“Latest Stem Cells News”

Dr Foteini Hassiotou has discovered stem cells can be obtained from breast milk

Serious and fatal diseases such as pancreatic cancer, Parkinson‘s disease and diabetes may eventually be treated using stem cells from breast milk following a remarkable discovery at the University of Western Australia.

UWA PhD student Foteini Hassiotou has potentially broken through the greatest hurdle in stem cell research – the ability to ethically obtain stem cells in a non-invasive manner.

Her finding that stem cells from breast milk can be directed to become other body cell types such as bone, fat, liver and brain cells, could reduce the need to use embryonic stem cells and therefore fast-track future therapies.

Dr Hassiotou’s research follows the 2008 discovery by a team of UWA scientists that breast milk contained embryonic-like stem cells.

Her work was boosted on Sunday when she won the AusBiotech-GlaxoSmithKline national student excellence award. She will now present her findings at an international conference.

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Breast milk, long revered for the nutritional advantages it gives a newborn, could be just as vital in terms of infant development, a leading scientist will claim this week. Up to three different types of stem cells have been discovered in breast milk, according to revolutionary new research.

Dr Mark Cregan, medical director at the Swiss healthcare and baby equipment company Medela, believes the existence of stem cells means breast milk could help a child “fulfil its genetic destiny”, with a mother’s mammary glands taking over from her placenta to guide infant development once her child is born.

“Breast milk is the only adult tissue where more than one type of stem cell has been discovered. That is very unique and implies a lot about the impressive bioactivity of breast milk and the consequential benefits to the breastfed infant,” said Dr Cregan, who is speaking at Unicef’s Baby Friendly Initiative conference this week. His research has isolated adult stem cells of epithelial (mammary) and immune origin, with “very preliminary evidence” that breast milk also contains stem cells that promotes the growth of muscle and bone tissue.

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Guess what? The goobery white stuff (vernix) that coats newborns at birth is good for the skin.
Researchers discovered that leaving the white cheese on, rather than wiping it off, leaves the skin of babies healthier. Yes, you read that right: don’t scrub the newborn the minute she exits the womb—she’s not “dirty.”

Give me a moment. People actually went to college, got PhD’s, (probably post-docs and what-else) to “discover” that this smegma that covers a baby while it floats around in amniotic fluid for nine months is actually GOOD for the skin.
Oh, the wonders of the modern mind. What next, breast milk is the best human food?

Now, enter the business side. Skin Sciences Institute is figuring out exactly what the gunk is and how to patent a synthetic version. They claim this lotion can be used to speed healing and cure chronic skin conditions like eczema. This “stuff” is a mixture of fat and protein—the specifics top secret
They’ll need to produce a formula in the lab, since harvesting vernix from newborns might be awkward.

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