2019 Award Winners Announced in Regenerative Medicine
Osaka, Japan – Takeda and the New York Academy of Sciences announced two winners of the Innovators in Science Award for their commitment to and excellence in regenerative medicine.
News & Commentaries
New Method For Studying ALS More Effectively
Stockholm, Sweden – The neurodegenerative disease ALS causes motor neuron death and paralysis. However, long before the cells die, they lose contact with the muscles as their axons atrophy. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now devised a new method that radically improves the ability to study axons and thus to better understand the pathological development of ALS.
The Source of Stem Cells Points to Two Proteins
East Lansing, MI, USA – Mammalian embryos are unlike those of any other organism as they must grow within the mother’s body. While other animal embryos grow outside the mother, their embryonic cells can get right to work accepting assignments, such as head, tail or vital organ. By contrast, mammalian embryos must first choose between forming the placenta or creating the baby.
Potential Seen to Tailor Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment
Drug response screening of leukemia stem cells offers clues to relapse and suggests ways to improve patient-specific therapies
Seattle, WA, USA – Advances in rapid screening of leukemia cells for drug susceptibility and resistance are bringing scientists closer to patient-tailored treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Research on the drug responses of leukemia stem cells may reveal why some attempts to treat are not successful or why initially promising treatment results are not sustained.
Maintaining the Unlimited Potential of Stem Cells
Salk scientists discover new protein complex that keeps embryonic stem cells at stage of fullest potential, a key to regenerative medicine
La Jolla, CA, USA – Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are the very definition of being full of potential, given that they can become any type of cell in the body. Once they start down any particular path toward a type of tissue, they lose their unlimited potential. Scientists have been trying to understand why and how this happens in order to create regenerative therapies that can, for example, coax a person’s own cells to replace damaged or diseased organs.
Some Blood Cells Have a Surprising Source: Your Gut
New York, NY, USA – The human intestine may provide up to 10 percent of blood cells in circulation from its own reservoir of blood-forming stem cells, a surprising new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found
Platelets Grown from Stem Cells May be Alternative to Donated Platelets
Manufactured platelets could one day provide a reliable, safe supply for transfusions
Washington, DC, USA – Researchers have developed a way to grow human platelets in the laboratory from stem cells derived from fat tissue. The achievement, reported today in the journal Blood, suggests manufactured platelets could eventually reduce the reliance on donated platelets to help patients with cancer and other disorders.
Next Step Towards Replacement Therapy in Type 1 Diabetes
Neuherberg, Germany – Scientists have discovered the signals that determine the fate of immature cells in the pancreas. The research shows that they are very mobile and that their destiny is strongly influenced by their immediate environment. This breakthrough published in the journal Nature will facilitate the manufacturing of pancreatic islet cells from stem cells and might help combating type 1 diabetes.
Healthy Blood Stem Cells Have as Many DNA Mutations as Leukemic Cells
Tracing the developmental lineage tree of HSPCs
Utrecht, the Netherlands – Researchers from the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology have shown that the number of mutations in healthy and leukemic blood stem cells does not differ. Rather the location of the mutations in the DNA is relevant. Using the mutation patterns in the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) the team was able to trace the developmental lineage tree of the cells.
Stem Cell Researchers Develop Promising Technique to Generate New Muscle Cells in Lab
Houston, TX, USA – To help patients with muscle disorders, scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have engineered a new stem cell line to study the conversion of stem cells into muscle. Findings appeared in Cell Reports.