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Stem Cell Research: Advantage India
Lakshmi, a 28-year-old woman from Guntur finds it hard to forget June 19, 2009. That was the day she became a victim of an acid attack. Her face was burnt and the eye damaged. Unless she manages a cornea donation, her loss is likely to be permanent. For Lakshmi and others like her, the work that is being done in L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, can mean a rescue from blindness. If the Eye Institute keeps to its path of progress in stem cell research, Lakshmi could grow her cornea back. “We have tackled almost 600 such cases using stem cells from corneal epithelium,” says D. Balasubramanian, director of research, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute. A combination of factors have made India one of the hotbeds of stem cell research in the world, with both the government and private firms working in very interesting areas to win the sweepstakes of life as it were.
>> Read the StoryStem Cell Breakthrough: Bone Marrow Cells Are the Answer
Using cells from mice, scientists from Iowa and Iran have discovered a new strategy for making embryonic stem cell transplants less likely to be rejected by a recipient's immune system. This strategy, described in a new research report appearing in the February 2010 print issue of The FASEB Journal, involves fusing bone marrow cells to embryonic stem cells.
>> Read the StoryGene That Improves Quality of Reprogrammed Stem Cells Identified
In the 7 Feb. 2010 issue of the journal Nature, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), report that a genetic molecule, called Tbx3, which is crucial for many aspects of early developmental processes in mammals, significantly improves the quality of stem cells that have been reprogrammed from differentiated cells.
>> Read the StoryTransforming Human Fat Into Stem Cells Using Virus-Free Technique
Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into the cells or permanently alter a cell's genome.
>> Read the StoryCord blood stem cell transplant hopes lifted
A technique which may eventually remove the need for matched bone marrow transplants has been used in humans for the first time. It is hoped that "master cells" taken from umbilical cords could be used on any patient without rejection. The latest advance, published in the journal Nature Medicine, greatly multiplies the tiny number of cells from the cord ready for a transplant.
>> Read the StoryBetter oversight could cure doubts of stem cell project
Proposition 71 gave the leadership of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine almost unassailable control of its $3 billion in funding. It's time for that to change. It's never pretty to see people get blown up by their own bombs. But it sure can be educational. A case in point is the leadership of the California stem cell program, which pushed through Proposition 71 in 2004 to create the program, entrenched itself in almost unassailable control of its $3 billion in funding, and has self-righteously fought every attempt to improve public oversight over its disbursement of what is, after all, the people's money.
>> Read the StoryAging of Blood Stem Cells May Be Reversible
Scientists have found a way to make old stem cells in the blood act like young stem cells, a discovery that could lead to ways to slow the aging process. Taking certain factors from the blood of young mice and putting them in old mice made old stem cells take on the characteristics of younger stem cells. In addition, the tissues of the older mice appeared much more "youthful," according to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center.
>> Read the Story