This summer, a US based bio-technology company will proceed to test the effectiveness of human embryonic stem cell therapy on patients with spinal cord injuries. The much anticipated research project will be the world's first study of treatments which incorporate human stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries.
A team of scientists at Penn State University, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and other institutions have developed a...
Therapy to mend parts of the brain damaged by strokes has moved a step closer, thanks to research at Monash...
Researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Lillehei Heart Institute have effectively treated muscular dystrophy in mice using human stem cells...
Stem Cell Research Paves way for Progress on Dealing with Fragile X Retardation Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem...
‘HD in a dish’ will facilitate search for elusive treatment. An international consortium of Huntington’s disease experts, including several from...
The researchers demonstrated that cord blood cells, which come from the mesoderm, the middle layer of embryonic germ cells, can be switched to ectodermal cells, outer layer cells from which brain, spinal and nerve cells arise. "This study shows for the first time the direct conversion of a pure population of human cord blood cells into cells of neuronal lineage by the forced expression of a single transcription factor," says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.
Neuroscience researchers show how astrocytes control the generation of new neurons in the brain. “In the brain, astrocytes control how many new neurons are formed from neural stem cells and survive to integrate into the existing neuronal networks. Astrocytes do this by secreting specific molecules but also by much less understood direct cell-cell interactions with stem cells”, says Prof. Milos Pekny.
Researchers were able to regenerate an astonishing degree of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats. Results were then replicated using two human stem cell lines, one already in human trials for ALS. “We obtained the exact results using human cells as we had in the rat cells,” said Tuszynski.
Researchers identify a new gene associated with Hirschprung Disease and show how the migration of cells that form the gut nervous system is impeded when the combined doses of two candidate genes are low. Understanding the genetic basis of HSCR offers hope for better diagnostics and treatment for it and other developmental defects caused by failure of cell migration.
Researchers have discovered clues to the development of the head at the cellular level, which could point scientists to a better understanding of how organs and birth defects form in humans.
Known for successfully transplanting a bioengineered stem cell-based trachea, surgeon Paolo Macchiarini plans to use his technique to recreate more complex tissue. He has recently made attempts to regenerate brain tissue in rats and mice.