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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)

Duke University biomedical engineers have grown three-dimensional human heart muscle that acts just like natural tissue. This advancement could be important in treating heart attack patients or in serving as a platform for testing new heart disease medicines. (R & D Magazine)

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)

Scientists have made a fundamental discovery about how the properties of embryonic stem cells are controlled. The study, which focuses on the process by which these cells renew and increase in number, could help research to find new treatments. (Science Daily)

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)

Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have discovered a hormone that holds promise for a dramatically more effective treatment of type 2 diabetes, a metabolic illness afflicting an estimated 26 million Americans. The researchers believe that the hormone might also have a role in treating type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. (Harvard Stem Cell Institute)

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)

Nearly two-thirds of children receiving stem cell transplants returned to the hospital within six months for treatment of unexplained fevers, infections or other problems, according to a study performed at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Children who received donor cells were twice as likely to be readmitted as children who received their own stem cells. (News-Medical)

Because these remaining pluripotent stem cells can subsequently develop into unintended cell types - bone cells among blood, for instance - or form tumors known as teratomas, identifying and separating them from their differentiated progeny is of utmost importance in keeping stem cell-based therapeutics safe. (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)

For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember. A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first to show that human stem cells can successfully implant themselves in the brain and then heal neurological deficits, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology. (Medical Xpress)