Category Archives: Gene therapy

Steve Jobs was a rare case, right down to his death. Announced Wednesday, Jobs's death from "complications of pancreatic cancer" only hints at the vast complexity of the disease to which he succumbed at the age of 56. [More]

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No organ in the human body is as resistant to study as the brain. Whereas researchers can examine living cells from the liver, lung and heart, taking a biopsy of the brain is, for many reasons, more problematic.

The inability to watch living human brain cells in action has hampered scientists in their efforts to understand psychiatric disorders. But researchers have identified a promising new approach that may revolutionize the study and treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia, autism and bipolar dis­order. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., took skin cells from a patient with schizophrenia, turned them into adult stem cells and then grew those stem cells into neurons. The resulting tangle of brain cells gave neuroscientists their first real-time glimpse of human schizophrenia at the cellular level. Another team, from Stanford University, converted human skin cells directly into neurons without first stopping at the stem cell stage, potentially making the process more efficient. The groups published their results recently in Nature ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group).

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NOVEMBER

4–5 According to the World Health Organization, one in four of us will develop at least one mental illness or behavioral disorder in our lifetime. Depression alone affects an estimated 121 million people worldwide. At the two-day EMBO/EMBL Science and Society Conference , biologists, psychologists and neuroscientists will explore the ethical and social implications of major mental illnesses as well as their causes and treatment. Attendees will debate the definitions of mental disorders, financial interests in the refinement of both diagnoses and drugs, and controversial new therapies, among other topics. [More]

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Exact details of the alternative natural and traditional therapies tried by Steve Jobs before he underwent surgery in 2004 and eventually died of pancreatic cancer earlier this month have not been disclosed. (A representative from Apple declined to comment on any aspect of the Apple co-founder's illness.) He reportedly restricted his diet to just fruits or just fruits and vegetables, tried out something called hydrotherapy and consulted psychics. In any case, a mounting body of scientific and anecdotal reports provides compelling evidence about the potential impact, both positive and negative, of so-called complementary practices on the health and longevity of cancer patients following their diagnosis. And, although Jobs's unconventional early-treatment choices may not have done much to stave off the spread of deadly cancer cells in his case, they provide an opportunity to discuss what makes cancer grow and how to stop it.

Jobs had a rare form of pancreatic cancer known as pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pNET). Accounting for about 1 percent of all pancreatic cancers, pNET is a cancer of the endocrine cells, known clinically as the islets of Langerhans, which exist in small clusters throughout the pancreas. These cells produce hormones such as insulin, which lowers blood sugar, and glucagon, which increases it.

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Steve Jobs was a rare case, right down to his death. Announced Wednesday, Jobs's death from "complications of pancreatic cancer" only hints at the vast complexity of the disease to which he succumbed at the age of 56. [More]

Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/sciam/topic/gene-therapy

No organ in the human body is as resistant to study as the brain. Whereas researchers can examine living cells from the liver, lung and heart, taking a biopsy of the brain is, for many reasons, more problematic.

The inability to watch living human brain cells in action has hampered scientists in their efforts to understand psychiatric disorders. But researchers have identified a promising new approach that may revolutionize the study and treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia, autism and bipolar dis­order. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., took skin cells from a patient with schizophrenia, turned them into adult stem cells and then grew those stem cells into neurons. The resulting tangle of brain cells gave neuroscientists their first real-time glimpse of human schizophrenia at the cellular level. Another team, from Stanford University, converted human skin cells directly into neurons without first stopping at the stem cell stage, potentially making the process more efficient. The groups published their results recently in Nature ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group).

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Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/sciam/topic/gene-therapy

Dutch tv journal of 15 June 2006 about new method to prevent immune reactions after cell transplantation. Suicide genes form the basis of a strategy for making cancer cells more vulnerable, more sensitive to chemotherapy.

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Gene therapy improves stem cell transplantation - Video

BEYOND THERAPY: BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS biotech.law.lsu.edu GENE TOOLS, LLC http://www.gene-tools.com DISTRESS OF HAIR LOSS The feasibility of targeted selective gene therapy of the hair follicle. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov TISSUE ENGINEERING IN PERSPECTIVE- Eugene Bell http://www.chemeng.queensu.ca THE HAIR FOLLICLE AND ITS STEM CELLS AS DRUG DELIVERY TARGETS http://www.metamouse.com Supramolecular Biomaterials. A Modular Approach towards Tissue Engineering http://www.csj.jp STEM CELL RESEARCH ec.europa.eu Liposomes for Use in Gene Delivery tulane.edu DYNAMIC CONSTITUTIONAL MATERIALS

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THE NEW MORGELLONS HAIR - Video

(Part 2 of 2) Nancy Rene, a patient advocate for the Sickle Cell Foundation of California, spoke to the CIRM Governing Board at the "Spotlight on Disease Team Awards: Stem Cell Therapy for Sickle Cell Anemia" seminar.

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Sickle Cell Anemia: Stem Cell Gene Therapy - A Patient's Perspective

(Part 1 of 2) CIRM has funded a $9 million disease team to develop a more effective and safer bone marrow transplant to treat sickle cell disease. The team is led by Dr. Donald Kohn, director of the Human Gene Medicine Program at UCLA, a scientist with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and a professor of microbiology and pediatrics

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Sickle Cell Anemia: Stem Cell Gene Therapy - Donald Kohn