“Latest Stem Cells News”

“For centuries, scientists have known that certain animals can regenerate missing parts of their bodies. Humans actually share this ability with animals like the starfish and the newt. Although we can’t replace a missing leg or a finger, our bodies are constantly regenerating blood, skin, and other tissues.

The identity of the powerful cells that allow us to regenerate some tissues was first revealed when experiments with bone marrow in the 1950s established the existence of stem cells in our bodies and led to the development of bone marrow transplantation, a therapy now widely used in medicine.

This discovery raised hope in the medical potential of regeneration. For the first time in history, it became possible for physicians to regenerate a damaged tissue with a new supply of healthy cells by drawing on the unique ability of stem cells to create many of the body’s specialized cell types (…)”

Read full story clicking here

Incoming search terms:

On any given day, an estimated 6000 Americans who need a bone marrow transplant are searching the country’s donor banks hoping to find the right match.
For many of those patients, especially minorities, the odds of finding an outside donor have been pretty low. But, that is starting to change. There is new research that suggests the donor pool may be widening.

Just shy of his second birthday, little Elmor Bonilla has overcome obstacles and odds most people don’t face over a lifetime.
Elmor was born with Krabbe disease; a rare and often fatal disorder that attacks the central nervous system.
His best shot at survival is a bone marrow transplant immediately.

Incoming search terms:

A team of doctors of haematology department of Nilratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital performed a blood stem cell transplantation on a patient wherein they successfully re-infused blood stem cells into a patient’s bloodstream on 30 January. The patient is suffering from a type of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma.
Mrs Bela Samanta, a resident of Burdwan, has been a patient of leukaemia for past one year. On 16 December she was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. Doctors examined her and said there was a need for this transplantation, if the patient wanted to lead a stable life at least for the next five to seven years.

Incoming search terms:

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.”

Incoming search terms:

The past few years brought high development in obtaining and culturing autologous adult stem cells. In this paper we review publications of experimental investigations and clinical trials of the muscle-derived cells and the application in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence among women. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be obtained from bone marrow but it is associated with a painful biopsy procedure.

Collection of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) is less harmful because the skeletal muscle biopsy is performed with a small caliber needle in local anesthesia. The stem-based therapy could be the next step in the treatment of urinary incontinence. There are still many elements of therapy such as effectiveness or long-term side effects which need to be researched.

Department of Gynecology and Oncology, Collegium Medium Jagiellonian University of Kraków
Dr Klaudia STANGEL-WÓJCIKIEWICZ

Incoming search terms:

Two scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have been awarded $16.7 million for stem cell research projects.
Dr. Irwin Bernstein and Beverly Torok-Storb received the federal funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Their award is part of a $170 million effort divided among 18 scientific teams.

Torok-Storb will work with Dr. Mortimer Poncz of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to develop molecular and cell-based therapies for a range of blood diseases, using an $8.2 million grant.
Bernstein will work with Edward Morrisey of the University of Pennsylvania to study how biochemical reactions inside cells affect cell development, using an $8.5 million grant.

from http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/10/05/daily41.html

Incoming search terms: