Category Archives: Stem Cells

The Fountain of Youth is Closer than we Think | Dr. Robert Hariri | TEDxBedminster
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Stem cells holds in them, the secret scientific ingredients to enable humans to live younger longer....

By: TEDx Talks

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The Fountain of Youth is Closer than we Think | Dr. Robert Hariri | TEDxBedminster - Video

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 19:42 EST, 1 October 2014 | Updated: 03:09 EST, 2 October 2014

Scientists have found a possible treatment for the most common form of blindness using special stem cells found on the front surface of the eye.

Research at the University of Southampton, published in the journal PLOS ONE, showed that stem cells can be gathered from the corneal limbus.

This part of the eye is a narrow gap between the transparent cornea and white sclera.

Discovery: University of Southampton researchers hope their work will lead to new treatments for blindness

Under the correct conditions, these cells could be directed to behave like the cells needed to see light - photoreceptor cells.

The loss of photoreceptor cells causes irreversible blindness and researchers hope this discovery could lead to new treatments for conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world which affects around one in three people in the UK by the age of 75.

Professor Andrew Lotery, of the University of Southampton and a consultant ophthalmologist at Southampton General Hospital, said: 'These cells are readily accessible, and they have surprising plasticity, which makes them an attractive cell resource for future therapies.

'This would help avoid complications with rejection or contamination because the cells taken from the eye would be returned to the same patient. More research is now needed to develop this approach before these cells are used in patients.'

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Stem cells found on front surface of eye could lead to treatment for blindness

In an NHS first, stem cells from babies born in Croydon will be extracted so they can be used in life saving treatments.

To make this happen Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has teamed up with Precious Cells Miracle (PCM), to collect, process and store stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood and tissue.

Because these cells can become bone, muscle, cartilage and other types of cells there is the potential for them to be used to treat many diseases.

Under the terms of the deal PCM will provide Croydon University Hospital with the staff, technology and specialised equipment necessary to perform sterile collections of cord blood.

And expectant parents will be given the option of privately storing their stem cells with Precious Cells Group for their families own immediate use or of donating their cord blood stem cells to build up the Governments public stem cell bank.

Precious Cells Group is covering the cost of storing and extracting the stem cells, which are then made available for the benefit of the public bank and those that require a transplant.

And it will share the private storage profits.

Precious Cells Group chief executive Dr Husein Salem said: The initiative we have announced through our charitable arm, Precious Cells Miracle, aims to address the significant underfunding of UK stem cell banking and increase the number of stem cells banked from umbilical cord blood and tissue, which will contribute to the key UK target of banking 50,000 stem cells by 2016.

It is also vital that people are properly educated about the availability and benefits of stem cell banking.

Only when patients are given all possible information can they make an informed decision about how and when to bank their stem cells and the aim is that our partnership with the NHS Croydon Trust and further Trust hospitals will make a strong contribution to this process.

Excerpt from:
Stem cells to be extracted at Croydon hospital in an NHS first

HOUSTON -

Stem cells, the body's so called "master cells," are used to treat heart disease and cancer and to grow tissue. But plants also have stem cells and they're some of the hottest ingredients in anti-aging products.

Andrea Vizcaino, 49, is trying out a new phyto-facial that comes in the form of a freeze dried serum in a vial. One of the main ingredients is stem cells from the argon tree in Morocco. She described the procedure.

"It feels warm, especially around my chin and it feels good," said Vizcaino. "Very hydrating; the skin feels moist."

Apple, echinacea and grape stem cells are already used in many skin care products, but some scientists think the argon tree cells will penetrate even deeper.

"The plant stem cells stimulate our stem cells to regenerate the skin," said skin care specialist Candy Bonura.

Allenby agrees the new products can be hydrating, but said the jury is still out about the real effectiveness of plant stem cells.

"Stem cells are kind of the buzz word right now, but we have to remember that stem cells are different in plants and different in people," Allenby said.

Bonura acknowledged these new products won't take years off your face, but many clients do see a difference.

"I see a brightening, I see a hydration, I also see the skin is more supple looking and more youthful with a glow to it," Bonura said.

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Plant stem cells may help skin look younger, healthier

And researchers were amazed to find that the cells even existed in the eyes of a 97-year-old, opening up the possibility that the treatment could work for the elderly.

These cells are readily accessible, and they have surprising plasticity, which makes them an attractive cell resource for future therapies, said Professor Andrew Lotery, of the University of Southampton and a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Southampton General Hospital led the study.

This would help avoid complications with rejection or contamination because the cells taken from the eye would be returned to the same patient.

More research is now needed to develop this approach before these cells are used in patients.

The loss of photoreceptors cells causes irreversible blindness.

Age related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the developed world which affects around one in three people in the UK by age 75.

Around 513,000 people are in the late stage of AMD and that figure is set to rise by one-third over the next decade, totalling nearly 700,000 cases by 2020.

Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss, approximately one person in 30.

It is predicted that by 2020 the number of people with sight loss will rise to over 2,250,000. By 2050, the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to nearly four million.

There is currently no treatment for blindness caused by the loss of photo-receptors.

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Hope for blind as scientists find stem cell reservoir in human eye

Expectant parents will have the option of donating the stem cells to the Governments public bank, or storing them with Precious Cells private bank, at a charge, for their own use.

The deal is the first of its kind for the NHS, and 15 more trusts are holding firm talks with Precious Cells, the company said. The partnership could significantly increase the number of stem cells available for transplants and scientific research in the UK.

Currently, the levels of cord blood donations in Britain are a fraction of those in the US and Australia, and lower than in most European countries.

The company is aiming to broaden its reach to 90 NHS trusts, adding that such widespread partnerships could generate a 180m windfall for the health service.

Dr Husein K. Salem, chief executive of Precious Cells, said the initiative aimed to tackle the UKs laggard position in terms of investment in cord blood stem cell collection and banking.

Stem cell treatment has become increasingly common and is now used for diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinsons. It is estimated that one in five people will use the regenerative cells to treat a condition or for diagnostics.

The global stem cell market was worth nearly 2.5bn in 2012 and is expected to grow to 3.87bn by 2016.

Continued here:
Stem cell storage deal aims to boost donation levels

TARPON SPRINGS --

A veterinarian in Tarpon Springs is doing research that could alleviate a problem thousands of dogs in Florida face.

Dr. Michael Amsberry is embarking on cutting edge research that could change the lives of those dogs and their owners.

Nube and Sage are part of a pilot study at Amsberrys Tarpon Springs pet care center.

Hes injecting dogs with stem cells to help with their Dermatitis, a condition that affects dogs in Florida each year.

Often times it starts out with skin thats irritated and red and then we often well suffer from secondary bacterial and yeast infections, said Dr. Michael Amsberry, Saint Francis Pet Care Center.

The treatment is inside a little jar that contains millions of stem cells that all come from one dogs umbilical cord in California. The treatment takes about 10 minutes, and the cells are in Amsberrys patients.

It is treating the body with the body not using chemicals or drugs.

There are drugs to treat dermatitis, and some of them work well. Amsberry and others like him said theyre looking for a cleaner, less expensive way.

The process to see if stem cell therapy actually works has only just begun.

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Tarpon vet using stem cells to treat doggie dermatitis

Over 500 million people worldwide carry a genetic mutation that disables a common metabolic protein called ALDH2. The mutation, which predominantly occurs in people of East Asian descent, leads to an increased risk of heart disease and poorer outcomes after a heart attack. It also causes facial flushing when carriers drink alcohol.

Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have learned for the first time specifically how the mutation affects heart health. They did so by comparing heart muscle cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from people with the mutation versus those without the mutation. IPS cells are created in the laboratory from specialized adult cells like skin. They are "pluripotent," meaning they can be coaxed to become any cell in the body.

"This study is one of the first to show that we can use iPS cells to study ethnic-specific differences among populations," said Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and professor of cardiovascular medicine and of radiology.

"These findings may help us discover new therapeutic paths for heart disease for carriers of this mutation," said Wu. "In the future, I believe we will have banks of iPS cells generated from many different ethnic groups. Drug companies or clinicians can then compare how members of different ethnic groups respond to drugs or diseases, or study how one group might differ from another, or tailor specific drugs to fit particular groups."

The findings are described in a paper that will be published Sept. 24 in Science Translational Medicine. Wu and Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, professor of chemical and systems biology, are co-senior authors of the paper, and postdoctoral scholar Antje Ebert, PhD, is the lead author.

ALDH2 and cell death

The study showed that the ALDH2 mutation affects heart health by controlling the survival decisions cells make during times of stress. It is the first time ALDH2, which is involved in many common metabolic processes in cells of all types, has been shown to play a role in cell survival. In particular, ALDH2 activity, or the lack of it, influences whether a cell enters a state of programmed cell death called apoptosis in response to stressful growing conditions.

The use of heart muscle cells derived from iPS cells has opened important doors for scientists because tissue samples can be easily obtained and maintained in the laboratory for study. Until recently, researchers had to confine their studies to genetically engineered mice or to human heart cells obtained through a heart biopsy, an invasive procedure that yields cells which are difficult to keep alive long term in the laboratory.

"People have studied the enzyme ALDH2 for many years in animal models," said Ebert. "But there are many significant differences between mice and humans. Now we can study actual human heart muscle cells, conveniently grown in the lab."

The iPS cells in this study were created from skin samples donated by 10 men, ages 21-22, of East Asian descent.

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Stem cells used to learn how common mutation in Asians affects heart health

The liver provides critical functions, such as ridding the body of toxins. Its failure can be deadly, and there are few options for fixing it. But scientists now report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a way to potentially inject stem cells from tonsils, a body part we don't need, to repair damaged livers -- all without surgery.

Byeongmoon Jeong and colleagues point out that currently, the only established method for treating liver failure or severe cases of liver disease is complete or partial transplantation. But the need is much greater than the number of available organs. Plus, surgery has inherent risks and a hefty price tag. A promising alternative in development is transplanting liver cells. One such approach involves using adult stem cells to make liver cells. Stem cells from bone marrow could be used, but they have limitations. Recently, scientists identified another source of adult stem cells that could be used for this purpose -- tonsils. Every year, thousands of surgeries are performed to remove tonsils, and the tissue is discarded. Now it could have a new purpose, but scientists needed a way to grow them on a 3-D scaffold that mimics real liver tissue. Jeong's team set out to do just that.

The researchers encapsulated tonsil-derived stem cells in a heat-sensitive liquid that turns into a gel at body temperature. They added substances called growth factors to encourage the stem cells to become liver cells. Then, they heated the combination up to a normal body temperature. The result was a 3-D, biodegradable gel that contained functioning liver cells. The researchers conclude that the same process has promise -- with some further tweaking for ideal conditions -- as an injectable tissue engineering technique to treat liver disease without surgery.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Tonsil stem cells could someday help repair liver damage without surgery

Updated: 09/24/2014 10:46 PM Created: 09/24/2014 5:24 PM WNYT.com By: WNYT Staff

RENSSELAER - Middle school students from Robert C. Parker School in North Greenbush took a field trip to the Neural Stem Cell Institute at UAlbany's east campus to learn about themselves on a cellular level.

This is a unique school trip as these middle school students are getting a hands on lesson in the ABCs of cutting edge biology - the role stem cells play in our lives.

Well, I learned that cells make up all of your body, said Shy'Leah Riggsbee, a 7th grader.

In partnership with the Neural Stem Cell institute the middle schoolers at the Robert C. Parker School spend a day in the lab. Since stem cells are increasingly being used to develop new treatments it's the perfect place to immerse the next generation of scientists.

So, by the time these children are going to decide on their careers we're going to have a lot of new therapies hitting the market. It'll be booming. So this is a great time to introduce them to stem cells as a career choice, said Dr. Chris Fasano with NSCI

Woven into this science lesson is a mini math lesson - the measuring of testing fluids - observing reaction times, and reliance on technology to develop the tools and protocols needed to mine the mysteries of how stem cell technology can affect our health.

For middle school kids, theres nothing more motivating than helping solve real problems, said Meg Taylor, head of school. They want to make a difference in the world.

I really want to learn about it in more depth now, because it's so cool and interesting, said Sophia Arnold, a 6th Grader.

If you've got a STEM story you would like to share, e-mailstem13@wnyt.com.

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STEM class learns about stem cells