Welcome to the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the United States.

In some 125 labs, scientists are carrying out studies, in cell culture and animals, aimed at understanding and developing treatment strategies for such conditions as heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons disease, Lou Gehrigs disease, spinal cord injury and cancer.

While the scientific foundation for the field is still being laid, UCSF scientists are beginning to move their work toward human clinical trials. A team of pediatric specialists and neurosurgeons is carrying out the second brain stem cell clinical trial ever conducted in the United States, focusing on a rare disease, inherited in boys, known as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease.

Others are working to develop strategies for treating diabetes, brain tumors, liver disease and epilepsy. The approach for treating epilepsy potentially also could be used to treat Parkinsons disease, as well as the pain and spasticity that follow brain and spinal cord injury.

The center is structured along seven research pipelines aimed at driving discoveries from the lab bench to the patient. Each pipeline focuses on a different organ system, including the blood, pancreas, liver, heart, reproductive organs, nervous system, musculoskeletal tissues and skin. And each of these pipelines is overseen by two leaders of international standing one representing the basic sciences and one representing clinical research. This approach has proven successful in the private sector for driving the development of new therapies.

The center, like all of UCSF, fosters a highly collaborative culture, encouraging a cross-pollination of ideas among scientists of different disciplines and years of experience. Researchers studying pancreatic beta cells damaged in diabetes collaborate with those who study nervous system diseases because stem cells undergo similar molecular signaling on the way to becoming both cell types. The opportunity to work in this culture has drawn some of the countrys premier young scientists to the center.

While the focus of the science is the future, UCSFs history in the field dates back to 1981, when Gail Martin, PhD, co-discovered embryonic stem cells in mice and coined the term embryonic stem cell. Two decades later, UCSFs Roger Pedersen, PhD, developed two of the first human embryonic stem cell lines, following the groundbreaking discovery by University of Wisconsins James Thomson, PhD, of a way to derive the cells.

Today, the Universitys faculty includes Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, of the UCSF-affiliated J. David Gladstone Institutes and Kyoto University. His discovery in 2006 of a way to reprogram ordinary skin cells back to an embryonic-like state has given hope that someday these cells might be used in regenerative medicine.

Yamanakas seminal finding highlights the unexpected and dramatic discoveries that can characterize scientific research. In labs throughout UCSF and beyond, the goal is to move such findings into patients.

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Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and ...

From the United States Senate to houses of worship, and even to the satirical television show "South Park," stem cells have been in the spotlight -- though not always in the kindest light. Since early research has focused on the use of embryonic stem cells (cells less than a week old), the very act of extracting these cells has raised a raft of ethical questions for researchers and the medical community at large, with federal funding often hanging in the balance.

However, the advances in stem cell research and the subsequent applications to modern medicine can't be ignored. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), stem cells are being considered for a wide variety of medical procedures, ranging from cancer treatment to heart disease and cell-based therapies for tissue replacement.

Why? To answer that question, you have to understand what stem cells are. Called "master" cells or "a sort of internal repair system," these remarkable-yet-unspecialized cells are able to divide, seemingly without limits, to help mend or replenish other living cells [sources: Mayo Clinic; NIH]. In short, these cells are the cellular foundation of the entire human body, or literally the body's building blocks.

By studying these cells and how they develop, researchers are closing in on a better understanding of how our bodies grow and mature, and how diseases and other abnormalities take root. The research work that began with mouse embryos in the early 1980s eventually helped scientists devise a way to isolate stem cells from human embryos by the late 1990s.

Embryonic, or pluripotent, stem cells are taken from human embryos that are less than a week old. These cells are wildly versatile, capable of dividing into more stem cells or becoming any type of cell in the human body (roughly 220 types, including muscle, nerve, blood, bone and skin). Researchers have also recently found stem cells in amniotic fluid taken from pregnant women during amniocentesis, a fairly routine procedure used to determine potential complications, such as Down syndrome.

However, recent research has indicated that adult stem cells, once thought to be more limited in their capabilities, are actually much more versatile than originally believed. Though not as "pure" as embryonic stem cells, due to environmental conditions that exist in the real world -- ranging from air pollution to food impurities -- adult stem cells are nonetheless garnering attention, if only because they don't incite the same ethical debate as embryonic stem cells.

So, what are the cutting-edge uses for stem cells?

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How are stem cells used in medicine today? - HowStuffWorks

Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which your body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. The cells are shaped like a crescent or sickle. They don't last as long as normal, round red blood cells. This leads to anemia. The sickle cells also get stuck in blood vessels, blocking blood flow. This can cause pain and organ damage.

A genetic problem causes sickle cell anemia. People with the disease are born with two sickle cell genes, one from each parent. If you only have one sickle cell gene, it's called sickle cell trait. About 1 in 12 African Americans has sickle cell trait.

The most common symptoms are pain and problems from anemia. Anemia can make you feel tired or weak. In addition, you might have shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, or coldness in the hands and feet.

A blood test can show if you have the trait or anemia. Most states test newborn babies as part of their newborn screening programs.

Sickle cell anemia has no widely available cure. Treatments can help relieve symptoms and lessen complications. Researchers are investigating new treatments such as blood and marrow stem cell transplants, gene therapy, and new medicines.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Originally posted here:
Sickle Cell Anemia: MedlinePlus - National Library of Medicine

Personalized Regenerative Medicine

Making sure the bases are covered. That is how Dr David Steenblock and Personalized Regenerative Medicine delivers on its mission is to provide advanced care for chronic and degenerative disease. Our first step is to do a complete physical evaluation, including all appropriate lab work to help us determine what are the issues that each View Article

When a doctor sees a patient for the first time he will ask for copies of medical records as part of gathering information and data that, in combination with taking a medical history and doing relevant exams and tests, helps him arrive at a diagnosis (or confirm previously made ones) and formulate a medical care View Article

Providing advanced care for chronic and degenerative disease often times requires augmenting natures own repair & restoration mechanism with stem cells. This is one way that Dr David Steenblock and Personalized Regenerative Medicine provide comprehensive care it our patients. When diseasesets in and begins to progress the sufferers bodytries to repair the damage by activating View Article

In his decades of private practice, Dr David Steenblock and Personalized Regenerative Medicine has established himself as a pioneer in many fields of medicine. Dr David Steenblock and Personalized Regenerative Medicines mission is to deliver advanced care for chronic and degenerative diseases such as ALS, Stroke, Cerebral Palsy and Cardiac conditions. From stroke care andacute View Article

Putting it all together. This where Dr David Steenblock and Personalized Regenerative Medicine separate themselves from their peers in delivering advanced care for chronic and degenerative disease. Once a patients diagnosis is confirmed, modified or even overturned and the results of all tests ordered are in, Dr. Steenblock formulates a treatment plan. The therapeutic regimen View Article

Researchers in the USA have offered an explanation for the sparse inflammatory responses seen in some fungal infections.This may help physicians netter understand how to treat certain chronic and degenerative diseases, such as ALS. Stephen Klotz at the University of Arizona and co-workers examined autopsy specimens from 15 patients with histological evidence of aspergillosis, mucormycosis, View Article

Supercharged Chelation therapy is now available. If you already have read about or experienced the benefits of chelation but wondering if there was some way to enhance the therapy Dr Steenblock has come up with a better method for re-vitalization of your arteries and your entire body. The secret is STEM CELLS! The most simple View Article

While the promise of stem cell medicine has never been greater, the question of outcomes has long been an issue. Until now. Dr Steenblock has been focused on two critical issues in his career: identifying the causes of disease and treating patients. Over his many years of practice, Dr Steenblock has treated tens of thousands View Article

Dr Steenblock has long believed that Alzheimers Disease is connected to bacteria that enters the nervous system due to trauma. Recent articles have come to show that his ideas and research are correct. Traces of fungus have been discovered in the brains of Alzheimers sufferers, researchers said Thursday, relaunching the question: might the disease be View Article

Chelation therapy, an alternative technique long dismissed by conventional heart doctors, has taken a giant step toward becoming a first-line mainstream medical treatment, thanks to a boost from the National Institutes of Health. Dr Steenblock has been utilizing this powerful therapeutic approach for many years to treat various conditions. The federal health agencys National Center View Article

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Personalized RegenerativeMedicine : Dr David Steenblock

The University of Rochester Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute was founded in 2008 in recognition of the tremendous promise that the discipline of stem cell biology offers for our understanding of development, disease and discovery of new treatments for a wide range of afflictions. Much as the discoveries of antibiotics and vaccination revolutionized our abilities to treat disease and reduce suffering, the discoveries of stem cell biology are poised to provide similar benefits

The University of Rochester is home to a rich and diverse stem cell faculty, with more than 40 faculty from 15 different departments, and more than 35 research track faculty and senior research fellows. These laboratories are collectively home to over 200 staff, including multiple Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, M.D./Ph.D. students and technical fellows. Currently committed research awards, center grants, training grants and industry sponsored programs generated by this faculty represent over $60 million in direct cost commitments. Several of the programs at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) are among the top programs both nationally and internationally. For example, there is particular strength in the field of neuromedicine, particularly in the context of the stem and progenitor cells giving rise to the glial cells of the central nervous system, with the faculty at URMC including several of the international leaders in such research. The Center for Musculoskeletal Research is rated as the No. 1 orthopaedics group in the United States in NIH funding. In the newly evolving field of cancer stem cell biology, a team of leading individuals also has been assembled, with drugs discovered through this effort already entering clinical trials. This intellectual environment is associated with large numbers of patent applications and with multiple opportunities for translating discoveries into therapies.

The research interests of faculty associated with University of Rochesters Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute range from model organisms to treatment of neurological disease, from investigations on the origins of red blood cells to the developing approaches to the treatment of fractures and osteroporosis, from studies on how to protect the body from the toxic effects of current cancer treatments to the development of new treatments that target cancer cells while sparing the normal cells of the body.

The following are recent news and events from our Institute:

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UR Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute (SCRMI)

The Newport Beach Stem Cell Treatment Center provides cutting-edge care for patients with a wide variety of degenerative disorders using adult stem cell regenerative therapy. Our highly trained physicians and medical team are focused on providing you with the most innovative techniques and advanced procedures for harvesting and deploying adult stem cells from your own fat. We are also committed to clinical research and the advancement of regenerative medicine.

We are dedicated to the principles of personalized patient care and individualized attention. Our plastic surgeon, a pioneer in liposuction, and topnotch team of registered nurses and technicians are experienced in harvesting and deploying adult stem stems. In addition, our comfortable in-office surgery center is fully accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality, a division of the California Medical Association. Our goal is to provide you with the best possible care in a friendly and professional atmosphere.

Fat is the bodys most abundant repository of adult stem cells, containing thousands of times more stem cells than bone marrow. New technologies at the Newport Beach Stem Cell Treatment Center make it possible for us to remove a few ounces of a patients fat through liposuction, separate out the stem cells in a special process that yields extremely high numbers of viable cells, and return them back into the patients body via IV or injection. Performed in a physicians office under sedation and local anesthesia and using a sterile closed system technology (so the cells never come into contact with the environment), there is minimal discomfort and risk of infection. And because the cells come from the patients own body, there is no risk of rejection or disease transmission.

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 28, 2012 in Cardiac / Pulmonary

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 28, 2012 in Cardiac / Pulmonary

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 28, 2012 in Cardiac / Pulmonary

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 28, 2012 in Cardiac / Pulmonary

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 23, 2012 in Auto Immune Diseases

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 23, 2012 in Auto Immune Diseases

Posted by Mark Baldwin on Nov 23, 2012 in Auto Immune Diseases

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Newport Beach Stem Cell Treatment Center