Category Archives: Arkansas Stem Cells

This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

SOURCE:

The Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. has announced plans to host at least three international symposiums on stem cells and regenerative medicine in Latin America, and one in Miami in 2015.

MIAMI (PRWEB) November 11, 2014

GlobalStemCellsGroup, Inc. has announced plans to host a minimum of four international symposiums on stem cell research in 2015. The symposiums will be held in three Latin American countriesChile, Mexico and Colombiain which Global Stem Cells has established state-of-the-art stem cell clinics staffed with expert medical personnel trained in regenerative medicine, through the Regenestem Network.

The fourth symposium will be held in Miami.

The decision follows the success of the Global Stem Cells Groups first International Symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, held Oct. 2, 3 and 4 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Global Stem Cells Group CEO Benito Novas says the Buenos Aires event, combined with its steady growth of new clinics throughout Latin America, has provided additional motivation to schedule more stem cell symposiums in an effort to further educate the medical community on the latest advancements in stem cell therapies.

Thanks to Global Stem Cells Groups growing network of world-class stem cell researchers, treatment practitioners and investors committed to advancing stem cell medicine, the company is rapidly moving closer to its goal of helping physicians to bring treatments into their offices for the benefit of patients.

More than 900 physicians, researchers and regenerative medicine experts from around the world attended the Buenos Aires symposium, and Novas expects that number to grow with upcoming conferences.

We will continue to bring together a variety of committed stem cell advocates from the U.S., Mexico, Greece, Hong Kong and other regions around the globe, to be joined by a team of knowledgeable speakers, each one presenting the future of regenerative medicine in their field of specialty, Novas says.

Read more:
Global Stem Cells Group Announces Plans to Hold Four ...

Introduction: What are stem cells, and why are they important? What are the unique properties of all stem cells? What are embryonic stem cells? What are adult stem cells? What are the similarities and differences between embryonic and adult stem cells? What are induced pluripotent stem cells? What are the potential uses of human stem cells and the obstacles that must be overcome before these potential uses will be realized? Where can I get more information?

An adult stem cell is thought to be an undifferentiated cell, found among differentiated cells in a tissue or organ. The adult stem cell can renew itself and can differentiate to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ. The primary roles of adult stem cells in a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. Scientists also use the term somatic stem cell instead of adult stem cell, where somatic refers to cells of the body (not the germ cells, sperm or eggs). Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are defined by their origin (cells from the preimplantation-stage embryo), the origin of adult stem cells in some mature tissues is still under investigation.

Research on adult stem cells has generated a great deal of excitement. Scientists have found adult stem cells in many more tissues than they once thought possible. This finding has led researchers and clinicians to ask whether adult stem cells could be used for transplants. In fact, adult hematopoietic, or blood-forming, stem cells from bone marrow have been used in transplants for more than 40 years. Scientists now have evidence that stem cells exist in the brain and the heart, two locations where adult stem cells were not at firstexpected to reside. If the differentiation of adult stem cells can be controlled in the laboratory, these cells may become the basis of transplantation-based therapies.

The history of research on adult stem cells began in the 1950s, when researchers discovered that the bone marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells. One population, called hematopoietic stem cells, forms all the types of blood cells in the body. A second population, called bone marrow stromal stem cells (also called mesenchymal stem cells, or skeletal stem cells by some), were discovered a few years later. These non-hematopoietic stem cells make up a small proportion of the stromal cell population in the bone marrow, and can generate bone, cartilage, fat, cells that support the formation of blood, and fibrous connective tissue.

In the 1960s, scientists who were studying rats discovered two regions of the brain that contained dividing cells that ultimately become nerve cells. Despite these reports, most scientists believed that the adult brain could not generate new nerve cells. It was not until the 1990s that scientists agreed that the adult brain does contain stem cells that are able to generate the brain's three major cell typesastrocytes and oligodendrocytes, which are non-neuronal cells, and neurons, or nerve cells.

Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and tissues, including brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin, teeth, heart, gut, liver, ovarian epithelium, and testis. They are thought to reside in a specific area of each tissue (called a "stem cell niche"). In many tissues, current evidence suggests that some types of stem cells are pericytes, cells that compose the outermost layer of small blood vessels. Stem cells may remain quiescent (non-dividing) for long periods of time until they are activated by a normal need for more cells to maintain tissues, or by disease or tissue injury.

Typically, there is a very small number of stem cells in each tissue, and once removed from the body, their capacity to divide is limited, making generation of large quantities of stem cells difficult. Scientists in many laboratories are trying to find better ways to grow large quantities of adult stem cells in cell culture and to manipulate them to generate specific cell types so they can be used to treat injury or disease. Some examples of potential treatments include regenerating bone using cells derived from bone marrow stroma, developing insulin-producing cells for type1 diabetes, and repairing damaged heart muscle following a heart attack with cardiac muscle cells.

Scientists often use one or more of the following methods to identify adult stem cells: (1) label the cells in a living tissue with molecular markers and then determine the specialized cell types they generate; (2) remove the cells from a living animal, label them in cell culture, and transplant them back into another animal to determine whether the cells replace (or "repopulate") their tissue of origin.

Importantly, scientists must demonstrate that a single adult stem cell can generate a line of genetically identical cells that then gives rise to all the appropriate differentiated cell types of the tissue. To confirm experimentally that a putative adult stem cell is indeed a stem cell, scientists tend to show either that the cell can give rise to these genetically identical cells in culture, and/or that a purified population of these candidate stem cells can repopulate or reform the tissue after transplant into an animal.

Read the original post:

What are adult stem cells? [Stem Cell Information]

For more articles on biology and medicine, see Biology and Medicine categories in index.

BIOLOGY & MEDICINE

The Case for Adult Stem Cell Research

by Wolfgang Lillge, M.D.

(Full text of article from Winter 2001-2002 21st Century)

Problems of Therapeutic Cloning

Whoever Would Cure, Must Use Adult Stem Cells

Human Treatments

For more articles on biology and medicine, check the subject index

The question of stem cells is currently the dominant subject in the debate over biotechnology and human genetics: Should we use embryonic stem cells or adult stem cells for future medical therapies? Embryonic stem cells are taken from a developing embryo at the blastocyst stage, destroying the embryo, a developing human life. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, are found in all tissues of the growing human being and, according to latest reports, also have the potential to transform themselves into practically all other cell types, or revert to being stem cells with greater reproductive capacity. Embryonic stem cells have not yet been used for even one therapy, while adult stem cells have already been successfully used in numerous patients, including for cardiac infarction (death of some of the heart tissue).

View post:

The Case for Adult Stem Cell Research - 21st Century Home Page

UAMS operates one of the top peripheral blood stem cell transplantation clinics in the world. ThisMyeloma Institute clinic is an important part of the comprehensive services offered through our Winthrop P. RockefellerCancer Institute.

Our transplant clinic offers autologous, allogeneic and matched unrelated donor transplants, as well as outpatient transplant, stem cell selection, novel therapeutic and gene therapy programs. Stem cell transplantation has essentially replaced bone marrow transplant, allowing most patients to receive their transplant as an outpatient.

While most patients receiving transplants are diagnosed with multiple myeloma, our program also offers transplants to patients with other hematologic cancers as well as some solid organ tumors.

Stem cells are typically collected from the patient at the outset of treatment and transfused back to promote recovery of the bone marrow following chemotherapy. The procedure has led to higher survival and remission rates for those patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bloods plasma. The first stem cell transplant to treat myeloma at UAMS was conducted in 1989.

Program affiliates include the National Cancer Institute, Southwest Oncology Group and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.

Hours:8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday and Friday

Location: 5th floor ofthe Stephens Spine Institute Parking: Parking is available in Parking3 at the corner of Cedar and Capitol. Valet parking is available in front of the Outpatient Center.

Visit link:

Stem Cell Transplantation - UAMS Medical Center - Arkansas ...

AFTER SCIENTISTS BASED at the University of Wisconsin revealed that they had successfully harvested embryonic stem cells from human embryos, several states rapidly responded with either support or bans on related research. Arkansas is one of the states to ban such research. In 2003, Arkansas, along with North and South Dakota, completely banned all forms of cloning, even if related to stem cell research and therapies. Types of cloning include reproductive cloning as well as somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is also called therapeutic cloning.

Arkansas law prohibits research on an aborted live fetus but allows research on a fetus that was aborted and born dead. Cloned embryos are outlawed, as is the sale of a fetus or fetal material. Opponents of providing a monetary reward for the production of a source of embryonic stem cells warn that such a practice could lead to the forcing of a woman to produce and abort a fetus against her will or to unfairly entice a woman from a low socioeconomic status to do so to advance her position. Prohibition of monetary gain from fetuses or fetal materials protects both women and fetuses from exploitation.

Despite its restrictive laws regarding stem cell procurement, Arkansas nevertheless has a long track record of stem cell therapies. In fact, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has performed thousands of blood stem cell transplants for multiple myeloma patients; the number of transplants that they have performed surpasses that of any other facility on the planet. The Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, as well as UAMS, is in Little Rock.

At the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Cell Differentiation Program works to understand how cancerous and healthy cells develop and differentiate. This knowledge can then be applied to stem cell biology in an effort to guide the differentiation of these stem cells. A current major usage of stem cells in cancer therapies is the delivery of healthy blood stem cells to reconstitute a patients immune system and blood cell population after chemotherapy, particularly for a myeloma. Stem cell therapy for multiple myeloma patients involves a high dose of chemotherapy to kill diseased blood cells, followed by a transfusion of healthy blood and blood stem cells.

Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Hucka-bee is in favor of research on currently existing stem cell lines, which most experts agree are too contaminated to continue to work on; however, he firmly opposes cloning. In early 2008 Governor Huckabee was a U.S. presidential candidate and hoped his conservative stance on stem cell research would aid his campaign.

Read more:

Arkansas (Stem Cell) - what-when-how

*Provider Directory Terms of Use:

The WebMD 'Provider Directory' is provided by WebMD for use by the general public as a quick reference of information about Providers. The Provider Directory is not intended as a tool for verifying the credentials, qualifications, or abilities of any Provider contained therein. Inclusion in the Provider Directory does not imply recommendation or endorsement nor does omission in the Provider Directory imply WebMD disapproval.

You are prohibited from using, downloading, republishing, selling, duplicating, or "scraping" for commercial or any other purpose whatsoever, the Provider Directory or any of the data listings or other information contained therein, in whole or in part, in any medium whatsoever.

The Provider Directory is provided on an "AS-IS" basis. WebMD disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose. Without limiting the foregoing, WebMD does not warrant or represent that the Provider Directory or any part thereof is accurate or complete. You assume full responsibility for the communications with any Provider you contact through the Provider Directory. WebMD shall in no event be liable to you or to anyone for any decision made or action taken by you in the reliance on information provided in the Provider Directory.

The use of WebMD Provider Directory by any entity or individual to verify the credentials of Providers is prohibited. The database of Provider information which drives WebMD Provider Directory does not contain sufficient information with which to verify Provider credentials under the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) of the Utilization Review Accreditation Committee (URAC).

By using the WebMD Provider Directory, you agree to these Terms and Conditions.

Read the original post:

Little Rock AR Resources - Stem Cells: Get Facts on Uses ...