Stem cells derived neuronal networks grown on a chip as an alternative to animal testing – Science Daily

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Stem cells derived neuronal networks grown on a chip as an alternative to animal testing Science Daily In the sudy the researchers demonstrated that neurons differentiated in vitro from mouse embryonic stem cells cultured on multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) can serve as a physiologically relevant cell-based method for detecting BoNT/A holotoxin and complex.

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Facts About Cloning – Live Science

Dolly the Sheep in a field at The Roslin Institute.

Cloning is the process of taking genetic information from one living thing and creating identical copies of it. The copied material is called a clone. Geneticists have cloned cells, tissues, genes and entire animals.

Although this process may seem futuristic, nature has been doing it for millions of years. For example, identical twins have almost identical DNA, and asexual reproduction in some plants and organisms can produce genetically identical offspring. And scientists make genetic doubles in the lab, though the process is a little different.

There are three different types of cloning, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI):

In gene cloning, a genetic engineer extracts DNA from an organism and then uses enzymes to break the bonds between nucleotides (the basic building blocks of DNA) and snip the strand into gene-size pieces, according to the University of Nebraska.

Plasmids, small bits of DNA in bacterial cells, are combined with the genes. Then, they are transferred into living bacteria. These bacteria are allowed to grow into colonies to be studied. When a colony of bacteria containing a gene of interest is located, the bacteria can be propagated to make millions of copies of the plasmids. Then, the plasmids can be extracted for gene modification and transformation.

Gene modification, or gene design, is when a genetic engineer cuts the gene apart and replaces regions of it with new material. Transformation is the step in which the new genetic material is transferred to a new organism, which changed it genetically. The organism, such as a plant, is grown, and the seeds they produce have inherited the new genetic properties.

Reproductive cloning

In reproductive cloning, a genetic engineer removes a mature somatic cell (any cell except for reproductive cells) from an organism and transfers the DNA into an egg cell that has had its own DNA removed, according to the NHGRI. Then, the egg is jump-started chemically to start the reproductive process. Finally, the egg is implanted into the uterus of a female of the same species as the egg.

The mother gives birth to an animal that has the same genetic makeup as the animals that donated the somatic cell. This was the process that produced Dolly the sheep.

Therapeutic cloning

Therapeutic cloning works in a similar way to reproductive cloning. A cell is taken from an animal's skin and is inserted into the outer membrane of a donor egg cell. Then, the egg is chemically induced so that it creates embryonic stem cells. These stem cells can be harvested and used in experiments aimed at understanding diseases and developing new treatments. [Infographic: How Stem Cell Cloning Works]

The first study of cloning took place in 1885, when German scientist Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch began researching reproduction. In 1902, he was able to create a set of twin salamanders by dividing an embryo into two separate, viable embryos, according to the Genetic Science Learning Center. Since then, there have been many breakthroughs in cloning.

In 1958, British biologist John Gurdon cloned frogs from the skin cells of adult frogs. On July 5, 1996, a female sheep gave birth to the now-famous Dolly, a Finn Dorset lamb the first mammal to be cloned from the cells of an adult animal at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.

"The birth of Dolly and the new understanding of the opportunity to change the functioning of cells made researchers consider other possible ways of modifying cells," Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the team that created Dolly, told Live Science.

Since Dolly, many more animal clones have been born, and the process is becoming more mainstream. Research has also been conducted on human-cell cloning. In 2013, scientists at Oregon Health and Science University took donor DNA from an 8-month-old with a rare genetic disease and successfully cloned human embryonic stem cells for the first time. Unfortunately, the researchers didn't remove the cells to save the child. The project was to prove that mature donor cells could be used to produce new ones. This research has evolved into using stem cells for many different applications, including hair regrowth, treatments for burns and more.

Several companies are currently providing services that use cloning technology. For example, South Korea-based Sooam Biotech clones pets for around $100,000. And a Texas-based company, Viagen Pets, clones cats for $25,000 and dogs for $50,000.

Even plants are being cloned. One company is cloning maple trees to provide lumber for guitar-makers, with the aim of duplicating a quality in the wood, called figuring, that gives a guitar a sort of shimmering appearance.

There are many other applications for cloning. The movie "Jurassic Park" stirred the public's imagination and asked the question, "Can we use cloning to bring back extinct species through cloning?" For this process to be successful, scientists would need living DNA from the extinct animal and a living animal egg that is closely related to the extinct creature.

On July 30, 2003, a group of scientists led by Jose Folch at the Center of Food Technology and Research of Aragon, in northern Spain, brought back an extinct wild goat called a bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex. The cloned animal lived for only 10 minutes, according to National Geographic, but the scientists proved that an extinct animal could be brought back. Researchers at Harvard are currently working to clone woolly mammoths, and they say they should be able to do so by 2019.

While cloning a human is currently illegal in most parts of the world, cloning stem cells from humans is a very promising field of research. Stem cells can be reprogrammed to become any type of cell needed to repair or replace damaged tissue or cells in the body. Stem cell research has the potential to help people who have spinal injuries and other conditions.

Another area of research, the cloning of hair follicles, began more than a decade ago. It's just one potential application of human-cell cloning: treating hair loss. "We have learned recently that human hair cells lose their potential to multiply when expanded in cell cultures in a petri dish," said Ken L. Williams Jr., a surgeon and founder of Orange County Hair Restoration and author of "Hair Transplant 360: Follicular Unit Extraction" (Jp Medical Ltd., 2015). "Global gene expression analysis of the human hair follicle, however, has revealed that a special 3D spheroid culture may be able to allow cloning of hair cells in the future years. By manipulating the environment that the human hair cells grow, induction or expansion of hair cells occurs."

Another example of practical human-cell cloning is to use stem cells to help burns heal. A biotech company, RenovaCare, has created what it calls the CellMist System. In this process, stem cells are applied to the burned area on the patient, and that application triggers new skin-cell growth. Though it's still experimental, this process could help burn victims heal faster and experience less scarring.

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Facts About Cloning - Live Science

Harvard scientist worries we’re ‘reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking’ – SCNow

George Q. Daley, the new head of Harvard Medical School, knows what it's like when presidential politics collides with science. Daley was a leading stem cell scientist back in 2001 when President George W. Bush suddenly barred federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cells - a gesture to Republican antiabortion backers that, many believe, put a chill on one of the most cutting-edge areas of biology.

The move turned many scientists, unexpectedly, into activists. The diplomatic Daley helped Harvard create an institute in 2004 to work around the federal funding restrictions; California bucked the Bush administration by devoting its own state funds to the research. President Barack Obama eventually reversed the executive order in 2009, allowing federal funds to be used; today, embryonic stem cell based therapies are being tested in clinical trials, and studying them has helped unleash a wave of new medical insights.

As of Jan. 1, Daley occupies one of the highest-profile jobs in American medicine, a de facto spokesman both for research and medical practice. And he arrives at a moment when the entire field is nervous about what the Trump administration has in store. The White House seems not only indifferent to research, but also actively hostile to some strains of science; the future of the Affordable Care Act is uncertain at best. Drug prices, immigration and the national research budget - all issues crucial to the medical field - are all up for debate. By nature a scientist, accustomed to gathering evidence before opining about solutions, Daley says he thinks his experiences working in a field that was marginalized by politicians may provide some useful lessons for navigating what he called a "cacophony of confusion and alternative facts."

Daley spoke to The Washington Post about his hopes and concerns as he takes the helm at Harvard Medical School - around the same time as President Trump. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q. Right now, there's uneasiness in the scientific and medical communities over how evidence and research will be treated, ranging from vaccines to climate change. Having lived through a time when your work was directly politicized and targeted, what are your thoughts about how to approach a situation like that?

A. I think that the lessons that I learned in the early challenges and policy debates around embryonic stem cells have a lot to teach us for how to advocate forcefully in today's world. We have to, as scientists, stick to our message, which is that science and evidence is the way to make informed decisions - whether those decisions are about advancing human health and wellness, or about advancing the environment and maintaining not only healthy air quality, but reducing risks to catastrophic climate change. These are all fundamentally, at some level, challenges and risks to human health.

If I had one worry, as we see the cacophony of confusion and alternative facts, it's that we're reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking, which will take us back to the days of blood-letting and faith-healing. And this is wrong. This is not the way to advance health and wellness for the greatest number, not a way to face our challenges. We are facing some of the greatest global challenges today - not just with global warming, but with threats to emerging pathogens, whether it's Ebola or Zika. And if we start to question the nature and value of things like vaccines in human health, how are we going to be able to confront the challenges of new pathogens?

Q. Do you think that this is something that's already happening, or is it a future worry?

A. The storm clouds are on the horizon. If I just speak to one issue that has a very direct effect on our community: Our biomedical research enterprise, as well as our clinicians draw on the best and brightest, from not only the United States, but around the globe. We are a magnet, we're seen as the beacon of the best, cutting-edge research and the most effective and impactful clinical training and health care delivery. I've met with students from Iran and Syria who are here studying and about to graduate. And they're worried that their parents are not going to be able to come see them receive their PhD or their MD. We're worried about the pipeline - not only of trainees who keep us at the cutting edge, but patients. Our health care centers are magnets for patients from all over the world, and in many cases from the Middle East, and it stands in the way of our mission.

Q. The immigration policy of the Trump administration is evolving as we speak, but it sounds like you're worried about the message that recent actions send.

A. Our concern is that there is a megaphone that screams across the globe. Over the couple-hundred-year history of our country, it has been emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty: Give us your tired, your poor. We are a welcome beacon to immigrants from all across the globe; that's been the message that has built our country. And now the recent message that has been sent is giving pause to those folks in other parts of the world, making them think twice about whether this is a welcoming community for them. I've already heard that some of our applicants to post-doctoral positions or training programs in our graduate schools are starting to be diverted to programs in Europe that are saying, "Hey, what can we do to take advantage of the talent pool that might not be going to the United States." That is chilling to me.

Q. What are your thoughts on the plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act and what should come next?

A. We now have, in Massachusetts, 96 percent of people covered, and I do think that's created a sense in our medical students and our residents and our trainees, and even up to our faculty, that universal access [to health care] is a human right. I remember in my times in the hospital, there was something absolutely wonderful about the fact the homeless person coming off the street with a heart attack got the same intense, compassionate care as the Berkeley professor who had a heart event at Logan Airport - and that's an actual case that took place when I was in training. There's probably no other experience in my time as at trainee at the Harvard hospitals that made me feel more proud about the mission of Harvard medicine. I think that's an aspiration - there was an attempt by the Obama administration to capture that as an aspiration, as the noblest calling of medicine, and I think that anything that is put in it place has to attempt to meet those same aspirations.

Q. Stem cell science has come under political attack in the past, and Vice President Pence has said he opposes embryonic stem cell research. Are you worried about the future of your field?

A. I always felt very strongly and passionately, as an advocate for stem cell research of all kinds. To be able to use the new technology and biology of regenerative medicine to serve the relief of suffering and the treatment of disease, I just think is a very noble calling. I've always argued that we need to exploit every possible advantage in the fight against disease. I would continue to advocate for research on all sorts of stem cells. And if there is an attempt to restrict the research in the future, I will be out there again, speaking from the scientific and medical perspective to justify this work.

Carolyn Johnson is a reporter covering the business of health. She previously wrote about science at The Boston Globe

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Harvard scientist worries we're 'reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking' - SCNow

20 Years After Dolly the Sheep, Potential of Cloning Remains Unclear – FOX40

(CNN) On February 22, 1997, the world learned about a secret project that scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland had been working on.

More than seven months earlier, on July 5, 1996, they had aided a Scottish Blackface sheep in giving birth to a Finn Dorset lamb codenamed 6LL3.

She was the first mammal to ever be cloned from the cells of an adult animal.

Using a breakthrough technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, scientists at Roslin took a nucleus the part of the cell that contains most of its genetic information from cells within the mammary gland of an adult sheep and stuck it inside an unfertilized egg from which the nucleus had been removed.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND JULY 05: Sophie Goggins from the National Museums Scotland views Dolly the Sheep during the opening of a major new development at the National Museum of Scotland on July 5, 2016 in Edinburgh,Scotland. The National Museum of Scotland today opened ten new galleries devoted to science, art and design, as part of 14.1m project which increased its exhibition space by almost half and putting many treasures from its collections on display for the first time. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

They stimulated the egg to develop into an embryo and planted the embryo into a surrogate mother. The lamb was dubbed Dolly, a nod to country music legend Dolly Parton and her famously ample bosom.

Years later, that same cell cluster was used to make four other sheep just like Dolly.

Revealing Dolly

The lab had kept her birth secret for seven months to make the announcement coincide with the publication of the scientific paper describing the experiments that produced her, they said.

That week, they recall, they received 3,000 phone calls from all over the world, according to the Roslin Institute.

Much of the news reports had focused not on cloning sheep but on its potential for humans, said Alan Colman, who is now a visiting scholar in the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology.

At the time, Colman was research director at PPL Therapeutics, which specialized in producing transgenic (genetically engineered) livestock.

Wed underestimated the impact the announcement would make, he said. It was something we had prepared for, but we had been totally overwhelmed by the response.

Dollys legacy

Previously, cloning had been done using only embryonic cells, and now researchers had showed that it was possible in cells from another part of the body and adult body.

At the time she was born, I was ecstatic, because no one had previously been able to use nuclear transfer to make an adult vertebrate from an adult cell, Colman said.

Despite the headlines, cloning a mammal wasnt the teams main goal. They were out to develop a more efficient way to produce genetically modified livestock.

In fact, Dolly wasnt even the first to ever be cloned. She was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

But scientists have learned a lot since developing the technique, and somatic cell nuclear transfer has been used in more than 20 species to make clones.

The Roslin Institute explained that people have long been motivated to try cloning to make copies of the very best animals for agricultural purposes. Also, since the mid-1980s, there has been an interest in making new uses for farm animals, including producing human proteins in the milk of transgenic cows or sheep for medicinal use in humans.

South Koreas Sooam Biotech Research Foundation have even cloned dogs.

But by and large, scientists dont see a need to clone humans.

Instead, they are using what they learned from creating Dolly to make advancements in stem cell therapy, such as to create embryonic stem cells directly from a patients own cells. They can then study the progression of whichever disease the patient has.

Concerns

Dolly herself lived out her days at the Roslin Institute and was able to produce six lambs.

But she was euthanized at age 6 after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease and after a long battle with arthritis.

Finn Dorset sheep usually live 10 to 11 years, and her health problems seemed to confirm fears that cloned animals would age faster and die prematurely compared with animals born naturally.

This was further exemplified by Dollys four cloned sisters, who were recently euthanized because they too began to show symptoms of osteoarthritis.

OA, as you may know, is a progressive disease, and we took appropriate measures to manage the condition at the time under veterinary guidance, said Kevin Sinclair, a developmental biologist at the University of Nottingham who led research on the sheep.

These animals were in their 10th year and so coming towards the end of their natural lifespan.

A recent study of the remaining clones, however, found that they aged the same as naturally born sheep.

To investigate this further, the team at Nottingham will now conduct postmortem examinations to truly understand whats going on inside the animals.

The final phase of our study involves detailed postmortem analyses of different tissues and organs in order to gain a better insight into the aging process in these animals, Sinclair said.

The Roslin Institute donated Dollys body to the National Museum of Scotland, where she stands to this day.

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20 Years After Dolly the Sheep, Potential of Cloning Remains Unclear - FOX40

Harvard scientist worries we’re ‘reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking’ – Washington Post

George Q. Daley, the newhead of Harvard Medical School,knows what it's like when presidential politics collides with science.Daleywasa leading stem cell scientistback in 2001 when President George W. Bush suddenly barred federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cells a gesture to Republican antiabortion backers that, many believe, put a chill onone of the most cutting-edge areas of biology.

The move turned many scientists, unexpectedly, into activists. The diplomatic Daley helpedHarvard create an institute in 2004 towork around the federal funding restrictions;Californiabucked the Bush administration bydevotingits ownstate funds to the research. President Barack Obamaeventuallyreversed the executive orderin 2009,allowing federal funds to be used;today, embryonic stem cell based therapies are being tested in clinical trials, and studying them has helped unleash a wave of newmedicalinsights.

As of Jan. 1,Daley occupies one of the highest-profile jobs in American medicine, a de facto spokesman both for research and medical practice. And he arrives at a moment when the entire field is nervous about what the Trump administration has in store. The White House seems not only indifferent to research, but also actively hostile to some strains of science; the future of theAffordable Care Actis uncertain at best.Drug prices,immigration and the national researchbudget all issues crucial to the medical field are all up for debate.By nature ascientist, accustomed togathering evidence before opining about solutions,Daley says he thinks his experiences working in a field that was marginalized by politicians may provide some useful lessons for navigating what he called a "cacophony of confusion and alternative facts."

Daley spoke to The Washington Post about his hopes and concerns as he takes the helm at Harvard Medical School around the same time as President Trump. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Right now, theres uneasiness in the scientific and medical communities over how evidence and research will be treated, ranging fromvaccines to climate change. Having lived through a time when your work was directly politicized and targeted, what are yourthoughts about how to approach a situation like that?

I think that the lessons that I learned in the early challenges and policy debates around embryonic stem cells have a lot to teach us for how to advocate forcefully in todays world. We have to, as scientists, stick to our message, which is that science and evidence is the way to make informed decisions whether those decisions are about advancing human health and wellness, or about advancing the environment and maintainingnot only healthy air quality, but reducing risks to catastrophic climate change. These are all fundamentally, at some level, challenges and risks to human health.

If I had one worry, as we see the cacophony of confusion and alternative facts, it's that were reverting to a pre-Enlightenmentform of thinking, which will take us back to the days of blood-letting and faith-healing. And this is wrong. This is not the way to advance health and wellness for the greatest number, not a way to face our challenges. We are facing some of the greatest global challenges today not just with global warming, but with threats to emerging pathogens, whether its Ebola or Zika. And if we start to question the nature and value of things like vaccines in human health, how are we going to be able to confront the challengesof new pathogens?

[Why Americas health-care spending is projected to soar over the next decade]

Do you think thatthis is something that's already happening, or is it a future worry?

The storm clouds are on the horizon. If I just speak to one issue that has a very direct effect on our community: Our biomedical research enterprise, as well as our clinicians draw on the best and brightest, from not only the United States, but around the globe. We are a magnet, were seen as the beacon of the best, cutting-edge research and the most effective and impactful clinical training and health care delivery. Ive met with students from Iran and Syria who are here studying and about to graduate. And theyre worried that their parents are not going to be able to come see them receive their PhD or their MD. Were worried about the pipeline not only of trainees who keep us at the cutting edge, but patients. Our health care centers are magnets for patients from all over the world, and in many cases from theMiddle East, and it stands in the way of our mission.

The immigration policy of the Trump administration is evolving as we speak, but it soundslike you're worried aboutthe message that recent actions send.

Our concern is that there is a megaphone that screams across the globe. Over the couple-hundred-year history of our country, it has been emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty: Give us your tired, your poor. We are a welcome beacon to immigrants from all across the globe; thats been the message that has built our country. And now the recent message that has been sent is giving pause to those folks in other parts of the world, making them think twice about whether this is a welcoming community for them. Ive already heard that some of our applicants to post-doctoral positions or training programs in our graduate schools are starting to be diverted to programs in Europe that aresaying, "Hey, what can we do to take advantage of the talent pool that might not be going to the United States." That is chilling to me.

What are your thoughts on the plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act and what should come next?

We now have, in Massachusetts, 96 percent of people covered, and I do think thats created a sense in our medical students and our residents and our trainees, and even up to our faculty, that universal access [to health care] is a human right. I remember in my times in the hospital, there was something absolutely wonderful about the fact the homeless person coming off the street with a heart attack got the same intense, compassionate care as the Berkeley professor who had a heart event at Logan Airport and thats an actual case that took place when I was in training. Theres probably no other experience in my time as at trainee at theHarvard hospitals that made me feel more proud about the mission of Harvard medicine. I think thats an aspiration there was an attempt by the Obama administration to capture thatas an aspiration, as the noblest calling of medicine, and I think that anything that is put in it place has to attempt to meet those same aspirations.

Stem cell science has come under political attack in the past, and Vice President Pence has said he opposesembryonic stem cell research. Are you worried about the future of your field?

I always felt very strongly and passionately, as an advocate for stem cell research of all kinds. To be able to use the new technology and biology of regenerative medicine to serve the relief of suffering and the treatment of disease, I just think is a very noble calling. Ive always argued that we need to exploit every possible advantage in the fight against disease.I would continue to advocate for research on all sorts of stem cells. And if there is an attempt to restrict the research in the future, I will be out there again, speaking from the scientific and medical perspective to justify this work.

View original post here:
Harvard scientist worries we're 'reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking' - Washington Post

The clone armies never happened, but Dolly the sheep still changed the world – Quartz

Twenty years ago today, scientists at Edinburghs Roslin Institute introduced the most famous sheep in history. The Finn Dorset born seven months earlier was the first mammal cloned from the cells of an adult. She was named for the famously-endowed singer Dolly Partona nod to the mammary gland cell from which she was cloned.

Dollys birth made global headlines, many of which suggested that the animal blithely munching grass in Scotland was the harbinger of a dystopian future upending human reproduction. Predictions included evil clone armies, sacrificial humans created to supply organs, and dead people resurrected in petri dishes.

That future never came to pass. One reason is ethical: Even as we near figuring out how to clone a human, we are no closer to agreeing on when or whether we should. The other is that with few exceptionsmice and rats copied en masse for lab studies, reproducing quality livestockcloning animals really isnt all that useful.

Dollys real legacy is the research she inspired in nuclear reprogrammed cells, which will save more lives than cloned organ donors ever could. Japanese stem cell biologist Shinya Yamanaka was among those inspired by Dollys birth. With living, woolly evidence that it was possible to change one cells gene expression by swapping its nucleus for another, Yamanaka adapted the process to engineer adult human cells into stem cells, which can mature into many different cell types.

The cells created through Yamanakas technique, known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), allow scientists to pursue the life-giving possibilities of stem cell research without relying on tightly-controlled, ethically-charged human embryonic stem cells. Most stem cell research today is done with iPSCs. Researchers building on Yamanakas techniques are now reprogramming cells to reverse the effects of age and disease.

In 2012 Yamanaka shared the Nobel Prize with John Gurdon of Cambridge University, who 50 years earlier cloned the first animal embryo using the cells of a mature adult. By determining that a frogs egg contained the same DNA as a mature tadpole, Gurdon showed it was possible to essentially turn back the clock on a cells development.

Dolly, Gurdon told Quartz, was a very important step in the great current interest in the reprogramming of adult cells to provide embryonic cells from which many other unrelated adult cells can be obtained.

As for Dolly, she lived out her days at the Roslin Institute, giving birth to six healthy lambs (Bonnie, Sally, Rosie, Lucy, Darcy, and Cotton, in case youre wondering) before a CT scan found tumors in her lungs. She was euthanized Feb. 14, 2003 at the age of six, and is on permanent display at the National Museum of Scotland.

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The clone armies never happened, but Dolly the sheep still changed the world - Quartz

Nanofiber Matrix Improves Stem Cell Growth – Asian Scientist Magazine

When grown on a fiber-on-fiber matrix, 95 percent of the pluripotent stem cells formed colonies.

Asian Scientist Newsroom | February 22, 2017 | In the Lab

AsianScientist (Feb. 22, 2017) - A nanofiber-on-microfiber matrix could help produce more and better quality stem cells for disease treatment and regenerative therapies, according to a study published in Biomaterials.

Developed by a team of researchers led by Ken-ichiro Kamei, an associate professor at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), the fiber-on-fiber (FF) matrix improves on currently available stem cell culturing techniques.

Researchers have been developing 3D culturing systems to allow human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to grow and interact with their surroundings in all three dimensions, as they would inside the human body, rather than in two dimensions, like they do in a petri dish. However, most currently reported 3D culturing systems have limitations, and result in low quantities and quality of cultured cells.

Kamei and his colleagues fabricated gelatin nanofibers onto a microfiber sheet made of synthetic, biodegradable polyglycolic acid. Human embryonic stem cells were then seeded onto the matrix in a cell culture medium.

The FF matrix allowed easy exchange of growth factors and supplements from the culture medium to the cells. Also, the stem cells adhered well to the matrix, resulting in robust cell growth: after four days of culture, more than 95 percent of the cells grew and formed colonies.

The team also scaled up the process by designing a gas-permeable cell culture bag in which multiple cell-loaded, folded FF matrices were placed. The system was designed so that minimal changes were needed to the internal environment, reducing the amount of stress placed on the cells. This newly developed system yielded a larger number of cells compared to conventional 2D and 3D culture methods.

Our method offers an efficient way to expand hPSCs of high quality within a shorter term, the authors said.

Also, because the use of the FF matrix is not limited to a specific type of culture container, it allows for scaling up production without loss of cell functions.

Additionally, as nanofiber matrices are advantageous for culturing other adherent cells, including hPSC-derived differentiated cells, FF matrix might be applicable to the large-scale production of differentiated functional cells for various applications, the researchers concluded.

The article can be found at: Liu et al. (2017) Nano-on-micro Fibrous Extracellular Matrices for Scalable Expansion of Human ES/iPS Cells.

Source: Kyoto University. Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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Nanofiber Matrix Improves Stem Cell Growth - Asian Scientist Magazine

Iowa GOP takes aim at research – The Daily Iowan

By Sarah Stortz

sarah-stortz@uiowa.edu

Fetal-tissue research could be at risk of being outlawed in Iowa if a bill proposed in the Iowa Senate passes. The human-resource subcommittee of the Iowa Senate, led by Republicans, approved a piece of legislation last week that would prohibit the use of fetal tissue in medical research. This bill would ban receiving or transporting any type of fetal tissue in the state and provide penalties.

It would apply to the University of Iowa medical investigations, one of dozens of universities in the United States using fetal-tissue research.

Iowa City pulmonologist Alan Moy said he supported the bill during its initial hearing because of his opposition to using fetal tissues in research.

I feel that the use is in conflict with medical research and that it defies human research, he said. Federal law doesnt support trafficking on fetal tissue. I disagree with the opponents that this has led to remarkable treatment. Thats wrong. There are more ethical and more superior treatment methods.

Moy said the bills passing should have no effect on the research at the UI.

The law does not prevent buying commercial venues; the abortion clinics just wouldnt be a source, Moy said. There have been a number of cell lines, and they have been created decades ago. You dont need to replenish cell lines with fresh fetal.

On the contrary, Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, opposed the bill, saying it would do huge damage to the research at universities in Iowa.

Our universities are doing great research with [fetal tissues], but whatever research would have to stop, he said. It could end research for cures and treatments.

Bolkcom said passing the bill passing would be an economically bad decision as well.

Institutions would be put out of business, he said. We cant track the researchers, so they would have to go to other states.

UI immunology Professor Nicholas Zavazava, a researcher, had a mixed opinion.

There are people doing great research with it, but its also a very sensitive issue, he said.

Zavazava works with stem cells at the university and reported that while some work with fetal tissue, its not used often in the research at the UI. Researchers typically use embryonic stem cells.

He said that fetal tissues are distinct from embryonic stem cells, with fetal tissues coming specifically from aborted fetuses.

Alternatively, Zavazava said he wished the school would use different types of methods to avoid controversy, one such being stem-cell transplant.

You can create embryonic stem cells by drawing your own blood. There would be no fetus involved, he said. Unfortunately, this costs a lot of money, and Iowa just never invested in it. I really hope that Iowa would embrace it more.

This is the second time members of the Senate have tried to pass a bill that would restrict fetal tissue used in medical research, with a very similar bill proposed last year that passed in the Iowa House.

Bolkcom said he urges anyone who doesnt want this bill to pass, follow through by calling their senators.

Now that Republicans are in charge, theres a pretty decent chance of this passing, he said.

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Iowa GOP takes aim at research - The Daily Iowan

Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem Retinal Pigment Cells Survive 22 months in a Human Recipient – MedicalResearch.com (blog)

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Won Kyung Song MD.PhD Assistant Professor, Vitreoretinal service, Department of Ophthalmology CHA Bundang Medical Center CHA University Republic of Korea

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The retina is a light-sensitive neural tissue lining the inner surface of the human eye. The center of this retina is calledthe macula, which is responsible for high quality vision and central visual field. Retinal pigment epithelium is a layer of cells in the outer layer of the retina which has a critical role in maintaining and supporting the retina, especially the macula.

Age-related macular degeneration(AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly in Western countries. There are two types of AMD, wet (neovascular or exudative) and dry (atrophic).The retinal pigment epithelium and choroid, are closely related with the pathophysiology of AMD. In dry AMD,age-relateddegeneration ofRPE cellsleads to the loss of photoreceptor cells and visual deficit. Currently, some therapies are available for amelioratingthe wet AMD. However, there are no effective therapy available for dry AMD.

Previous studies have shown that healthy RPE cells can be implanted to replace unhealthy RPE cells in lesion areas where RPE cells have been lost.Allogenic RPEs resulted in graft rejection and autologous RPEs are difficult to harvest leading to surgery related complications. Now, abundant RPEs with stable genotype and phenotyemay be generated from embryonic stem cells. Therefore, we have undergone subretinal transplantation of human embryonic stem cell derived RPE cells. (Clinicaltrials.govNCT 01674829)Among the patients enrolled for

this clinical trial, we noted epiretinal membrane(ERM) with pigmentations over the retina in a proportion of patients as an adverse event. One patientwithdry AMD and an epiretinal membrane after the hES-RPE transplantationundergoneremoval of this ERM. The histologic examination of this ERM with pigmentations showed that the pigmented cellsoriginatedfrom thetransplantedhES-RPE cells which survived in the recipient for 22 months without anaplasia.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: The main concerns of clinical application of hES derived cellsaretumorigenesisand immune rejection.

Thereare limitations of these trials lackingconfirmative measurements of engraftment of the transplanted cells. Because biopsy of the retina results in focal loss of nurosensory retina and labelling the cells may cause additional clinical harm.

This is the first report showing that hES derived cells has survived upto 22 months in human organwithout anaplasia and may form an ERM.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Objective measurement of engraftment is necessary, together with advancement of an objective visual function measurements.

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Response: The case reported in thisjournalis a finding froma patient enrolled in the clinical trial sponsored byCHAbiotech.Co,Ltd.

HI12C1794(A121941)

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Shim SH, Kim G, Lee DR, Lee JE, Kwon HJ, Song WK. Survival of Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem CellDerived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells in a Human Recipient for 22 Months. JAMA Ophthalmol. Published online February 09, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2016.5824

Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.

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How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? – Catholic Free Press

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk

By Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk

A number of years ago, I participated in a debate at Harvard on embryonic stem cell research which also included a Jewish rabbi, an Episcopalian clergyman, and a Muslim imam. The debate went smoothly and cordially, although I was the only voice in the group who defended the human rights of individuals who happen still to be embryos. After the debate, the Episcopalian clergyman pulled me aside and told me how he thought Catholics should consider themselves fortunate to have such an authoritative reference point in the Church and the Vatican, particularly when it comes to resolving new bioethical questions. With surprising candor, he shared how he had sat on various committees with others from his own faith tradition where they had tried to sort through the ethics of embryonic stem cells, and he lamented, we just ended up discussing feelings and opinions, without any good way to arrive at conclusions.

Many people, indeed, appreciate that the Catholic Church holds firm and well-defined positions on moral questions, even if they may remain unsure about how or why the Church actually arrives at those positions, especially when it comes to unpacking new scientific developments like embryonic stem cell research.

So how does the Church arrive at its positions on bioethics? For one thing, it takes its time, and doesnt jump to conclusions even in the face of media pressure for quick sound bites and rapid-fire news stories.

I once had a discussion with a journalist for a major newspaper about the ethics of human-animal chimeras. He mentioned that a leading researcher working on chimeras had met the pope and afterwards implied that the pope had given his blessing to the project. I reminded him that its quite common for the pope to offer general encouragement and blessings to those he meets, though that wouldnt be the same thing as sanctioning new and morally controversial techniques in the biosciences. As a rule, the Catholic Church does not address important bioethical questions that way, through chance encounters with the pope as you are strolling through the hallways of the Vatican.

Instead, the Church may reflect for months, years, or even decades, to identify important considerations and guiding principles when new moral dilemmas arise in the biosciences. Even with this slow and deliberative process, I think its fair to say that the Church generally stays ahead of the curve. By the time of the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996, for example, the Catholic Church had already been reflecting on the question of human cloning for many years, and concluded, nine years prior to Dolly, that human cloning would be morally unacceptable in an important document called Donum Vitae (On the Gift of Life).

This same document also identified key moral problems with doing human embryonic stem cell research 11 years before it was even possible to destructively obtain those cells from human embryos. When the first test tube baby was born in 1978, the serious moral concerns raised by the procedure had already been spelled out twenty-two years earlier, by Pope Pius XII, in his 1956 Allocution to the Second World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility wherein he concluded: As regards experiments of human artificial fecundation in vitro, let it be sufficient to observe that they must be rejected as immoral and absolutely unlawful.

Whenever definitive conclusions about medical ethics are reached or otherwise clarified by the Church, they are normally promulgated through official Church documents, like papal encyclicals and addresses, or, with the approval of the pope, documents and commentaries from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF the Vatican office responsible for preserving and interpreting Catholic doctrine), or other congregations, councils or dicasteries of the Church.

Even today, certain bioethical controversies remain under active discussion within the Church, such as the question of whether it would be allowable to adopt abandoned frozen embryos by implanting and gestating them in volunteer mothers. While a 2007 CDF document expressed some reservations and concerns about the proposal, debate continues inside and outside the Vatican.

New medical discoveries and technological developments challenge us to careful moral reflection and discernment. These scientific developments can either be an opportunity for genuine human advancement or can lead to activities and policies that undermine human dignity. The U.S. Bishops in a recent document summed it up this way: In consultation with medical professionals, church leaders review these developments, judge them according to the principles of right reason and the ultimate standard of revealed truth, and offer authoritative teaching and guidance about the moral and pastoral responsibilities entailed by the Christian faith. While the Church cannot furnish a ready answer to every moral dilemma, there are many questions about which she provides normative guidance and direction.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See http://www.ncbcenter.org

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How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? - Catholic Free Press