November 30, 2017
(Medical News Today) – A team of scientists has developed drug-carrying nanoparticles that can find and kill cancer stem cells, a tiny group of rare cells that can hide in tissue and cause cancer to return years after tumors have … Read More
November 20, 2017
(New York Times) – The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued new guidelines to speed the introduction of treatments involving human cells and tissues, including gene therapy. But the agency also said it would crack down on rogue clinics … Read More
November 16, 2017
(ABC News) – U.S. health authorities announced plans Thursday to crack down on doctors pushing stem cell procedures that pose the gravest risks to patients amid an effort to police a burgeoning medical field that previously has received little oversight. … Read More
November 14, 2017
(Spectrum) – Several research teams are using so-called induced pluripotent stem cells to study autism. These cells are derived from skin cells and have the same genetic makeup as the donor. A cocktail of chemicals and growth factors transforms the … Read More
November 14, 2017
(The Scientist) – Engineering an immune cell to recognize and kill a cancer cell is the key to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, but modified immune cells also have the potential to cause problems for patients. One such complication, … Read More
November 10, 2017
(Reuters) – Merck & Co Ltd’s drug to prevent serious infection in patients who undergo a type of stem cell transplant was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the drugmaker said on Thursday. Merck said the drug, which … Read More
November 9, 2017
(STAT News) – These micro quasi-brains are revolutionizing research on human brain development and diseases from Alzheimer’s to Zika, but the headlong rush to grow the most realistic, most highly developed brain organoids has thrown researchers into uncharted ethical waters. Like virtually … Read More
November 8, 2017
(The Atlantic) – In August, De Luca and Pelligrini got the green light to try their technique. In September, they collected a square inch of skin from Hassan’s groin—one of the few parts of his body with intact skin. They … Read More
November 8, 2017
(Nature) – Somewhere in Germany’s Ruhr valley, a nine-year-old boy is doing what children do: playing football, joking around with friends and going to school. Two years ago, he was confined to a hospital bed, dying of a rare and … Read More
November 8, 2017
(GEN) – Stem cells have been a boon to biological research, allowing researchers to visualize and develop potential therapies for diseases where intervention has hit a wall. However, not all stem cell therapies are as simple as adding undifferentiated cells … Read More
November 6, 2017
(The Scientist) – The Expert Group on Scientific Misconduct at Sweden’s Central Ethics Review Board (CEPN) has found evidence of scientific misconduct in all six of Paolo Macchiarini’s synthetic trachea transplantation publications it reviewed. The papers reported on the implantations … Read More
November 3, 2017
(GEN) – A new blood system isn’t created from scratch—just something close to it. A single type of stem cell, a new study demonstrates, can fully repopulate the bone marrow and give rise to all the cell lineages that constitute … Read More
October 31, 2017
(U.S. News & World Report) – A leading group of U.S. pediatricians is encouraging parents to donate to public cord blood banks after the birth of their children. The past decade has seen an increase in the use of umbilical … Read More
October 25, 2017
(New Atlas) – Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a particular type of adult stem cell generating a great deal of interest in the world of science. MSCs are currently being trailed as treatment for no less than a dozen different … Read More
October 24, 2017
(New Scientist) – A stem cell treatment could finally bring relief to millions of people with chronic lower back pain. If it works, the injection could become a crucial tool for curbing the opioid epidemic currently killing thousands in the … Read More
October 20, 2017
(Retraction Watch) – Journals are raising ethical concerns about the research of a doctor who offers controversial embryonic stem cell treatments. Two journals have issued expressions of concern for three papers by Geeta Shroff, who was the subject of a … Read More
October 19, 2017
(The Atlantic) – In March, eye doctors based primarily at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami had published a widely covered report describing three eerily similar cases: Three elderly women with macular degeneration got stem cells derived from their … Read More
October 13, 2017
(San Francisco Chronicle) – Swedish prosecutors have abandoned an investigation against a disgraced Italian stem cell scientist suspected of involuntary manslaughter in connection with three patients who died after windpipe transplants. Prosecutor Jennie Nordin said it can’t be proven that … Read More
October 11, 2017
(Medical News Today) – The allure of regenerative medicine promises to redefine medical treatment, putting stem cells and biocompatible materials center stage in this revolution. Many breakthroughs have been reported and hailed in scientific journals and the media over the … Read More
October 11, 2017
(New Scientist) – The most versatile stem cells ever created could enable researchers to better understand the biological mechanisms behind many failed early pregnancies. Pentao Liu of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, and his team developed the stem cells … Read More
October 11, 2017
Bioethics (vol. 31, no. 5, 2017) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Can Neuroscience Contribute to Practical Ethics? A Critical Review and Discussion of the Methodological and Translational Challenges of the Neuroscience of Ethics” by Eric Racine et … Read More
October 6, 2017
(The Guardian) – The credibility of stem cell research is at risk because of charlatans and dodgy clinics peddling unproven cures for diseases, according to a group of eminent scientists in the field. Stem cell research, or regenerative medicine, has … Read More
September 29, 2017
(Pacific Standard) – In light of the scientific progress since 2001, the restrictions now proposed by Congress raise an important question: Is fetal tissue genuinely important for medical research? The answer is still yes, and here’s why: Fetal tissue research … Read More
September 29, 2017
(Sports Illustrated) – This hope carries widespread implications into the sports world. Fewer surgeries. Faster recovery times. Football and basketball players who return to action after torn ACLs in three to four months. Teams that harvest and bank stem cells … Read More
September 28, 2017
(UPI) – Researchers from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill have found ways to reprogram scar tissue cells into healthy heart muscle cells. A major challenge for doctors is that the heart is unable to regenerate healthy cells, known … Read More
