Italian lawmakers on Wednesday gave their final approval to a law that allows limited use of a controversial type of stem cell therapy which has been condemned by many scientists but has given hope to families of terminally-ill children. (AFP)

Dr Jose Polo of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) and the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and his team, with collaborators at Harvard, have comprehensively mapped, for the first time, the process by which mature cells are re-programmed to become an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell. (Phys.org)

Australian research has created a molecular roadmap that shows how any cell in the human body can be turned into artificial stem cells. The roadmap, produced in collaboration with Harvard University, is a major advance in cellular reprogramming technology, which is already being exploited in pharmaceutical testing and some clinical settings overseas - but until now wasn’t understood. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Scientists have used cloning technology to transform human skin cells into embryonic stem cells, an experiment that may revive the controversy over human cloning. The researchers stopped well short of creating a human clone. But they showed, for the first time, that it is possible to create cloned embryonic stem cells that are genetically identical to the person from whom they are derived. (The Wall Street Journal)

UCLA researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, ataxia telangiectasia. Their discovery shows positive effects of drugs that may lead to effective new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease. iPSC are made from patient skin cells rather than from embryos and can become any type of cells in the laboratory. (Medical Xpress)

The 12-year veteran will also “receive autologous stem cell injections” next week to help stimulate the regeneration of tissue in his knees. (L.A. Times)

UCLA researchers led by Drs. Peiyee Lee and Richard Gatti at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T). Their discovery shows the positive effects of drugs that may lead to effective new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease. (News-Medical)

Now researchers have identified a blend of naturally occurring fibres such as cellulose and silk that makes progress towards affordable and effective cell-based therapy for cartilage repair a step closer. The EPSRC-funded study, published in Biomacromolecules and undertaken by University of Bristol researchers, explored the feasibility of using natural fibres such as silk and cellulose as stem cell scaffolds — the matrix to which stem cells can cling to as they grow. (E! Science News)

A team of New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute scientists report today the generation of patient-specific bone substitutes from skin cells for repair of large bone defects. (Medical Xpress)

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found the first direct evidence that cells can distinguish between seemingly identical copies of chromosomes during stem cell division, pointing to the possibility that distinct information on the chromosome copies might underlie the diversification of cell types. (Phys.org)

The Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre (DCRC), the only stem-cell storage facility in the UAE run by the Government, reported a substantial increase in the number of registered units in a year. (The National)

An international group of leading stem cell researchers has issued a statement that specifies concerns about the development and use of unproven stem cell therapies. The commentary is published online today in The EMBO Journal ahead of a debate in the Italian parliament on whether to change a recent law that allows certain untested stem cell therapies to be used by the public health system. The authors of the commentary argue that rigorous clinical testing and regulation of stem cell therapies are essential to introduce safe and effective medical interventions for patients. (News-Medical)

A UW-Madison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells — without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC. (Nanowerk)

Many diseases - obesity, Type 2 diabetes, muscular dystrophy - are associated with fat accumulation in muscle. In essence, fat replacement causes the muscles to weaken and degenerate. (Medical News Today)

The Healing Cell, just out from Hachette Press, deals with promising stem cell therapies from the patient perspective– and that’s a good thing. (Forbes)

Using plastic fibers and human cells, doctors have built and implanted a windpipe in a 2 ½-year-old girl — the youngest person ever to receive a bioengineered organ. (New York Times)

Injection of human stem cells into mice with tumors slowed down tumor growth, finds research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy. Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), isolated from bone marrow, caused changes in blood vessels supplying the tumor, and it is this modification of blood supply which seems to impact tumor growth. (Science Daily)

Increase in cord blood stem cell research seeds therapeutic advances, outpacing embryonic stem cells. (Sacramento Bee)

The stem cell transplant regimen that was commonly used in the United States to treat advanced neuroblastoma in children appears to be more toxic than the equally effective regimen employed in Europe and Egypt, according to a new study to be presented at the 26th annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology in Miami April 24-27. The U.S. regimen was associated with more acute toxicity to the kidneys and liver. (News-Medical)

In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells. (The Wall Street Journal)

Family Research Council (FRC) congratulated Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and the state of Kansas for the passage and signing of Kansas SB 199. The law establishes a new adult stem cell research and treatment center at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City’s medical school. (The Wall Street Journal)