Page 2,049«..1020..2,0482,0492,0502,051..2,0602,070..»

New Research Method Opens Door to Therapy with Human Muscle Stem Cells Promising Method Developed

Posted: August 27, 2014 at 6:45 am

27.08.2014 - (idw) Max-Delbrck-Centrum fr Molekulare Medizin (MDC) Berlin-Buch

Stem cells are essential for the repair of muscle damage, but all attempts to manipulate human muscle stem cells for therapy have thus far failed. Now Dr. Andreas Marg and Prof. Simone Spuler of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint cooperation between the Max Delbrck Center (MDC) and the Charit, have shown how this might work. They developed a method in which they did not isolate the muscle stem cells, but rather cultivated, proliferated and transplanted them along with their muscle fibers. Using this method in mice, they were able to successfully regenerate muscle tissue. Thus they have opened the door for the use of muscle stem cells to treat muscle diseases.* "Muscle stem cells, which we also refer to as satellite cells, can awaken in their stem cell niche after decades of quiescence and can then repair damaged muscle tissue," Professor Spuler explained. At the ECRC in Berlin-Buch, the neurologist heads the University Outpatient Clinic for Muscle Disorders and the Department of Muscle Sciences. She and her team are exploring the causes of muscle diseases. Evidence shows that satellite cells are active in people with severe muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe genetic disease in which the muscles degenerate. "But at some point, she added, the reservoir is depleted of muscle stem cells and muscle wasting cannot be stopped."

All attempts to rebuild muscle tissue by transplanting satellite cells in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have failed. The transplanted cells are not viable. Furthermore, the use of other cells with potential to regenerate muscle cells has shown little success. These cells have only limited potential to regenerate muscle. But how is it possible to nevertheless use the bodys own self-renewal potential and the reconstruction potential of satellite cells?

The offer of developmental biologist Professor Carmen Birchmeier (MDC) to participate in the network project on satellite cells (SatNet) of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research pointed Professor Spuler and her co-workers in the right direction. One of the topics of the project was to elucidate why satellite cells rapidly lose their regeneration potential if they are kept in a cell culture. This led to the idea to cultivate the satellite cells together with the surrounding muscle tissue to see whether the cells, if they remain in their accustomed milieu, might possibly regenerate better.

Muscle biopsy specimens from young and old donors After due approval and written, informed consent, Professor Spuler and Dr. Marg obtained specimens of fresh thigh muscle tissue from patients between 20 and 80 years of age from neurosurgeons of Helios Klinikum Berlin-Buch, which like the MDC is located close to the ECRC.

From the biopsy specimens, Professor Spuler and her co-workers dissected more than 1000 muscle fiber fragments, each about 2-3 millimeters long. Remarkably, the researchers found the number of stem cells in the individual tissue specimens to be independent of the age of the donor and that thousands of myoblasts developed from a small number of satellite cells. After further developmental steps, these fuse into muscle fibers.

Dr. Marg: Satellite cells need to have their local milieu around them Professor Spuler and her co-workers cultivated the muscle fiber fragments with the satellite cells, initially for up to three weeks. During this time, the satellite cells increased by 20- to 50-fold, but numerous connective tissue cells also developed in these cultures. To prevent this, the researchers concurrently subjected the muscle fragments to oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) and to cooling (hypothermia) at 4 degrees Celsius. Under these conditions, only satellite cells are able to survive in their stem cell niche, in contrast to the connective tissue cells. Apparently, the satellite cells receive the proper nutrients in their own local milieu, Dr. Marg said.

First success in mice The ECRC researchers then tried out their therapy approach in mice in which muscle regeneration had been inhibited by irradiation. They grafted the muscle fragments containing the satellite cells, which following the hypothermia had been kept for two weeks in culture dishes, into the tibalis anterior muscle. The researchers found that the muscles of animals that had been treated with these fiber fragments regenerated particularly well.

Objective: to couple satellite cells with gene therapy However, a genetic muscle disease cannot be successfully treated alone by transplanting muscle fragments. Professor Spuler: The idea is therefore to equip the satellite cells additionally with a healthy gene that repairs the defective gene and then to transfect it with the aid of a non-viral gene taxi into the muscles to be treated. In a first experiment with a reporter gene in the Petri dish, Professor Spuler and her co-workers proved that this is possible in principle. The reporter gene fluoresces green when it is transfected into the satellite cell. As gene taxi the researchers use the Sleeping Beauty transposon a jumping gene that can change its position in the genome. This transposon technique was developed several years ago by Dr. Zsuzsanna Izsvk (MDC) and Dr. Zoltn Ivics (Paul Ehrlich Institute, Frankfurt) and is considered to be a very promising delivery vehicle (vector) for gene therapy.

Before the method developed by Professor Spuler and her group can be used to benefit patients, some hurdles remain to be taken. So far, the transplantation has succeeded in small mice muscles. In clinical trials, the scientists and physicians want to determine whether this technique can be used in large human thigh muscles, which may be severely altered due to a muscular disease.

Read this article:
New Research Method Opens Door to Therapy with Human Muscle Stem Cells Promising Method Developed

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy | Comments Off on New Research Method Opens Door to Therapy with Human Muscle Stem Cells Promising Method Developed

Stem Cell Research – Study Subject: Deb O’Connell – Video

Posted: August 27, 2014 at 4:44 am


Stem Cell Research - Study Subject: Deb O #39;Connell
This short video is an update on Deb to demonstrate where she is along her recovery timeline. She is now almost two years into her recovery after undergoing ...

By: Regenetek Research Inc

Read more here:
Stem Cell Research - Study Subject: Deb O'Connell - Video

Posted in Stem Cell Research | Comments Off on Stem Cell Research – Study Subject: Deb O’Connell – Video

Stem Cell Research with Professor Francisco Figueiredo (Newcastle University) – Video

Posted: August 27, 2014 at 4:44 am


Stem Cell Research with Professor Francisco Figueiredo (Newcastle University)
Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences) with the support of the Wellcome Trust organised a lecture with Professor Francisco Figueiredo from Newcastle University about...

By: DurhamUniversity

Excerpt from:
Stem Cell Research with Professor Francisco Figueiredo (Newcastle University) - Video

Posted in Stem Cell Research | Comments Off on Stem Cell Research with Professor Francisco Figueiredo (Newcastle University) – Video

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – Why I’m Not Doing It [COD: Black Ops 2 MSMC Streaks] – Video

Posted: August 27, 2014 at 4:44 am


ALS Ice Bucket Challenge - Why I #39;m Not Doing It [COD: Black Ops 2 MSMC Streaks]
A video explaing why I #39;m not doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I #39;d encourage you to find organizations that don #39;t use embryonic stem cell research: Mayo Clinic and John Paul II Research...

By: JudgmentAwaits

Read more:
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge - Why I'm Not Doing It [COD: Black Ops 2 MSMC Streaks] - Video

Posted in Stem Cell Research | Comments Off on ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – Why I’m Not Doing It [COD: Black Ops 2 MSMC Streaks] – Video

Tennessee in middle of embryonic stem cell fight | wbir.com

Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:57 pm

By Christina E. Sanchez, THE TENNESSEAN

Vanderbilt University believes its research on human embryonic stem cells will find cures and save lives.

A Tennessee-based Christian group believes it is saving lives by bringing the research to a grinding halt.

They stand on opposite sides of a debate that swept the nation last week after a federal judge barred government funding of human embryonic stem cell research, saying it was illegal. The Obama administration plans to appeal the decision.

Tennessee has become a key player in the arguments unfolding in court that could decide the fate of research involving human embryos. Even Tennessee's two U.S. senators are divided on the issue.

After filing a federal lawsuit 18 months ago, the Tennessee-based Christian Medical and Dental Association and others involved in the suit are cheering the recent court injunction as a victory on moral ground.

"It's not a matter of if we should be doing regenerative medicine research; it is a question of where we get the stem cells," said Dr. David Stevens, chief executive officer of the representative group for 17,000 medical professionals, headquartered in Bristol in the northeast corner of Tennessee.

"We crossed the line of ethical medicine."

Opponents believe destroying an embryo to harvest its stem cells is the equivalent of taking a human life. They point to adult stem cells, taken from a living donor, as a more ethical alternative.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt researchers, who were surprised by the ruling, say the freeze on their work stymies progress in a promising area of research.

Link:

Tennessee in middle of embryonic stem cell fight | wbir.com

Posted in Tennessee Stem Cells | Comments Off on Tennessee in middle of embryonic stem cell fight | wbir.com

For the first time, researchers isolate adult stem cells …

Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:55 pm

Media contacts: Michelle Maclay, 919-843-5365; Les Lang, (919) 966-9366, llang@med.unc.edu

Thursday, April 4, 2013

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. For the first time, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have isolated adult stem cells from human intestinal tissue.

The accomplishment provides a much-needed resource for scientists eager to uncover the true mechanisms of human stem cell biology. It also enables them to explore new tactics to treat inflammatory bowel disease or to ameliorate the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which often damage the gut.

Not having these cells to study has been a significant roadblock to research, said senior study author Scott T. Magness, PhD, assistant professor in the departments of medicine, biomedical engineering, and cell biology and physiology at UNC. Until now, we have not had the technology to isolate and study these stem cells now we have to tools to start solving many of these problems

The UNC study, published online April 4, 2013, in the journal Stem Cells, represents a leap forward for a field that for many years has had to resort to conducting experiments in cells from mice. While significant progress has been made using mouse models, differences in stem cell biology between mice and humans have kept researchers from investigating new therapeutics for human afflictions.

While the information we get from mice is good foundational mechanistic data to explain how this tissue works, there are some opportunities that we might not be able to pursue until we do similar experiments with human tissue, lead study co-author Adam D. Gracz, a graduate student in Magness lab. Megan K. Fuller, MD, was also co-lead author of the study.

The Magness lab was the first in the United States to isolate and grow single intestinal stem cells from mice, so they had a leg up when it came to pursuing similar techniques in human tissue. Plus the researchers were able to get sections of human small intestine for their experiments that otherwise would have been discarded after gastric bypass surgery at UNC.

To develop their technique, the researchers investigated whether the approach they had taken in mice would work in human tissue. They first looked to see if the same molecules they had found stuck on the surface of mouse stem cells were also present on human stem cells. The researchers established that these specific molecules called CD24 and CD44 -- were indeed the same between the two species. They then attached fluorescent tags to these molecules and used a special machine called a fluorescence activated cell sorter to identify and isolate the stem cells from the small intestine samples.

They found that not only could they isolate the human stem cells from human intestinal tissue, but that they also could separate different types of intestinal stem cells from each other. These two types of stem cells active and reserve are a hot topic for stem cell researchers who are still trying to figure out how reserve stem cells cycle in to replenish active stem cells damaged by injury, chemotherapy or radiation.

The rest is here:

For the first time, researchers isolate adult stem cells ...

Posted in North Carolina Stem Cells | Comments Off on For the first time, researchers isolate adult stem cells …

The Man Who Grew Eyes From Scratch

Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:55 pm

Growing nerve tissue and organs is a sci-fi dream. Moheb Costandi met the pioneering researcher who grew eyes and brain cells.

The train line from mainland Kobe is a marvel of urban transportation. Opened in 1981, Japan's first driverless, fully automated train pulls out of Sannomiya station, guided smoothly along elevated tracks that stand precariously over the bustling city streets below, across the bay to the Port Island.

The island, and much of the city, was razed to the ground in the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 which killed more than 5,000 people and destroyed more than 100,000 of Kobe's buildings and built anew in subsequent years. As the train proceeds, the landscape fills with skyscrapers. The Rokk mountains come into view, looming menacingly over the city, peppered with smoke billowing from the dozens of narrow chimneys of the electronics, steel and shipbuilding factories.

Today, as well as housing the Port of Kobe, the man-made island contains hotels, medical centres, universities, a large convention centre and an Ikea store. There are also three government-funded RIKEN research institutions: the Advanced Institute of Computational Science (which is home to what was, until 2011, the world's fastest supercomputer), the Center for Life Science Technologies, and the Centre for Developmental Biology (CDB).

At the entrance to one of the labs, a faded poster in a thin plastic frame shows the crew of the Starship Enterprise, a young Captain Kirk sitting proudly at the helm. Underneath is the famous Star Trek slogan: "To boldly go where no man has gone before."

On the other side of the door, scientists in the Laboratory for Organogenesis and Neurogenesis are working on something that has fired the imagination of science fiction authors for many years. They are at the cutting edge of an emerging field: rebuilding the body by growing tissues and organs from stem cells. They hope to develop the next generation of therapies for a variety of debilitating human diseases, and unravel the mysteries of brain development.

Not long after fertilisation, the embryo consists of a tiny sphere of identical, non-specialised cells, referred to as pluripotent stem cells. These have the ability to stay in this state indefinitely, while dividing to produce daughter cells that are capable of turning into any cell type found in the adult body. These embryonic stem cells offered hope for researchers trying to develop disease treatments, but the fact that they could only be obtained from human embryos raised serious ethical questions about their use.

Then, in 2007, a team led by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University demonstrated that connective tissue cells from adult rats could be made to revert to a pluripotent, stem cell-like state and reprogrammed to form different cell types. Others went on to show that cells taken from just about anywhere in the human body can be similarly reprogrammed, into just about any other type of cell.

By 2008, US researchers had taken skin cells from an 82-year-old woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, a form of motor neuron disease), placed them into petri dishes and reprogrammed them to form the same motor neurons that are destroyed by the disease. By 2010, researchers at Stanford had shown that mouse connective tissue cells could be reprogrammed directly into neurons, bypassing the pluripotent state.

Follow this link:

The Man Who Grew Eyes From Scratch

Posted in North Carolina Stem Cells | Comments Off on The Man Who Grew Eyes From Scratch

Catholic Church At Odds With Ice Bucket Challenge

Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:52 pm

Richmond, VA - The Catholic Diocese of Richmond is joining a growing number of Catholic church authorities that are warning members about religious conflicts related to the recent ice bucket challenge phenomenon.

Last week 29 Catholic Schools that fall under Richmond's umbrella were notified.

On Tuesday 146 parishes were also informed by letter.

A spokeswoman said thediocese supports all the work being done to take on ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, butthey want members to research where it is they send their money to benefit the cause.

Leaders point out that the ALS Association does some testing using embryonic stem cells - which the Catholicchurchconsiders immoral.

The suggestion is to donate to groups that use adult stem cells in their research and not embryonic stem cells.

"Embryonic stem cell research... as part of that research an embryo is destroyed. So, of course, we cannot support any research that destroys a human embryo because all life is sacred at all stages of human development,"said Diana Snider who is the diocese's communications manager.

The Catholic church endorses groups like the John Paul II Medical Research Institute, based in Iowa, which does not use embryonic stem cells in their research.

Visit link:

Catholic Church At Odds With Ice Bucket Challenge

Posted in Iowa Stem Cells | Comments Off on Catholic Church At Odds With Ice Bucket Challenge

Spinal Stem Cell Treatment IN | Spinal Pain Treatment IN …

Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:52 pm

What is a Stem Cell? What are autologous adult stem cells? How do adult stem cells work? What conditions are most helped by Stem Cell Therapy? Are there any known side effects to Adult Stem Cell Therapy? How long is the procedure? How long will it be before I see results? Is the procedure FDA approved? Are there any moral issues associated with Adult Stem Cell Therapy? Where is the best source of stem cells for therapy and treatment? Do you offer Bone Marrow Harvesting? What is Regenerative Medicine? Can Stem Cells Cause Cancer? Can Stem Cells Be Used in Patients that have or have had Cancer? How are Stem Cells Administered to the Patient? What claims are you currently making about what stem cell therapy can do for you? Is anything added to the stem cells? Does a patient have to participate in an IRB study and does a patient have to qualify for the IRB study to get treatment? What is a Stem Cell?

Stem cells are unspecialized cells but can give rise to almost any type of specialized cell in the human body. The environment in which the stem cell finds itself determines what kind of specialized cell the stem cell will become. In the example of placing the stem cells inside of a disc, they turn into cells that will rebuild the disc. PM&R Associates uses adult stem cells that only have the ability to turn into tissues such as cartilage and connective tissue as is found in spinal discs and joints, tendons, muscle, and ligaments. All of these tissues can be repaired with stem cells and to a lesser extent platelets. The cells are taken from your own body and used for treatment the same day, so there is no risk of rejection or disease transmission. These procedures are performed in our clinic, under conscious sedation and local anesthesia. This procedure is not currently covered by any insurance company. Most patients are helped by injecting a chondroitin and glucosamine mixture into the disc. This procedure is covered if an insurance company covers a discogram procedure. The results are dependent on there being live disc cells inside the disc

Autologous adult stem cells are derived from the same individuals body. Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells, found throughout the body after development and do not have many of the properties of embryonic stem cells that, as the name implies, come from the embryo. Although adult stem cells can form other cells, they cannot form a new person and are not associated with the kind of cancers associated with embryonic stem cells. Stem cells are the fundamental elements of life that can be found in all tissues of the body: connective tissues, muscle tissues, nervous tissues, and epithelial tissues. In living tissue, adipose (fat) tissue has the highest concentration of stem cells and can produce billions of cells that will repair, replenish, and rejuvenate ones body immediately.

Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells, found throughout the human body, that form after growth & development. The main purpose of adult stem cells is to use cell division to repair and replace dying cells in order to regenerate damaged tissue. Once adult stem cells are administered to the body, they respond to inflammatory signals secreted by damaged cells.

Although many clinics use stem cells to treat a wide variety of systemic conditions, at PM&R Associates we only treat musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. These are primarily degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis. Other MSK conditions would also respond, but usually less costly alternatives exist.

Side effects from stem cell therapy are related to the harvesting of the tissues that provide the stem cells and the procedure itself, not the stem cells. This is true as long as all of the blood cells are removed from the stem cells because the blood cells produce the pain associated with stem cell therapy. All of the cells can be removed from adipose derived stem cells but not from bone marrow derived stem cells.

Both the liposuction and bone marrow aspiration take about 30 minutes. Processing the adipose tissue takes about 40 minutes and the disc injection procedure takes between 30 and 45 minutes. A joint injection takes only a few minutes. You will be in the clinic about 2 hours, but we ask you to plan 3 hours in case there are unforeseen problems.

Stem cells are a biologic treatment. It takes time for the biologic response to take effect, so the longer you wait, the better the result. We do not expect to see significant results before two months.

No stem cell therapy is FDA approved, even the use of stem cells to treat certain forms of cancer. The FDA has decided that they will not interfere as long as the stem cells are not altered and are used the same day. Not altered means the stem cells cannot be cultured to increase their numbers. By using adipose (fat) tissue as the source, enough stem cells are obtained so that culturing is not necessary.

The controversies associated with stem cell therapy are associated with embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells used during treatment come from your own body. PM&R Associates does not harvest embryonic stem cells and is therefore not related to any controversial debates.

Continued here:

Spinal Stem Cell Treatment IN | Spinal Pain Treatment IN ...

Posted in Indiana Stem Cells | Comments Off on Spinal Stem Cell Treatment IN | Spinal Pain Treatment IN …

Georgia (Stem Cell) – what-when-how

Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:51 pm

Georgia has an impressive academic and clinical research history in biomedical science. In 1998 physicians at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta (in partnership with Emory University) performed the first allogenic umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant on a child for sickle cell disease, resulting in a cure. To attract technology industry professionals, the Georgia Research Alliance creates a collaborative network of researchers. Georgia promotes nonembryonic stem cell and related research, and researchers are performing work on National Institutes of Health-approved human embryonic stem cells to discover treatments for human disease.

No federal legislation in the United States regulates stem cell research except the executive order to not allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in cell lines created after August 9, 2001; each state is responsible for determining policy, regulation, and funding. Georgia legislators considered and failed to pass bills in 2006 and 2007 regarding umbilical cord blood banking and stem cell research on nonembryonic sourced stem cells.

Georgias current policy comes from an April 14, 2006, executive order to create the Governors Commission for New Born Umbilical Cord Blood Research and Medical Treatment to establish statewide cord blood banking networks and promote nonembryonic stem cell research, though not providing state funding for this research. Public funding is available through competitive grants from federal sources, such as the National Institutes of Health, and state research funds, as well as private foundations and biotech companies.

The Georgia Research Alliance is a private, nonprofit corporation begun in 1990 to enhance Georgias economy through collaboration by academia, business, and government to encourage technology research and development by attracting top scientists and fostering new business development. Funding is provided by the state, universities, and private sources. The alliances four areas of focus include eminent scholars, research laboratories and equipment, national centers for research and innovation, and technology transfer.

The research universities affiliated with the alliance that have researchers focused on stem cell research include the University of Georgia, the Medical College of Georgia, Emory University, Clark Atlanta University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. With past investments of over $400 million, the alliance has attracted over 50 eminent scholars, 17 of whom specialize in stem cell research.

The Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia conducts research on National Institutes of Health-approved human stem cell lines for translation into clinical therapy to alleviate human diseases. The center promotes cross-discipline and multi-institutional research within the Georgia Research Alliance with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State, the Medical College of Georgia, and Emory University. The center increases knowledge, facility, and technology resources to gain external funding. In addition to research, the center provides education to national/international researchers, graduate and undergraduate classes taught by the faculty, and high school students interested in biomedical science careers through the young scholars program.

The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Workshop at the University of Georgia includes four days of hands-on laboratory education and lectures for participants to learn about innovations and the techniques for working with human embryonic stem cell lines. The laboratory portion includes how to propagate, maintain, and cryopreserve undifferentiated stem cells, as well as differentiation techniques using feeders and karyotyping of stem cells. Human Embryonic Stem Cells Symposia are held in conjunction with the workshop to discuss the latest news in stem cell research, tissue engineering, and clinical applications for treating human disease.

Steven Stice, director of the center and professor at the University of Georgia, in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, created a kit containing neural cells grown from human embryonic stem cells to detect a broad spectrum of chemical weapons. The device is designed to detect changes in cell activity.

The Stem Cell/Restorative Program at the Medical College of Georgia uses adult stem cells for the treatment of brain injuries. The current studies are in animal models, with the hope of translating them into clinical therapy for adults and children with cerebral palsy and stroke, using adult stem cells.

The Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience opened at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. Researchers at the institute enjoy collaborative relationships across academic disciplines. The institute fosters partnerships or multiple-university research in regenerative medicine and stem cell research.

Read more:

Georgia (Stem Cell) - what-when-how

Posted in Georgia Stem Cells | Comments Off on Georgia (Stem Cell) – what-when-how

Page 2,049«..1020..2,0482,0492,0502,051..2,0602,070..»