Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their research on resetting cells to their earliest developmental stages.The work has yet to yield a clear breakthrough in medical treatment, but it has revolutionized scientists ability to study both normal and diseased development.

Gurdon, 79, performed his seminal work in the late 1950s and early 1960sa good deal of it before Yamanaka was born. In his most famous study, Gurdon showed that replacing the nucleus of an adult cell with the nucleus of an embryonic cell reset the adult cell to an embryonic state: Many of the cells became tadpoles. This strongly suggested that embryonic-state DNA and the molecules that controlled gene expression in the nucleus were sufficient to make a cell "pluripotent" againor capable of turning into any type of tissue in the body.

Some40 years later, Yamanaka took this further by showing that adult mouse skin cells could be reset to their embryonic state just by adding a set of genes into the cells nuclei, and he later reduced this number to just four genes. The cells are now referred to as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, and are a common tool in the study of development and disease.

With Yamanakas discovery, researchers suddenly had a way of studying pluripotent stem cells without destroying embryosa limitation that had caused countless headaches at the time of Yamanakas breakthrough, as President George W. Bush had instituted severe limitations on such research.

Since Yamanakas seminal finding, researchers have used the approach to demonstrate some stunning feats: They have turned the skin cells of people who have Parkinsons disease into disease in a dish models that allow them to watch the development of the disease over time and to observe what genes go wrong when and why, and, just last week, a team of scientists published research that used the approach to turn mouse skin cells back into mouse eggs, which then produced baby mice.

The technique has not been without complications: Because one of the four genes is also highly implicated in cancer, the iPS cells are more likely to become cancerous than true embryonic stem cells. The issue has slowed research in the field.

Today, Gurdon works at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, England, which he founded, and Yamanaka has appointments at UC San Franciscos Gladstone Institute and at Kyoto University.

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Nobel Prize goes to pioneers of induced stem cell research

Nobel Prize Commemorative Coin. Image Credit: Wikipedia (public domain)

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Stem cell research has been a controversial, yet important advance in science and medicine for decades. Scientific research has been carried out in numerous areas pertaining to stem cells, and the work of two such researchers in the field have caught the eye of the most prestigious awards organization in the world.

Britains Sir John Gurdon and Japans Shinya Yamanaka were both awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine thanks to their tireless research in nuclear programming, a process that instructs adult cells to form early stem cells which can then be used to form any tissue type.

Gurdon, whose work included taking intestinal samples to clone frogs, and Yamanaka, whose work altered genes to reprogram cells, were awarded the prize by a committee at Stockholms Karolinska Institute on Monday. The committee said the discoveries made by both men have revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.

Sir John Gurdons work is from 1962. In his research, he showed that the genetic information inside a cell gleaned from the intestines of a frog contained all the information needed to create a whole new frog. He took the genetic information and placed it inside a frog egg, which then developed into a normal tadpole. Gurdons technique would eventually pave the way for later researchers to clone a sheep named Dolly, the first ever cloned mammal.

Fast forward forty years, Shinya Yamanaka took on a different approach. Rather than transferring genetic data into an egg, he reset it.

Yamanaka added four genes to adult skin cells of mice which transformed them into stem cells, which in turn became specialized cells, or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. He also announced, in 2007, that he had done the same with human skin cells.

These embryonic iPS cells can develop into any type of cell and, because of this, hold tremendous promise for regenerative medicine, in which damaged organs and tissues can be replaced or repaired.

Use of stem cells are, in the eyes of many in the scientific community, the key to the future of disease eradication. However, the issue has also been controversial, with many opponents of stem cell research crying foul, accusing scientists of playing God.

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British and Japanese Researchers Awarded The 2012 Nobel Prize For Stem Cell Research

By: Jenny Marder

Nobel Prize winner Sir John Gurdon talks to reporters on Oct. 8, 2012 in London. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan have both been awarded the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology for their work as pioneers of stem cell research. Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.

In 1962, John B. Gurdon of the United Kingdom discovered that a cell removed from the gut of a frog contained all the genetic information necessary to create the whole frog. More than 40 years later, Shinya Yamanaka of Japan found that by introducing a few genes to a mature mouse cell, he could reprogram it into a stem cell, capable of developing into any cell in the body.

Gurdon and Yamanaka share this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for their work in cellular reprogramming, 50 years after Gurdon's initial discovery. Their work in stem cells has led to a wave of advances, from cloning animals to allowing scientists to create embryonic cells without having to destroy embryos.

Gurdon was still a graduate student when he first transplanted genetic information from the nucleus of an intestinal cell of one frog into the fertilized egg cell of another whose own nucleus had been removed. That cell was able to reprogram and develop into a tadpole, proving that even mature, specialized cells have all the information needed to transform an embryo into an adult.

He relied on a technique called nuclear transfer to transplant the nuclei. The discovery flew in the face of established opinion, since other more established scientists hadn't been able to successfully make such a transfer, and it was thought then that a specialized cell is irreversibly tied to its fate.

"We had to go through a few years, in a sense, of letting the results sink in," Gurdon said in an early morning interview with the Nobel committee.

The same year that discovery was published, Yamanaka was born. And 40 years later, he took the science a big step farther. His research identified the four genes that made it possible to reverse mature stem cells into their embryonic state without using nuclear transfer. The "induced pluripotent embryonic stem cells" could then go on to become nerve cells, heart cells, gut cells.

That finding opened the possibility for skin cells to be reversed to embryonic cells and then reprogrammed into nerve, heart or other tissue cells for medical uses and disease treatment. Such reprogrammed cells have not yet been used to treat patients.

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Stem Cell Discovery Secures Nobel Prize

Editor's Choice Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry Article Date: 08 Oct 2012 - 10:00 PDT

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The Nobel Assembly described their findings as a revolution in our understanding of how organisms and cells develop. Gurdon and Yamanaka discovered that mature, specialize cells may be reprogrammed so that they revert back into immature cells that have the potential of developing into all tissues of the body.

The specialization of cells is reversible - in 1962, John Gurdon discovered that a cell's specialization can be reversed. In a famous experiment, he took out the nucleus of a frog's egg cell and replaced it with the nucleus from a mature intestinal cell. The egg with the gut cell nucleus eventually developed into a healthy tadpole. The mature cells' DNA still carried all the data required to developed into all cells in the frog.

Reprogramming intact mature cells into immature stem cells - in 2006, Yamanaka discovered how an intact mature cell in a mouse could be reprogrammed so that it turned into an immature stem cell. With the introduction of just a few genes he managed to reprogram mature cells so that they became pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells can develop into any type of cell in the body.

In a communiqu, Nobelprize.org wrote:

As the embryo develops, these cells develop into liver cells, muscle cells, nerve cells - into all the cell types required to form a developed organism. Each cell is specialized to perform precise functions in the adult body.

Scientists had thought that the journey from immature to specialized cells was a one-way-street; that there was no turning back, that it would not be possible for them to return to an immature, pluripotent state.

John B. Gurdon wondered how right this theory was, and decided to challenge it. He hypothesized that a specialized cell's genome may still have all the data required to drive its development into any type of cell. He tested his hypothesis in 1962. He replaced a frog's egg cell nucleus with the mature, specialized cell from a tadpole's intestine.

The frog's egg cell with the nucleus of the cell of a tadpole's intestine developed into a healthy, cloned tadpole. He repeated the experiment several times and managed to yield many adult frogs.

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Nobel Prize For British And Japanese Stem Cell Scientists

8 October 2012 Last updated at 09:58 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

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British scientist John Gurdon told a news conference he still keeps a bad report given to him by his school science teacher

Two pioneers of stem cell research have shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology.

John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan were awarded the prize for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body.

Prof Gurdon used a gut sample to clone frogs and Prof Yamanaka altered genes to reprogramme cells.

The Nobel committee said they had "revolutionised" science.

The prize is in stark contrast to Prof Gurdon's first foray into science when his biology teacher described his scientific ambitions as "a waste of time".

"I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him."

When a sperm fertilises an egg there is just one type of cell. It multiplies and some of the resulting cells become specialised to create all the tissues of the body including nerve and bone and skin.

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Stem cell experts win Nobel prize

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience;Alzheimer's / Dementia;Parkinson's Disease Article Date: 06 Oct 2012 - 2:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Neurons Made From Adult Cells In The Brain

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The researchers write about their work in the 5 October online issue of Cell Stem Cell.

Much of the stem cell research that is going on into making new brain cells focuses on using stem and adult cells from other parts of the body and reprogramming them to form new brain cells and then implanting them into the brain.

For example, earlier this year, Stanford researchers in the US reported how they converted mouse skin cells directly into neural precursor cells, the cells that go on to form the three main types of cell in the brain and nervous system.

But corresponding author of this latest study, Benedikt Berninger, now at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, says they are looking at ways of making new neurons out of cells that are already in the brain.

"The ultimate goal we have in mind is that this may one day enable us to induce such conversion within the brain itself and thus provide a novel strategy for repairing the injured or diseased brain," says Berninger in a press release.

A major challenge of finding cells already in the brain that can be coaxed into forming new neurons, is whether they will respond to reprogramming.

The cells that Berninger and colleagues are focusing on are called pericytes. These cells are found close to blood vessels in the brain and help maintain the blood-brain barrier that stops bacteria and other unwanted material crossing from the bloodstream into the brain.

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Neurons Made From Adult Cells In The Brain

Sigma Life Science, the innovative biological products and services research wing of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (SIAL), has announced the launch of Stemline pluripotent culture medium, a human pluripotent stem cell culture medium which provides a suitable environment for the long-term maintenance and growth of healthy pluripotent stem cells.

Sigma-Aldrich stated that the Stemline pluripotent stem cell culture medium is serum-free, consists of fully-defined components and has 80% less basic fibroblast growth factor compared to the leading pluripotent stem cell culture medium. This provides a favorable environment for long-term maintenance of optimal growth rates, viability and pluripotency.

The stem cell research community usually complains of the high costs of media for pluripotent stem cells. However, Sigma-Aldrichs Stemline pluripotent culture medium performs as good as the leading medium for maintaining pluripotency and optimal growth rates and is available at comparatively lower costs than the conventional media.

It is also found that cultured pluripotent stem cells show all the established pluripotency markers and maintain proper karyotype and the ability to distinguish into each of the three germ layers. The novel Stemline media strengthens Sigma-Aldrich's position as one of the largest global providers of cell culture media.

Sigma-Aldrich released its second-quarter 2012 results in July. The company posted adjusted earnings of 97 cents per share for the quarter, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but ahead of the year-ago earnings of 93 cents per share. Profit, as reported, marginally increased year over year to $115 million or 94 cents per share.

Revenues rose 4% year over year to $664 million, aided by acquisitions. The company saw growth across its Research Chemicals and Fine Chemicals (SAFC) divisions in the quarter.

Sigma-Aldrich expects organic growth to be low-to-mid single digits in 2012. Macroeconomic uncertainties may hinder its Research Chemicals business whereas growth in Bioscience and Hitech is expected to drive SAFC sales in the remainder of the year. The acquisitions of BioReliance and Research Organics are expected to boost sales by 6%.

Sigma-Aldrich, a close peer of Bayer AG (BAYRY), currently maintains a Zacks #2 Rank, which translates into a short-term (1 to 3 months) Buy rating. We have a long-term (more than 6 months) Neutral recommendation on the stock.

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Sigma Intros Stem Cell Medium

Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Fertility Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 05 Oct 2012 - 14:00 PDT

Current ratings for: From Stem Cells To Mouse Eggs To Baby Mice - No Father Involved

4.4 (5 votes)

5 (1 votes)

The scientists, from Kyoto University, first produced healthy mouse pups in 2011 using stem cell-derived sperm. They have now achieved the same by using eggs which were created in the same way.

Scientists are describing the Kyoto team's feat as a "significant achievement" which will have a profound impact on reproductive cell biology and genetics research.

In both cases, the scientists used ES (embryonic stem) cells and iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells. ES are taken from embryos while iPS come from reprogrammed adult tissue cells that mimic stem cell behavior.

Theory suggests that both ES and iPS cells can produce all the cell types in the body. However, the majority of scientists have not been able to make them turn into germ cells, which eventually become eggs or sperm.

Mitinori Saitou and team hit upon a process that managed to turn stem cells into germ cells. They started off with ES and iPS cells and cultured them into a mix of proteins to produce primordial germ cell-like cells.

Their aim was to get precursor egg cells, known as oocytes. They mixed the primordial cells with fetal ovarian cells, and formed reconstituted ovaries which were grafted onto natural ovaries within live mice. Exactly four weeks and four days later, the primordial germ cell-like cells had turned into oocytes. The ovaries were removed from the mice and the oocytes harvested, fertilized in petri dishes, and the resulting embryos were implanted into surrogate mothers.

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From Stem Cells To Mouse Eggs To Baby Mice - No Father Involved

Hopes of a cure for infertility in humans were raised Friday after Japanese stem cell researchers announced they had created viable eggs using normal cells from adult mice.

The breakthrough raises the possibility that women who are unable to produce eggs naturally could have them created in a test tube from their own cells and then planted back into their body.

A team at Kyoto University harvested stem cells from mice and altered a number of genes to create cells very similar to the primordial germ cells that generate sperm in men and oocytes -- or eggs -- in women.

They then nurtured these with cells that would become ovaries and transplanted the mixture into living mice, where the cells matured into fully-grown oocytes.

They extracted the matured oocytes, fertilised them in vitro -- in a test tube -- and implanted them into surrogate mother mice.

The resulting mice pups were born healthy and were even able to reproduce once they matured.

Writing in the US journal Science, which published the findings, research leader professor Michinori Saito said the work provided a promising basis for hope in reproductive medicine.

"Our system serves as a robust foundation to investigate and further reconstitute female germline development in vitro, not only in mice, but also in other mammals, including humans," he said.

Saito cautioned that this was not a ready-made cure for people with fertility problems, adding that a lot of work remained.

"This achievement is expected to help us understand further the egg-producing mechanism and contribute to clarifying the causes of infertility," he told reporters.

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Japan team offers fertility hope with stem cell eggs

Editor's Choice Main Category: Parkinson's Disease Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 04 Oct 2012 - 11:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Parkinson's Disease Cure May Be In Stem Cell Research, But..

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An advanced stem cell growth solution that may potentially lead to a search for a Parkinson's cure, according to a communiqu released today by Rainbow Biosciences. The company is working towards having such technology on the market as soon as possible.

Scientists say that ethical dilemmas and government restrictions have made stem cell research breakthrough much more difficult to achieve. Add to this the difficulty in controlling stem cell behavior in the lab, and the task seems even harder.

Rainbow Biosciences says that one way to accelerate research projects and make them advance more efficiently is to increase the availability of top-quality adult stem cells for research.

Rainbow says it is working on this. It is in discussions with Regenetech regarding acquiring a license to perform cell expansion using its Rotary Cell Culture System, which was originally developed by NASA.

Rainbow Biosciences wrote:

The company would like to bring the bioreactor to "emerging research markets" which do not face as many regulatory roadblocks. They say this will help activate "billions of dollars' worth of research" into potential cures for Parkinson's disease, as well as some the disorders of the nervous system.

Rainbow Biosciences says that this new addition to the stem cell research world will compete alongside industry giants, such as Amgen Inc., Celgene Corporation, Gilead Sciences Inc., and Gynzyme Corp.

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Parkinson's Disease Cure May Be In Stem Cell Research, But..