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Stem Cells Project – Video

Posted: December 18, 2014 at 8:40 am


Stem Cells Project
A video to give grade 7 students instructions regarding their stem cells project.-- Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/join -- C...

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Investigating Cancer Stem Cells with the S3 Cell Sorter – Video

Posted: December 18, 2014 at 8:40 am


Investigating Cancer Stem Cells with the S3 Cell Sorter
For more info, visit http://www.bio-rad.com/yt/1/S3e Assistant Professor Stacy Blain and PhD candidate Danielle Joseph, both at the SUNY Downstate Medical Ce...

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365 days: Nature's 10

Posted: December 18, 2014 at 6:57 am

CGI Illustration by Peter Crowther Associates c/o Dbut Art

Andrea Accomazzo: Comet chaser | Suzanne Topalian: Cancer combatant | Radhika Nagpal: Robot-maker | Sheik Humarr Khan: Ebola doctor | David Spergel: Cosmic sceptic | Maryam Mirzakhani: Surface explorer | Pete Frates: Ice-bucket challenger | Koppillil Radhakrishnan: Rocket launcher | Masayo Takahashi: Stem-cell tester | Sjors Scheres: Structure solver | Ones to watch

A former test pilot steered the Rosetta mission to an icy world in deep space. By Elizabeth Gibney

Andreas Reeg/Agentur Focus/Eyevine

Nearly two decades ago, Andrea Accomazzo got into trouble with his girlfriend when she found a scrap of paper on his desk. In his handwriting was scrawled a phone number next to a female name: Rosetta.

She thought it was a girl, says Accomazzo. I had to explain to my jealous Italian girlfriend that Rosetta is an interplanetary mission that is flying to a comet in almost 20 years.

Ever since, Accomazzo has divided his attention. He eventually married his girlfriend and has also spent the past 18 years pursuing the comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko. As flight director for the mission, Accomazzo led the team that steered Rosetta to its August rendezvous with the comet, following a 6.4-billion-kilometre journey from Earth. The pinnacle of the project came in November, when Rosetta successfully set down a lander named Philae, providing scientists with the first data from the surface of a comet and making it one of the most successful missions in the history of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Accomazzo did not act alone: it took a large operations team at ESA to manoeuvre Rosetta with enough precision to drop Philae down just 120 metres from the centre of the landing zone. Given that we'd had a 500-metre error circle, that was not a bad shot, says Fred Jansen, who led the mission. When Philae's anchoring systems failed, the craft bounced into a shady site where it could not charge its solar panels, so the lander lost power after 64 hours. But in that time, it gathered a trove of data that will add to the information collected by Rosetta about the comet's structure and composition. Armed with those insights, scientists hope to better understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System, including whether comets could have brought water and organic molecules to Earth during its infancy.

Accomazzo started off his career focused on a different type of flight. He first trained as a test pilot in the Italian Air Force. But although he loved flying, he found the culture too constraining and after two years he quit to study aerospace engineering. With his quiet, hard-working, sometimes no-nonsense nature, colleagues say that Accomazzo brings a bit of the military with him into mission control.

For Accomazzo, the biggest parallel between flying a fighter jet and Rosetta is the need for split-second judgements. You have to prepare and train a lot to be able to make the right decision, very quickly, he says. Between launch and landing, his team ran 87 full-day simulations.

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365 days: Nature's 10

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California Stem Cell Report: Stanford Consortium Wins $40 …

Posted: December 18, 2014 at 6:57 am

Directors of the California stem cell agency today approved a $40 million proposal ultimately targeted at creating medical treatments tailored to a patient's genetic makeup and making the state a world leader in stem cell genomics.

The action came despite charges by Stanford's competitors that the grant review process was tainted by unfairness, apparent preferential treatment and manipulation of scientific scores.

The board added $7 million to the Stanford award to help possibly fund proposals from institutions that lost out in the round. They would have to apply to the consortium, which might have their own proposals in the same areas already underway.

The stem cell agency has high hopes for the genomics project, which is supposed to provide resources for all researchers in California. CIRM President Alan Trounson has predicted that the effort will build an effective stem-cell genomics infrastructure that will be unique in the world, thus positioning California as a leader in this critical area of basic and translational research while genomic technologies build steam in the next five years.

(Here is a link to the CIRM press release.)

The top competitors against Stanford were groups led by UCLA, UC San Francisco and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. UC San Francisco and Scripps both sent letters to the agency's board protesting the grant review process.

Jeanne Loring of Scripps, leader of an effort also involving the genomics firm, Illumina, Inc., of San Diego, said in a letter that the agency had failed to disclose in its request for applications that one of the key criteria for the scientific merit of the grants would be matching funds. Stanford was praised by reviewers for its substantial matching funds. Scripps' application was cited for a serious deficiency in that area.

Loring said that Illumina, a world leader in genomics, added major value to their proposal. The firm was also involved in the Stanford proposal in a lesser manner. Michael Snyder, leader of the winning consortium, told the board that his group promised $7 million in matching funds.

Several board members earlier raised questions about the problem with the RFA and said it could create confusion and lead to perceptions of unfairness.

The RFA called for creation of one or two centers. Trounson recommended funding only the Stanford effort.

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International Stem Cell Wins EU Top Court Case Over Cell Patent

Posted: December 18, 2014 at 6:57 am

International Stem Cell Corp. (ISCO) won a case at the European Unions top court that could pave the way for more patents in stem-cell research.

The use of organisms in stem-cell research that are incapable of developing into a human being can be patented, the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled today.

Under an EU law from 1998, research methods that involve human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes cant be patented. A U.K. court referred the case to the EU tribunal to further define the scope of what consists a human embryo.

A non-fertilized egg in research must be considered a human embryo and cannot be patented if it has the inherent capacity of developing into a human being, the EU court said. Still, in cases where an ovum commences a process of development that is not sufficient for it to be regarded as a human embryo a patent may be granted for use for industrial or commercial purposes.

Todays ruling will determine whether International Stem Cell will get a U.K. patent on a process to extract stem cells based on unfertilized human eggs, which the Carlsbad, California-based company argued shouldnt be considered a human embryo. A 2011 EU court ruling clarified that European law bans patents in stem-cell research that involve human embryos.

In 2011, the EU court said a method in stem-cell research must be considered a human embryo and cannot be patented if it can start the process of development of a human being.

The case is: C-364/13, International Stem Cell Corporation v. Comptroller General of Patents.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net Peter Chapman, Andrew Clapham

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Pre and Post Stem Cell Therapy – Video

Posted: December 18, 2014 at 6:49 am


Pre and Post Stem Cell Therapy
Russell Scott was a top cyclist for the 7-11 team. He was diagnosed with MS in 1991. After every traditional FDA approved drug he decided to try stem cell therapy. He has been on a steady...

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Stem cells faulty in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Stanford researchers find

Posted: December 17, 2014 at 11:49 pm

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Dec-2014

Contact: Krista Conger kristac@stanford.edu 650-725-5371 Stanford University Medical Center @sumedicine

Like human patients, mice with a form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy undergo progressive muscle degeneration and accumulate connective tissue as they age. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that the fault may lie at least partly in the stem cells that surround the muscle fibers.

They've found that during the course of the disease, the stem cells become less able to make new muscle and instead begin to express genes involved in the formation of connective tissue. Excess connective tissue -- a condition called fibrosis -- can accumulate in many organs, including the lungs, liver and heart, in many different disorders. In the skeletal muscles of people with muscular dystrophy, the fibrotic tissue impairs the function of the muscle fibers and leads to increasing weakness and stiffness, which are hallmarks of the disease.

The researchers discovered that this abnormal change in stem cells could be inhibited in laboratory mice by giving the animals a drug that is already approved for use in humans. The drug works by blocking a signaling pathway involved in the development of fibrosis. Although much more research is needed, the scientists are hopeful that a similar approach may one day work in children with muscular dystrophy.

"These cells are losing their ability to produce muscle, and are beginning to look more like fibroblasts, which secrete connective tissue," said Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences. "It's possible that if we could prevent this transition in the muscle stem cells, we could slow or ameliorate the fibrosis seen in muscular dystrophy in humans."

A paper describing the researchers' findings will be published Dec. 17 in Science Translational Medicine. Rando, the paper's senior author, is director of the Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging and founding director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic at Stanford. Former postdoctoral scholar Stefano Biressi, PhD, is the lead author. Biressi is now at the Centre for Integrative Biology at the University of Trento in Italy.

A devastating disease

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a devastating disease that affects about 1 in every 3,600 boys born in the United States. Patients usually experience severe, progressive muscle weakness that confines them to a wheelchair in early adolescence and eventually leads to paralysis. It's caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, which encodes the dystrophin protein. The dystrophin protein serves to connect muscle fibers to the surrounding external matrix. This connection stabilizes the fibers, enhancing their strength and preventing injury. Sufferers are nearly always boys because the dystrophin gene is located on the X chromosome. (Girls would need to inherit two faulty copies, which is unlikely because male carriers often die in early adulthood.)

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365 days: 2014 in science

Posted: December 17, 2014 at 11:49 pm

Keith Vanderlinde/NSF

The BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole may have spied gravitational waves or dust.

This year may be best remembered for how quickly scientific triumph morphed into disappointment, and even tragedy: breakthroughs in stem-cell research and cosmology were quickly discredited; commercial spaceflight faced major setbacks. Yet landing a probe on a comet, tracing humanitys origins and a concerted push to understand the brain provided reasons to celebrate.

Asian nations soared into space this year. The Indian Space Research Organisation put a mission into orbit around Mars the first agency to do so on its first try. Japan launched the Hayabusa-2 probe, its second robotic voyage to bring back samples from an asteroid. And even as Chinas lunar rover Yutu (or Jade Rabbit) stopped gathering data on the Moons surface, mission controllers took the next step in the countrys lunar exploration programme by sending a test probe around the Moon and back to Earth.

But for commercial spaceflight, it was a bad year. Virgin Galactics proposed tourism vehicle SpaceShipTwo disintegrated during a test flight in California and killed one of its pilots. That came just three days after a launch-pad explosion in Virginia destroyed an uncrewed private rocket intended to take supplies to the International Space Station. The accident wiped out a number of research experiments destined for the station, whose managers are trying to step up its scientific output. Problems on the station also delayed the deployment of a flock of tiny Earth-watching satellites, nicknamed Doves, which are part of the general trend of using miniature CubeSats to collect space data.

On a bigger scale, the European Space Agency successfully launched the first in its long-awaited series of Sentinel Earth-observing satellites.

After a decade-long trip, the European Space Agencys Rosetta spacecraft arrived at comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko in August and settled into orbit. Three months later, Rosetta dropped the Philae probe to 67Ps surface, in the first-ever landing on a comet. Philae relayed science data for 64hours before losing power in its shadowy, rocky landing site.

Meanwhile, a flotilla of Mars spacecraft probes from India, the United States and Europe had an unplanned close brush with comet Siding Spring, which zipped past the red planet in October at a distance of 139,500kilometres about one-third of the distance from Earth to the Moon. NASA rovers continued to trundle along on the Martian surface: Curiosity finally reached the mountain that it has been heading towards since landing in 2012, and Opportunity passed 40kilometres on its odometer, breaking a Soviet lunar rovers distance record for off-Earth driving.

The search for planets beyond the Solar System also got a huge boost. In February, the team behind the now mostly defunct Kepler spacecraft announced that it had confirmed the existence of 715extrasolar planets, the largest-ever single haul. Kepler data also revealed the first known Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star, a step closer to the long-sought Earth twin.

Considering that they have been dead for around 30,000 years, Neanderthals had a hell of a year. Their DNA survives in non-African human genomes, thanks to ancient interbreeding, and two teams this year catalogued humans Neanderthal heritage. Scientists learnt more about the sexual encounters between Homo neanderthalensis and early humans after analysing the two oldest Homo sapiens genomes on record from men who lived in southwest Siberia 45,000years ago and in western Russia more than 36,000years ago, respectively. The DNA revealed hitherto-unknown human groups and more precise dates for when H.sapiens coupled with Neanderthals, which probably occurred in the Middle East between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of dozens of archaeological sites in Europe, meanwhile, showed that humans and Neanderthals coexisted there for much longer than was once thought up to several thousand years in some places.

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Scientists take step forward in "editing" human genetic mutations

Posted: December 17, 2014 at 11:49 pm

December 17, 2014

Credit: Thinkstock

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

In a new proof of concept experiment, scientists have managed to edit the genome of sperm-producing adult stem cells, creating a break in the DNA strands of a mutant gene in mouse cells then repairing it by replacing flawed segments with corrected ones.

The process utilized in the study is known as homologous recombination, and researchers from Indiana University, Stanford University and the University of Texas used spermatogonial stem cells (the building blocks for the production of sperm and the only adult stem cells that contribute genetic information to the next generation) to demonstrate their technique.

By repairing flaws in these cells, the study authors said that experts could prevent mutations from being passed onto to future generations. The technique, which is detailed in a recent edition of the journal PLOS One, has tremendous potential for gene therapy as well as basic research.

We showed a way to introduce genetic material into spermatogonial stem cells that was greatly improved from what had been previously demonstrated, co-author Christina Dann, an associate scientist in the Indiana University (IU) Department of Chemistry, said in a statement Monday. This technique corrects the mutation, theoretically leaving no other mark on the genome.

Dann, lead author and former IU research associate Danielle Fanslow, and their colleagues had to overcome a number of difficulties in their research including the fact that spermatogonial stem cells are difficult to isolate, culture and work with. They were only able to create the correct conditions in which to maintain and propagate the cells following years worth of work by scientists at multiple laboratories.

A primary hurdle was to find a way to make specific, targeted modifications to the mutant mouse gene without the risk of disease caused by random introduction of genetic material, the university explained. The researchers used specially designed enzymes, called zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases, to create a double strand break in the DNA and bring about the repair of the gene.

Stem cells that were modified in the laboratory were then transplanted into the testes of sterile mice where they grew or colonized, indicating that the stem cells were viable. However, the researchers were unable to breed the mice, though they are do not know if it was abnormalities in the transplanted cells or the recipient testes led to the rodents failure to produce sperm.

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Adult Stem Cell Banks and Clinics Marketing Stem Cell …

Posted: December 17, 2014 at 7:55 am

How many clinics in Texas market stem cell procedures? What interventions do they promote? How many adult stem cell banks are located in Texas? How do they advertise their services?

There does not appear to be a comprehensive record of stem cell banks and clinics marketing stem cell procedures within the state of Texas. I am therefore trying to determine how many stem cell banks and clinics marketing stem cells in Texas can be found using an approach that a patient or customer might take when searching the Internet. In an effort to locate such businesses, I used Google search engine and entered such terms as stem cells Texas, stem cell clinics Texas, cosmetic surgery stem cell Texas, orthopedic surgery stem cell clinic Texas, and anti-aging stem cells Texas. In total, I found twenty businesses marketing what they describe as stem cell procedures as well as three stem cell banks. During my search I also noticed and recorded a spa marketing plant stem cells and a dentist who advertises dental stem cell storage. Most facilities market what they describe as adult stem cell procedures. However, I found one clinic advertising stem cells taken from amniotic fluid and another facility promoting bovine stem cells to prospective customers. While Im skeptical that Ive managed to find all such businesses, the list below documents at least some of the businesses currently banking adult stem cells or promoting stem cell procedures in Texas. If you are familiar with additional banks and clinics or identify any errors in my list please feel welcome to leave a comment and help me revise this list.

Finally, please note that this list is provided to assist with the process of identifying and tracking stem cell banks in Texas as well as businesses marketing stem cells. I am not recommending or promoting any of these businesses. See FDA Warns About Stem Cell Claims for an important public safety message concerning marketing of stem cell procedures.

CLINICS MARKETING STEM CELL PROCEDURES

1. Advanced Skin Fitness

Location: Dallas-Fort Worth

Summary: markets iRevival and Vampire Facelift procedures intended to promote stem cell rejuvenation

Excerpt: Stem Cell Treatments: iRevival, Vampire Facelift. What if you could experience an utterly transformative change to your facial appearance in just a single skin rejuvenation treatmentwithout surgery or general anesthesia? Its now possible in a revolutionary procedure exclusive to patients of Advanced Skin Fitness located in Dallas, Texas. Created by Clinical Director William A. Moore, the treatment utilizes a combination of proven technologies of fractional laser resurfacing and stem cell technology to create unprecedented results in a fraction of the time of other techniques.

2. Advanced Surgical Arts

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