Patients with a rare and incurable eye disease that causes blindness early in adulthood are expected to become the first people to benefit from an embryonic stem-cell therapy.
Clinical trials of the treatment for Stargardt’s disease are expected to begin next spring, after an American company applied yesterday for regulatory permission to proceed. If the research is cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the 12 patients with Stargardt’s disease included in the trial could... Read Full Story
Recent scientific research in the area of cord blood stem cells therapy indicates that major developments have taken place. The use of umbilical cord blood from newly born babies holds the key to breakthroughs in research for many diseases. Stem cells are considered the building blocks of the body because they have the potential to develop into many different types of cells. These cells can then be used to treat particular diseases in many parts of the body.
Significant advances have shown... Read Full Story
Dr. Bernard Thébaud lives in two very different worlds. As a specialist in the Stollery Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, he cares for tiny babies, many of whom struggle for breath after being born weeks before they are due. Across town, in his laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Dr. Thébaud dons a lab coat and peers into a microscope to examine the precise effect of stem cells on the lungs. Now... Read Full Story
Victorian stem cell scientists from Monash University have modified a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line to glow red when the stem cells become red blood cells. The modified hESC line, ErythRED, represents a major step forward to the eventual aim of generating mature, fully functional red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells. The research, conducted by a team led by Professors Andrew Elefanty and Ed Stanley at the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories that included... Read Full Story
Embryonic stem cell therapy got a step closer to the clinic Thursday after US researchers said they filed a request for government approval of human trials. The trials would involve 12 patients losing their sight to a currently untreatable disease called Stargardt, which is one of the most common forms of juvenile blindness. The treatment would consist of a single injection of retinal cells derived from embryonic stem cells. Previous studies in rats and mice have found that the treatment... Read Full Story
The University of Nebraska's governing board on Friday voted not to place tighter restrictions on embryonic stem cell research than those outlined under federal guidelines, which were expanded after President Barack Obama took office. The Board of Regents, which is elected, voted 4-4 on a proposition to limit the stem cell research at the university to types allowed under President George W. Bush. The board needed a majority of its eight members to approve the measure, and many backers... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Advanced Cell Technology, a small Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, said on Thursday it has asked for approval to test human embryonic stem cells in treating a rare cause of blindness. The company said it filed an IND, an investigational new drug application, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use the stem cells to treat patients with Stargardt's macular dystrophy. If approved, it would be the second U.S. approval to test human embryonic stem cells... Read Full Story
French doctors on Friday said they had used human embryonic stem cells to grow skin that one day may be used as potentially life-saving temporary patches for patients suffering bad burns. The laboratory achievement has been tested on mice and not yet on human volunteers, but the researchers believe it could be a boon for surgeons striving to save patients awaiting skin grafts. For more than two decades, the main way to help burns patients has been to take some of their skin cells, called... Read Full Story
The University of Nebraska's governing board was expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would limit stem-cell research at the university system's facilities to rules approved under former President George W. Bush. The vote by the Board of Regents would come eight months after President Barack Obama removed government funding restrictions on new stem-cell lines. Supporters of stem-cell research hope it will lead to cures for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's... Read Full Story
The University of Nebraska's governing board was expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would limit stem-cell research at the university system's facilities to rules approved under former President George W. Bush. The vote by the Board of Regents would come eight months after President Barack Obama removed government funding restrictions on new stem-cell lines. Supporters of stem-cell research hope it will lead to cures for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's... Read Full Story
