“Latest Stem Cells News”

Cancer patients in remission at a Suffolk hospital can have their own cells transplanted back to them with the use of a new piece of equipment.

The stem-cell bath defrosts frozen cells taken from people recovering from blood cancers myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma at Ipswich Hospital.

When transplanted back to the patient following treatment the cells can help their body create new bone marrow.

The bath cuts down on the need for patients to travel to other hospitals.

The stem cells are stored at -190C in liquid nitrogen and can be kept for several years at the national blood transfusion centre in Cambridge.

They are then brought up to body temperature in just two minutes using the bath, the hospital said.

Hermione Warner-Charlick, haematology clinical nurse specialist, said: “The new bath is important because it quickly defrosts the frozen cells to give them back to the patient safely.”

British scientists have created human red blood cells from spare embryonic stem cells, a major breakthrough they claim could soon pave the way for production of synthetic ‘O-negative‘ blood for medical transfusions.

The red blood cells have been produced from stem cells from spare IVF embryos as part of a three-billion-pound project to develop an alternative source of O-negative blood, the universal donor group which can be transfused into people without fear of rejection, ‘The Independent’ reported.

In their research, the scientists used more than a 100 spare embryos left over from treatment at fertility clinics to establish several embryonic stem cell “lines“. A line, RC-7, was transformed into blood stem cells before being converted into red cells containing oxygen-carrying haemoglobin.

Prof Marc Turner, the Director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service in Edinburgh and leader of the project, said that synthetic blood made on an industrial scale would overcome the problem of blood shortages and risk of transmitting new infections between donors and recipients. “We’ve proved the principle that from these embryonic stem cell lines we can generate red blood cells.

“At the end of this three-year period we would envisage generating up to one unit (a pint) of red cells from embryonic stem cells at clinical grade which fulfil all the in vitro characteristics of red cells,” Prof Turner was quoted as saying.

In a major achievement, the scientists have managed to get a patent for growing stem cells of the cornea. The cells will be grown on a synthetic material, called Mebiol Gel, which will be used in the process of transplant.

For a long time scientists across the world have been trying to get the patent. The declaration was made by the researchers at Sankara Nethralaya and Nichi-In Biosciences Sankara Nethralaya and Nichi-In Biosciences on Friday.

The new procedures have been devised and patented by these two institutes. A synthetic substance was used by the researchers for growing the corneal limbal stem cells in order to reduce the chances of viral infections. Moreover, biological materials have a greater chance of rejection.

Researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University claim that a gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to play a role in the regulation of the differentiation of embryonic stem cells.

In the study, published online in the journal Aging Cell, the researchers identified a protein interaction that controls the silencing of Oct4, a key transcription factor that is critical to ensuring that embryonic stem cells remain pluripotent. The protein, WRNp, is the product of a gene associated with Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disorder hallmarked by premature aging. The gene expression in Werner syndrome closely resembles that of normal aging, and as a result, Werner syndrome is an accepted model of aging.

The first-ever dental stem cell bank in India called “Store your Cells” has now been launched. This unique bank is the venture of started by dentists at Dhruv Polyclinic, Mumbai.

The venture was formed under the guidance of Dr. Kedar Gadgil, who is a successful implant dentist practising at London (UK), Kent (UK), and Mumbai . He is the Director and lead clinician of Dhruv Polyclinic.

The King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh is getting ready to open a stem cell bank harvested from the umbilical cord. The procedure will be done in laboratories and specially equipped rooms to draw the cells from umbilical cord blood and separate them using a special device.

Then they will be stored in labs for a period from 15 to 20 years after examining them and making sure they are free of contagious and genetic diseases. In addition, a team will be prepared for coordinating, marketing and research within this field.