With an eye to the future - preliminary results of clinical trial in human embryonic stem cell-based therapy of macular degeneration

Last week, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) of Massachusetts, USA, made two important announcements regarding human embryonic stem (hES) cell-based therapies for the potential treatment of Stargardt's dystrophy and age-related macular degeneration, two devastating degenerative disease leading to blindness....[Read More]

Stem cell transplants hold hope for treating blindness

A clinical trial testing the safety of using human embryonic stem cell (hESC) in the treatment of progressive eye conditions has been carried out by researchers in the USA...[Read More]

Event Review: European Union Ban on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Patents - A Threat to Science and the Rule of Law

The recent ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) excluding inventions relating to human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from patentability has sparked a heated debate in the bioscience, ethics and law communities...[Read More]

Crystal ball gazing: human embryonic stem cells in 2012

In the last few months of 2011, a couple of stories on human embryonic stem cells hit the headlines. Both were bad news for stem cell researchers...[Read More]

First chimeric monkeys born in US

Three chimeric rhesus monkeys born in the USA have been described as the world's first primate chimeras...[Read More]

US embryonic stem cell researchers face logistical and funding difficulties

A survey of over 200 human embryonic stem cell (hESC) researchers in the US has found almost four in ten respondents had experienced delays in obtaining cell lines and over one-quarter said they were unable to obtain a required cell line at all....[Read More]

Overstretched regulator to police IVF clinics

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will take over policing of IVF clinics, despite worries it cannot cope with the additional workload...[Read More]

First clinical grade, 'gold standard' stem cells created

The world's first 'clinical grade' human embryonic stem cells have been donated to the UK Stem Cell Bank (UKSCB). The high quality cell lines are expected to become the gold standard for developing new cell-based therapies for serious medical conditions, including spinal cord injuries...[Read More]

Brain cells from embryos: two successful mouse implant studies

Two separate studies have successfully transplanted neurons into the brains of mice. The transplanted neurons are able to send and receive electrical impulses, and can be used to compensate for faulty brain cells, restoring normal function. Both studies sourced the transplanted neurons from embryos – mouse embryos in one case, human embryonic stem cells were used in the other...[Read More]

Step forward in pioneering stem cell trial for motor neurone disease

On 18 November, Richard Grosjean became the first patient to receive a pioneering stem cell treatment in the upper part of the spinal cord. His procedure is part of an ongoing US-based clinical trial aimed at assessing the safety of injecting neural stem cells taken from eight-week-old fetuses into the spinal cords of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)...[Read More]

Film Review: Eggsploitation

'Eggsploitation' highlights some worrying issues with the way in which egg-harvesting currently operates. Yet it leaves the viewer with the feeling that they haven't been shown the whole picture and a sneaking suspicion that a hidden agenda is at play...[Read More]

Perhaps the Government is right to plan to abolish the HFEA

Perhaps the Government is right to plan to abolish the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The astonishing behaviour of its members at last week's open Authority meeting over compensation for egg and sperm donors will lower its reputation in the eyes of some of its erstwhile supporters. Those who might have manned the barricades to halt the Government's plans may now wonder whether the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the health and social care regulator set to take over the H...[Read More]

Ban on embryonic stem cell patents by European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that stem cell processes which require the prior destruction of human embryos or are based upon the use of human embryos are not patentable. The decision may have wide implications for scientists engaged in embryonic stem cell research....[Read More]

Breakthrough in stem cell research - world's first reprogrammed adult cell

US scientists have for the first time created 'personalised' human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) using a form of cloning. The result is a significant milestone on the route to using stem cell-based therapies but the researchers stress more work is to be done as genetic errors in the cells means they are not yet suitable for therapeutic use....[Read More]

Event Review: Human Embryo Research - Law, Ethics and Public Policy

On 8 September 2011 the Anscombe Bioethics Centre (a Roman Catholic organisation named after the philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe) organised the conference 'Human Embryo Research: Law, Ethics and Public Policy'. This was topical, in a month when it was announced that Europe's first clinical trials using human embryonic stem cells to treat Stargardt's macular degeneration (an incurable disease causing blindness in youth) would take place in the UK...[Read More]

Stem cell research funding lawsuit returns as plaintiffs appeal

Lawyers acting for two US scientists who sought to challenge the legality of a decision by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to allow research on new embryonic stem (ES) cell lines have filed a notice of appeal. They seek to reverse the decision made against them by a district judge in July...[Read More]

Film Review: Stem Cell Revolutions - A Vision of the Future

The short film 'Stem Cell Revolutions: A Vision of the Future' uses interviews to document how stem cells have 'vitally changed our understanding of the human body'. The film opens with a voiceover by the film's celebrity commentator novelist Margaret Atwood: 'Sometimes it seems stem cells are proposed as the answer to everything... What can't they do?'...[Read More]

Britain trials embryonic stem cells as treatment for blindness

UK scientists have been granted approval to begin the first clinical trial using embryonic stem cells (ES cells) in Europe, which they hope could lead to an effective treatment for a degenerative eye disease causing blindness...[Read More]

TV Review: Bang Goes the Theory

Presenter Liz Bonnin investigates stem cells, and their pioneering use in organ donation. Bonnin's introduction the segment covers briefly, but accurately, the 30 years worth of history of stem cell research, and the controversy around embryonic stem cell research...[Read More]

First mammalian stem cells grown with only one set of chromosomes

UK researchers have for the first time created mouse embryonic stem cells using just one set of chromosomes. Most mammalian cells, except sperm and eggs, are diploid, meaning they contain two sets of chromosomes. The ability to produce haploid cells, that contain only one set of chromosomes, may prove helpful in revealing the different functions of our genes....[Read More]