Toddler Born Without a Windpipe Gets Artificial Trachea

In a groundbreaking feat of science and surgery, a Korean toddler born without a windpipe received an artificial trachea made from her own stem cells. Hannah Warren, 2½, was born with tracheal agenesis, a rare and usually fatal birth defect. She had spent her entire life in a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, unable to breathe, swallow, eat or drink on her own. But after a nine-hour marathon operation to implant a windpipe made of nanofiber mesh coated with her own bone marrow cells, the girl in pigtails finally had her first lollipop. “All we have ever wanted since Hannah was born was to be able to bring her…

Houston at the Heart of a Major Revolution

Houston, TX – Houston is at the heart of a major revolution. Can you imagine being able to pull an artificial heart off the shelf and plug it into someone? Doctors with the Texas Heart Institute are working to make that a reality for patients. Dr. Emerson Perin shares what’s on the horizon for the Texas Heart Institute in 2013. (Watch Interview on KHOU Site)   Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Texas Governor Speaks at Houston Stem Cell Summit

Gov. Rick Perry highlighted Texas’ leading role in the advancement of regenerative medicine to produce safe, effective and ethical adult stem cell therapies. The governor spoke at the inaugural Houston Stem Cell Summit, which focuses on adult stem cell research and its potential to tackle life-threatening diseases. “I’m proud Texas is playing a key role in the advancement of adult stem cell research and therapies, both of which are promising for patients and our economy,” Gov. Perry said. “This conference represents another step in the growth of this industry that I hope and expect will be centered right here in the Lone Star State.” Texas has taken clear steps to advance research in ethical regenerative…

UT professor finds way to kill cancer cells

Laser gives doctors pinpoint accuracy AUSTIN (KXAN) – According to the National Cancer Institute, 41 percent of men and women born today will be diagnosed with one form of cancer in their lifetimes. That is why researchers are working overtime to find new ways to fight back. One University of Texas professor has developed an innovative way to kill cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue. Associate Professor Adela Ben-Yakar has worked in the Mechanical Engineering Department in the Cockrell School of Engineering at UT since 2004. That is where she began her crusade by taking the ultra-short pulse laser, originally created by a chemist, and transforming it as a weapon to fight cancer. Read More…

The Future of Treating Heart Disease is Now

At the Texas Heart Institute, the future of preventing, diagnosing, and treating heart disease is now. A look at the many ways including regenerative medicine, stem cells, genetics, imaging, and artificial devices, in which we are transforming the future of medicine through our programs in improving patient care, research and education. Watch this exciting video Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

New Educational Film: “Stem Cell Revolutions”

All of our bodies contain stem cells – special cells that make replacements for the cells in our bodies that die every day through wear and tear, or are lost in injury or disease. Stem cells were discovered after the Second World War, by scientists trying to find a cure for radiation sickness. Two Canadian scientists found that a single starter cell could give rise to all types of blood cell – and that because these cells could also make perfect copies of themselves, they could do this again and again. Their experiments became the foundation of stem cell biology. In 1981, American scientist Howard Green showed that skin also contained stem cells and became…

Need a Reason to Love Texas?

The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research. Located in Houston, the center contains 51 medicine-related institutions, including 13 hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, and other health-related practices.   The entire area is bigger than Downtown Dallas. Watch this Video! The center is where one of the first and largest air ambulance services was created and where a successful inter-institutional transplant program was developed. According to the Texas Medical Center, more heart surgeries are performed here than anywhere else in the…

Texas Advocate Community Unites for Cures

Some of the country’s leading practitioners will discuss the cutting-edge treatments and imaging techniques being developed to treat traumatic brain injury and stroke at a symposium on May 4th in Austin. “Collaborating for Cures: Emerging Translational Research in the Stroke and TBI Care Continuum” will feature presentations on neuroplasticity, stem cell policy and regulatory issues, neuroimaging techniques and analysis, as well as provide a forum for leading scientists in the field to share ideas and discuss potential collaborations. “Austin and Central Texas is emerging as a thought center in the neurosciences. This symposium highlighting the work of Dr. Valadka and Warach illuminates that exciting development,” stated Tom Caven, M.D., Vice-President, Medical Affairs, University Medical Center…

Healing Bones with Stem Cells

Healing Bones with Stem Cells at UC Davis – Mark Lee: CIRM Spotlight on Disease Presentation by Dr. Mark Lee at UC Davis on the use of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in complex fracture work. Severe bone fractures can lead to such massive bone loss that realigning and fixing the bone with implants is not enough to heal the bone. In these cases, the trauma victim is left with chronic pain and non-functioning limbs. Dr. Mark Lee, an orthopedic surgeon at the UC Davis School of Medicine, is developing new stem cell based methods to overcome these current challenges in treating non-healing bone. Dr. Lee spoke about his research at the CIRM governing board’s Spotlight on…

Issue is not competition… but too few donors

HOUSTON (KTRK) — This week, there’s been debate over the age of people getting transplants after former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant at 71. But the world’s biggest heart transplant center here in Houston says that’s not unusual. They say older people sometimes do better. Dr. Delgado holds a list of the 131 people now waiting for a heart. Each one is hoping for the phone call that will mean a new life. Experts say the real issue isn’t competition for organs but too few donors. Transplants are limited to about 2,000 a year in the US because so few people agree to be organ donors.   Watch KTRK Coverage   Recommend on…

Knowledge gained paves way for future of cell therapy

  Stem cell, heart heath study Stem cells from someone’s bone marrow could help repair heart damage Doctors from the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital have found that patients with heart failure may be able to repair the damaged areas of the heart with stem cells from the patient’s own bone marrow. Doctors presented the findings at the American College of Cardiology’s 61st Annual Scientific Session Saturday. The results are from a multi-center clinical study that measured the possible benefits of using a patient’s own bone marrow cells to repair damaged areas of the heart suffering from severe heart failure, a condition that affects millions of Americans.     The study, which…

Potential of the cell therapy for unmet medical needs

  Chis Mason, PhD (University of London), presented the potential of the cell therapy industry to become a multibillion dollar industry as a result of R&D, investment and media coverage. Emphasizing the difference between cell therapy and regenerative medicine, he spoke about the need to distinguish the two fields and allow them to grow to their full potential. Mason touted cell therapies as potentially revolutionary solutions for unmet medical needs and called for an effective business model to bring these therapies to market. Watch Presentation from 2011 World Stem Cell Summit: “Cell Therapy, Billion Dollar Global Business, Unlimited Potential, Chris Mason, PhD”   Further Reading and Related Videos 2012 World Stem Cell Summit 2011 Summit:…

Charitable donation the second largest in Children’s history

UT Southwestern, Children’s Partner for New Stem Cell, Cancer Institute Curing cancer is a lofty goal. But that is the talk among people involved in a new joint venture between the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center. Officials with both hospitals are set to announce a $150 million stem cell and cancer research institute, set to open on the UT Southwestern campus. The money includes a $10 million gift, the second-largest in Children’s history, from the Hamon Charitable Foundation. Dr. Sean Morrison, of UT Southwestern, will lead the Hamon Laboratory for Stem Cell and Cancer Biology. According to his supervisors, Morrison’s laboratory works at the interface of stem cell biology and…

Heart Stop Beating Premiers at Sundance

Two Houston surgeons have successfully implanted the world’s first continuous-flow artificial heart in a human patient, a significant advance that promises a smaller and much more durable alternative to existing artificial hearts. Drs. Bud Frazier and Billy Cohn took out the dead heart of 55-year-old Craig A. Lewis on March 10 at the Texas Heart Institute. After harmful proteins built up in his heart to the point it could no longer work, Lewis lived only with the aid of external breathing, dialysis and heart support machines. The Houston man had maybe a day to live when Frazier and Cohn were given the opportunity to test their device — a pair of turbines cobbled together to…

Anatomy of a 60 Minutes hidden-camera interview

Where’d they hide the cameras? Watch this behind-the-scenes breakdown as the crew sets up a surprise interview. Watch Video   Stem Cell Fraud: A 60 Minutes investigation  The Internet is full of websites selling unproven stem cell treatments for incurable illnesses. Scott Pelley confronts one disgraced doctor offering false hope to a family with a disabled child. Watch Video Read More Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

60 Minutes investigation: stem cell fraud

  The Internet is full of websites selling unproven stem cell treatments for incurable illnesses. Scott Pelley confronts one disgraced doctor offering false hope to a family with a disabled child. Dr. Dan Ecklund claims he can treat dozens of diseases using stem cells. But there’s a problem. Ecklund is a disgraced doctor whose medical license was revoked in 2005. That hasn’t kept him from founding a company and a website that offer hope where science cannot. Scott Pelley investigates the lucrative business of miracle stem cell “cures.” It’s 21st century snake oil being peddled to desperate people, including the parents of one young boy, Adam Susser, who has cerebral palsy and is blind and…

60 Minutes investigates online stem cell fraud

(CBS News)  Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg of Duke University tells Scott Pelley that stem cells purchased from one of the hundreds of websites promising stem cell cures for incurable diseases could actually cause a patient serious harm. The chief scientific officer for Duke’s stem cell research program spoke to Pelley as part of an eight-month investigation into the illicit stem cell industry. Kurtzberg decries the websites offering unproven stem cell remedies for what are currently incurable diseases like autism, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and every kind of cancer. She hears from patients who see those websites and has to inform them that thus far, stem cells have been used to successfully treat leukemia and a few rare…

Engineering Spare Parts

Spare Parts for Humans: Tissue Engineers Aim for Lab-Grown Limbs, Lungs and More A new research breakthrough has enabled scientists to grow human tissue to repair or replace organs, and someday, maybe even limbs. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports. Watch PBS NEWSHOUR video Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

‘Tooth fairy palace’

In the chilly studio of Liverpool-based artist Gina Czarnecki, a fantasy palace has taken shape. It is a riot of towers and tendrils, resembling something out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.  It has been christened the Tooth Fairy Palace, but like many fairy tales, all is not as it seems as it has been designed to raise awareness about stem cell research and its implications. The palace will gradually become encrusted with real teeth – the teeth of children. These teeth can be a source of stem cells, the focus of pioneering and sometimes controversial research. “…this palace evolved from conversations about stem cells, but also about truth and illusion, and about…

Stem Cell Synergy

Highlights from California Stem Cell Synergy: the 2011 CIRM Grantee Meeting No family reunion is complete until somebody brings out the video camera. The CIRM family is no different. Todd Dubnicoff, CIRM’s videographer and video editor along with colleague Amy Adams went on-location to downtown S an Francisco in mid-September to film the 2011 CIRM Grantee Meeting. This three day event brought together the California stem cell scientists and trainees who receive CIRM funding including several international collaborators as well as out-of-state guest speakers. Scientists produce research results back in their labs at their home institutions, but getting the chance to discuss those results in person with fellow stem cell researchers can spark new discoveries….