Disappointing results one year into diabetes stem cell trial

Biotech company Osiris Therapeutics has this month released an optimistic update on its Phase II trial evaluating the use of adult stem cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, despite lacking positive results...[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]

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]

Old stem cells exposed to a young environment can be rejuvenated

Exposure to a youthful environment may help old cells feel alive again – as the work of Professor Xiaodong Chen and co-workers from the University of Texas Health Science Center, USA, suggests...[Read More]

Sherley that's not ethical? A review of US law on embryo research

Should human embryonic stem cell research be deemed unethical for its embryo destruction? The US court decision in Sherley v Sebelius on 27 July 2011 to allow federal funding of this research set a global precedent. The meaning of research was divided into two categories: that which directly involves embryo destruction and that which does not...[Read More]

Study war no more: Science, politics and the battle over US government funding for embryonic stem cell research

Have you ever played the children's game Red Light/Green Light? Someone yells 'green light!' and everyone runs as fast as they can (some in circles, but that's not against the rules). When they yell 'red light!', everyone freezes in some contorted position. Playing Red Light/Green Light seems not unlike the experience of conducting embryonic stem cell research in the United States...[Read More]

Multiple Sclerosis stem cell therapy trialled

A clinical trial investigating the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using bone marrow stem cells has produced encouraging results, researchers at Bristol University have reported....[Read More]

Stem cells used for pioneering windpipe transplant

A UK child has become the world's first to receive a full windpipe transplant using an organ built from his own stem cells...[Read More]

Half-Truths?: The science, politics and morality of hybrid embryos

The creation of human admixed or 'hybrid' embryos - which contain both human and animal material - is perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill, and is an issue on which UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown bowed to pressure for a free vote by MPs, following...[Read More]

Brazilian Supreme Court delays embryonic stem cell research ruling

The Brazilian Supreme Court - which was due last Wednesday to deliver its decision of whether its 2005 national law allowing human embryonic stem (ES) cell research is constitutional - has delayed the ruling because one of the eleven justices requested more time to consider the matter. The 2005...[Read More]

Adult stem cells used to correct DMD in mice

Adult stem cells harvested from human patients with the muscle wasting disease Duchene Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) can be genetically corrected and used to improve muscle strength in mice with DMD, according to a study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell last week. The researchers, based at...[Read More]

Reprogrammed stem cells cure mice of sickle cell anaemia

By Katy Sinclair: Researchers, reporting in Science, have announced the successful treatment of a mouse with sickle-cell anaemia using stem cell lines created from adult mouse cells. Rudolf Jaenisch, of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge Massachusetts, and Tim Townes, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, worked...[Read More]

'Immune system transplant' successful in mice

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have had some success at transplanting adult stem cells into mice to create a new immune system, according to a study published in the journal Science last week. Although it may be many years before the research can be...[Read More]

An alternative use for unwanted IVF embryos?

The prospect of being able to store your own stem cells as a form of future 'biological insurance' is for many, very tempting. Since the late 1990s, and in spite of the reportedly low odds that they will ever be used, parents have seized the opportunity to...[Read More]

UK could lose out if US stem cell restrictions lifted, warns MRC

The UK's Medical Research Council (MRC) has warned that progress in stem cell research in this country may be overtaken by the US if the current federal restrictions are lifted sometime in the future. Leszek Borysiewicz, the newly appointed head of the MRC, raised concerns that once...[Read More]

Cells from testicles used to make stem cells

Scientists have discovered a novel way of identifying the tiny subset of adult stem cells that exist in mouse testes and of reprogramming them to develop into other bodily tissues. If this technique can be replicated in humans it could provide a plentiful and more ethically acceptable...[Read More]

Human stem cells improve Parkinson's symptoms in monkeys

A new US study has shown that following neural stem cell injections, primates with severe Parkinson's disease show temporary recovery of their ability to stand, walk, feed and generally coordinate movement. Although the results are promising, it will be years before the therapeutic value for humans is...[Read More]

President Bush vetoes embryonic stem cell legislation

President Bush has again vetoed legislation that would relax federal funding restrictions on human embryonic stem (ES) cell research in the US, despite it having been passed by large majorities in both the House and the Senate. In the third veto of his presidency, Bush said the...[Read More]

'Self-renewal' gene discovered in embryonic and adult stem cells

Researchers have identified the gene which controls the critical self-renewal function of stem cells. Both adult and embryonic stem cells are able to repeatedly renew themselves, which allows them to be grown up in large numbers in the laboratory before being differentiated into specific tissue types. Although...[Read More]

US stem cell policy news

Delaware has moved a step closer to allowing human embryonic stem (ES) cell research. The Delaware Regenerative Medicine Act would permit ES cell research under the approval of an advisory council and would allow couples to donate 'spare' embryos for research after undergoing IVF. Reproductive cloning and...[Read More]