Articles with the keyword: 
Virus-free Embryonic-like Stem Cells Made from Skin of Parkinson's Disease Patients
piggy submitted, created time 1 year 2 days (www.sciencedaily.com)
Whitehead Institute researchers have developed a novel method to remove potential cancer-causing genes during the reprogramming of skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state. Scientists then used the resulting induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to derive dopamine-producing neurons, the cell type that degenerates in Parkinson's disease patients.
This marks the first time researchers have generated human iPS cells that have maintained their embryonic stem-cell-like properties after the removal of reprogramming genes 
Scientists Remove Cancer Genes from Stem Cells
sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 3 days (www.reuters.com)
Researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have managed to remove cancer-causing genes from induced pluripotent stem cells, or skin cells that have been regressed backwards to a state similar to embryonic stem cells.
One central problem with iPS is that the genes that scientists must trigger in order to regress the cells can also cause cancer. The Whitehead team found a way to transfer the genes into the cells for the regression and then back out again once the process was complete
DNA cassettes yield safer induced pluripotent stem cells
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 1 week (www.nature.com)
Induced pluripotent stem cells, which are adult cells that have been regressed backwards so that they act like embryonic stem cells, usually require the use of viruses to insert the genes required to activate embryonic-stem-cell-like activity. Although these viruses are altered so that they cannot reproduce outside of controlled conditions, they still present enough danger to render the use of iPS impractical in medicine.
However, a new study out of Mt. Sinai hospital reveals another means of regressing adult cells
Mount Sinai Hospital researcher makes stem cell breakthrough
piggy submitted, created time 1 year 1 week (www.eurekalert.org)
In a study to be released on March 1, 2009, Mount Sinai Hospital's Dr. Andras Nagy discovered a new method of creating stem cells that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases including spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. The study, to be published by Nature online, accelerates stem cell technology and provides a road map for new clinical approaches to regenerative medicine.
"We hope that these stem cells will form the basis for treatment for many diseases and conditions that are currently considered incurable," said Dr
Researchers Generate Functional Neurons from Somatic Cells
piggy submitted, created time 1 year 2 weeks (wwwjp.blackwellpublishing.com)
In a new study, researchers were able to generate functionally mature motor neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which are engineered from adult somatic cells and can differentiate into most other cell types. A potential new source of motor neurons that does not require human eggs or embryos could be an enormous boon to research into conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injury and could open the door to eventual treatments. The study is published in Stem Cells
Stem cells from testicles offer an alternative to embryos
jerry submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (ap.google.com)
Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field. The downside? Because of their source, these cells could only be used for regenerative medicine in male patients, not in female ones.
The study involved twenty-two samples from men aged seventeen to eighty-one. All of them men were undergoing treatments for other reasons
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.nature.com)
Researchers from Harvard have found that using adenoviruses to reprogram cells can avoid some of the risk of making induced pluripotent stem cells. Instead of integrating into the host cell's DNA, the adenoviruses express the genes themselves.
So far, the experiments have only been successful in mouse tail and liver cells, which are much less hard to work with than primate cells and tissues. In addition, the overall success rate is much lower than that of integrating virus methods, reprograming cells only 0.0001% to 0.001% of the time
Induced stem cell lines may soon be available from Harvard
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)
A few weeks ago, we talked about how researchers had been able to take a cell from an ALS patient and develop a working, research-quality pluripotent cell line. Well the next step has been taken.
I've been saying that induced pluripotent stem cells might become the preferred research model (over embryonic stem cells), but only if they became easier to obtain than embryonic stem cells. It looks as though that might happen soon. The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is dedicating an iPS core lab
Induced stem cells become research model for ALS
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)
Induced stem cells are coming into their own as a research model. Scientists at Harvard and Columbia have created a culture of motor cells from the skin of a patient known to be afflicted with amyotropic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's disease.
The patient has a rare form of ALS that is known to be caused by an inherited mutation. This represents only 2% of ALS patients. This may be significant because critics claim that partial replicants of the patient's nerve cells will be of little use as research models
Stem cell meeting 2008: complications for induced pluripotent stem cells
sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.nature.com)
This year's meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, included a jam-packed session on the standards and methodologies of creating induced pluripotent stem cells. But although excitement around advances in reprogramming somatic cells shows no signs of abating, new ideas regarding the field are surfacing.
One announcement in particular may have consequences for induced pluripotent stem cells: It seems that ever reprogrammed cells can retain some echoes of their differentiated states, which researchers have nicknamed "cellular memory
Stem cells: One more roadblock removed from the path to practical induced pluripotency
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (blog.wired.com)
This team from the Whitehead Institute for Biological Research has moved induced pluripotent stem cells one step closer to maturity. Using a two-pronged approach, they used a virus to insert the genes into mouse cells, but employ a drug to switch them on and off. This makes hte cells less likely to turn cancerous. The process is written up in Nature Biotechnology. Unlike previous iPS techniques, this produces a culture of genetically identical cells, something that iPS to date had not yet been able to do
Zinc-finger proteins turn T-cells HIV-resistant
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (www.nature.com)
ZInc-finger proteins occur naturally in human cells and regulate gene activity. Researchers out of California's Sangamo Biosciences have figured out how to use these proteins to disrupt and disable specific genes. The kicker? When the gene in question is CCR5, human T-cells suddenly become resistant to infection with HIV.
At this point, any practical treatment would involve removing (or growing) the patient's own T-cells, treating them with zinc finger proteins, and then re0injecting the patient. Cumbersome, but possible
UGA research may lead to safer, more effective gene therapy
sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (esciencenews.com)
The potential of gene therapy has long been hampered by the risks associated with using viruses as vectors to deliver healthy genes, but a new University of Georgia study helps...
sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (www.nature.com)
In this study, the author provide new strategies which could lead to changes in the quality, quantity of induced pluripotent cells.
Stem Cell Question Grows Still Gnarlier
Sue Wu submitted, created time 2 years 1 week (discovermagazine.com)
In his January 2008 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush claimed that research by James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin and Shinya Yamanaka of the University of Kyoto in Japan would finally end the morally and politically nettlesome debate over embryonic stem cell research.
abuse@discover8.com
kavin
angelfish
jane2007
DanyC
GenScript cGMP peptide synthesis service offers therapeutic peptides of quantities up to 2 kg per project.
www.genscript.com
Peptide Synthesis
GenScript peptide synthesis offers most competitive price,world record of success rate > 95%, and long peptides up to 200 aa.
www.genscript.com