Category Archives: Wisconsin Stem Cells

President Bushs Embryonic Stem Cell Policy

In August of 2001, President Bush established a federal policy on embryonic stem cell research. You are probably confused and believed, as many did, that President Bush cut off federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The facts are that the Bush policy allowed federal funds to be used for research onexisting stem cell linesderived from embryos that had already been destroyed before August of 2001. The policy did not allow federal funds to be used todestroy more living human embryos.

President Bush and the previous Congress committed hundreds of millions of dollars to ethical adult stem cell research and to establish cord blood banks.

President Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell Policy

By Executive Order, President Obama overturned the Bush policy in 2009, allowing federal tax dollars to be used to destroy living human embryos. It remains to be seen if the Obama administration will commit dollars to ethical research using adult stem cells and iPS cells.

WisconsinStem Cell Policy

Wisconsin has a law which informs a pregnant woman that for research purposes she can donate cord blood normally discarded after the birth of her baby.

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Laws Governing Stem Cell Research Wisconsin Right to Life

Stem Cell Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis of the knee results from years of wear and tear. Cartilage provides a buffer in the joint between the bones to allow smooth, easy movement. Over time, this cartilage begins to break down and become brittle. Without enough cartilage to protect the bones from rubbing together and causing damage, this friction leads to swelling and painful inflammation. Ultimately, stiffness and soreness can limit mobility, and make moving the joint very painful.

Stem Cell Therapy cells are powerful healing agents that, when used in concentrated doses, can quickly reduce inflammation and scar tissue, and enhance the natural healing processes of the body. Regenerative Cell Therapy is a non-invasive, in-office procedure that safely and effectively alleviates osteoarthritis pain.

When the meniscus cartilage raptures due to traumatic injuries or due to age-related wear and tear it is referred to as meniscus tear. Meniscus tear is usually very painful and limiting. The knee will not operate correctly with this type of injury. The meniscus is located at the knee joint. It is a rubbery piece of cartilage that acts as the bodys shock absorber and also acts as a pad to stabilize and protect the knee. Meniscus tear are of three degrees: severe, moderate and minor. Severe meniscus is when bits of ruptured meniscus enter the knee joint and affects the function of the knee causing a lot of pain. But for minor and moderate meniscus tears, the pain usually disappears after conventional treatment or a few weeks of rest. Those suffering from meniscus tear are increasingly becoming aware of the implications of removing the meniscus though surgical operation, they also prefer not to risk the side effects that come with steroid injections. Wisconsin Stem Cell offers a non-invasive alternative to surgery and steroid injections for this problem. We also treat the underlying issues that cause the pain using either Wisconsin Stem Cells advanced form of Anmniotic Regenerative Cell Therapy. By using this regenerative approach, the medical collateral ligament can repair itself and regain its function of holding the knee bones in place, thus relieving pressure on other components such as the particular cartilage and meniscus.

Degeneration of the joints can occur in any of the joints in the body, especially those that experience lots of wear and tear. The knees are used in so many daily motions, feeling pain with each movement is debilitating. Joint degeneration generally develops over time, but can suddenly worsen and become more severe and disabling. Cartilage or other soft tissues within the knee joint can begin to dehydrate, deteriorate, or become damaged from some type of injury. These tissues provide a protective cushion between the bones for smooth movement. Once these start to wear down, or degenerate, friction within the joint can lead to inflammation, swelling, bone spurs, and other painful symptoms. Recent developments in Stem Cell Therapy make it possible to treat degenerative joint conditions naturally, without the need for medications, steroids, or surgery. Stem Cell Therapy uses these cells to target the damaged and deteriorating tissues. Concentrated amounts of these cells are injected into the affected area, and immediately reduce inflammation and reverse damage and deterioration of tissue.

The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are both major ligaments providing strength and stability within the knee joint. Ligaments are thick bands of tissue that connect bones. Injuries to these connective tissues are painful, debilitating, and have historically been a challenge to treat and heal. In the past, these kinds of injuries could cause what was considered permanent damage to the knee joints. Traditionally, the most common treatment for torn ligaments in the knee is arthroscopic surgery and reconstruction. Developments in regenerative medicine make effective, natural treatment of PCL and ACL injuries within reach. Procedures like Stem Cell Therapy offer non-surgical treatment options for those suffering from knee injuries and damage to soft tissues in the joints. Using these cells in concentrated amounts to target the injured area, the body is able to reduce inflammation and heal itself naturally.

Also known as runners knee, chondromalacia is inflammation of the underside of the kneecap, and deterioration of the cartilage that supports it. When this cartilage is damaged or wears down, it becomes difficult to bend and straighten out the leg. This condition is common among young athletes, but may also be present in older individuals with arthritis of the knee. Stem Cell Therapy and other regenerative medicine techniques offer natural treatment alternatives to pain medications, steroid injections, and surgery. Using these cells, our specialists are able to target specific areas of inflammation or injury and restore damaged tissues. These are cutting-edge techniques that have provided relief and healing to so many of our patients with knee pain.

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Knee Conditions | Milwaukee, WI | Wisconsin Stem Cell

Cellular Dynamics

Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a FUJIFILM company, is a leading developer and manufacturer of human cells used in drug discovery, toxicity testing, stem cell banking, and cell therapy development. The Company partners with innovators from around the world to combine biologically relevant human cells with the newest technologies to drive advancements in medicine and healthier living. CDIs technology offers the potential to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from anyone, starting with a standard blood draw, and followed by the powerful capability to develop into virtually any cell type in the human body. Our proprietary manufacturing system produces billions of cells daily, resulting in inventoried iCell products and donor-specific MyCell Products in the quantity, quality, purity, and reproducibility required for drug and cell therapy development. Founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research, Cellular Dynamics is based in Madison, Wisconsin, with a second facility in Novato, California. For more information, please visit http://www.cellulardynamics.com, and follow us on Twitter @CellDynamics.FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including: healthcare, with medical systems, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; graphic systems; highly functional materials, such as flat panel display materials; optical devices, such as broadcast and cinema lenses; digital imaging; and document products. These are based on a vast portfolio of chemical, mechanical, optical, electronic, software and production technologies. In the year ended March 31, 2015, the company had global revenues of $20.8 billion, at an exchange rate of 120 yen to the dollar. Fujifilm is committed to environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit: http://www.fujifilmholdings.com.

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Sponsors World Stem Cell Summit

Harnessing stem cells to cure disease is the hottest topic in joint injury, knee pain and arthritis treatment today. By using the adult stem cells found in our own bodies, we can amplify and speed up the natural healing process as well as grow new bone and cartilage to rebuild joints without the need for artificial replacements.

At Cendant Stem Cell Centerin Denver and our new Milwaukee Wisconsin clinic, we provide our patients with the most recent technological advancements available for treating orthopedic injuries and conditions. Our Stem Cell therapy procedureprovides treatment to repair damaged cartilage, restore function, eliminate hip, shoulder, back and knee pain and to prevent further joint destruction.

The patients adipose (fat) derived Stem Cells and/or bone marrow derived Stem Cells are injected alongwith Platelet Rich Plasma into the joint capsule space. These components are put on top of an Extracellular Fiber Matrixwhich is injected into the joint capsule before the introduction of Stem Cells. This FDA approved fiberis a major advancement in the Stem Cell procedure which gives Stem Cells a structure to bind and growupon inside the joint space. The technology allows us to treat older patients and patients with more aggressive joint disease who are facing replacement surgery or suffering from chronic pain.

The Stem Cell procedureis virtually painless, takes 3 hours and is performed under local anesthesia. It requires little to no downtime and is effective, fast and safe. Please visit our Video Testimonials page to hear from our patients and why they choose our Denver and Milwaukee stem cell clinics for their medical needs.

Ourunique approach to stem cell therapy does not offer a single franchised solution. Cendants multiple technologies provide case-driven stem cell treatment options to address individual patient needs.

Medical researchers are reporting remarkable results using platelet rich plasma and stem cellsin the treatment of common injuries, including:

What should patients expect after Stem Cell Therapy?

The noticeable regeneration of the joint tissue and cartilage typically starts to occur within 3 weeks. Most of our patients report asubstantialreduction in pain and improved function within 4-6 weeksafter treatment. Many report total pain elimination within 10-12 weeks. Within 3-5 daysafter the procedure, most patients can return to work and resume normal daily activities. Patients cannot start stressful activity or begin strenuous exercise for six weeks. Returning to stressful activity before six weeks may result in incomplete healing of the treated tissue.

Is this therapy safe?

Yes. Autologous PRP therapy and Stem Cell therapy has been used for over 10 years in surgical and orthopedic procedures. There are many research articles published on the safety of these therapies. Because a patients own blood and cells are used, there is little risk of a transmissible infection, no side effects and a very low risk of allergic reaction.

How many treatments are required?

We treat most patients aggressively upon the first visit with a mix of PRP, Extracellular Fiber Matrix and Stem Cells which all work together to create yourregenerative injection. Most patients need only 1 treatment but you could potentially have a follow up pure PRP injection which is thought of as a booster shot, the primary function of which is to stimulate continual stem cell growth.

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Stem Cell Therapy - Cendant Cellular Therapies - Denver ...

MADISON, Wis. When Yeng Her's mother's kidneys failed, she wanted to try herbs and shaman rituals. But a Madison doctor said that without dialysis, she would die.

Her was 16, a junior at Memorial High School, the oldest of four children born in a refugee camp. As he fought to keep his mother alive, he struggled to translate language and culture between his Hmong family and Western medical providers.

"I felt powerless," he said. "That lit a fire inside of me to go into medicine and try to bridge these gaps."

Her is believed to be the first Hmong-American to get an M.D.-Ph.D., after receiving the degrees this spring at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

He plans to return next year to UW-Madison, where he got his bachelor's degree, to do a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at UW Health. He will also pursue research on using stem cells to treat chronic pain.

Her became interested in helping people regain function after spending much of his childhood at Hmong refugee camps in Thailand. He was surrounded by people injured during the Vietnam War, in which the United States recruited Hmong soldiers, including Her's father, to fight communist forces. The wounded included his uncle, who was paralyzed on one side of his body.

"He didn't really get the treatment he needed at the camp," Her said. "That had a pretty profound effect on me."

Now 33 and married, with two children, Her is the first Hmong-American to get a medical degree and a doctor of philosophy degree, according to Victor Yang, who has tracked doctoral degrees among Hmong-Americans since 1985. Yang records the degrees in the blog Hmong St. Paul.

The National Institutes of Health and the Association of American Medical Colleges said they collect data on underrepresented groups, but don't have information on individuals that would allow them to confirm Her's singular feat.

For a man who had no formal education before coming to Wisconsin in 1994, at age 10, Her's completion of perhaps the most difficult, competitive program in academia is remarkable, his mentor at Mayo said.

"His determination to succeed against odds, to not take no for an answer and be stubborn and overcome challenges with hard work came through," said Jim Maher, dean of Mayo's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

"He's a survivor," said Maher, who grew up in Middleton and got his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. at UW-Madison. "His family taught him to survive in really dire circumstances. ... It made him ready to tackle things that might have scared other people off."

As a child, Her lived in three refugee camps. His family occasionally had to ration food, and each child had only two outfits of clothing, but his parents bore most of the burden, he said.

"I had a pretty happy childhood, even though the camp was overcrowded," Her said, recalling games he improvised with other children that involved rocks, flip-flops and plastic straws.

When his family arrived in Madison, Her started fifth grade at Randall Elementary School, not knowing English or how to read in any language.

He didn't even know his first name. His family called him Soua, a shortened version of his middle name, Fransoua. When teachers called for Yeng, he didn't respond.

"They thought there was something wrong with me, like hearing issues or something like that," he said.

At Jefferson Middle School, he found his footing with Sarah Stewart, who taught English as a second language. She stayed after school most days to help him study.

"She became almost like a second mom to me," he said. "That is what really laid the foundation for me to get better grades."

Upward Bound, a program for students from families with low incomes or no bachelor's degrees, helped him succeed at Memorial, where he graduated in 2002.

At UW-Madison, Her initially planned to become a physician assistant. After doing well in chemistry, which became his major, he decided to become a doctor and a scientist.

His aspirations were shaped by the kidney disease that struck his mother, Yia Vang. She was skeptical of dialysis because her sister had a bad experience with the blood-cleansing procedure, but she eventually tried it and later got a kidney transplant.

She is doing well today working, along with her husband, Chong Lor Her, at Electronic Theater Control in Middleton, where they have been employed for about 20 years.

After graduating from UW-Madison, Her enrolled in Mayo's two-year Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program, which trains promising students from disadvantaged backgrounds for academic research.

The experience helped him get into Mayo's M.D.-Ph.D. program, a demanding, eight-year effort that starts and ends with two years of medical school, with four years of graduate school in between.

The Ph.D. portion, with Her specializing in biochemistry and molecular biology, was the most challenging, he said.

During his second year of research in Maher's lab, a lab in Paris published work he planned to do as half of his thesis. To salvage his degree, he had to focus on the other half. Six months later, a lab in San Diego published the other half.

"Everything that I wanted to do was out," Her said. "I went home and broke down. I contemplated stopping grad school."

With encouragement from his wife, Padao Yang, and help from an adviser, he identified a different way to apply his research. The result, a paper explaining how a lack of oxygen might make people living at high altitudes more susceptible to a rare cancer called familial paraganglioma, was published in 2015 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Her, Yang and their children moved last week to Fresno, Calif., where he will spend a year doing a medical internship in a city with a large Hmong-American population.

Then he'll start his three-year residency at UW Health, and do research on pain. Eventually, he wants to treat all kinds of rehab or pain patients, not just the Hmong community. But he thinks about setting up a clinic in Laos the Southeast Asian country where his parents grew up, and where many Hmong people live to help injured people there.

He also wants to promote higher education among Hmong-Americans. While at UW-Madison, he started a soccer team for middle school and high school students, incorporating family gatherings, educational seminars and tips on getting into college.

"This is the reason we're here in the United States, that we have this opportunity," Her said.

He is proud to tell his immigrant story. "Opening the door for people like myself to achieve the American dream, that's something we should do," he said.

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Madison man is first Hmong-American to get an MD-Ph.D. - Post-Bulletin

July 14, 2014

The ability to reliably and safely make in the laboratory all of the different types of cells in human blood is one key step closer to reality. Writing today (July 14, 2014) in the journal Nature Communications, a group led by University of WisconsinMadison stem cell researcher Igor Slukvin reports the discovery of two genetic programs responsible for taking blank-slate stem cells and turning them into both red and the array of white cells that make up human blood.

World stem cell leaders will converge on Promega's BioPharmaceutical Technology Center in Fitchburg on April 30 for the 9th Annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium: From Stem Cells to Blood.

Desperate patients are easy prey for unscrupulous clinics offering untested and risky stem cell treatments, says law and bioethics Professor Alta Charo of the University of WisconsinMadison, who is studying "stem cell tourism."

As stem cells continue their gradual transition from the lab to the clinic, a research group at the University of WisconsinMadison has discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells and muscle progenitors from human stem cells.

A team of University of WisconsinMadison researchers has induced human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to differentiate toward pure-population, mature heart muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes.

A team of engineers at the University of WisconsinMadison has created a process to improve the creation of synthetic neural stem cells for use in central nervous system research.

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) researchers have discovered a very early regulatory event that controls the production of blood stem cells and the adult blood system.

With last Friday's retirement of longtime University Research Park Director Mark Bugher, associate director Greg Hyer is assuming the role of interim director of the successful, 260-acre park on the West Side of Madison.

Developing a new drug takes enormous amounts of time, money and skill, but the bar is even higher for a promising stem-cell therapy. Many types of cells derived from these ultra-flexible parent cells are moving toward the market, but the very quality that makes stem cells so valuable also makes them a difficult source of therapeutics.

What if you could travel back in time 3 billion years, and take a breath? What would earths air smell like? Deeply stinky, according to Brooke Norsted, an outreach specialist for the University of WisconsinMadison Geology Museum.

Rebecca Blank arriving, Kevin Reilly leaving. Budget cuts and tuition freezes. Even if you were vacationing and unplugged over the summer, it was hard to miss these headlines. But you can be excused for not being on top of everything that happened on campus while you were away.

Using human pluripotent stem cells and DNA-cutting protein from meningitis bacteria, researchers from the Morgridge Institute for Research and Northwestern University have created an efficient way to target and repair defective genes.

Many scientists use animals to model human diseases. Mice can be obese or display symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Rats get Alzheimer's and diabetes. But animal models are seldom perfect, and so scientists are looking at a relatively new type of stem cell, called the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell), that can be grown into specialized cells that become useful models for human disease.

MADISON, Wis. Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of WisconsinMadison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure.

In new research published this week, Anita Bhattacharyya, a neuroscientist at the Waisman Center at the University of WisconsinMadison, reports on brain cells that were grown from skin cells of individuals with Down syndrome.

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation has chosen two University of WisconsinMadison researchers for 2013 Shaw Scientist Awards.

A University of WisconsinMadison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells - without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC.

The drug trial is not off to an auspicious start. The cells are not cooperating.

For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember.

When it comes to delivering genes to living human tissue, the odds of success come down the molecule. The entire therapy - including the tools used to bring new genetic material into a cell - must have predictable effects.

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Stem cells | | News | UW-Madison

Our Stem Cell Learning Lab was made possible through a grant from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment. Through this effort, we seek to build a greater understanding of stem cell research and regenerative medicine into school and community science outreach programs in Wisconsin. Our UW-Madison stem cell outreach labs are among the very few in the country and continue to place Madison at the forefront of stem cell research education and science education. We hope teachers will be able to take advantage of our opportunities and provide more of these unique experiences to their students.

Through this hands-on experience, either in our lab at the Biotechnology Center or at schools and science fairs, learners use the same equipment and methods stem cell researchers use to prepare and grow their cells. Our participants, however, use realistic cell and media substitutes due to biosafety and contamination concerns in public settings. To help your visit run smoothly, please contact the UW-Madison Campus Visit Program.

Our outreach programs are also part of many existing UW-Madison science programs, including Science Expeditions, Science Olympiad, the Wisconsin Science Festival, Grandparents University and UW Day at the Wisconsin State Fair. Our Stem Cell Learning Lab is a collaboration among the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, Biotechnology Center,WiCell, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Student Society for Stem Cell Research(SSSCR), the Wisconsin Stem Cell Roundtable(WiSCR), and Morgridge Outreach Experiences.

Since 2010, our stem cell outreach programs have reached more than 35,000 learners.

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Public Outreach | Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center

By Insoo Hyun, PhD Download as PDF

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the capacity to renew themselves and to specialize into various cell types, such as blood, muscle, and nerve cells. Embryonic stem cells, found in five-day-old embryos, eventually give rise to all the different cells and organ systems of the embryo. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent because they are capable of differentiating along each of the three germ layers of cells in the embryo, as well as producing the germ line (sperm and eggs). The three germ layers are the ectoderm (skin, nerves, brain), the mesoderm (bone, muscle), and the endoderm (lungs, digestive system).

During later stages of human development, minute quantities of more mature stem cells can be found in most tissue and organ systems, such as bone marrow, the skin, and the gut. These stem cells are responsible for renewing and repairing the bodys specialized cells. Although the lay public often refers to them as adult stem cells, researchers prefer to call them multipotent because they are less versatile than pluripotent stem cells. Most stem cell scientists believe multipotent stem cells can only differentiate into cells related to the tissue or organ systems from which they originated. For example, blood stem cells can develop into different types of blood cells, but not into nerve cells or brain cells.

While multipotent stem cell research has been around for more than 40 years and has led to clinical therapies for leukemia and other blood disorders, the field of human embryonic stem cell research is still relatively new, and basic discoveries have yet to be directly transitioned into clinical applications. Human embryonic stem cells were first isolated and maintained in culture in 1998 by James Thomson and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin. Since then, more than a thousand different isolateslines of self-renewing embryonic stem cellshave been created and shared by researchers worldwide.

The main ethical and policy issues with stem cells concern the derivation and use of embryonic stem cells for research. A substantial minority of Americans objects to the destruction of embryos that occurs when stem cells are harvested. Embryonic stem cell research is especially controversial for those who believe that five-day-old preimplantation human embryos should not be destroyed no matter how valuable the research may be for society.

To bypass this ethical controversy, the Presidents Council on Bioethics recommended in 2005 that alternative sources of pluripotent stem cells be pursued. Some alternatives have been developedmost notably, the induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are human skin cells reprogrammed to behave like embryonic cells. But embryonic stem cell research will remain necessary because there are some questions only embryonic stem cells have the potential to answer.

Pluripotent Capable of differentiating into all cell types.

Multipotent Capable of differentiating into a limited variety of cells related to a particular tissue system.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) Research cloning; replacing the DNA of an unfertilized egg with the DNA of a cell from a patient.

Retrovirus A type of virus that is useful for transferring genes into cells.

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells Normal body cells that are reprogrammed with retroviruses to behave like embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are necessary for several aims of scientific and biomedical research. They include addressing fundamental questions in developmental biology, such as how primitive cells differentiate into more specialized cells and how different organ systems first come into being. By increasing our knowledge of human development, embryonic stem cells may also help us better understand the causes of fetal deformations.

Other important applications lie in the areas of disease research and targeted drug development. By deriving and studying embryonic stem cells that are genetically matched to diseases such as Parkinson disease and juvenile diabetes, researchers hope to map out the developmental course of complex medical conditions to understand how, when, and why diseased specialized cells fail to function properly in patients. Such disease-in-a-dish model systems would provide researchers with a powerful new way to study genetic diseases. Furthermore, researchers can aggressively test the safety and efficacy of new, targeted drug interventions on tissue cultures of living human cells derived from disease-specific embryonic stem cells. This method of testing would reduce the risks associated with human subjects research.

To date, stem cell scientists have succeeded in producing a few disease-specific stem cell lines using unwanted fertility clinic embryos that had tested positive for serious genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy. However, no methods exist to screen embryos for more complex diseases like Lou Gehrig and Alzheimer disease; thus scientists must develop their own disease-specific stem cell lines for these and many other diseases they wish to study.

One possible way of deriving disease-specific stem cells is through a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), otherwise known as research cloning. By replacing the DNA of an unfertilized egg with the DNA of a cell from a patients body, researchers may be able to produce embryonic stem cells that are genetically matched to the patient and his or her particular disease. SCNT has worked recently in nonhuman primates to produce cell-donor-matched primate stem cells, suggesting that it is possible for human research (see Chapter 6: Cloning ).

Another technique for creating disease-specific stem cells was pioneered in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka and colleagues in Kyoto, Japan. They took mouse skin cells and used retroviruses to insert four genes into them to create iPS cells. In 2007, teams led by Yamanaka, James Thomson, and George Daley each used similar techniques to create human iPS cells. The iPS cell approach is promising because disease-specific stem cells can be created using skin samples from patients and because, unlike SCNT, it does not require the procurement of scarce human eggs for research.

However, despite these advances, scientists do not believe iPS cells can replace human embryonic stem cells in research. For one, embryonic stem cells must be used as controls to assess the behavior and full scientific potential of iPS cells. Furthermore, iPS cells may not be able to answer some important questions about early human development. And safety is a major issue for iPS cell research aimed at clinical applications, since retroviruses can cause harmful mutations in the stem cells, increasing the risk of cancer. In light of these and other concerns, iPS cells may perhaps prove to be most useful in their potential to expand our overall understanding of stem cell biology, the net effect of which will provide the best hope of discovering new therapies for patients.

Many who oppose embryonic stem cell research believe for religious or other personal reasons that all preimplantation embryos have a moral standing equal to living persons. On the other hand, those who support embryonic stem cell research point out that not all religious traditions grant full moral standing to early-stage human embryos. According to Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions, as well as many Western Christian views, moral standing arrives much later during the gestation process, with some views maintaining that the fetus must first reach a stage of viability where it would be capable of living outside the womb. Living in a pluralistic society such as ours, supporters argue, means having to tolerate differences in religious and personal convictions over such theoretical matters as when during development moral standing first appears.

Other critics of embryonic stem cell research believe that all preimplantation embryos have the potential to become full-fledged human beings and that they should never have this potential destroyed. In response, stem cell supporters argue that it is simply false that all early-stage embryos have the potential for complete human lifemany fertility clinic embryos are of poor quality and therefore not capable of producing a pregnancy (although they may yield stem cells). Similarly, as many as 7580% of all embryos created through intercourse alone fail to implant. Furthermore, no embryos have the potential for full human life until they are implanted in a womans uterus, and prior to this essential step an embryos potential exists only in the most abstract and hypothetical sense.

Despite the controversies, embryonic stem cell research continues to proceed rapidly around the world, with strong public funding in many areas. In this country, money for embryonic stem cell research has come mainly from states and private sources ever since the federal government limited its funding to research with embryonic stem cell lines derived before August 9, 2001. Scientists point out, however, that these presidential stem cell lines lack genetic diversity, have accrued genetic mutations, and are prone to infection from animal viruses introduced by the mouse feeder layers on which they were grown. The result is that these stem cell lines are not as scientifically useful as newer stem cell lines, many of which have been grown on feeder systems free of animal products. And as these newer stem cell lines age and begin to accrue their own mutations, more new stem cell lines will have to be created for research.

In light of the ethical concerns, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) established guidelines in 2005 for the conduct of human embryonic stem cell research. According to these guidelines, all privately and publicly funded scientists working with pluripotent stem cells should have their research proposals approved by local embryonic stem cell research oversight (ESCRO) committees. ESCRO committees are to include basic scientists, physicians, ethicists, legal experts, and community members to look at stem-cell-specific issues relating to the proposed research. These committees are also to work with local ethics review boards to ensure that the donors of embryos and other human materials are treated fairly and have given their voluntary informed consent to stem cell research teams. Although these guidelines are voluntary, universities and other research centers have widely accepted them.

At the global level, in 2007 the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) released guidelines for pluripotent human stem cell research. Like the NAS, it also endorses the formation of local committees to oversee and maintain high ethical standards. However, the ISSCR guidelines add the further recommendation that stem cell lines be banked and freely distributed to researchers around the world to facilitate the fields progress on just and reasonable terms.

The potential for overcommercialization and restrictive patenting practices is a major problem facing the stem cell field today that may delay or reduce the broad public benefit of stem cell research. The promise of broad public benefit is one of the justifying conditions for conducting stem cell research; without the real and substantial possibility for public benefit, stem cell research loses one of its most important moral foundations.

However, providing useful stem-cell-based therapies in the future is not a simple proposition, either. Currently there are no international guidelines for researchers who wish to translate basic pluripotent stem cell research into effective clinical applications for patients. The ISSCR is drafting guidelines to fill this void. Developing a roadmap to bring stem cell research into the clinic will involve many complex steps. They include:

These and other difficult issues have to be sorted out soon if stem cell research in all its forms is to fulfill its promise.

Insoo Hyun, PhD, is an associate professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University.

Insoo Hyun, Stem Cells, in From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists, Policymakers, and Campaigns, ed. Mary Crowley (Garrison, NY: The Hastings Center, 2008), 159-162.

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Chapter 34: Stem Cells - The Hastings Center

Wisconsin Stem Cell Therapy Worldstemcells.com is one of the leading stem cell therapy and treatment providers for residents of Wisconsin and across the nation. Our cutting edge technology and compassionate staff truly set us apart from the competition. We are a US based company that understands your needs and concerns when looking for a stem cell treatment center. Our treatment center is located in Cancun, Mexico.

Conditions we treat include but not limited to:

Getting Started With Your Stem Cell Therapy and Treatments Here at World Stem Cells LLC we try to make the process of receiving stem cell transplants as easy as possible. We will help you figure out what your needs are and help you reach your goals as fast as possible. Follow the steps below on what to do.

Option 1 1.) Go to any page on our website and fill out the contact form. 2.) Fill in the required information and select the condition you would like to treat with stem cell therapy. 3.) Be sure to include any special information in the comments section. 4.) Click the submit button and we will contact you in a timely manner. 5.) Thats it, youre done!!!

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Option 2

Call 800-234-1693 and speak with a representative regarding your stem cell therapy needs and requirements.

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Wisconsin Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Treatments