3D printed brain-like tissue made from stem cells offers hope to address neurological disorders – Genetic Literacy Project

Scientists in Australia have used a 3D printer to create nerve cells found in the brain using a special bio-ink made from stem cells.

The research takes us a step closer to making replacement brain tissue derived from a patients own skin or blood cells to help treat conditions such as brain injury, Parkinsons disease, epilepsy and schizophrenia.

The bio-ink is made of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which have the same power as embryonic stem cells to turn into any cell in the body, and possibly form replacement body tissues and even whole organs.

3D printing with bio-ink (ABC News)

[Jeremy Crookfrom the University of Wollongong stated]many neuropsychiatric disorders result from an imbalance of key chemicals called neurotransmittersFor example, he said, defective serotonin and GABA-producing nerve cells are implicated in schizophrenia and epilepsy[Thus] the team used 3D printing to make neurones involved in producing GABA and serotonin.

Apart from providing customized transplants, 3D printed tissue could be useful for medical research.

For example, tissue from a patient with epilepsy or schizophrenia could be created, specifically to study their particular version of the condition.

You can compare how neuronal networks form differently compared to healthy patient, said Dr Crook.

[Read the full study here]

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3D printed brain-like tissue made from stem cells offers hope to address neurological disorders - Genetic Literacy Project

Scientists create 3D-printed brain-like tissue from stem cells – ABC Online

Scientists in Australia have used a 3D printer to create nerve cells found in the brain using a special bio-ink made from stem cells.

The research takes us a step closer to making replacement brain tissue derived from a patient's own skin or blood cells to help treat conditions such as brain injury, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and schizophrenia.

The bio-ink is made of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which have the same power as embryonic stem cells to turn into any cell in the body, and possibly form replacement body tissues and even whole organs.

Jeremy Crook, who led the research, said the ability to customise brain tissue from a person's own body tissue was better for transplantation.

"That circumvents issues of immune rejection, which is common in organ transplantation," said Dr Crook, from the University of Wollongong and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science.

"It's personalised medicine."

Dr Crook said many neuropsychiatric disorders result from an imbalance of key chemicals called neurotransmitters, which are produced by specific nerve cells in the brain.

For example, he said, defective serotonin and GABA-producing nerve cells are implicated in schizophrenia and epilepsy while defective dopamine-producing cells are implicated in Parkinson's disease.

The team used 3D printing to make neurones involved in producing GABA and serotonin, as well as support cells called neuroglia, they reported in the journal Advanced Healthcare Material.

In the future, they plan to print neurones that produce dopamine.

"We might want to make a tissue that specifically generates that neurotransmitter for grafting into the brain of a Parkinson's patient," said Dr Crook.

"That's absolutely achievable."

To make the neurones, Dr Crook and colleagues used their bio-ink to print layers of a hatched pattern to create a 5 millimetre-sized cube.

They then "crosslinked" the cube into a firm jelly-like substance.

Growth factors and nutrients were then fed into the holes of this spongey "scaffold", encouraging the stem cells to grow and turn into neurons and support cells, linking up to form tissue.

Waste was also removed via the holes in the scaffold.

Dr Crook said once scaled up, blood vessels would be needed, but small transplants could be theoretically possible using the tissue developed so far.

Tissue engineer Makoto Nakamura from Toyama University in Japan said the study was "very impressive".

"This article indicates the good feasibility of 3D bioprinting with human iPS cells to engineer neural tissues," said Professor Nakamura, who recently wrote an overview on the use of 3D bioprinting in the journal Tissue Engineering.

But he said there were also risks with the technology.

A close up of the 'scaffold' made of 3D-printed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)

(Supplied: Gu et al/Advanced Healthcare Materials)

A close up of the 'scaffold' made of 3D-printed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)

Supplied: Gu et al/Advanced Healthcare Materials

One of the challenges of using iPSCs is that, like embryonic stem cells, they have the potential to develop into teratomas disturbing looking tumours that contain more than one type of tissue type (think toenails growing in brain tissue, or teeth growing in ovary tissue).

According to Professor Nakamura, it would be important to ensure all the stem cells had turned into nerve cells in the final transplanted material.

"Undesired tissue may grow if even only one immature [stem] cell contaminates [the tissue to be transplanted]," he said.

Dr Crook said the team was currently carrying out animal experiments to test if teratomas developed from the 3D printed nerve cells.

While this is a first step towards 3D printing of whole organs, Dr Crook said a whole functioning brain would be a much more complex task.

"That's a whole different scale. The tissue we print is uniform, and not made up of different regions like a brain," said Dr Crook.

Still, it is a goal the researchers are heading towards.

"We would like to get as close as possible to replicating the function of the brain on the bench," said research team member Professor Gordon Wallace.

Apart from providing customised transplants, 3D printed tissue could be useful for medical research.

For example, tissue from a patient with epilepsy or schizophrenia could be created, specifically to study their particular version of the condition.

"You can compare how neuronal networks form differently compared to healthy patient," said Dr Crook.

And the tissue could also be used to screen for effective drugs or electrical stimulation treatments.

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Scientists create 3D-printed brain-like tissue from stem cells - ABC Online

Stem cell research: the debate continues to rage – CosmicNovo.com (Science and Technology)

The list of medical or scientific endeavours mired in controversy is fairly short, but stem cell research and related therapy are some of the most contentious issues in modern science. Simply, stem cell therapy involves the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition, a form of this type of treatment involves bone marrow transplant which is a relatively common operation. Whilst this may not strike you as something worthy of debate, it is because it is the further research in stem cell therapy that has become a battleground of ideology and discussion.

There is research and case studies showing that stem cell therapy involving cells from the umbilical cord blood of infants as well embryonic stem cells from human embryos. Although the former is fairly innocuous, is the latter, which requires a human embryo that has caused controversy, as to harvest them, you must destroy the embryo.

Understandably, there is a lot of opposition to the use of human embryonic stem cells in research, often times based on a range of philosophical, moral, or religious objections, with most protesters worried of cloning embryos just to harvest these cells. Theology, philosophy and morality aside, the medical possibilities of embryonic stem cells are almost limitless.

Doctors have explained that due to the nature of these cells, they are more flexible and can be put to a far greater range of uses than other more conventional stem cells. They pertain that these cells could help treat an incredibly high amount of diseases and illnesses including but not limited to neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Of course, this only adds to the mounting debate surrounding the use of these cells, further driving questions from a moral and philosophical viewpoint as to whether or not it is ethical to be using embryonic stem cells, despite the purported benefits. Although research continues into the use of these specific cells, and governments grapple with potential legal and medical ramifications, it is important to realize that there are several other stem cell opportunities that do not require the same controversial source.

Although there has been blowback on other forms of research in the sector namely the use of umbilical blood the use of bone marrow transplants and other such alternative continue to save lives daily. However, until society catches up with science and medicine, there will be a continued debate as to the ethics and morality of this type of research, its applications, and what it could open the door for.

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Stem cell research: the debate continues to rage - CosmicNovo.com (Science and Technology)

Vatican’s Academy for Life Appoints Eugenicist – Church Militant

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - The Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL) has added to its scandal by appointing a eugenicist involved in stem-cell research to its corp of 45 ordinary members, along with a pro-abortion philosopher, another pro-abortion eugenicist and a pro-contraception priest, who also supports euthanasia by starvation.

Professor Katarina Le Blanc, professor of stem cell research at the pro-abortion Swedish Karolinska Institute was appointed last month to PAL under Abp. Paglia. Le Blanc carries out her research, using stem cells derived from aborted babies even though the same academy, under the watch of Pope St. John Paul II, condemned such work in 2000.

In condemning the practice of experimenting on embryonic stem cells, PALremarked, "[It] is not hard to see the seriousness and gravity of the ethical problem posed by ... the production and/or use of human embryos."

There are other appointees to PAL with serious moral issues such as Fr. Maurizio Chiodi, who's supposedly a leading Italian moral theologian. He not only rejectsthe Church's ban on the use of artificial birth control but also believes it isn't obligatory to provide food and water to patients. Contrary to Fr. Chiodi's position, PAL stated in 2000 that food and water must always be provided to patients.

Nigel Biggar, one of 45 new ordinary members chosen to serve a five-year term on the Vatican's pro-life academy, believes it's morally acceptable to abort a person before 18 weeks of gestation. During an interview in 2011,Nigel, an Anglican minister and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the U.K.'s University of Oxford, stated, "I would be inclined to draw the line for abortion at 18 weeks after conception, which is roughly about the earliest time when there is some evidence of brain activity and therefore of consciousness."

In spite of the fact that many of these appointments to the supposedly pro-life institute are manifestly not pro-life, the head of the institute, Abp. Paglia,defends the appointments.

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Vatican's Academy for Life Appoints Eugenicist - Church Militant

UW-Madison scientists grow functional artery cells from stem cells – Madison.com

In a step toward one of stem cell sciences chief goals, UW-Madison researchers have grown functional human artery cells that helped lab mice survive heart attacks.

The development, from the lab of stem cell pioneer James Thomson, could help scientists create arteries to use in bypass surgeries for cardiovascular disease, the nations top killer. Several challenges remain, however, and studies in people are years away.

This work provides valuable proof that we can eventually get a reliable source for functional arterial endothelial cells and make arteries that perform and behave like the real thing, Thomson said in a statement.

The research, reported Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of a federally funded effort at UW-Madison to create artery banks for cardiovascular surgery from universally compatible donors.

In a related project, other UW-Madison researchers are testing three-dimensional heart patches of heart muscle cells, grown from stem cells, in pigs. The goal is to replace diseased or damaged heart tissue in humans.

Since Thomson became the first scientist to successfully grow human embryonic stem cells in a lab in 1998, researchers around the world have been coaxing the universal cells into various cell types heart, pancreas, kidney, brain to develop therapies and better understand diseases.

Today, many researchers use cells reprogrammed to their embryonic state from mature cells known as induced pluri- potent stem, or iPS, cells as the raw material. Thomson helped discover iPS cells in 2007.

Many labs can convert embryonic stem cells or iPS cells into specific cell types, but developing specialized cell lines that are pure, functional and robust has been a challenge.

Thomson and his team set out to find a recipe for growing artery cells that would really function like arteries.

The researchers used two new techniques: single-cell RNA sequencing to identify genes highly expressed in cells that initiate artery development, and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to evaluate the function of the genes.

They found that five small molecules and growth factors are needed to encourage iPS cells to become functional artery cells. To their surprise, they discovered that insulin, a common growth factor that had been used before in trying to grow artery cells, actually inhibits such growth.

They used their recipe to make artery cells, and tested the cells in mice that had their left coronary arteries tied off to mimic heart attacks. Four weeks later, 83 percent of mice treated with the cells were alive, compared to 33 percent of mice that didnt get the cells.

We can use those cells to further create tissue-engineered arteries for bypass surgeries, said Jue Zhang, a scientist in Thomsons lab at the Morgridge Institute for Research and lead author of the study.

Developing off-the-shelf bypasses for surgery is the goal of an $8 million, seven-year grant UW-Madison received last year from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to create universal artery banks.

The blood vessels of many cardiovascular disease patients arent suitable for use as bypasses, doctors say, and growing bypasses from individual patients stem cells would be timely and expensive. The hope is to use iPS cells from a rare population of genetically compatible donors to grow arteries anyone could use.

UW-Madison scientists, including engineers Tom Turng and Naomi Chesler and pathologist Igor Slukvin at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, plan to grow artery cells on scaffolds and test them in monkeys. If successful, the cells would be produced for human studies at the Waisman Biomanufacturing facility on campus.

The heart patches involve another $8.6 million, seven-year National Institutes of Health grant, shared with the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Duke University.

The patches involve three types of heart cells, derived from iPS cells, said Dr. Tim Kamp, a UW-Madison cardiologist and co-director of the universitys Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.

In studies in pigs, getting the patches to connect and survive when transplanted to pig hearts after heart attacks remains a challenge, Kamp said. Immune tolerance of the human grafts in pigs is another concern, he said.

But if such hurdles can be overcome, tests in humans could follow.

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UW-Madison scientists grow functional artery cells from stem cells - Madison.com

GEN Roundup: Top Trends in Tissue Engineering – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

References

1. F.T. Moutos et al., Anatomically shaped tissue-engineered cartilage with tunable and inducible anticytokine delivery for biological joint resurfacing, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 (31) E4513E4522, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1601639113.

2. B. Zhang et al., Biodegradable scaffold with built-in vasculature for organ-on-a-chip engineering and direct surgical anastomosis, Nat. Materials 15, 669678 (2016), doi:10.1038/nmat4570.

3. S. Shukla et al., Progenitor T-cell differentiation from hematopoietic stem cells using Delta-like-4 and VCAM-1, Nat. Methods 14(5), 531-538 (May 2017),doi: 10.1038/nmeth.4258. Epub Apr 10, 2017.

4. M.M. Pakulska, S. Miersch, and M.S. Shoichet, Designer protein delivery: from natural occurring to engineered affinity controlled release systems, Science 351(6279):aac4750, doi: 10.1126/science.aac4750.

5. M.M. Pakulska, C.H. Tator, and M.S. Shoichet, Local delivery of chondroitinase ABC with or without stromal cell-derived factor 1 promotes functional repair in the injured rat spinal cord, Biomaterials (accepted April 2017).

6. TissueGene, TissueGene to Highlight Invossa, the Worlds First Cell-Mediated Gene Therapy for Degenerative Osteoarthritis, at JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Press Release,accessed June 12, 2017.

7. O.J.L. Rackham et al., A predictive computational framework for direct reprogramming between human cell types, Nat. Genetics 48, 331335 (2016), doi:10.1038/ng.3487.

8. D.B. Kolesky et al., Three-dimensional bioprinting of thick vascularized tissue, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 (12), 31793184, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1521342113.

9. M.M. Laronda et al., A Bioprosthetic Ovary Created Using 3D Printed Microporous Scaffolds Restores Ovarian Function in Sterilized Mice, Nat. Commun. 8, 15261 (May 16, 2017).

10. I. Sagi et al., Derivation and differentiation of haploid human embryonic stem cells, Nature 532, 107111 (April 7, 2016), doi:10.1038/nature17408.

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GEN Roundup: Top Trends in Tissue Engineering - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Hurray for Gurdon and Yamanaka, Nobel Prize Winners for Pro-life Medicine – Gilmer Mirror

The research studies carried out by John B. Gurdon (Anglo-Saxon) and Shinya Yamanaka (Japanese) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. These two scientists are considered of being the fathers of cellular reprogramming. They have achieved to create cells that behave identically to embryonic cells, however, without having to destroy human embryos. The Swiss Academy declared that both Gurdon and Yamanaka have revolutionized the current knowledge of how cells and organisms are developed, which has led to the perfection of the absurd methods of diagnosis and therapy.

Jhon Bertrand Gurdon, professor of the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge, admitted of feeling extremely honored for such a spectacular privilege.

Moreover, Shinya Yamanaka discovered the so called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which have the same proprieties of the embryonic ones and are able to turn into whatever other type of body cell. He asserted that he will continue to conduct research in order to contribute to society and medicine. For him that is a duty.

Yamanaka created four types of genes that supply cells with their pluripotentiality, in other words, the same capacity that embryonic stem cells have. If implanted in differentiated cells, for example of skin, they become pluripotent stem cells. The iPS supply a vast amount of plasticity just as embryonic stem cells do, however, without requiring the extermination or cloning of human embryos, since the initial cells can be obtained from the same patient. In this aspect, these cells have the same status as adult stem cells do, with the advantage of their versatility.

The dilema that has been stirred by the iPS is being resolved due to recent studies carried out by Leisuke Kaji (Universidad de Edimburgo) and Andreas Nagy (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital of Toronto).

The created iPS perennially retain their pluripotentiality. There is still the need of research to be conducted concerning the control of the difference between these cells in order for them to create the tissue that is necessary for each case. As Kaji affirms in The Guardian, it is a step towards the practical use of reprogrammed cells in the field of medicine, which could eventually lead to eliminating the need of counting on human embryos as the main source of stem cells.

The Episcopal Subcommittee for the Family and Defense of Life of the Episcopal Conference, beliefs that no Catholic could support practices such as abortion, euthanasia or the production, freezing and/or manipulation of human embryos.

Clement Ferrer

Independent Forum of Opinion

http://indeforum.wordpress.com/

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Hurray for Gurdon and Yamanaka, Nobel Prize Winners for Pro-life Medicine - Gilmer Mirror

What makes stem cells into perfect allrounders – Phys.org – Phys.Org

June 27, 2017 Just a few days old embryonic cell clusters: with functional Pramel7 (left), without the protein (right) the development of the stem cells remains stuck and the embyos die. Credit: Paolo Cinelli, USZ

Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich have discovered the protein that enables natural embryonic stem cells to form all body cells. In the case of embryonic stem cells maintained in cell cultures, this allrounder potential is limited. Scientists want to use this knowledge to treat large bone fractures with stem cells.

Stem cells are considered biological allrounders because they have the potential to develop into the various body cell types. For the majority of stem cells, however, this designation is too far-reaching. Adult stem cells, for example, can replace cells in their own tissue in case of injury, but a fat stem cell will never generate a nerve or liver cell. Scientists therefore distinguish between multipotent adult stem cells and the actual allrounders - the pluripotent embryonic stem cells.

Epigenetic marks determine potential for development

Differences exist even among the true allrounders, however. Embryonic stem cells that grow in laboratory cell cultures are in a different state than the pluripotent cells found inside the embryos in the first days of development. In a study in the journal Nature Cell Biology, researchers led by Paolo Cinelli of the University Hospital Zurich and Raffaella Santoro of the University of Zurich have now demonstrated the mechanism by which natural allrounders differ from embryonic stem cells in cultures.

At the center of their discovery is a protein called Pramel7 (for "preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma"-like 7) found in the cells of embryonic cell clusters that are just a few days old. This protein guarantees that the genetic material is freed from epigenetic marks consisting of chemical DNA tags in the form of methyl groups. "The more methyl groups are removed, the more open the Book of Life becomes," Cinelli says. Since any cell of the human body can develop from an embryonic stem cell, all genes have to be freely accessible at the beginning. The more a cell develops or differentiates, the stronger its genetic material is methylated and "sealed closed" again. In a bone cell, for example, only those genes are active that the cell requires for its function, the biochemist explains.

Protein is responsible for perfect pluripotency

Despite its short action period of just a few days, Pramel7 seems to play a vital role: When the researchers headed up by Cinelli and Santoro switched off the gene for this protein using genetic tricks, development remained stuck in the embryonic cell cluster stage. In the cultivated stem cells, on the other hand, Pramel7 is rarely found. This circumstance could also explain why the genetic material of these cells contains more methyl groups than that of natural embryonic cells - the perfect allrounders, as Cinelli calls them.

Using the stem cell function to regenerate bone tissue

His interest in stem cells lies in the hope of one day being able to help people with complex bone fractures. "Bones are great at regenerating and they are the only tissue that does not build scars," Paolo Cinelli says. The bone stumps must be touching, however, in order to grow together. When a bone breaks in multiple places and even through the skin, for example, in a motorcycle accident, the sections of bone in between are often no longer usable. For such cases, a bone replacement is required. His team is studying carrier materials that they want to populate with the body's own stem cells in the future. "For this reason, we have to know how stem cells work," Cinelli adds.

Explore further: New tools to study the origin of embryonic stem cells

More information: Urs Graf et al, Pramel7 mediates ground-state pluripotency through proteasomalepigenetic combined pathways, Nature Cell Biology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ncb3554

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Embryonic Stem Cells: 5 Misconceptions – livescience.com

Fertility treatments could be a factor that will result in declining fecundity (potential for fertility, such as regular menstrual cycles) across the generations, some researchers say. Others point to the depression that can come with infertility as a reason to offer medicalized pregnanies. Image

Last week President Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and asked the National Institutes of Health to come up with a funding game plan within 120 days. Yet while the field of stem cell research holds great promise, hype and misconceptions cloud the picture. Here are a five such misconceptions.

1. George W. Bush killed research on embryonic stem cells.

Wrong. Bush actually was the first president to allow federal funding. Bill Clinton had chickened out. A very brief history follows.

In 1974, Congress banned federal funding on fetal tissue research and established the Ethics Advisory Board to study the nascent field of in vitro fertilization. In 1980 Ronald Reagan killed the Board, which was friendly to embryonic research, resulting in a de facto moratorium on funding. Congress tried to override the moratorium in 1992, but George H.W. Bush vetoed it. Bill Clinton lifted the moratorium in 1993 but reversed his decision in 1994 after public outcry. In 1995, Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, banning federal funding on any research that destroys human embryos.

In 2001 Bush enabled limited funding on embryonic stem cell lines already derived from discarded embryos; the life or death decision already had been made, he said. He thought more than 60 lines existed, but within months scientists realized that only about 20 were viable, not enough to do substantial research.

2. Bush spurred development of alternative sources of embryonic stem cells.

Sure, in the same way his disastrous invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq spurred the development of treatment for massive head trauma, or the way his economic policies have encouraged all of us to do more with less. One doesn't advance a scientific field by handicapping researchers.

Regardless, the biggest advance in recent years has come from Japan by a researcher not affected by U.S. research funding rules. U.S. federal funding could have led to even more advances of alternative sources, because funding stem cell research in general can have a synergetic effect across the various research specialties.

3. Embryonic stem cells are no longer needed.

Wrong. In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan announced a breakthrough in which adult skin cells could be coaxed back into an embryonic state and thus regain the ability to branch into any kind of human cell, such as heart, pancreas or spinal cord nerve cell. While a major advance, the work itself is in an embryonic state, years from practical application.

The work on these so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells complements embryonic stem cell research; it doesn't replace it. The iPS cells have a greater tendency to become cancerous. Work on "real" embryonic stem cells is needed, at a minimum, to understand what iPS cells lack. Many view Yamanaka's technique as brilliant yet worry that his four-gene manipulation of adult cells might be too simplistic.

Research on iPS cells is particularly exciting because it opens the possibility of using one's own cells say, from skin to produce pancreas cells to cure diabetes, whereas embryonic stem cells would introduce DNA from a stranger.

4. Cures are around the corner.

Wrong. Stem cell research is dominated by hype. Remember gene therapy, the insertion of genes into human cells to cure all types of diseases? Nearly two decades after the first gene therapy procedure, the technique remains highly experimental and problematic. Stem cell research faces a similar future.

5. Obama's executive order means "all systems go."

Unlikely. The new rule eliminates red tape, for now researchers can study any established embryonic stem cell line. Previously, stem cell researchers receiving private and public funding needed to keep detailed records of spending, down to which microscope is used for which kind of stem cell. That's history.

But the Dickey-Wicker Amendment (see No. 1 above) is the law of the land, meaning federally funded researchers cannot create new embryonic stem cells lines. They can work only on those new lines created with private funding, which aren't that plentiful. Also, some scientists worry that crucial private funding will dry up with the poor economy and false reassurances that federal funding is in place.

The furor over stem cells focuses on the definition of human life, which many believe begins when sperm meets eggs. Yet inevitably lines will be blurred in coming years when babies are born with the DNA of two sperms or ova transplanted into an egg. Just as humans evolved from non-humans with no precise generation in which a non-human gave birth to a human we may come to understand that all of nature is a continuum.

Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His column, Bad Medicine, appears each Tuesday on LiveScience.

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Embryonic Stem Cells: 5 Misconceptions - livescience.com

Congressmen seek pro-life focus at NIH – OneNewsNow

A move is afoot in Congress to change the direction of the National Institutes of Health to more valuable and humane research projects.

Under the direction of Dr. Francis Collins, NIH has directed millions of dollars toward research on human embryos.

David Prentice of the Charlotte Lozier Institute tells OneNewsNow that Congressmen Jim Banks and Dan Lipinski have introduced the Patients First Act to change the agency's course.

The whole point of the bill," says Prentice, "is to prioritize NIH funding for adult stem cells that are going to be able to help patients, first, in the near term, be able to get them into the clinic and help these people. And that, again, is adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells."

Dr. Collins is famous for leading the decade-long Human Genome Project, which mapped DNA sequences.

Once an atheist, Collins is also known for being an outspoken Christian in the scientific community, where faith is often mocked and dismissed. Yet the embryonic research at NIH has caused disappointment among pro-life activists, and some have called for his firing at NIH.

The proposed legislation could mean hundreds of millions of dollars would be directed toward adult stem cells, which are already being used to treat medical conditions for an estimated 1.5 million patients around the world.

Shifting research to stem cells is going to help patients, not just mean playing in the laboratory, which is what happens with embryonic stem cells as well as fetal tissue and fetal stem cells, Prentice adds. Embryonic and fetal stem cells have been failures.

Prentice says the latter forms of research are unethical, so instead the money could be spent to accelerate research on something of proven value.

Charlotte Lozier Institute would also like to see bills dealing with other ethical concerns at NIH including animal/human hybrids and research using aborted baby tissue.

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Congressmen seek pro-life focus at NIH - OneNewsNow