Stem Cells and Hydrogels To Cure Spinal Cord Injuries?

Stem cells embedded within hydrogels may one day heal decades-old spinal cord injuries and save patients from a life of paralysis. Stem cell researchers are demonstrating some possibilities in rodents and hope that these same results can one day be replicated in humans.

Some researchers have demonstrated that stem cells may be able to cured many rats of spinal cord injuries. However, treatments have thusfar not been developed to benefit humans. Additionally, most scientists believe that the first treatment options will only benefit the newly injured.

Wired is reporting that Pavla Jendelova, from the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Prague, Czech Republic, has discovered that adding stem cells to spinal implants made of hydrogels may help to repair spinal cords even with older injuries, and help patients to regain function.

"An ideal matrix for neurons would be soft, chemically inert and would have a high water content like a sponge -- something that resembles the natural environment around developing neural tissue," she said. Made of up to 99 percent water, hydrogels come closer to meeting these criteria than any other artificial material.

Wired: Jell-O Fix for Spinal Cords

Stem Cells Assist in Cartilage Repair

As many of us know, there are many companies are getting on board with developing stem cell research therapies that not only target life threatening illnesses. Some of these companies, like Aastrom Biosciences, have been focusing on what could be seen as quality of life conditions.

Aastrom Biosciences has been focusing over the last few years on stem adult cell related therapies that revolve around bone and cartilage repair and regrowth. As most of us know, cartilage doesn't regenerate very easily. Aastrom and its new partner Orthovita Inc. are hoping to change that with products they are working together to get to market.

Orthovita's porous synthetic materials are to be combined with Aastrom's adult stem cells could be used as a framework to grow new bone or cartilage. By combining the companies' two products, broken bones or damaged cartilage can hopefully be repaired without painful bone grafts or cartilage removal.

Dana Reeve, Wife of Christopher Reeve Dies of Lung Cancer

Its a sad day and I hated reading about this. It seems that Dana Reeve passed away today. I haven't posted here in some time, but since such a notable figure in stem cell research support passed, and sadly passed so young, I thought it may be good to let the readers know.

Quite a lot of sites are out there discussing this, and just wanted to make sure the world of stem cell support knows. My most heart felt regards for the Reeve family.

Dana Reeve Dies of Lung Cancer

Dana Reeve Dies

Dana Reeve dies of lung cancer

More on Hwang Woo-Suk and Stem Cell Fraud

South Korean prosecutors are still looking into the fraud by the country's best-known scientist. Currently the prosecutors are saying that the group did not produce any human embryonic stem cells as they had claimed.


A panel at the Seoul National University which is investigating the case also came to the same conclusion the team led by Hwang Woo-suk.


In a report earlier this month, it stated that data was intentionally fabricated in two papers published by the team:


1) a 2004 paper on producing the first cloned human embryos for research


2) 2005 paper on producing tailored embryonic stem cells.


"I can confirm that no human embryonic stem cells were found," a prosecution official said by telephone. The official declined to be identified or elaborate.


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South Korea scientists created no stem cells

Technorati Tags: stem cell, bioethics

Wired on the State of Stem Cells Starting in 2006

Well, holidays over, and the news on the Stem Cell Front leaves something to be desired .. at least public relations wise ....

Wired News is running a wrap up on Hwang Woo-suk's reputation. We know its basically dashed .. and the hopes of millions of disabled people hover around the investigation into his alleged cloning successes.

The writer at Wired states "Longing for a cure for paralysis, I held out a faint hope that Seoul National University's final report, released Tuesday, would clear Hwang's name and allow him to continue his research."

However, as many or most of us know, the count of fabricating data about 11 tailor-made embryonic stem-cell lines in 2005, Hwang was found to be fraudulant.

The issue of lying in 2004 about being the first scientist in the world to derive human cloned embryonic stem cells: Hwang also bit the bullet here ...

The only bright light though, On the count of failing to clone Snuppy: not guilty.


Read the full article - The State of Stem Cells, 2006

A "Grow Your Own" Breast Implant From Stem Cells?

A new technique which derived from stem cell research could soon allow women to choose breast enhancements made of living tissue rather than those made of silicone or saline.

Scientists have been able to successfully grow fat cells in the laboratory for the first time. They say the breakthrough means patients could, in effect, grow their own implants.

The researchers also claim that, in the future that it may be possible to grow replacement organs for transplant surgery.

Iniitially the target patients are cancer sufferers and others who need reconstructive surgery. However, the man pioneering the technique, Jeremy Mao, who is the professor of tissue engineering at the University of Illinois in Chicago, acknowledges there could also be a substantial cosmetic market from this procedure ....

Doubts persist about silicone or saline implants which, despite technical improvements, can rupture or leak.

About 15,000 women had cosmetic surgery in Britain last year, up from 9916 in 2003, according to the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons.

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Scientists Get Blood Cells to Produce Insulin

Scientists are conducting experiments to make white blood cells start producing insulin. Now this would be a significant a medical breakthrough! They say this may be a significant may help in the overall search to find a cure for diabetes.

A team at the Institute of Bioengineering in Alicante, Spain, has managed to obtain insulin-producing embryonic stem cells (ESC) from mice, reports New Scientist. The scientists are now working with humans.

Bernat Soria, chairman of the European Stem Cell Network and the scientist spearheading the research, says conditions were created to coax white blood cells to produce insulin.

When the transformed cells were injected back into diabetic mice, their blood sugar levels returned to normal. After a week, the effect disappeared however, because the mice's immune system destroyed the human cells...

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New Method for Mass Producing Stem Cells Found

A new method for mass producing embryonic stem cells has been developed by Ohio State University researchers.

With any luck, this method could make it easier and cheaper to meet the rapidly growing demand for stem cells.

To state the obvious to those of you who have found your way here .... embryonic stem cells are unspecialized cells that can grow into any of the body's roughly 200 different types of cells. Traditional laboratory techniques that are used to make these stem cells is currently expensive and don't by a long shot produce stem cells quickly enough to fill the need. Currently there are 22 embryonic stem cells lines on the U.S. National Institutes of Health's Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry ...

Anyway ..

Shang-Tian Yang, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University has found another means growing these stem cells. This new method requires less equipment and monitoring and could reduce stem cell production costs by at least 80 percent, Yang said. Further, Yang's bioreactor is able to produce hundreds of millions more stem cells in 15 days than could be produced using current conventional laboratory methods.

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