Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions. 15 hours ago The schematic diagram of designer proteins and their binding sites at the Oct4 distal enhancer.

(Phys.org) Researchers have developed a new method to produce stem cells using designed proteins. The new system is more precise and more natural than current techniques and the team believe it could be a more efficient and safer route to producing stem cells.

Stem cells have the potential to be used to replace dying or damaged cells with healthy cells. This repair could have wide-ranging uses in medicine such as organ replacement, bone replacement and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This study brings closer to realising the full potential of stem cell technology.

"We have gone down a completely different road to standard practices to produce stem cells from adult cells," says Dr Pentao Liu, senior author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Current techniques to reprogramme cells are inefficient and it's imperative to find other ways to create stem cells."

"We hope that our novel approach to reprogramming cells into stem cells will become a new and safer alternative to current practices."

The team looked at proteins called transcription factors, which regulate the activity of all human genes. Each transcription factor acts to modify the activity of several or many genes.

A key set of these transcription factors are able to convert or reprogramme adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells. However, these factors also act on many genes other than those involved in reprogramming.

The team developed artificial designer transcription factors to target those key reprogramming genes more accurately, minimizing activity on other genes.

"This is a promising and exciting development in our attempt to produce iPS cells that lend themselves in practical applications," says Dr Xuefei Gao, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "We have shown that targeting gene-control regions, called enhancers, in this structured way is a very effective in controlling a gene and reprogramming cells to become iPS cells."

In conventional methods, the transcription factors used to programme cells take part in complicated ways - and target many different parts of the genome - as they are used to reprogramme the cells to become stems cells. As a result, the throughput of successfully reprogrammed cells can be low and the additional number of steps can have associated risks, such as affecting genes that can influence tumour development.

Originally posted here:
Unique route to stem cells: Designer proteins developed to deliver stem cells

Albany, New York (PRWEB) July 12, 2013

According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research "Stem Cells Market (Adult, Human Embryonic , Induced Pluripotent, Rat-Neural, Umbilical Cord, Cell Production, Cell Acquisition, Expansion, Sub-Culture)- Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 - 2018," the market for stem cells was valued at USD 26.23 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach an estimated value of USD 119.51 billion in 2018, growing at a CAGR of 24.2% from 2012 to 2018.

Related Report : Coronary Stents Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/coronary-stents-market.html

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which are capable of differentiating into any type of cell that make-up the human body and thus, are capable of producing non-regenerative cells such as neural and myocardial cells. This report estimates the market for global stem cells in terms of revenue (USD billion) for the period 2012 2018, keeping 2011 as the base year.

The global stem cells market is mainly segmented into four major sub-types namely market by products, market by technology, market by applications and market by geography. The market by products is segmented into three sub-types, namely adult stem cells, human embryonic stem cells and other type of stem cells. Adult stem cells are further segmented into hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, neuronal stem cells, dental stem cells and umbilical cord stem cells.

Browse Bolg : Medical Devices Market Research Reports http://medical-devices-market-reports.blogspot.com/

The other types of stem cells include induced pluripotent stem cells, natural rosette cells and very small embryonic like stem cells. The global stem cells market by technology is segmented into four sub-types, namely cell acquisition, cell production, cryopreservation and expansion and sub-culture. Cell acquisition is further segmented into three sub-types, namely bone marrow harvest, apheresis and umbilical cord blood. Cell production is further segmented into therapeutic cloning, in vitro fertilization, isolation and cell culture.

Browse the full report with TOC at http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/stem-cells-market.html.

The global stem cells market by application is segmented into regenerative medicines and drug discovery and development. Regenerative medicines are further segmented into ten sub-types, namely neurological disorders, orthopedics, cancer, hematological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, injuries, diabetes, liver disorders, incontinence and other disorders like Crohns disease, infertility, immunodeficiency disorders and organ transplants. The global stem cells market is also segmented on the basis of geography into North America, Europe, Asia and rest of the world (RoW) regions and the market in terms of USD billion is provided in this report. The report highlights the market shares of key players in 2011.

The company profiles for some of the key players, namely Advanced Cell Technology Inc., STEMCELL Technologies Inc., Cellular Engineering Technologies Inc., BioTime Inc., Aastrom Biosciences Inc. and California Stem Cell Inc. in terms of company overview, financial overview, business strategies, recent developments and product portfolio is also covered.

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Global Stem Cells Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 - 2018

Cambridge researchers have developed a new method to produce stem cells using designed proteins.

Stem cells have the potential to be used to replace dying or damaged cells with healthy cells. This repair could have wide-ranging uses in medicine such as organ replacement, bone replacement and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This study brings closer to realising the full potential of stem cell technology.

We have gone down a completely different road to standard practices to produce stem cells from adult cells, says Dr Pentao Liu, senior author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Current techniques to reprogramme cells are inefficient and its imperative to find other ways to create stem cells. We hope that our novel approach to reprogramming cells into stem cells will become a new and safer alternative to current practices.

The team looked at proteins called transcription factors, which regulate the activity of all human genes. Each transcription factor acts to modify the activity of several or many genes.

A key set of these transcription factors are able to convert or reprogramme adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells. However, these factors also act on many genes other than those involved in reprogramming.

The team developed artificial designer transcription factors to target those key reprogramming genes more accurately, minimising activity on other genes.

"This is a promising and exciting development in our attempt to produce iPS cells that lend themselves in practical applications, says Dr Xuefei Gao, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. We have shown that targeting gene-control regions, called enhancers, in this structured way is a very effective in controlling a gene and reprogramming cells to become iPS cells.

In conventional methods, the transcription factors used to programme cells take part in complicated ways and target many different parts of the genome as they are used to reprogramme the cells to become stems cells. As a result, the throughput of successfully reprogrammed cells can be low and the additional number of steps can have associated risks, such as affecting genes that can influence tumour development.

The designer transcription factors are extremely accurate. Because this method targets key genes directly and avoids additional genetic detours, it reduces the potential risks linked with standard practices.

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Sanger maps unique route to stem cells

Featured Article Main Category: Ear, Nose and Throat Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 12 Jul 2013 - 2:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Researchers Create Inner Ear Using Stem Cells

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Scientists have developed a way of using stem cells to create key structures of the inner ear in mice, publishing their findings in the journal Nature.

The Indiana University researchers found that by using a 3D cell-culture method, they were able to persuade stem cells to develop into inner ear sensory epithelium, which detects head movement, gravity and sound. The epithelium contains hair cells, supporting cells and neurons.

A 3D cell-culture method can more closely copy natural tissues and organs than cells grown two-dimensionally. In 3D cell culture, cells can attach to each other and form natural cell-to-cell attachments.

Karl R. Koeheler, one of the researchers in the study, explains:

"The three-dimensional culture allows the cells to self-organize into complex tissues using mechanical cues that are found during embryonic development."

"We were surprised to see that once stem cells are guided to become inner ear precursors and placed in 3D culture, these cells behave as if they knew not only how to become different cell types in the inner ear, but also how to self-organize into a pattern remarkably similar to the native inner ear."

He adds that their initial goal was to make inner ear precursors, cells from which other cells are formed, in the 3D culture method - but when they did testing, thousands of hair cells were found in the culture dish.

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Researchers Create Inner Ear Using Stem Cells

Public release date: 12-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Bruce Goldman 650-725-2106 Stanford University Medical Center

STANFORD, Calif. A new, noninvasive technique for tracking stem cells after transplantation developed by a cross-disciplinary team of radiologists, chemists, statisticians and materials scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine could help surgeons determine whether a procedure to repair injured or worn-out knees is successful.

The technique, described in a study to be published online July 12 in Radiology, relies on an imaging agent already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an entirely different purpose: anemia treatment. Although this study used rodents, the approach is likely to be adapted for use in humans this fall as part of a clinical trial in which mesenchymal stem cells will be delivered to the site of patients' knee injuries. Mesenchymal stem cells are capable of differentiating into bone and cartilage, as well as muscle, fat and tendon, but not into the other cell types that populate the body.

Every year, arthritis accounts for 44 million outpatient visits and 700,000 knee-replacement procedures. But the early repair of cartilage defects in young patients may prevent further deterioration of the joint and the need for knee replacement later in life, said the study's senior author, Heike Daldrup-Link, MD, PhD, an associate professor of radiology and clinician who splits her time between research and treating pediatric patients.

Mesenchymal stem cells have been used with some success in cartilage-repair procedures. "These cells can be easily derived from bone marrow of patients who are going to undergo the knee-repair procedure," said Daldrup-Link, a member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford. "And they can differentiate into the real-life tissues that compose our joints. But here, too, things can go wrong. The newly transferred cells might fail to engraft, or die. They might migrate away. They could develop into tissues other than cartilage, most commonly fibrous scar tissue."

Relatively few transplanted cells go the distance. The ability to monitor the cells' engraftment after they are deposited at a patient's knee-injury site is therefore essential. With the new technique, magnetic resonance imaging can visualize stem cells for several weeks after they have been implanted, giving orthopaedic surgeons a better sense of whether the transplantation was successful.

Until now, the only ways of labeling mesenchymal stem cells so that they could be noninvasively imaged have required their manipulation in the laboratory. Upon extraction, the delicate cells have to be given to lab personnel, incubated with contrast agents, spun in a centrifuge and washed and returned to the surgeons, who then transplant the cells into a patient.

The new technique involves labeling the cells before extraction, while they reside in the donor's bone marrow. For the study, lead authors Aman Khurana, MD, a postdoctoral scholar, and Fanny Chapelin, a research associate, injected ferumoxytol, an FDA-licensed anemia treatment composed of iron-oxide nanoparticles, into rats prior to extracting bone marrow from them. Then, after enriching the mixture for mesenchymal stem cells, the investigators injected it into the sites of knee injuries in recipient rats. They followed the implanted cells' progress for up to four weeks, comparing the results with those obtained both from cells labeled in laboratory dishes and from unlabeled cells.

Daldrup-Link and others previously have used ferumoxytol for stem-cell labeling in a dish. However, mesenchymal stem cells in a laboratory dish take up very little of this substance. Interestingly, the researchers showed in a series of experiments that, ensconced in donor rats' bone marrow, the same cells are avid ferumoxytol absorbers. Even several weeks after transplantation into the recipient rats' knees, the mesenchymal stem cells retain enough iron to provide a strong MRI signal.

Original post:
Injecting iron supplement lets Stanford scientists track transplanted stem cells