“Latest Stem Cells News”

Halfway through February, the National Swiss Fund has established a national plan for stem cell research and regenerative medicine, providing 10 million francs (6,766,000 euros) in financing over 5 years. In November, the Foundation will make a decision on projects that have already been submitted. In January 2010, those which have been approved will get underway. The objective is to favor basic biological stem cell and regenerative medicine research, and to spread awareness internationally.

At the end of 2004 in a referendum, Swiss citizens approved a law that allows the use of excess embryonic stem cells from fertility clinics. Researchers assert that regulations, which are too restrictive, do not provide enough embryos for research. In the political world, liberal Senator Felix Gutzwiller is one of the most highly aware the criticisms made by scientists. He is willing to promote further modifications to legislation and to the Constitution, although it is expected that he will meet stiff opposition from ecologists and religious groups.

According to the European Patent Office, there will be no patents in Europe for embryonic stem cells. The board decided to fully uphold a sentence from June by a select committee regarding a request for a patent made by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, based at the University where James Thompson, the scientist who discovered stem cells, works. “European patent law prohibits the application of patents to stem cell cultures whose preparation necessarily implicates the destruction of human embryos.”

The Missouri Roundtable for Life, a St. Louis area association led by conservative Ed Martin is organizing events to collect signatures for a November 2010 referendum.

The proposal, presented to the Secretary of State office, entitled “Amendment for the protection of taxpayer money”, asks to not use taxpayer money to fund abortion, human cloning, and other controversial research.
The group’s website, states that they are concerned with limiting or eliminating the effects of Amendment 2 passed in 2006 by a light majority, a law that protects research permitted by federal laws.

FREMONT, CA – The first human trials involving stem cell therapy were approved just weeks ago, but a growing number of other patients are already benefitting from stem cell treatments. Those patients are dogs and the results are reportedly encouraging.

Cris the police dog is a five-year-old German Shepherd who was a whisker away from retirement last year when he tore a muscle in his rear leg during training. “He was jumping and the next morning he came and he wouldn’t put any weight on his leg at all,” Fremont Police Officer Matt Snelson said.

Snelson is Cris’ partner at the Fremont Police Department, where the dogs are expected to do everything from sniff out drugs to chase down fleeing suspects. “They can run three times as fast as a human. So, if we have someone running, it’s easier to use the dog to apprehend them,” he said. Officer Snelson took Cris to Dr. Gary Brown, a veterinary surgeon who has treated dozens of injured police dogs. “A big red flag went up because that type of injury is often repetitive,” the doctor explained.