Setback in non-embryonic stem cell use

Stem cells created from a patients' own tissue are subtly different from those derived from embryos in ways that may affect their therapeutic potential, two independent research groups have found. Both studies found induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) retain an 'epigenetic memory' of their tissue of origin...[Read More]

CFirst clinical trial of human embryonic stem cells gets go-ahead

Biotechnology company Geron has been given the all clear for the world's first clinical trial involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). This comes a year after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed the study on hold amid safety fears...[Read More]

Radio Review: Britain's Labs: Stem Cells

BBC Radio 4's Stem cells provides a valuable insight into the current focus and prioritisation of stem cell research in the UK, which has received international support since US president, Barack Obama, put an end to the ban on the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in the US...[Read More]

Human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) cultured, say scientists

Researchers have developed a method of creating large amounts of human embryonic stem (ES) cells using a new technique, which could help to treat a variety of diseases, according to new research published in the journal Nature Biology....[Read More]

Canadian parliament must act on assisted human reproduction

In the past three months, three members of the Board of Directors of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC) have resigned. This set of resignations is cause for serious concern and requires urgent attention from the federal Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Parliament itself....[Read More]

Heart bypass 'leftovers' yield stem cells

Stem cells have been successfully extracted from veins left over from heart bypass surgery. Scientists hope that such cells could be used in the treatment of future heart conditions by stimulating the growth of new arteries...[Read More]

Vatican to fund stem cell research

The Vatican announced on Friday it is to finance research into the potential use of adult stem cells for therapeutic purposes. It has agreed to donate two million Euros to a research project led by the University of Maryland's School of Medicine in the US to investigate the use of intestinal adult stem cells for treating disease... [Read More]

EXCLUSIVE: Brown and Cameron oppose Pope on embryonic stem cells

Gordon Brown and David Cameron support embryonic stem cell research, provided it's correctly regulated, they revealed during the TV leaders' debate on Thursday... [Read More]

US stem cell funding 'extraordinarily close'

Over a year since US President Barack Obama announced his decision to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, the widely utilised cell lines, H9 and H7, are still weeks away from receiving federal funding approval. The H9 and H7 cell lines were derived and approved under the Bush administration and are currently owned by WiCell Research Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. However, for months now the fate of these two much used lines has been uncertain. According to...[Read More]

Book Review: Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States

In this fascinating and important book Professor Sheila Jasanoff addresses some big questions about the politics of bioscience and biotechnology: What are the consequences of the shift from industrial to knowledge-based societies? What are the effects of rapid changes in biotechnology on politics and culture? What criteria can be invoked to judge that some countries are handling the changes more effectively, more ethically, or more democratically than others?...[Read More]

US stem-cell therapy gets helping hand from FDA

A US company has been granted beneficial 'orphan drug' status by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an embryonic stem cell therapy it's developing to treat a rare form of blindness...[Read More]

Small RNAs help stem cells change state

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have discovered that microRNA (miRNA) play a key role in the switch in state between a stem cell and a mature, differentiated cell...[Read More]

Bush stem-cell lines have brighter future

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has approved the first human embryonic stem cell (ES) line from the George W Bush era, according to Nature News. It will be included on the National Stem Cell Registry (NSCR), ensuring its eligibility for federal funding....[Read More]

New technique creates genetic disease models in human stem cells

Scientists at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), US, have developed a technique to transfer modified genes known to cause disease in humans into human embryonic stem cell (ES cell) lines. The modified ES cells behave like diseased cells and can be used to study human genetic diseases in the laboratory. The new technique provides an alternative approach to mouse 'knock out' models of disease....[Read More]

Cord blood banking - why aren't we doing it?

In 2008 I was the first UK MP to raise the issue of umbilical cord blood (UCB) banking as a private members bill in Parliament and several MPs spoke to me of their previous ignorance of UCB. It is an ignorance I shared despite being a parent of six children and living close to one of the National Health Service (NHS) hospitals that collects it....[Read More]

Book Review: An Introduction to Stem Cells

With modern day medico-scientific technology advancing at an incredible pace, it is very easy for the layperson to become caught up in the technical language used by scientists and academics in their specialist field. Often, out of a lack of expertise, even the media misrepresent information, particularly in relation to research involving stem cells...[Read More]

Red tape hampers US embryonic stem-cell research funding

The scientific research community in the US has had much cause to celebrate this past year following President Obama taking office and swiftly implementing a decidedly more liberal policy towards human embryonic stem cell (ES) research than was hitherto in place. Earlier this month the National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved 13 new ES cell lines under the new ethical standards. However, the granting of federal funding for research projects on ES cell lines - a key policy c...[Read More]

Human trials of ES cell research could begin soon

Stem cell therapy came one step closer to being tested for the first time in people this week, as a US company applied to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a licence to start a clinical trial. The embryonic stem (ES) cell therapy is being developed to treat Stargardt, a currently incurable disease that causes blindness in young people....[Read More]

Stem cell treatment in irradiated rats offers hope for radiotherapy patients

Following radiation to the head, rats transplanted with stem cells had greater improvements in learning and memory, showed a research team at the University of California....[Read More]

$230 million cash boost aimed at driving stem cell therapies into the clinic

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded fourteen teams a total of $230 million for the advancement of stem cell therapy. The CIRM was created as a measure by the Californian State to fund work on human embryonic stem (ES) cells.Californian voters approved the 10-year, $3 billion effort in 2004 largely to get around restrictions on ES cell research imposed by the administration of President George W Bush. This year, President Obama's administration relaxed thes...[Read More]