Texas Adopts Controversial Stem Cell Rules
Texas Medical Board Approves Adult Stem Cell Guidelines The Texas Medical Board has approved guidelines for the use of adult stem cells. The new rules say that the procedure must be part of a clinical trial and have the approval of the Food and Drug Administration or an institutional review board. Leigh Hopper, a spokesperson for the Texas Medical Board says these institutions will make sure the use of adult stem cells is safe, ethical and that patients give informed consent. Hopper says board members felt that since patients already have access to adult stem cells, the procedure needs to be regulated. “Since this is occurring right now, the majority of the board felt that…
The Cell Picture Show
The Cell Picture Show is a place to showcase striking images in cell, developmental, and molecular biology; a place to learn about cutting-edge research with beautiful images. You can contribute your lab’s most artistic or interesting images obtained from your day-to-day research for consideration in an upcoming slideshow. We encourage everyone to share this with your friends, loved ones, teachers and especially kids. Visit the Website! Hippocampus by Tamily Weissman, Harvard University “Brainbow” mice are engineered with a gene that includes three different fluorescent proteins, but only one color is actually expressed from each copy of the DNA construct. Pairs of “incompatible lox sites” are nested around different portions of the gene, allowing for recombination…
Teaching Old Drugs New Tricks for Rare Diseases
Sam Berns of Boston is a ninth-grader stuck in an 80-year-old man’s body. He has progeria, a rare disease that has aged his body faster than his mind. Although his condition limits him physically, he says there’s nothing he puts his mind to that he can’t do. “When there is something I really want to do that Progeria gets in the way of, like marching band or umpiring, we always find a way to do it,” Sam told a crowd of nearly 1,500 people at the annual TedMed conference today in Washington, D.C. So don’t think for a second that you can tell Sam there’s no treatment for his condition. Although research for any treatment…
Regeneration Scientist Returning to Texas- Interveiw
Renowned cardiac regeneration scientist Doris Taylor departs the University of Minnesota for the Texas Heart Institute. Dr. Taylor looks forward to taking ideas that are being developed in laboratories and moving them into clinical trials. Listen to interview with Carrie Miller, Minnesota Public Radio MPR News March 7th, 2012 Recommend on FacebookTell a friend
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:…
“Friend of the Court” Brief Filed Supporting Funding
This week the Genetics Policy Institute (GPI) joined the Coalition for Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) in filing an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, supporting federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. GPI previously filed amicus briefs in the United States District Court and in the Court of Appeals, the latter in collaboration with CAMR and the State of Wisconsin. Both earlier briefs focused on the preliminary injunction in the case. Bernard Siegel, GPI’s executive director, stated, “Our brief supports the District Court’s ruling on behalf of the government upholding federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. We…
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…
Texas Aims to Regenerate Hearts & Organs
World-Renowned Cell-Therapy Researcher, Doris Taylor, PhD, Joins Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital Noted for Work to Regenerate Hearts, Other Organs Houston, Texas (January 25, 2012) – Officials at the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital (St. Luke’s) announced today that Doris Taylor, PhD, FAHA, FACC, one of the world’s leading cell therapy and cardiac regeneration scientists, will join THI beginning March 1, 2012. “Her work fits very well with our mission and goals, and she certainly helps to solidify THI as a leader in cell therapy, which is one of the most promising hopes for treating cardiovascular disease.” Dr. Taylor’s research includes: Cell and gene therapy for treatment of…
Synthetic Windpipe Used to Replace Cancerous One
Surgeons in Sweden have replaced the cancerous windpipe of a Maryland man with one made in a laboratory and seeded with the man’s cells. A trachea made from plastic, above, and seeded with stem cells was successfully implanted in a Baltimore man in Sweden. The windpipe, or trachea, made from minuscule plastic fibers and covered in stem cells taken from the man’s bone marrow, was implanted in November. The patient, Christopher Lyles, 30, whose tracheal cancer had progressed to the point where it was considered inoperable, arrived home in Baltimore on Wednesday. It was the second procedure of its kind and the first for an American. Dr. Macchiarini is a leader in the field of…
Developing community support for stem cell research
Qatar turns spotlight on religious options for stem cell science Manama: The latest in stem cell research, its applications for developing new therapeutic approaches for a variety of diseases and policy options available within cultural, ethical, and religious parameters will be the focus of a conference in Qatar next month. The Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy, organized by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, will bring together scientists and experts from international and regional research and medical institutions and ethicists and policymakers. Stem cell science offers a large number of potential applications, including the prevention, diagnosis and treatment…
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…
Engineering Spare Parts
Watch Spare Parts for Humans: Tissue Engineers Aim for Lab-Grown Limbs, Lungs and More on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
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
Austin teen sends inspiration around the world
Ben Breedlove was an Austin teenager who had a popular YouTube channel (“OurAdvice4You“) where he gave dating advice to viewers. He also had a life-threatening heart condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) he fought every day growing up. The brave 18-year-old lost his life on Christmas night from a heart attack. The week before, he recorded the below videos where he shared his feelings about death, after “cheating” it three times. The thing that brought attention to Ben’s death — attention that now goes around the world from the Huffington Post to London’s Daily Mail to Sydney, Australia’s ninemsn.com — was the serious and honest two-part video he posted on YouTube just a week before he died. He called…
Merry Christmas for Patients with Hemophilia B
This may be a very Merry Christmas for people with hemophilia B. For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that gene therapy can overcome the blood protein deficiency, originally named Christmas disease after the first reported sufferer. In a small study, six hemophilia B patients were treated with a viral vector that expressed factor IX (FIX), according to Amit Nathwani of University College London and colleagues. Four of the six have stopped FIX prophylaxis and the other two have been able to extend the period between doses, Nathwani and colleagues reported online in the New England Journal of Medicine and here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. If further studies determine…
Leader in the Cancer Fight
Leader in the Cancer Fight, and Son of an Illegal Immigrant A few minutes before Ronald DePinho was to give a speech to his graduating class at Fordham College in the Bronx, he sat with his father in a student lounge. It was May 1977. His father had been in the United States for nearly 40 years. The son was on his way to a career in medicine and research that would bring him to the presidency of the biggest cancer center in the country. It was a time for the father, Alvaro DePinho, to pass along some history. Read More Recommend on FacebookTell a…
Stem cell Therapy in from the cold
Data for the most part remains early, but as more results emerge, pharmaceutical companies are beginning to take note. Dozens of adult stem cell treatments are moving through clinical trials and showing early success, raising hopes that some could reach the market within five years. As cell therapies move further through clinical trials, companies will need more money, and funding is scarce. Companies with credible partners will likely have an advantage. Athersys has a partnership with Pfizer; Cytori has a partnership with General Electric Co; Pluristem has a partnership with United Therapeutics Corp. Celgene, which makes cancer drug Revlimid, has resources of its own. “It will only take a few successes to really change the…
Healing Damaged Hearts with Stem Cells
Dr. James T. Willerson, President and Medical Director: Texas Heart Institute and Professor and Edward Randall III Chair in Internal Medicine The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas discusses recent advances using stem cells to heal damaged hearts. Researchers from the Texas Heart Institute have found what they think is the best type of adult stem cell to heal the heart. “One can distinguish individual stem cells and look at their ability to repair the heart after injury or to increase blood flow to the legs or coming up help repair strokes,” said Dr. James T. Willerson. The Texas Heart Institute (THI) researchers were among the scientists presenting their latest studies at…
Stem cell therapy shows real promise
(Reuters) – A stem cell therapy for treating patients experiencing moderate to severe heart failure showed real promise in preventing serious consequences or death, according to data from a small mid-stage clinical trial. The treatment from Australia’s Mesoblast Ltd, known as revascor, appeared to be safe and reduced by 78 percent the rate of major adverse events — heart attacks, cardiac death and need for artery clearing procedures — after one year compared with patients who received the standard of care. The findings from the 60-patient trial presented on Monday at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in Orlando were deemed to be statistically significant, despite the small size of the study. “It is extremely…
Adult Stem Cells for Heart Failure
Results Triple Researchers’ Projections With Use of Adult Stem Cells for Heart Failure Patients suffering from heart failure due to a previous myocardial infarction showed an average of 12 percent improvement one year following an investigative treatment that involved infusing them with their own stem cells. The results triple the 4 percent improvement average the researchers projected for the Phase I trial. Results of the trial are published today (Nov. 14) in The Lancet and concurrently presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Fla. They are the first report of administering subjects’ own cardiac stem cells in humans; previous studies have used stem cells harvested from bone marrow. The research team, led…
Stem Cell Therapy After Heart Attack
Delayed Stem Cell Therapy Following Heart Attack is Safe But Not Effective NIH-funded trial shows that therapy with bone-marrow derived cells does not improve heart function after six months; future clinical benefits still possible WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ National Institutes of Health issued the following news release: Stem cells obtained from bone marrow, known as BMCs, can be safely injected into people 2-3 weeks following a heart attack, reports a new clinical trial supported by the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. However, while safe, the BMCs did not improve heart function six months after their administration. This study,…
