“Latest Stem Cells News”

Scientists in the U.S. have made history as they have found a brand new, safer way to create embryonic stem cells.
Washington (dbTechno) – Scientists in the U.S. have made history as they have found a brand new, safer way to create embryonic stem cells.
There has been a great debate over the years due to safety concerns in regards to the development of embryonic stem cells, seen by many as the future of medicine.

This debate may now be put to rest though thanks to this new research announced this week.

The flattening of the world’s economy has spawned a new trend in the local medical-tourism industry: Foreigners are starting to come to the Philippines because of the country’s ever-growing availability of cheap but reliable regenerative or stem-cell treatments.
Dr. Samuel Bernal, consultant on regenerative medicine for the Medical City, said some hospitals in the Philippines are starting to gain vigor in stem-cell treatments. Patients treated last year reached over 100 in number.

“Ours [Philippines] is cheaper compared to other developed and developing nations,” Bernal told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview on Monday after a briefing with the media on “Bioregenerative Medicine for Health and Wellness.”
In the US, for instance, stem-cell medicine costs $120,000 and above. In the Philippines, it is 40 percent lower than that of the US.

But all stem-cell medicine that local hospitals have, according to Bernal, have similar approaches with other countries.
He said the Philippines, which is home to the best medical professionals around the globe, can develop
its own regenerative-medicine methodology.

Rhode Island-based biotechnology company MultiCell Technologies Inc. is teaming up with Maxim Biotech Inc. under cooperative research and development agreement to develop products for studying liver stem cells and liver cancer.

MultiCell (OTC: MCET), based in Woonsocket, owns exclusive rights to two issued U.S. patents, one U.S. patent application and a handful of corresponding foreign patents and patent applications regarding the isolation and differentiation of liver stem cells.

No financial details of the agreement with South San Francisco-based Maxim Biotech were disclosed. The deal will initially focus on creating a family of research reagent tool kits which can be used to isolate liver stem cells and help to determine liver stem cell gene function and their encoded proteins.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future people who need “to rebuild” their prostate will be able to do so using stem cells removed from prostate tissue. This week Nature magazine reported that a group of Genetech researchers in San Francisco has isolated stem cells extracted from prostate tissue of an adult mouse and used them to generate new prostate cells in the same rat. Wei-Qiang Gao, the coordinator of the study, described the factors that made these cells, which are able to regenerate on a long term basis.

In the same study, researchers reported that they were able to identify a certain number of cell surface markers able to identify the cells that are candidates to become prostate stem cells. These markers seem to function also for other types of stem cells. These markers include CD117, a specific marker used to identify a rare population of adult mouse stem cells that scientists have isolated, and with in vivo transplants, have used them to generate a new prostate. The discovery opens up new prospects for those who have had operations for prostate cancer, since they now may be able to generate a new prostate using their own stem cells.

The Brown-Darrell Clinic is advertising for a medic — but it does not seem any closer to opening its stem cell facility.

It would appear likely the new recruit, a family physician with a wide range of clinical experience, will work in the medical facility on the first floor of the Winterhaven clinic, although the people behind the project have refused to confirm this will be the case.
Premier Ewart Brown, wife Wanda and California-based Stemedica, who are teaming up for a stem cell treatment and research project on the second floor, have failed to respond to any questions about the launch of the controversial practice which is now several months behind schedule.

Last month, Bermuda was dropped from a list of research centres on Stemedica’s website, with company vice president Dave McGuigan explaining that the Island’s name had been placed alongside Switzerland, Korea, Mexico and Russia as an “oversight”. Brown-Darrell had initially said work would begin in late autumn last year.
In countries such as the US, UK and Canada, stem cell research is heavily monitored and legislated. George Daley, president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, says he is very sceptical of anyone running experimental treatment in jurisdictions where there is no regulatory oversight, such as Bermuda. He has warned desperately sick patients who could be heading to the Island not to be misled into believing the treatment is a miracle cure.