In the February 15th issue of Genes & Development, Dr. K. John McLaughlin and colleagues report on their success in using uniparental embryonic stem cells to replace blood stem cells in mice. Uniparental embryonic stem cells are an appealing alternative source of patient-derived embryonic stem cells, as they have several advantages over embryonic stem cell lines generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (also known as therapeutic cloning).
Using a nuclear transfer procedure, scientists at Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have, for the first time, shown reproducibly that mice can be cloned from adult stem cells.
Healthy and viable mice that survive until adulthood have, for the first time, been cloned from adult stem cells. Scientists from Rockefeller University, including Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Elaine Fuchs, used cells called keratinocyte stem cells, which represent a new model system for cloning. Keratinocytes come from the skin, making them a particularly attractive stem cell source because of their ready accessibility.
Four of the nation?s leading biomedical research institutions have announced the formation of the San Diego Research Ethics Consortium, a multi-institution core resource to support the ethical conduct of science in stem cell and other research programs.
Mice engineered to have cleft palates can be rescued in utero by injecting the mothers with a small molecule to correct the defect, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
Lower transplant rates in ethnic communities may be explained somewhat by a lack of suitable anonymous donors, a problem the medical community has long known and been working to address.
Doctors have implanted adult stem cells extracted from a man’s fat tissue through liposuction into his heart, in an experimental treatment for angina and heart disease.
Low levels of toxic substances cause critical stem cells in the central nervous system to prematurely shut down. That is the conclusion of a study published today in the on-line journal PLoS Biology.
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is planning to enter into the health care market with plans to open a chain of doctors’ surgeries, reported by The Sunday Times.
A little-known lipid plays a big role in helping us grow from a hollow sphere of stem cells into human beings, researchers have found.