Click here to read Stem Cells 101, an overview of stem cell research

There is new hope for heavy smokers, people with asthma and those with chronic lung scarring. Stem cells have been discovered that rapidly rebuild alveoli, the tiny air sacs in lungs – a finding that could herald new treatments for people with damaged lungs (New Scientist)

Clinical trials using blood created from adult stem cells are set to begin within the next two or three years, raising the prospect it could soon become routinely used where real blood is unavailable. (Telegraph)

New research has found that stem cells derived from human cord blood could be an effective alternative in repairing heart attacks. (Medical News Today)

As chairman and chief executive of her own company, Dr. Robin Smith is a significant player in the world of biopharmaceutical products and research. Self-confident, poised and well traveled, she is used to dealing with movers and shakers. (LA Times)

Europe’s highest court has ruled that stem cells from human embryos cannot be patented, in a case that could have major implications for medicine. (BBC News)

BABIES with holes in their diaphragms could soon become the first humans treated with “spare parts” built from their own stem cells. The cells, taken from amniotic fluid, would be grown in the lab ready to be implanted when the baby is born. (New Scientist)

Taylor & Francis Online (Volume 29, Issue 2, June 2011) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Managing innovation in the stem cell sciences: Australian views from the field” by Olivia Harvey, 93-104.

Researcher James Thomson achieved a scientific breakthrough a few years ago when he found a way to access stem cells without destroying embryos. He also saw an opportunity to make it a business. (Wall Street Journal)

The prospect of doing human clinical trials with stem cells to treat diseases like multiple sclerosis may be growing closer, say scientists at the University at Buffalo and the University at Rochester, who have developed a more precise way to isolate stem cells that will make myelin. (Medical News Today)

Scientists have taken skin cells from a patient with liver disease and turned them into replacement liver cells, in a biological tour de force that promises to transform how the condition is treated. (The Guardian)

The national supply of umbilical cord blood is not growing as fast as it could, in part because of competition from private blood banks and a slowdown in growth in the cord blood market, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). (ABC News)

Stem cells made by reprogramming patients’ own cells might one day be used as therapies for a host of diseases, but scientists have feared that dangerous mutations within these cells might be caused by current reprogramming techniques. (Medical News Today)

One of the biggest complications associated with organ transplants is the need for lifelong use of immunosuppressants to prevent rejection, which typically cause a number of serious side effects. (ABC News)

U.S. scientists for the first time have used a cloning technique to get tailor-made embryonic stem cells to grow in unfertilized human egg cells, a landmark finding and a potential new flashpoint for opponents of stem cell research. (Reuters)

Using a patient’s own stem cells, researchers at Johns Hopkins have corrected the genetic alteration that causes sickle cell disease (SCD), a painful, disabling inherited blood disorder that affects mostly African-Americans. (Medical News Today)

Mice carrying human genes are ethically acceptable, but German scientists who want to make transgenic monkeys with human genes should get permission from a national ethics panel, according to recommendations issued today by the German Ethics Council. (Science)

A Hampshire woman has become one of the first patients in the country to have part of a limb artificially regrown in a laboratory and put back in her body. (BBC News)

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have turned back the clock on mature muscle tissue, coaxing it back to an earlier stem cell stage to form new muscle. Moreover, they showed in mice that the newly reprogrammed muscle stem cells could be used to help repair damaged tissue. (Medical News Today)

A drug for dangerously high blood pressure, normally priced at $25.90 per dose, offered to hospitals for $1,200. Fifteen deaths in 15 months blamed on shortages of life-saving medications. (Washington Post)

Scientists hope the fat taken from flabby thighs and stomachs could one day be used to save lives and to protect from a host of conditions such as cancer and heart disease. (Telegraph)

The United States has mandated a permanent ban in issuing patents on human embryos.  President Barack Obama signed the prohibition into law Sept. 16 as part of a patent reform measure titled the “America Invents Act.” (Christian Post)