injects them directly into the arms or body organs of customers. According to the IRM, these cells use a kind of radar to seek out diseased or damaged cells in the patients body and repair them. The IRM claims an astonishing 96% improvement rate in curing virtually every disease ever recorded.

Rich English and American women find their way to this remote complex (at their own expense, of course), and are injected with fetal stem cells at $25,000 per session. Barnett Suskind, CEO of the IRM, says that Its the most natural form of healing there is. You think better, sleep better, look better. Your quality of life improves and your libido certainly improves.

Only the BeginningWhen John and I were investigating the IRM in Barbados, we had no clue that we were taking the first steps towards uncovering an international conspiracy involving corruption at the highest levels of several governments, mad scientists by the score, a Nazi-style eugenics breeding program, mass murder, and Russian Mafia executions of witnesses.

When youve spent a few years in the pro-life movement, nothing tends to surprise you. But I have to tell you, this sure comes close. Upon arriving back at Human Life International, I was curious to see if the Institute for Regenerative Medicine was just a fluke a unique facility unlike any other in the world. It turns out that the IRM is anything but unique. It is just a small part of a worldwide network of trafficking in human stem cells and organs not only from embryos and fetuses, but from late-term aborted babies and even newborn babies.

In fact, I found websites and newspaper articles on more than 50 clinics that specialize in the alleged treatment of various diseases using fetal materials. All of these clinics possess features that should scare off the naive and desperate. Every single one of them is located in tourist destinations. Not one of them is regulated by any local or national government body. Not one of them has any form of medical supervision, except from those who are closely associated with the operations themselves. And all of them have refused to become members of the only recognized board regulating ethical stem cell research The International Stem Cell Forum.

Oh, and one other thing their cures dont work.

At these institutes and clinics, unqualified doctors practice untested treatments under unregulated conditions on uninformed patients, a perfect atmosphere for ruthless exploitation. In fact, the only requirement that is strictly observed by these centers is the pre-operative palpitation of the prospective clients wallet. If it is thick enough, then they are qualified for treatment.These clinics require only six things in order to set up shop and rake in millions of dollars: A little space, a poor government hungry for cash, someone with M.D. after their name, a website, a source of fetal material, and desperate patients.

Let's begin with Malibu psychiatrist William C. Rader's anti-aging Medra clinic in the Bahamas, which he co-founded with Yuliy Baltaytis, who now runs the Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Rader's previous specialty was eating disorders, but he raked in more than $30 million in just three years before being kicked off the island. Rader says that he has not published anything in the medical literature because it would leave him vulnerable to attacks from a "conspiracy of scientists, government authorities, and pro-lifers" as convenient an excuse as any. Medra's website [www.medra.com] claims to cure every known disease, including physical brain damage.

Biomark International was founded in a condominium by a former model with no medical training whatsoever. She "treated" at least 220 patients at a cost of up to $21,000 each by injecting them with fetal stem cells, regardless of the disease they were suffering. The co-founders of Biomark fled the USA after their operation was shut down by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they promptly set up a Swiss bank account and began operations in London, contracting with Mexican doctors to do fetal stem-cell injections.

Kiev's Embryonic Tissues Center (EmCell) is operated by Alexander Smikodub and Alexey Karpenko, who have treated more than 2,000 patients at a total cost of more than $30 million. Both have worked with William Rader in the past. EmCell's website [www.emcell.com] makes the usual bombastic claims about dramatic improvements in treating a stunning range of infirmities and diseases. When the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Therapy Development Foundation investigated EmCell, all of its employees refused to answer any of its questions on procurement, procedure, or follow-up. Doctors from the ALS Foundation found that EmCell personnel did not understand even the most basic principles of stem-cell physiology.

China's Hongyun Huang drills holes in the skulls of people with ALS and injects fetal stem cells directly into their brains. He presented his findings to a team of Harvard University doctors but admitted having no scientific data, and he essentially confessed to the assembly that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Clinical testing of such injections for Parkinson's disease ended in tragedy: More than half of the patients developed irreversible and uncontrollable movements of their limbs. Researchers reported that patients began to c

hew constantly and writhe and twist, jerk their heads, and fling their arms about. One doctor said that the results are absolutely devastating It was tragic, catastrophic. Its a real nightmare. And we cant selectively turn it off.

There are dozens of other "institutes" offering miracle cures from the injection of fetal or embryonic stem cells and the transplantation of fetal tissue. These include EmbryoTech [www.embryotech.com]; The Kharkov Clinic "Dr. Alex" [doctor-alex-ua/e/clinica.html]; Stem Cell Therapy International (SCTI) [www.scticorp.com]; StemCure, co-founded by disgraced cloner Panayiotis Zavos [www.stemcure.com]; and Donetsk's VitaCell [www.vitacell.com.ua].Dr. LazaryevResearch Digs Up Horror

The more I researched the international fetal stem cell industry, the deeper the rabbit hole turned out to be. The only problem was that this rabbit hole didnt lead to a Wonderland, but instead to a continent-wide chamber of biological horrors.

In late 2006, I heard about Vadym Lazaryev and Vladymyr Ischenko, two Ukrainian medical doctors who set up a small pro-life group that finally pierced the shroud of secrecy around the ghastly activities in Eastern Europe for the first time in the mid-1990s. After numerous death threats and then an actual attempt to murder them, the two doctors flew to Shannon, Ireland,and requested asylum.

Father Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, sent me to Ireland to interview Drs. Lazaryev and Ischenko. Dr. Ischenko was reluctant to testify because he feared retaliation against his family in Ukraine

While practicing medical oncology in Donetsk, Dr. Lazaryev began to wonder why doctors tell almost all pregnant women in Ukraine that there is a very high probability that their preborn children have serious birth defects. His own wife Elena was advised to have an abortion on the grounds that her preborn son would have severe birth defects which, of course, he did not. Dr. Lazaryevs own mother had thirteen pregnancies, eleven of which ended in abortion between his older brother and him.

He found that all Ukrainian women are advised to abort because preborn children are excellent sources of organs and stem cells.

Dr. Lazaryev found that the abortion rate in Ukraine is much, much higher than the official figures would suggest in fact, about 1.2 million annually in a nation with a population of about 46 million, or more than six times higher than the abortion rate in the United States.

As Dr. Lazaryev says, The only thing which protects unborn life in Ukraine is the courage of pregnant women.

Continuing his investigations, Dr. Lazaryev found that women were paid $200 to $300 three months salary to carry their pregnancies to a very late stage and to deliver the babies alive in a kind of forced premature birth. This procedure allows the living babys organs to be harvested while they are still as fresh as possible.

Dr. Lazaryev also found that every region of Ukraine has twin institutions. One does the late-term artificial deliveries, and the other dismembers the live-born baby and passes the parts on to other buyers, who screen the material and then sell it at a huge markup to the worldwide network of clinics like the Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Abortion clinics located in the poorest parts of Donetsk and Kharkov sell aborted babies to middlemen, who ship the sad little bodies to cities like Moscow, where there are more than 50 beauty parlors using fetal injections.

One of these is the Cellulite Clinic, where rich Russian and Western women go to have fetal injections that supposedly eliminate cellulite from their buttocks, thighs, and arms. The costs of these treatments range up to $20,000.

Dr. Lazaryev also found several Ukrainian websites that advertised prices for the parts of late-term preborn children. One of these is Cell Transplantation, which features practically every part of early- and late-term fetuses liver, neuronal cells, thymus and thyroid, ovaries and testicles, eyes, and suspensions of liquefied fetal liver, brain, and spine.

The [Stem Cell] Empire Strikes BackOne of the many contradictions of all of the anti-life movements is that they are all absolutely convinced that what they are doing is moral and acceptable but they savagely attack those who make their activities public.

Dr. Lazaryev discovered this principle firsthand.

First, his supervisor called him a traitor and fired him. Then a government investigator became a constant and unwanted part of his life, visiting him at home on a weekly basis and grilling him on his activities.

Dr. Lazaryev refused to quit, so the stem-cell empire increased the pressure. He lost his medical benefits, which almost cost him his life when he became gravely ill in 2004. One doctor told him that your politics are your death. A government official called him and informed him that he was coming over with a gang of thugs to break his head off. Then the Tax Police suddenly began a long and exhaustive examination of his business, which shut it down. An SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) official visited him and told him that he had better get rid of all the evidence he had or his life would be in danger.

Finally, while Dr. Lazaryev was driving to a meeting in Slavyansk on a dark and deserted country road with his colleague Dr. Vladymyr Ischenko, a bus rammed their car at high speed and then drove off into the night. A police investigator said that the incident had been carried out by professionals, because the bus had aimed for the cars fuel tank and had expertly run the car off the road.

In September 2004, Drs. Lazaryev and Ischenko finally concluded that their position was hopeless, and they fled the country of their birth, leaving their families behind. Dr. Lazaryev was finally reunited with his wife and children in 2006. Dr. Ischenkos wife and twin infant sons are still in Ukraine [see http://www.savethedoctors.org].

There is no doubt in Dr. Lazaryevs mind that if he returns to Ukraine, I will be killed because investors lost money. I will be killed as a

lesson for people who one day decide to raise their voice against this evil.

Yet, after all of this, Drs. Ischenko and Lazaryev have still not been granted asylum in Ireland, despite the obvious threat to their lives. Speaking of their cases, Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Kathy Sinnott said that Their situation is very straightforward in terms of being genuine asylum seekers, and went on to explain that they are being denied permanent asylum because Ireland wants to become a leader in the pharmaceutical field. Ireland would place no limitations on the activities of drug firms and would like the Irish people to get over our ethical problems and get on with the real business of making money and attracting pharmaceutical companies and frontline research.

In other words, the case of the Ukrainian doctors is embarrassing to Ireland. If the nation grants them asylum, it will implicitly be condemning the very activities it would like to attract to the shores of the Emerald Isle.

Even Worse AtrocitiesIn an environment of total corruption, the organ harvesters have no reason to stop carving up late-term babies delivered alive.

In 2005, Council of Europe investigators found that hundreds of newborn babies had been stolen from their mothers in the Ukrainian cities of Kiev and Kharkov. In each case, the mothers were poor and powerless and were told that their babies had simply died or were gone.

The investigators exhumed many of the missing babies. Their arms and legs had been severed, their chest cavities were empty, and their brains were missing. As investigator Tatyana Zakharova said, They were like gutted rabbits.

These newborn babies are dismembered without the benefit of expensive anesthesia. As Zakharova testified upon seeing one of the babys bodies, Look, here is the grimace of a human crying, it is hurt It has the grimace of a shouting person. So this is the proof. Im saying that he was alive when he was being cut.

The poor Ukrainians are jaded to tales of biological horrors, corruption, genocide, and lawbreaking on a massive scale. But, as one reporter poignantly lamented, They used to say we were selling Ukraine. Now we are selling Ukrainians; moreover, in parts.

Perhaps it is not at all surprising that the atrocities that have happened in Ukraine are now being committed in Barbados, home of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine. After all, why bother to import babies from 5,000 miles away when you can get them locally?

Barbados news sources are now reporting that women are having their newborn babies stolen atQueen Elizabeth Hospital. They are told their babies are gone or have died, and they never see them again. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the members of the Board of Directors of Queen Elizabeth Hospital is George Griffith, who is director of the Barbados Family Planning Association, the islands largest abortion provider and an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation [www.bfpa.net].

Fetal AttractionWhat drives the fetal and newborn tissue machinery is a huge and increasing demand for stem cells and organs.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson has estimated that tons of fetal organs and stem cells will be required annually as the basic material that fuels this gigantic conspiracy against life.

The vast amount of money involved in such transactions is staggering. The international pharmaceutical corporations, laboratories, and all of the fake rejuvenation clinics demand a reliable and constant supply of human embryonic and fetal tissue. This fact alone ensures that unethical and inhumane practices will continue, regardless of what legal restrictions are put in place.

The organs from a single disease-free late-term aborted baby in Ukraine can fetch about $17,000. The body of a newborn baby is worth even more.

Given the 1.2 million annual abortions in Ukraine, we find that the fetal and embryonic stem cell and organ trade in this one country is worth multiple hundreds of millions perhaps even billions of dollars annually, even if only a small percentage of the aborted babies are used for research and harvesting. This money goes a long, long way in a nation where the average yearly salary of a highly-trained doctor is only about $2,500.

No End to the AtrocitiesEvil is virtually impossible to contain once it is released. For some people, there is only one rule: Do it if it is profitable, if you can find enough helpless victims, and if you can get away with it. Once all limitations and ethics have been cast aside, literally anything goes and has, indeed, already gone

Brothel owners bid openly outside the Gatwick Airport Starbuck's for enslaved Slavic and Asian women, who are lured to England with promises of legitimate jobs. Right after they clear immigration, they are seized and sold.

The Albanian and Russian Mafias run "baby factories" in Athens and other cities, where young Bulgarian and Romanian Gypsy women are selected for health and appearance and impregnated by male Mafia members. The women give birth in a secret location, and the Mafia then sells their babies to rich Westerners under the guise of a legitimate adoption service.

Once they have borne their babies, the women are either forced into prostitution or simply murdered.

This systematic rebirth of the German Nazi Lebensborn program is not confined to Eastern Europe.

The San Antonio, Texas-based Abraham Center of Life is now advertising custommade embryos to order. For a fee of $10,000, prospective parents can buy an embryo that has the preferred hair and eye color, skin color, hair color, intelligence, and other many other characteristics [www.theabrahamcenteroflife.com].

Romania's flourishing human egg trade ruthlessly exploits poor female factory workers.

They are paid more than a month's salary to submit to an allegedly "safe, easy, and painless" medical procedure. Their ovaries are hyperstimulated to produce dozens of eggs at a time, which are then harvested. This proced

ure is forced on the women repeatedly, and they are never told that they can opt out. They are prohibited from seeking independent medical or legal advice. Hearings found that some of these women were so ruthlessly harvested that their personalities were destroyed and they became physically paralyzed.

ConclusionWe in the United States can learn a stern lesson from Eastern Europe. We are heading in the same direction as the Ukrainians and the Romanians we are just getting there at a more leisurely pace. We already have clinics offering babies to order through preimplantation genetic diagnosis. We have late-term abortions for mild depression. We allow handicapped newborn babies to die of starvation and thirst. And we also starve to death those adults who have become inconvenient (remember Terri Schaivo?).[June 2007, Special Report, HLI, hli.org, http://www.hli.org/sr_june_07.pdf%5D

December 2006

REPORTER FURTHER EXPOSES ABORTION-STEM CELL-BEAUTY TREATMENT SCANDAL British reporter Matthew Hill has uncovered a grisly practice where babies from Ukraine are killed via infanticide or become victims of abortions for their stem cells for dubious beauty treatments. The practice involves ravaging the babies' bodies for organs and stem cells.

As LifeNews.com previously reported, Hill produced a documentary for the BBC showing how a hospital is snatching newborns and aborted babies and giving their parts and cells to stem cell firms around the world for controversial beauty injections.

Hill writes in a Monday article in the London Daily Mail newspaper about how he uncovered the scandal, including a videotape of post-mortem examinations.

He says a charity worker at a hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city Kharkiv showed him the videotape.

"Officially, the cells are taken from aborted fetuses with the mothers' consent," Hill writes, but "there could also be hundreds of babies stolen to order, to feed demand for stem cells from around the world."

Hill says the first hint he found of the bizarre trade came from stem cell researcher Stephen Minger, from Kings College.

Minger told Hill that a Barbados clinic called the Institute For Regenerative Medicine, had contacted him to get his endorsement of the IRM beauty treatments involving the injection of stem cells from the dead babies.

Minger said he refused, saying there were no studies backing up IRM's claims the injections would have the desired effect. He also was upset at how the babies were harvested for their stem cells, saying some of the babies could have been "liquidized" to obtain the cells.

"I find it very distasteful that they are used for beauty treatments," Minger told Hill. "As far as I can tell from what's been published, a lot of people go to this clinic in Barbados feeling a bit run down, or that their skin has just lost some elasticity, and they are getting 'smoothies' or perk-me-ups."

The Daily Mail report says IRM buys the stem cells from the Ukraine hospital.

Hill went to Barbados to get more information and he eventually met with one of IRM's senior doctors, Shami Ramesh.

Ramesh said he would show Hill proof of how the beauty injections work or how they help patients with various diseases.

"This 'proof' turned out to be one study of a single patient with motor neurone disease and another of eight cardiac patients. The numbers were too small for proper analysis and the data had not been published in any reputable peer-reviewed journal," Hill wrote.

Ramesh said the best proof was in how many patients kept coming back for more injections.

Hill said Ramesh denied allegations that the stem cells his firm uses come from newborn babies snatched form their mothers and killed for their cells and body parts.

"He said he had faith in the Institute of Cryobiology in Kharkiv, the source of the stem cells used by the Barbados clinic, but added that 'maybe in the future we will go and check it out,'" Hill wrote in the newspaper report.

Hill then traveled to Ukraine and said Dr. Valentin Greshenko, head of the Institute of Cryobiology refused to be interviewed.

Searching for details, he went to the Maternity Hospital Number Six, located in a high-crime section of Kharkiv.

There, he interviewed a 26 year-old woman, Svetlana Plusikova, who had a normal pregnancy but was told after birth that her baby was stillborn. Doctors refused to let her see the baby.

"I think she was stolen. If she was dead I should have been allowed to see her. I think a lot of young mothers like me lost their children, but right now nobody turns to the police," she told HIll.

Dimitry and Olena Stulnev shared with Hill their own story of how their baby was shown to them and then doctors claimed the baby died the next day. Hospital officials refused to provide them more information or allow them to see their baby.

Hill said he eventually obtained videotaped evidence of the infanticides and abortions from Tatyana Zhakarova, from the Federation Of Families With Many Children.

"Tatyana discovered many more infants had died at the hospital in similarly odd circumstances. And after intensive lobbying, the authorities eventually agreed to have the tiny bodies of around 30 babies exhumed and examined," Hill wrote in the Daily Mail.

"Tatyana showed me the video she had been allowed to record of the post-mortem examinations that followed. The gruesome film shows the carcasses of babies, some of whom were full-term, with their organs and brains missing," Hill added.

In an attempt to prevent exposing the truth, officials have apparently apprehended Tatyana's 20 year-o

ld son. He has been missing since October and she fears he's been killed.

Ultimately, Hill was granted five minutes to talk with Maternity Hospital Number Six's chief doctor Larysa Nazarenko.

"The children are not lost," she told Hill. "They are not stolen that's just somebody else's illusion."

"There is no such therapy," she said, according to the London newspaper. "No work in this hospital is connected with the use of cells. This is the wrong address. I deny everything."

Hill reports that the Council Of Europe has started its own investigation of the barbaric stem cell trade and it's first report talks of a "culture of trafficking of children snatched at birth and a wall of silence from hospital staff upwards over their fate."Related news stories:Clinics Use Tissue From Babies Killed in Abortions for Cosmetic Injectionshttp://www.lifenews.com/nat2486.htmlAbortion, Infanticide of Ukraine Babies Fuels Stem Cell Research Industryhttp://www.lifenews.com/bio1910.html[18Dec06, Ertelt, LifeNews.com London, England]

2006

UKRAINE ABORTIONS.You may have seen the BBC story in December on Ukraine maternity hospital suspected of killing babies for stem cells http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6171083.stm. There was an additional story in the UK Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/17/wbaby17.xml

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Scientists De-Aged a Woman’s Skin Cells by 30 Years – The Daily Beast

Posted: April 19, 2022 at 1:52 am

While the Fountain of Youth is the stuff of legend, the search for a way to stop humans from aging is happening as we speakinside the laboratory.

In a study published in the journal eLife on April 8, scientists at Babraham Institute in the U.K. managed to de-age the skin cells of a 53-year-old woman by 30 years in a petri dish. Looking at age-related biological changes in the DNA, these genetically-modified younger cells appeared and behaved as any 23-year-old skin cell should. Notably, the team was also able to de-age the cells in less than two weeks.

The techniques used in this experiment have been around for the last few decades. However, with the woman's skin cells, the researchers managed to shave off time from the usually long process while also avoiding the problems reprogrammed cells can often run into, like inadvertently turning cancerous.

This kind of work is very important, Dr. Ivona Percec, a plastic surgeon and stem cell researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, told The Daily Beast. And its one thats been sought out by many scientists in order to reverse or delay aging.

Most rejuvenation or regeneration research makes use of human stem cells, which have the unique ability to develop into any other type of cell our body needs, such as muscle and brain cells. Stem cells can also renew themselves over time and serve as an internal repair system, replacing lost or damaged cells during a persons lifetime. But stem cells are quite difficult to produce in the laband are often rejected by the body when used in different types of therapies.

To get around these hurdles, scientists have been creating their own lab-grown stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). They are created by taking any cell in our body and genetically editing it to resemble an embryonic stem cell, George Sen, a molecular biologist at the University of California San Diego who was not involved in the study, told The Daily Beast in an email.

To make their iPSCs, the Babraham researchers reversed the cellular clock on their 53-year-old skin cells by bathing them in a chemical solution that encourages the growth of proteins that reshape a cells DNA. To control how far they de-age the cells, the researchers allowed the bath to run for a little less than two weeks than the typical 50 days. Then they assessed the age of the skin cells by looking for age-related biological changes.

I remember the day I got the results back and I didn't quite believe that some of the cells were 30 years younger than they were supposed to be, Dilgeet Gill, a biomedical researcher at Babraham Institute and lead author of the study, told the BBC. It was a very exciting day!"

Young fibroblasts in the first image. The next two images are after 10 days, right with treatment. The last two images are after 13 days, right with treatment. Red shows collagen production which has been restored.

Ftima Santos

These newly minted young skin cells, called fibroblasts, produce collagen, which is a protein responsible for healthy joints and elastic skin throughout the body. When researchers cut through the cell layer (like how if you injure your skin), the fibroblasts moved into the gash quickly to fill it, unlike the older cells.

Though the findings are quite encouraging, were still some ways from seeing this new de-aging technique used in a clinical setting. Experts also have some lingering questions regarding how long exactly this rejuvenation lasts and whether the new technique actually improves a cells lifespan.

The authors only looked for a short period of time after [applying Yamanaka factors] but what happens once the cell has divided a few times? Does the molecular clock catch up? asked Sen. The authors also never tested whether the de-aged fibroblasts behaved as younger fibroblasts in live animal models. This question would need to be addressed before this can be used as therapy.

Whether this is the key to the Fountain of Youth remains to be seen.

Dr. Johann Gudjonsson, University of Michigan

Dr. Johann Gudjonsson, a dermatologist who studies inflammatory skin conditions at The University of Michigan and wasn't involved in the study, is also skeptical of the experiment.

Whether this is the key to the Fountain of Youth remains to be seen, Gudjonsson told The Daily Beast in an email. He explained that telomeres, which are the caps binding the ends of DNA and shorten as we age, didnt appear to improve with the new studys treatment. Therefore while the function and state of the cells are rejuvenated it may not mean that their lifespan has changed, he said.

Even if longevity and immediate clinical applications arent in the cards, this new study does offer an interesting proof of concept for future medical research and potentially combating aging.

If this process can be applied to other cell types, one can imagine rejuvenating that particular cell type and using it to restore an aged/failing organ, said Sen. I believe this line of research has a lot of potential and we are just starting to understand the rules of how to reprogram cells.

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Embryonic Stem Cell Research – RTL

Posted: June 20, 2018 at 5:40 pm

pdf version for easy printing

Right to Life of Michigan is opposed to research which destroys a developing human being. When stem cells are removed from human embryos, a unique individual dies. It has been proven scientifically that human life begins at conception. This fact sheet on stem cell research contains information about stem cells and their potential. It also describes the current legal situation regarding human embryonic stem cell research and federal funding, as well as information about ethical alternatives such as research on adult stem cells and blood from the umbilical cord which have provided actual treatments to patients.

What are stem cells and what is their potential?

Stem cells are the cells from which all other cells originate. In a human embryo, a large portion of the embryos cells are stem cells. As the young child grows in her mothers womb, most of these cells begin to differentiate and become the heart, liver, kidneys and all of the 210 kinds of tissue found in a human body.(1) Even though most of these cells become differentiated, all humans retain some stem cells. Stem cells are incredibly versatile cells that can be replicated indefinitely. These cells, given the correct cues, can develop into specialized cells which the body might need. Most of the potential good such research may produce has revolved around the use of stem cells from human embryos, but there is also research being done on adult stem cells, stem cells from umbilical cord blood, and induced pluripotent stem cells.

Since stem cells are so versatile and there are many diseases that result from the lack of or dysfunction of a single type of cell, there is hope within the medical community that someday cells can be reprogrammed to cure various diseases. Some of these diseases include Parkinsons, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and heart disease.

There are many sources for stem cells. In adults, stem cells can be found in numerous kinds of tissues and organs including bone marrow, blood, fat, skin, the liver, and even baby teeth.(2) Another ethical source of stem cells is the blood found in umbilical cords and placentas after birth. Stem cells removed from these sources dont harm the patient.

Despite these multiple sources of stem cells, most of the medias attention is focused on embryonic stem cells.(3) These are cells that would eventually become a childs organs and tissues but are removed from a human embryo in the first week of life. When these cells are removed, a human embryo dies.

Advocates for human embryonic stem cell research want to use embryos that have been frozen at fertility clinics as the main source of embryonic stem cells. These leftover embryos were conceived to bring about an in vitro fertilization pregnancy, but they were never implanted into their mothers womb. When a woman gets pregnant with in vitro fertilization and not all of the embryos are implanted, fertility clinics allow couples to destroy them, donate them to another couple, or freeze them in case they want to give birth to another child at a later time. Most couples freeze their embryonic children to save them for later birth attempts.(4)

Some scientists have gone a step further by creating embryos whose sole purpose is to be used for research while others have used cloning to create human embryos that can be killed for their stem cells.

Federal funding of human embryonic stem cells research

In August 2000, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) determined that federal funds could be legally used to support research on human embryonic stem cells, despite a federal law forbidding federal funding of research that destroys human embryos. Passed in 1996, the Dickey-Wicker Amendment states that federal funds cant be used for research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.

The NIH avoided this law by using the DHHSs rationale that stem cells arent embryos, so research using stem cells is separated from the act of obtaining those stem cells by destroying an embryo. The NIH stated that federal funds would not be used for the actual removal of the stem cells from the embryo (which kills the embryo). However, once stem cells are removed from the embryo, the NIH would provide federal funds.

The problem with the NIH Guidelines is that in order to do research on embryonic stem cells, embryos have to be destroyed. There is no way of separating the two. By providing federal funds for research on embryonic stem cells, the NIH is promoting the destruction of innocent lives.

The language of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment is obviously intended to cover more than just research whose only purpose is the destruction of embryos. The language of the law implies that research where an embryo will be destroyed, including cases where this destruction will occur in order for the research to take place, should not receive federal funds.

Before any federal funding began, President George W. Bush sought a compromise soon after his election. On August 9, 2001, he announced that he would allow federal funds for the first time to be used for human embryonic stem cell research, but only on cell lines created before August 9, 2001. These stem cell lines were created from embryos that were destroyed before the presidents decision. On the positive side, President Bush also announced that he would allocate $250 million to research involving stem cells from non-controversial sources and took a strong stand against all forms of human cloning.

Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama issued an executive order on March 9, 2009, to remove President Bushs funding restrictions and allow the federal government to fund research on human embryonic stem cells as long as the cell lines were taken from human embryos created by in vitro fertilization for reproductive purposes and were donated by their parents. The Dickey-Wicker Amendment is still on the books, but its original intent continues to be violated.

Alternatives to human embryo research

The search for treatments and cures need not include the destruction of innocent, vulnerable human embryos. Stem cell research can move forward, alternatives to human embryonic stem cells exist.

The most promising of these alternative methods is the use of adult stem cells. Initially, adult stem cell research was not extensive because adult stem cells were thought to be less available and versatile, however, recent reports continue to show the usefulness of adult stem cells. Adult stem cells have been shown to form different tissues, including muscle, fat, cartilage and bone.(5) American and Brazilian researchers were able to use bone marrow stem cells to help 20 of 23 type-1 diabetic patients become insulin-free for a period of time.(6) Adult stem cells have already been used clinically while embryonic stem cells have yet to cure a single patient. It is also important to point out that adult stem cells taken from a persons own body dont face the risk of being rejected by the patients immune system, unlike embryonic stem cells.(7)

Proponents of embryonic stem cell research have tried to get around this problem by advocating therapeutic cloning where the patient is cloned and then stem cells from the cloned embryo are removed and transplanted.(8)

Another promising alternative to embryonic stem cell research that doesnt have ethical implications is research on stem cells found in the blood of umbilical cords. The small amount of blood found in umbilical cords after birth is rich in stem cells. Private companies and some states have cord blood banks where the stem cells can be saved for future use. Michigan Blood operates a public cord blood bank where anyone can easily donate cord blood as a part of the birthing process.

Despite ethical alternatives, many researchers still insist that embryonic stem cells are superior because they can turn into any cell in the human body. Another alternative allows all of the supposed benefits of embryonic stem cells without destroying human life. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are ordinary human skin cells that have been reverted back to an embryonic-like state by genetic reprogramming. Creating iPS cells does not harm the patient and requires no destruction of human life.(9)

These cells are pluripotent, like those taken from destroyed human embryos, which means they have the potential to change into any type of tissue in the body. The original process for making iPS cells was discovered in November of 2007 and experiments are ongoing.

Like embryonic stem cells, iPS cells might share their risk of becoming cancer cells if they dont differentiate and grow properly. Another avenue of research being worked on is direct cell reprogamming, where scientists change a cell type without having to go through a stem cell stage, for example turning skin cells directly into blood cells.(10)

How stem cells from ethical sources have helped

While some scientists talk about the potential of embryonic stem cells, stem cells from umbilical cords and adults are already helping people. Many stories about ethical stem cell treatments arent widely discussed or make the national evening news but they are important breakthroughs for life-affirming research. Following is a list of just recent breakthroughs in research involving types of stem cells that dont require innocent human life to be sacrificed:

On May 21, 2015, FOX News reported that 29 stroke patients who recieved their own bone marrow stem cells were noted to recover motor skills and speech. The study showed that it is safe to inject the bone marrow stem cells directly by catheter through the carotid artery. On June 2, 2014, the Providence Journal in Rhode Island reported the stories of several people whose lives were saved by bone marrow stem cell treatments for their leukemia from marrow donors. The stories included a retired police office who recieved his transplant in 2011, and another man who received his transplant in 1998 after chemotherapy and a relapse. On May 5, 2014, Forbes reported on a review by the Cochrane Collaboration of 23 studies that looked at bone marrow stem cell treatments for heart disease. They found that overall, the treatments reduced the risk of death and improved heart function. Of the six studies that reported on long-term results more than a year after treatments, 3.3 percent of patients died following the adult stem cell treatments, compared to 18.5 percent who did not. On October 28, 2013, FOX 45 in Baltimore reported on the story of a Maryland man who was able to walk again following treatment using adult stem cells from bone marrow. He was paralzyed from the chest down from transverse myelitis caused by lupus.

On April 30, 2013, USA Today reported that a two-year-old girl in South Korea received an artificial windpipe made from plastic and adult stem cells taken from her own bone marrow. The experimental procedure appears to be successful so far. The girl has been unable to eat or breathe since birth. On January 28, 2013, The Daily Mail reported on a small British study that found that treating cartilage damage with umbilical cord blood stem cells led to a 67 percent improvement in tissue regeneration in patients. Other clinical trials using the procedure are ongoing.

Killing embryos for research legal in Michigan

In 2008, Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 by a margin of 53% to 47%. Proposal 2 was a ballot initiative which amended the Michigan Constitution to allow the killing of and research on human embryos who were created for fertility treatments. The language in Proposal 2 also deters legislation which would prevent, restrict, obstruct, or discourage or create disincentives for individuals who want to perform research on human embryos. Proposal 2 was supported by embryonic stem cell researchers in Michigan because, prior to Proposal 2, a 1978 law outlawed research on human embryos if that research wasnt designed to benefit the subject of the research (the embryo).

The option of embryo adoption

One of the main arguments behind embryonic stem cell research is that all of the embryos will be destroyed anyway. Why not use them to help cure diseases? Fortunately, these unique individuals dont need to die. Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a California-based adoption agency has a program called Snowflakes Embryo Adoption that allows couples to adopt leftover embryos. Parents of children who were adopted as embryos held a press conference in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2009, to show President Obama and members of Congress that leftover embryos can grow if given the chance.

According to the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption program, there havebeen more than 500 children born who were adopted through theirprogram. Snowflakes is one of several adoption programs which facilitates embryo adoption. Some believe that stem cells from embryos are human enough for research, but not human enough to join the human family. This logic defies the reality that life begins at conception, a truth some researchers and politicians would like to ignore.

The ethics of embryonic stem cell research

One of the most important issues in the debate over stem cell research is the ethics involved. Taking the life of a human being at any stage in development for research is ethically wrong. The embryos that are being destroyed are more than just tissue. These unborn children already are alive and have the genetic blueprint that they will have for the rest of their lives. The stem cells that are taken from them would have eventually developed into, among other things, their hearts, brains, livers, and kidneys.

It is never ethically correct to sacrifice the life of one human to save another without their consent. This kind of utilitarian thinking was the same kind of rationale used by Nazi scientists or during syphilis experiments on African-Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama. Medical advancement should continue, but not through the taking of human life. No human being should be forced to be made the subject of research without their permission, especially if that research leads directly to their destruction. Even death row inmates cannot be experimented on or have their organs removed, without their consent.

Proponents of embryonic stem cell research often cite all of the potentials of the research but usually fail to mention that a human life is destroyed when stem cells are removed from an embryo. The goals of this research are noble, but that doesnt mean that we should abandon our respect for human life to attain these goals. Embryonic stem cell research is a case where the ends dont justify the means. The possibilities for stem cell research are enormous; however, we should focus on the options that protect and acknowledge all human life, not just some of it.

References: 1 - David Prentice, No Fountain of Youth, Regeneration Quarterly 6, no. 4 (2000): 14-16. 2 - Laura Wright, Potent Stem Cells Found in Baby Teeth, Scientific American, 23 April 2003. 3 - Wesley J. Smith, All the News Thats Fit to Forget, The Weekly Standard 17, no. 11 (2011). 4 - D.I. Hoffman et al., Cryopreserved Embryos in the United States and Their Availability for Research, Fertility and Sterility 79, no. 5 (2003): 1063-1069. 5 - Hysterectomies a stem cell source, BBC News, 17 June 2009. 6 - Stem cells can treat diabetes, BBC News, 15 April 2009. 7 - Immune Response May Hinder Stem Cell Treatments, HealthDay News, 18 August 2008. 8 - David Brown, Oregon scientists get stem cells from cloned human embryos, The Washington Post, 15 May 2013. 9 - Rob Stein, Researchers Create Cells That They Say May Be Equivalent to Embryonic Stem Cells, The Washington Post, 24 July 2009. 10 - Ewen Callaway, Cellular alchemy transforms skin into blood, Nature, 7 November 2010.

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Texas Research : Stem Cell Cite

Posted: July 17, 2016 at 6:40 am

Posted by admin on November 25, 2014 Leave a Comment

Texans for Stem Cell Research (TSCR), proudly announces its participation in the World Stem Cell Summit, 2014 in San Antonio November 25th, 2014 | Texans for Stem Cell Research (TSCR), proudly announces its participation in the World Stem Cell Summit, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas, December 2-5th, 2014. TSCR will co- host a Welcoming Party for the Genetics Policy Institute, the organizer of the Summit, along with the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. This event will be held at the San Antonio Convention Center LDR Room, 200 E. Market St. The event will be from 7:30-10:30 pm on December 2, 2014. Featured speakers include Dr. Doris Taylor of the

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February 9, 2014, 7:00 PM|What 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl learned while reporting on the surprising medical differences between males and females Watch 60 Minutes Overtime Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Posted by admin on January 23, 2014 Leave a Comment

Scientists have known for years that stem cells in male and female sexual organs are regulated differently by their respective hormones. In a surprising discovery, researchers at the Childrens Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) and Baylor College of Medicine have found that stem cells in the blood-forming system which is similar in both sexes also are regulated differently by hormones, with estrogen proving to be an especially prolific promoter of stem cell self-renewal. The research, published in Nature, raises several intriguing possibilities for further investigation that might lead to improved treatments for blood cancers and increased safety and effectiveness of chemotherapy. Before the finding, blood-forming stem cells were thought to

Category Blood, Children, Headlines, Pediatric, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research Tags Baylor College of Medicine, blood-forming stem cells, Daisuke Nakada, estrogen, Hideyuki Ogur, hildrens Medical Center Research Institute, hormones, Mary McDermott, pediatric genetics, Sean Morrison, stem cells, UT Southwestern Medical Center

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Bold New Alliance Among Houstons Leading Health Care Providers to Transform Care Delivery in the Region Clinical Services, Research and Education Greatly Enhanced by New Collaborations for CHI, St. Lukes, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Heart Institute HOUSTON (Jan. 7, 2014) Three of the regions leading medical institutions Baylor College of Medicine, CHI St. Lukes Health and the Texas Heart Institute have significantly expanded and enhanced their long-standing educational, clinical and research affiliations in conjunction with Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, which sponsors and operates the newly named CHI St. Lukes Health. Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nations largest health systems, announced today that CHI St. Lukes has partnered with Baylor

Posted by admin on November 26, 2013 Leave a Comment

The city of San Antonio will invest $200,000 in a biotech startup founded to develop new advances in stem-cell technology. City Council voted Thursday to invest in StemBioSys, Inc. through a grant to the San Antonio Economic Development Corporation. The money will be used for stem-cell research, development and manufacturing. StemBioSys, founded in 2010, holds two patents and has three others pending. The company has four employees and will hire at least two more in the next year. The company was formed by Dr. Xiao-Dong Chen, a professor at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Dr. Steven Davis, a San Antonio dermatologist, using licensed stem-cell technology Chen created at the university.

Posted by admin on November 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Research with mice may someday help people recovering from heart attacks, scientists say New insight into the hearts ability to repair itself could help scientists develop ways to improve recovery after a heart attack, a new study of mice suggests. Researchers found that a signaling pathway called the Hippo pathway normally blocks heart repair in adult mice. When certain signals were removed, the animals hearts were able to regenerate after being damaged. This was because specialized heart cells called cardiomyocytes were able to multiply much better after the signals were removed, an ability that is normally lost in damaged hearts, according to the researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas

Posted by admin on October 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

Daria O Brians Science Club Adventures in Time Not currently available on BBC iPlayer Series 2 Episode 2 of 6 Dara O Briain and the team go on a journey through time to discover what it is and how to get more of it. Watch Video Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Category Body Parts, For the Kids!, Organs, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research, Videos Tags BBC, Daria O Brian's Science Club, Doris Taylor, For the Kids!, Helen Czerski, organs, Texas Heart Institute

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HOUSTON Gov. Rick Perry today announced a $3 million investment through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) to create the Center for Cell and Organ Biotechnology in collaboration with the Texas Heart Institute (THI) and Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. This center represents another step toward making Texas the forefront of biotechnology for generations to come, Gov. Perry said. The investment is all a part of the culture of creation weve nurtured in Texas, built upon the concept that if you give bright and visionary people the freedom to innovate and pursue their dreams, good things will happen. I could not be prouder that this life-affirming research will be

Posted by admin on June 20, 2013 Leave a Comment

Its a pioneering procedure. Doctors at Austins Heart Hospital are taking a patients own stem cells from bone marrow a few days after a heart attack and injecting those stem cells back into formerly blocked arteries. Dr. Roger Gammon is an Interventional Cardiologist who leads the research team at the hospital. He says, We think those stem cells in particular are most able to recover heart muscle and grow new blood vessels in an area which could save that heart muscle. This trial could be a critical next step in fighting the nations number one killer. Medication and surgery to open blocked arteries have dramatically improved survival rates for people with heart disease. But once

Category Headlines, Heart Attacks, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research, Videos Tags Austin's Heart Hospital, Bone Marrow, heart attack, Roger Gammon, stem cells

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Texas Heart Institute One of Many Hospitals Seeing Success in Organ Creation On average, 18 people die each day awaiting an organ donation one person is added to the waiting list for organ transplants every ten minutes. Although nearly 80 people receive an organ transplant per day according to OrganDonor.gov, the gap between donations made and those awaiting organs is devastating for those on the waiting list. There is good news on the horizon for the 100,000-plus people awaiting a transplant, however. Researchers in Texas and across the globe are working on a way to create organs from the patients own body. While 3D printed versions of large organs such as kidneys are

Category Headlines, Heart Disease, Stem Cells, Technology, Texas, Texas Research, Videos, World News Tags 3D printed, Doris Taylor, OrganDonor.gov, Stanford, stem cells, Texas Heart Institute

Posted by admin on May 30, 2013 Leave a Comment

Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) announced that they have performed an investigational procedure on six patients in a new FDA-approved clinical trial to evaluate therapy that uses regenerative cells derived from a patients own adipose (body fat) tissue to treat a severe form of heart failure. The trial, known as ATHENA, marks the first such study in the United States using adipose-derived regenerative cells, known as ADRCs, which are harvested using a technology developed by Cytori Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that specializes in cell therapies. Previous studies in Europe have shown the safety and feasibility of the therapy. We have found that body fat tissue is a

Category Adipose, Headlines, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Stem Cells, Technology, Texas, Texas Research Tags adipose, ADRC, Cytori Therapeutics, Fat-Derived Regenerative Cells, heart failure, James T. Willerson, Texas Heart Institute

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Texas Heart Institute not concerned about changes at St. Lukes A spokesman for Texas Heart Institute said the center does not have any ongoing research that would be in direct conflict with the faith-based medical care of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives. The St. Lukes Episcopal Health System said April 19 it decided to sell to CHI, the nations second-largest faith-based health system. Shortly after, concerns arose about whether the Catholic provider would eliminate any procedures currently offered at St. Lukes. The Texas Heart Institute is affiliated with but not owned or governed by St. Lukes, though it is housed within St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. CHI issued a statement April 26

Category Headlines, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Stem Cells, Technology, Texas, Texas Research, Vascular Disease, World News Tags Catholic Health Initiatives, CHI, Denton Cooley, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Texas Heart Institute

Posted by admin on April 25, 2013 Leave a Comment

Latest advances in treatment for Alzheimers,traumatic brain injury and stroke to be presented at symposium AUSTIN, Texas (April 24, 2012) Some of the countrys leading practitioners will discuss the cutting-edge treatments and imaging techniques being developed to treat Alzheimers, traumatic brain injury and stroke at a symposium on May 1 in Austin. Collaborating for Cures: Research, Rehabilitation & Treatment for Alzheimers, Brain Injury & Stroke will feature presentations on The Promise of Stem Cells; Current treatment of closed head injury, Disorders of consciousness, Imaging in dementia, Drug screening for degeneration, Pain syndrome after stoke, Emerging therapeutics in ischemic stroke and Neurorecovery vs neurorehabilitation as well as provide a forum for leading scientists in the

Category Alzheimer's, Headlines, Preclinical, Stroke, Texas, Texas Research Tags Alzheimers, brain injury, CORE Health Care, Core Health Foundation, Moss Rehabilitation & Research Institute, Nantz National Alzheimers Center, NeuroTexas Institute, Reliant Austin Rehabilitation Hospital, Seton Brain & Spine Institute, St. Davids HealthCare, Stroke, Texans for Stem Cell Research, Texas Cures Education Foundation, TIRR Memorial Hermann, UT Southwestern

Posted by admin on March 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

Reprogramming Adult Cells to Stem Cells Works Better with One Gene Turned Off The removal of a genetic roadblock could improve the efficiency of converting adult cells into stem cells by 10 to 30 times, report scientists from The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and two other institutions in the latest issue of Cell. The discovery six years ago that scientists can convert adult cells into inducible pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, bolstered the dream that a patients own cells might be reprogrammed to make patient-specific iPSCs for regenerative medicine, modeling human diseases in petri dishes, and drug screening, said Rongfu Wang, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics. But reprogramming

Category Drug Discovery, Headlines, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research Tags Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, drug screening, epigenetic, inducible pluripotent stem cells, Regenerative Medicine, Rongfu Wang, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute

Posted by admin on February 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

A University of Texas spinoff company has pulled in $2 million to test a new technique for culturing non-embryonic stem cells. According to a regulatory filing, StemBioSys raised at least $2 million of a $3.5 million equity offering. A company representative was not available to elaborate, but CEO Dr. Steven Davis told the San Antonio Business Journal last year when the company began raising the round that it would fund research projects to validate the quality of the stem cells generated by the companys technology. StemBioSys is developing XC-marrow ECM, a propriety three-dimensional culture for growing mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood. These immature cells have multiple potential uses

Posted by admin on February 7, 2013 Leave a Comment

Every week, it seems, theres a new breakthrough in 3-D printing that promises us the ability to (eventually) fabricate some new thing in one of those glass-walled wonder boxes. Such things have included everything from spare parts for the International Space Station above to the beef on our dinner plates to the organs inside our bodies. Although this last idea of fabricating body parts may seem the most fanciful, a team of scientists is reporting a breakthrough in 3-D printing using human embryonic stem cells that could purportedly lead to life-like bioengineered tissue and, eventually, artificial organs tailor-made for specific patients. Researchers have been able to engineer tissue samples in then past by combining artificial

Posted by admin on January 27, 2013 Leave a Comment

Doris Taylor and her team are building new organs, hoping to reverse disease, maybe even the aging process By Maggie Galehouse | January 23, 2013 It sounds like science fiction, but it is isnt. On the ninth floor of the Texas Heart Institutes Denton Cooley building, Doris Taylor and her team are building human hearts, with help from pigs and stem cells. We think a pig heart is a perfect scaffold for a human heart, based on its structure and size, says Taylor, a passionate scientist with a Ph.D. in pharmacology. One recent morning, a pig heart hung suspended in a clear homemade tank in the lab built for Taylor and her team. Filled with

Category Headlines, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research Tags Doris Taylor, Houston Chronicle, Jame T. Willerson, Maggie Galehouse, Regenerative Medicine, stem cells, Texas Heart Insitute

Posted by admin on January 21, 2013 Leave a Comment

After a nationwide competition, Texas Heart Institute at St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital has been chosen as the Biorepository Core Lab for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes network of cardiac stem cell research centers. The seven centers, collectively known as the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network, are home to a network of physicians, scientists and support staff who work together to study stem-cell therapy for treating heart disease. The goals of the network are to complete research studies that will potentially lead to more effective treatments for patients with cardiovascular disease, and to share knowledge quickly with the health care community. Read Full Story Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Posted by admin on January 8, 2013 Leave a Comment

Scar Tissue In Damaged Hearts Reprogrammed By Gene Therapy Into Healthy Heart Muscle A cocktail of three specific genes can reprogram cells in the scars caused by heart attacks into functioning muscle cells, and the addition of a gene that stimulates the growth of blood vessels enhances that effect, said researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College, Baylor College of Medicine and Stony Brook University Medical Center in a report that appears online in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The idea of reprogramming scar tissue in the heart into functioning heart muscle was exciting, said Dr. Todd K. Rosengart, chair of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at BCM and the reports corresponding

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The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the international organization representing the interests of the regenerative medicine community, today announced that 18 ARM members will be presenting at the Biotech Showcase 2013 meeting in San Francisco next week. Featuring company presentations by leading organizations in the industry, Biotech Showcase, produced by EBD Group and Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors, has emerged as a high profile forum for mid-, small- and micro-cap and private companies seeking access to the investor community and potential collaborators. Collectively, the ARM members presenting will showcase the wide scope of progress that is taking place in the regenerative medicine and cell therapy field. (Press Release) Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

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Stem Cell Breakthrough Brings Researchers One Step Closer To Type 1 Diabetes Cure

Posted: October 12, 2014 at 11:45 am

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Researchers writing in the October 9 edition of the journal Cell report they have for the first time successfully converted human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells equivalent in nearly every way to regular, normally-functioning beta cells.

The discovery, which was the work of a team led by Douglas Melton of the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is being hailed as a breakthrough in the search for an effective way to treat type 1 diabetes a disease which affects an estimated three million Americans each year.

According to BBC News online health editor James Gallagher, Melton and his colleagues were able to produce hundreds of millions of the cells in their laboratory. Furthermore, their tests on mice demonstrated that the cells could treat the disease, which is caused when the immune system begins destroying the cells that are responsible for controlling blood glucose levels.

Beta cells in the pancreas pump out insulin to bring down blood sugar levels, Gallagher said. But the bodys own immune system can turn against the beta cells, destroying them and leaving people with a potentially fatal disease because they cannot regulate their blood sugar levels. It is different to the far more common type 2 diabetes.

Melton, who started his search for a cure for type 1 diabetes when his infant son Sam was diagnosed with the disease 23 years ago, said that he hopes to start human transplantation trials using the cells within a few years time. The professor, whose daughter also has type 1 diabetes, said in a statement that his team is now just one preclinical step away from the finish line.

The breakthrough comes after 15 years of seeking a bulk recipe for making beta cells, which sense the level of sugar in the blood and keep it in a healthy range by making precise amounts of insulin, said John Lauerman of Bloomberg Businessweek. He added that the technique, which begins with human stem cells, which have the ability to become any type of tissue or organ, is an important step toward understanding and treating diabetes.

This is part of the holy grail of regenerative medicine or tissue engineering, trying to make an unlimited source of cells or tissues or organs that you can use in a patient to correct a disease, added Albert Hwa, director of discovery science at JDRF, a New York-based type 1 diabetes research group that funded Meltons work.

The Harvard researcher explained to Lauerman that their research has led to the development of a six-step recipe for making mature, insulin-secreting beta cells that takes 30 days. He added that laboratories will be able to use the cells to test drugs to treat type 1 diabetes, as well as to gain new insight as to how the disease originally occurs.

In addition, since the researchers successfully manufactured the millions of beta cells required for transplantation, Telegraph Science Editor Sarah Knapton said that it could spell the end of daily insulin injections for the 400,000 type 1 diabetes patients in the UK and the over 30,000 Americans newly diagnosed with the disease each year.

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New Method of Creating Stem Cells is a "Game Changer"

Posted: January 30, 2014 at 7:50 pm

STAP cells, glowing green, have been integrated into the mouse fetuss body tissues. Credit: Haruko Obokata

Researchers have observed that plants, when stressed, can reprogram their cells into stem cells, capable of differentiating into many different cell types. Now, it appears mammals can perform the same trick. Japanese scientists say they have successfully reverted blood cells back to their embryonic state after dipping them in a stress-inducing bath of acid.

The team accomplished the feat using blood cells from mouse spleens, but are now trying to replicate it using human blood cells. Independent researchers are praising the discovery for both its simplicity and its potential to usher in new therapies and cloning techniques.

Scientists currently deploy one of two methods to obtain stem cells: extract them from human embryos, or reprogram adult cells into a stem-cell state (called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells). However, both methods have their drawbacks. Taking cells from an embryo destroys it in the process, and creating iPS cells requires a complicated choreography of genetic modifications.

The new method called STAP, for stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency appears to be far easier. Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College of London, didnt mask his excitement for the BBC:

I thought my God thats a game changer! Its a very exciting, but surprise, finding If this works in people as well as it does in mice, it looks faster, cheaper and possibly safer than other cell reprogramming technologies personalized reprogrammed cell therapies may now be viable.

Haruko Obokata, the studys lead author, conceived of the idea after she noticed blood cells behaved peculiarly after squeezing them through a capillary tube. The cells would shrink to a size resembling stem cells. Intrigued, she replicated the technique by exposing blood cells to different types of stress. Three stressors perforating the cell membrane, exposure to an acidic solution, and physical squeezing caused the cells to behave like stem cells.

However, it was only the first step. Scientists needed to demonstrate that the transformed cells were truly pluripotent or capable of morphing into any type of cell.

To test that, scientists used mice bred to carry a gene that causes a protein in pluripotent cells to glow neon green. They injected the newly created stem cells into mouse embryos and the developing pups glowed all over, indicating that the embryos had successfully incorporated the stem cells into every tissue in their body. The team published their findings Wednesday in Nature.

Stressing blood cells harnesses a natural process, and could streamline the creation of stem cells. Jeff Karp, an associate professor at Brigham & Womens Hospital in Boston, told CNN the new method could produce stem cells up to 10 times faster than current methods.

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Using Stem Cells To Treat Blindness

Posted: July 23, 2013 at 4:49 am

July 22, 2013

A new study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology represents a major step forward in curing certain types of blindness.

Described to the BBC News as a significant breakthrough, the UK-based study outlined a groundbreaking technique developed by doctors at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London that uses stem cell therapy to replace photoreceptors that may have died as a result of Stargardts disease or age-related macular degeneration.

While previous efforts have successfully focused on keeping the photoreceptors support cells alive, the new treatment aims to replace the retinas key cells directly. These cells sense light and are connected to other cells that relay the visual information to the brain.

The new technique expands on work done by Japanese researchers who used mice stem cells to fashion new retinas. The London team created photoreceptor cells and placed them in the eyes of blind mice.

After being injected, the new cells were able to connect with the mices existing framework albeit at a relatively low level of effectiveness. Approximately 1,000 of the 200,000 transplanted cells were able to connect with the rest of the eye.

This is a real proof of concept that photoreceptors can be transplanted from an embryonic stem cells source and it give us a route map to now do this in humans, said lead researcher Robin Ali, a professor of Human Molecular Genetics at the University College of London. Thats why were so excited, five years is now a realistic aim for starting a clinical trial.

The eye is one of the most promising candidates for stem cell therapy because there is only one type of intermediary cell between photoreceptors and the brain, unlike other organs which require far more connections between newly generated cells. A relatively small number tens of thousands of stem cells could improve vision, a number that would not make much of a difference in the liver or brain.

The eyes relatively weak local immune system also makes it an ideal candidate for stem cell therapy. A weak immune system means a lower chance of transplanted cells being rejected.

While experts described the study as a huge leap forward, some expressed concerns about the stem cells relatively low connection rate.

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Light-Detecting Retina Cells Made from Stem Cells

Posted: July 23, 2013 at 4:49 am

Scientists turn embryonic stem cells into photoreceptors that can integrate into a live retina.

Transplanted photoreceptors derived from embryonic stem cells (green) integrate into the damaged retina of an adult mouse and touch the next neuron in the retinal circuit (red).

Scientists in the U.K. have produced rod-like photoreceptors from embryonic stem cells, and successfully transplanted them into the retinas of mice. The work suggests that embryonic stem cells could perhaps one day be used as a treatment for patients who have lost their vision to retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, or other degenerative conditions in which the light-detecting rods and cones of the retina die over time.

Currently, there are few treatment options for these conditions; electronic implanted devices are available for some patients in some countries, but their efficacy is limited (see A Second Artificial Retina Option for the E.U. and What Its Like to See Again with an Artificial Retina).The new work,reported in Nature Biotechnology on Sunday, offers hope for a more effective, comprehensive treatment.

The researchers used a new method for growing embryonic stem cells that enables them to turn into immature eye cells and self-organize into three-dimensional structures similar to those seen in a developing retina (see Growing Eyeballs). Immature light-detecting cells were harvested from this culture and transplanted into the retinas of night-blind mice. There, the cells integrated with the natural cells of the eye and formed synaptic connections. The work did not involve testing how well the mice could see after the cells were implanted.

While this particular technique is probably years away from human trials, embryonic stem cells are already being tested in clinical trials for macular degeneration and Stargardts macular dystrophy. Last week, in fact, Japanese authorities announced that an alternative source of stem cells will soon move into human trials as a treatment for eye disease.The BBC reported that Japan has approved the first clinical trial of induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. These stem cells are made by reprogramming normal adult cells so that they return to a more embryonic-like state so that they can then be converted into other cell types, such as retinal cells. In the clinical trial, doctors will collect a patients own cells, which will then be used in an experimental treatment for age-related macular degeneration. The trial will start with around six patients.

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Light-Detecting Retina Cells Made from Stem Cells

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Scientists produce functional human livers from stem cells

Posted: July 5, 2013 at 7:48 pm

New research is paving the way towards 'off-the-shelf' human organs for transplantFor the very first time, scientists have succeeded in creating a functional, three-dimensional human liver from stem cells, bringing medicine one step closer towards having 'off-the-shelf' transplant organs.

The scientists created tiny liver 'buds', roughly 4 millimetres wide, by bringing together the same types of human cells that combine when the liver starts to grow in the human embryo. Rather than using embryonic stem cells as their 'base', though, the scientists reprogrammed mature human skin cells back into an embryonic state producing 'induced pluripotent stem cells' or iPSCs. They then added cells taken from umbilical cord blood called endothelial cells which create the lining of blood vessels, and another type called mesenchymal stem cells, which go into producing bone, cartilage and fat tissues.

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The buds that grew from this combination of cells not only formed liver tissue, but they also formed a network of blood vessels throughout the tissue. When these buds were transplanted into mice that were suffering from liver failure, they took over various liver functions, keeping the mice alive, and the buds even connected up with the surrounding blood vessels and kept growing.

The most amazing part about this entire discovery is that it essentially happened as an unexpected result. One of the study leaders, Takanori Takebe, from Yokohama City University in Japan, was simply working on a way to create 'vascularized' liver tissue that is, tissue with blood vessels running through it which has, so far, been very difficult to do. Some trials have used artificial scaffolding to form the growing cells into the right shape, and others have just grown pure cultures of cells, but Takebe tried combining different types of cells together at the same time. He found that, as they grew, they organized themselves into three-dimensional structures.

"We just simply mixed three cell types and found that they unexpectedly self-organize to form a three-dimensional liver bud this is a rudimentary liver," Takebe told BBC News. "And finally we proved that liver bud transplantation could offer therapeutic potential against liver failure."

After that discovery, it took hundreds of tries to get up to the stage of making these tiny liver buds.

"The strategy is very promising, and represents a huge step forward," said Dr Dusko Ilic, a stem cell scientist at King's College London, according to BBC News.

"Although the promise of an off-the-shelf-liver seems much closer than one could hope even a year ago, the paper is only a proof of concept. There is much unknown and it will take years before it could be applied in regenerative medicine."

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Scientists produce functional human livers from stem cells

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Researchers create miniature human liver out of stem cells

Posted: July 4, 2013 at 4:45 pm

Scientists have created a tiny liver from stem cells that helped mice with chronic liver failure regain function.

Researchers in Japan transplanted 4-millimeter-wide "liver buds" made from human stem cells into a mice. The transplanted liver buds, which were placed in the cranium or abdomen, were able to work in conjunction with the mice's own organs and secrete human liver-specific proteins. They also created human metabolites, tiny molecules that are produced when the body metabolizes a substance.

Co-author Takanori Takebe, a stem-cell biologist at Yokohama City University in Japan, said to Nature this was the first time people have made a solid organ using pluripotent stem cells, which are mature skin cells that are re-programmed to become an embryonic cell that can express any genetic characteristics.

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In this case, the liver buds were made from pluripotent stem cells that were told to express liver genes. Endothelial cells (which line blood vessels) taken from umbilical chord blood and mesenchymal stem cells (which make bone, cartilage and fat) were put into the mix as well.

"We just simply mixed three cell types and found that they unexpectedly self-organize to form a three-dimensional liver bud -- this is a rudimentary liver," Takebe explained to the BBC. "And finally we proved that liver bud transplantation could offer therapeutic potential against liver failure."

After hundreds of trials, the three cells worked together and began to make three-dimensional structures. Takebe admitted he was "absolutely surprised" when he saw it working.

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are currently more than 16,500 people registered on the liver transplant waiting list. There were only 6,256 people who received a liver transplant in 2012.

Takebe said that human transplantation is still years away, and the research is very preliminary. The mice still need be observed to see if the liver buds continue to function or tumors start to form. Also, the liver buds will never be able to grow into a full liver, but they could one day work with a failing liver and help restore its function. He hopes in the future researchers can create liver buds small enough to be transfused intravenously, and forsees that this method could also be used to create new pancreas or kidney cells.

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Researchers create miniature human liver out of stem cells

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