“Latest Stem Cells News”

The South Korean bioethics committee has lifted a ban on human stem cell research. The decision will now allow for work on human embryonic stem cells to resume after being interrupted three years ago following the scandal involving Hwang Woo-suk, the false “pioneer of human cloning”. The veterinarian, a national hero at the time, fell from grace after the international scientific community and the University of Seoul uncovered that results from his research on embryonic stem cells were falsified in the laboratory to give the impression that his group was successful in cloning healthy cells from cells affected by incurable diseases.

The lifting of the research ban, explained the bioethics committee, involves a hospital in Seoul (Cha General Hospital), which will resume research under four conditions: written approval from women donating eggs (only those from aborted fetuses will be used); the use of laboratory animals to reduce the use of these eggs to a minimum; instituting a surveillance committee to avoid abuses; the names of the studies must not refer to words or meanings that could “feed false hopes”, including mentioning “cure for Parkinson’s”. The decision to lift the ban must receive authorization from the Health Ministry, and in all likelihood, it will not be rejected.

South Korea seems to be following the policy decisions regarding bioethics of the American administration. Among the steps taken by US President Barack Obama, is also the decision to resume financing for human stem cell research with an initial allocation of one billion dollars. “The decision will restart research,” said Chung Hyung-Min, who pointed out that such studies “have been performed by English scientists and other countries” but until now “there have not scored any successes”.

Embryonic stem cell research has sparked a heated worldwide debate involving ethics, science, and the right to life. The position of the Catholic Church has always been that it considers embryos as human lives. In May of 2008, bishops confirmed strongly condemned the revisions of the law on bioethics approved by Parliament, which allow for those who accept to participate in cloning experiments to be eligible for “reimbursements of their expenses”.

After the decision of the United States to remove the ban preventing stem cell researchers from using public funding for experiments, legislators in South Korea have been put under pressure by scientists who have been aspiring to do experiments on stem cells from cloned human embryos.

Up until a few weeks ago the National Bioethics Committee continued to postpone a decision on the matter, but now thanks to the American president, it is increasingly probable that at most, by the end of April, researchers of the Cha Medical Institute of Seoul will be able to resume experiments on stem cells generated by cloned human embryos.

Cloning a Chow Chow will be easy and will also cost at least half of what it would cost to clone any other type of dog, announced a South Korean biotech company today while presenting new cloning technology.

But dog-owners – who pay 100,000 dollars or more to clone a pet – will still have to pay tens of thousands of dollars if they want to clone their beloved four-legged friends, and must be prepared for long waiting-lists, because most cloning at a commercial level involves dogs used for work, like police dogs used in airports.

The Rnl Bio company announced that it has developed a new cloning method for dogs that utilizes stem cells derived from fat tissue, which notably increase the possibilities for success in the operation. According to the company, the new technology may also contribute to studies for cures for genetic disorders in dogs, which resemble some human pathologies, like diabetes.

“If we completely develop this technology, cloning dogs will also be much easier than it is now. We can reduce the costs of cloning,” explained Ra Jeongchan, Rnl Bio CEO, located in Seoul.

Stem Cell Research Brings About Another Miracle

Korean doctors have apparently regrown a patient’s jawbone using the patient’s own Adult Stem Cells in yet another amazing miracle that Adult Stem Cell research has brought us.

An 18 year old Korean boy who had to have most of his jawbone and his teeth removed due to a tumor was the lucky recipient of this fantastic stem cell research victory.

The young man, who had been suffering confidence problems due to his appearance (missing his jawbone and teeth) is very happy now after the Adult Stem Cells worked their magic and regrew his jawbone so he looks normal in appearance now.

Process of Stem Cells

1. Adult Stem Cells were taken from the man’s bone marrow
2. They were then multiplied and “coached” into becoming an osteoblast- a cell responsible for bone formation
3. The new Adult Stem Cells were injected into the “damaged” area around the man’s jaw
4. 6 months-1 year the stem cells grow new bone to fill in the gap left when the jawbone and teeth were removed
5. Man’s looks better, has more confidence, happier

Stem Cell Case Study Presented at Conference

The results of the trial were published in the British medical journal BMC Medicine and it was also presented at the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons annual meeting (Those silly Maxillofacial surgeons must have forgotten my invitation)

Another Case of Adult Stem Cell Research Working Magic

This is just another instance in which the patient’s own stem cells were used to help. The patient had nothing to lose (no side effects because they were his own stem cells), and everything to gain. And gain he did with this miracle.

This reminds me of an amazing story in Germany a few years back in which they actually used a man’s back as an incubator and grew him a new jawbone

Click here to read the whole stem cell article

from Don Margolis

Stem cells that could restore sight and hearing have been discovered in an experiment that has been performed successfully in animals. But according to two teams of scientists, it is an important step which will lead to future applications in humans.
A team from the Chonnam National University of South Korea was able to restore hearing in guinea pigs whose hearing was destroyed by chemical substances, using mesenchymal stem cells taken from human bone marrow. Other researchers at SUNY Upstate Medical University of Syracuse in the United States were able to restore sight in frogs using skin stem cells implanted into embryos.

Both groups of scientists revealed how “at the moment it is not possible to translate the results that they have achieved using animals into humans.
But the experiments were useful in shedding light on biological mechanisms that control sight and hearing, indicating new possibilities in regenerative medicine.” Anand Swaroop, a stem cell expert from the National Institute of Health in the United States also commented positively on the research saying that “the results are proof of the enormous potential offered by stem cells to cure mortal or debilitating diseases.”