New Nanofiber Matrix Enhances Stem Cell Production – Drug Discovery & Development

A new nanofiber-on-microfiber matrix could lead to more and better quality stem cells for disease treatment and regenerative therapies.

The matrix, produced by researchers from Kyoto University in Japan, is made of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic polymer microfiber mesh and may provide a better way to culture large quantities of healthy human stem cells.

Researchers have been developing 3D culturing systems to allow human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) 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.

Pluripotent stems cells can differentiate into any type of adult cell and have potential for tissue regeneration therapies, treating diseases and for research.

The majority of 3D culturing systems have limitations and result in low quantities and quality of cultured cells.

The research team was able to fabricate gelatin nanofibers onto a microfiber sheet made of synthetic, biodegradable polyglycolic acid. They then seeded human embryonic stem cells onto the matrix in a cell culture medium.

The matrix allowed for an easy exchange of growth factors and supplements from the culture medium to the cells.

The stem cells also 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 research team also scaled up the process by designing a gas-permeable cell culture bag in which multiple cell-loaded, folded fiber-to-fiber matrices were placed.

The system was designed so that minimal changes were needed to the internal environment, which reduced the amount of stress placed on the cells. This also yielded a large 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 research team wrote in a statement. 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.

According to the study, clinical-grade scaffolds and high-quality hPSCs are required for cell expansion as well as easy handling and manipulation of the products.

Current hPSC culture methods do not fulfill these requirements because of a lack of proper extracellular matrices (ECM) and cell culture wares.

The layered nano-on-micro fibrous cellular matrix mimicking ECM enables easy handling and manipulation of cultured cells.

The results show that the matrix supports effective hPSC culture with maintenance of their pluripotency and normal chromosomes over two months, as well as effective scaled-up expansion with fold increases of 54.115.6 and 40.48.4 in cell number per week for H1 human embryonic stem cells and 253G1 human induced pluripotent stem cells, respectively.

The study was published in Biomaterials.

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New Nanofiber Matrix Enhances Stem Cell Production - Drug Discovery & Development

Vitamins and aminoacids regulate stem cell biology – Phys.Org

February 16, 2017 Credit: National Research Council of Italy

An International Reserach Team coordinated by Igb-Cnr has discovered a key role of vitamins and amino acids in pluripotent stem cells. The research is published in Stem Cell Reports, and may provide new insights in cancer biology and regenerative medicine

Vitamins and amino acids play a key role in the regulation of epigenetic modifications involved in the progression of diseases such as cancer. The research may have future implications in cancer biology. The study was published in Stem Cell Reports.

"We found that two metabolites, vitamin C and the amino acid L-Proline, are important players in the control of stem cell behaviour. This study shows that pluripotent embryonic stem cells present in the earliest phases of development are pushed toward a more immature 'naive' state by vitamin C, while they are forced to acquire a 'primed' state in the presence of L-Proline. Thus, vitamin C and L-Proline exert opposite effects on embryonic stem cells, and this correlates with their ability to modify DNA (DNA methylation) without altering the sequence, but instead, the regulation of gene expression," explained researcher Gabriella Minchiotti.

Stem cells possess the unique ability to self-renew and differentiate into other cell types, which makes them extremely interesting in medical and biological research. "Embryonic stem cells are the most 'potent' (defined as pluripotent), meaning that they can give rise to all cell types of an organism, such as cardiomyocytes, neurons, bones, etc. Like normal stem cells, cancer stem cells can also self-renew and differentiate, and are believed to be responsible for tumor growth and therapy resistance."

This study provides an important contribution to the understanding of how metabolites regulate pluripotency and shape the epigenome in embryonic stem cells, which have been largely unexplored and recently gained great interest. This knowledge not only enhances our understanding of the biology of normal stem cells but may offer novel insights into cancer stem cell biology, identifying novel potential therapeutic targets.

Explore further: Gene "bookmarking" regulates the fate of stem cells

More information: Stem Cell Reports, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2016.11.011

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Vitamins and aminoacids regulate stem cell biology - Phys.Org

Your brain’s got rhythm: Synthetic brain mimics – Science Daily

Science Daily

Your brain's got rhythm: Synthetic brain mimics Science Daily To model these complex neural circuits, the Pfaff lab prompted embryonic stem cells from mice to grow into clusters of spinal cord neurons, which they named circuitoids. Each circuitoid typically contained 50,000 cells in clumps just large enough to ... and more »

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Your brain's got rhythm: Synthetic brain mimics - Science Daily

Nanofiber matrix sends stem cells sprawling in all directions – New Atlas

Human stem cells grown on Kyoto University's "fiber-on-fiber" culturing system(Credit: Kyoto University)

Mighty promising as they are, stem cells certainly aren't easy to come by. Recent scientific advances have however given their production a much-needed boost, with a Nobel-prize winning technology that turns skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells and another that promises salamander-like regenerative abilities being just a couple of examples. The latest breakthrough in the area comes from Japanese researchers who have developed a nanofiber matrix for culturing human stem cells, that they claim improves on current techniques.

The work focuses on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which have the ability to mature into any type of adult cell, be they those of the eyes, lungs or hair follicles. But that's assuming they can be taken up successfully by the host. Working to improve the odds on this front, scientists have been exploring ways of culturing pluripotent stem cells in a way that mimics the physiological conditions of the human body, allowing them to grow in three dimensions rather than in two dimensions, as they would in a petrie dish.

Among this group is a team from Japan's Kyoto University, which has developed a 3D culturing system it says outperforms the current technologies that can only produce low quantities of low-quality stem cells. The system consists of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic mesh made from biodegradable polyglycolic acid, resulting in what the researchers describe as a "fiber-on-fiber" (FF) matrix.

The team found that seeding human embryonic stem cells onto this type of matrix saw them adhere well, and enabled an easy exchange of growth factors and supplements. This led to what the researchers describe as robust growth, with more than 95 percent of the cells growing and forming colonies after just four days of culture.

And by designing a special gas-permeable cell culture bag, the team also demonstrated how they could scale up the approach. This is because several of the cell-loaded matrices can be folded up and placed inside the bag, with testing showing that this approach yielded larger again numbers of cells. What's more, the FF matrix could even prove useful in culturing other cell types.

"Our method offers an efficient way to expand hPSCs of high quality within a shorter term," the team writes in its research paper. "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 research was published in the journal Biomaterials.

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Nanofiber matrix sends stem cells sprawling in all directions - New Atlas

Novel Nanofiber Matrix Improves Stem Cell Production – R & D Magazine

A new nanofiber-on-microfiber matrix could lead to more and better quality stem cells for disease treatment and regenerative therapies.

The matrix, produced by researchers from Kyoto University in Japan, is made of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic polymer microfiber mesh and may provide a better way to culture large quantities of healthy human stem cells.

Researchers have been developing 3D culturing systems to allow human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) 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.

Pluripotent stems cells can differentiate into any type of adult cell and have potential for tissue regeneration therapies, treating diseases and for research.

The majority of 3D culturing systems have limitations and result in low quantities and quality of cultured cells.

The research team was able to fabricate gelatin nanofibers onto a microfiber sheet made of synthetic, biodegradable polyglycolic acid. They then seeded human embryonic stem cells onto the matrix in a cell culture medium.

The matrix allowed for an easy exchange of growth factors and supplements from the culture medium to the cells.

The stem cells also 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 research team also scaled up the process by designing a gas-permeable cell culture bag in which multiple cell-loaded, folded fiber-to-fiber matrices were placed.

The system was designed so that minimal changes were needed to the internal environment, which reduced the amount of stress placed on the cells. This also yielded a large 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 research team wrote in a statement. 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.

According to the study, clinical-grade scaffolds and high-quality hPSCs are required for cell expansion as well as easy handling and manipulation of the products.

Current hPSC culture methods do not fulfill these requirements because of a lack of proper extracellular matrices (ECM) and cell culture wares.

The layered nano-on-micro fibrous cellular matrix mimicking ECM enables easy handling and manipulation of cultured cells.

The results show that the matrix supports effective hPSC culture with maintenance of their pluripotency and normal chromosomes over two months, as well as effective scaled-up expansion with fold increases of 54.115.6 and 40.48.4 in cell number per week for H1 human embryonic stem cells and 253G1 human induced pluripotent stem cells, respectively.

The study was published in Biomaterials.

Continued here:
Novel Nanofiber Matrix Improves Stem Cell Production - R & D Magazine

Possible key to regeneration found in planaria’s origins – Phys.Org

February 13, 2017 Three-dimensional reconstruction of a Stage 3 S. mediterranea embryo, stained with a pan-embryonic cell marker (red) and a nuclear dye (green). Credit: Image courtesy of Erin Davies, Ph.D., Amanda Kroesen, and Sean McKinney, Ph.D.

A new report from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles the embryonic origins of planaria, providing new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities.

The work, published online in eLife, is the first to discover that adult stem cells called neoblasts, key to planaria regeneration, arise during a specific stage of embryonic development. Ordinarily, embryonic cells do not persist beyond embryogenesis. However, neoblasts made in early planarian embryos persist beyond embryonic development and are present throughout the animal's lifetime. Neoblasts seemingly retain the ability to access embryonic developmental programs during adulthood to drive the regeneration of body parts lost to traumatic injury.

"While a large body of research focuses on regeneration in adult planaria, much less is known about planarian embryogenesis - the process of growing from a single fertilized egg into a properly formed organism," says Erin Davies, Ph.D., the study's first author and a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stowers Institute Investigator Alejandro Snchez Alvarado, Ph.D.

Wanting to know more, Davies and colleagues generated a staging series, or a set of unique molecular fingerprints, for Schmidtea mediterranea embryos, as well as a gene expression atlas describing embryonic tissues and the formation of major organ systems during embryogenesis. These resources are available online at https://planosphere.stowers.org. Together, these tools lay the foundation for scientists to begin comparing the processes of embryogenesis and regeneration in planaria.

"In planaria, we have a really great system for studying regeneration during adulthood," Davies says. "It offers us the opportunity to start to compare and contrast what is similar and what is different about developmental processes during embryogenesis and regeneration in an adult animal."

Planaria have an ability to regenerate that is unparalleled among other organisms. If an adult worm is cut apart, nearly any piece can form a new, fully-functional animal complete with a brain and nervous system, eyes, kidneys, gut, muscle, and skin - within just two weeks. Adult stem cells called neoblasts power the planaria's extraordinary talent for regeneration. These cells both replace themselves and make every type of cell needed to create an adult worm. But their origin has been unclear.

"Because neoblasts have only been studied in adults, we did not know how they were made in the first place during embryonic development," says Snchez Alvarado. "Our work has uncovered both the precise embryonic time when neoblasts are formed, and the gene expression profile that precedes their formation."

The researchers observed a large-scale shift in the types of genes being expressed at about one week into development, explains Davies.

"The genes that we think of as being required to make different types of tissues in the body - brain, muscle, gut, kidneys - all these genes start to turn on during this time window," she says.

The researchers found that when planarian embryonic cells start to form major organ systems, adult neoblasts arise as well. When transplanted into adult planaria depleted of stem cells, these embryonic cells took hold and proliferated. The embryonic cells replenished the adult planarian stem cell population and extended its life. However, transplanted embryonic cells from earlier time periods did not take, and the adult planarian hosts died.

During embryogenesis, neoblast offspring help build the worm. Once established, neoblasts are maintained throughout the worm's life, allowing the animal continued access to embryonic development programs during adulthood. Understanding this unique planarian flatworm attribute may provide further insight into their incredible regenerative abilities.

"Planarian embryogenesis has remained obscure for many decades, and the embryogenesis of Schmidtea mediterranea particularly so. It is to Erin Davies' great credit that this is no longer the case and that we, as a community interested in regeneration and stem cell biology, can now peer into a world of biological activity we could not access previously," adds Snchez Alvarado.

The finding lays the foundation for future research on how stem cells are specified, maintained, and regulated, and will facilitate direct comparisons of gene function during embryogenesis and regeneration. Many of the genes required to build and maintain organs in planaria appear to work in both developmental contexts.

"I think that there are likely to be many similarities, but also critical differences," Davies adds. "We understand very little about how regeneration cues are transmitted to stem cells in the adult. In planaria, we'll have the opportunity to investigate embryonic and regenerative processes both at the level of single genes, and globally at the level of what happens to all genes expressed in a particular tissue over time."

Knowledge of the developmental pathways responsible for regeneration could also guide future therapeutic advances for patients suffering from degenerative diseases or traumatic injuries.

Other Stowers contributors include Kai Lei, Ph.D., Chris Seidel, Ph.D., Amanda Kroesen, Sean McKinney, Ph.D., Longhua Guo, Ph.D., Sofia Robb, Ph.D., Eric Ross and Kirsten Gotting.

The work was funded by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (R37GM057260-17). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Lay summary of findings

Planarian flatworms have an ability to regenerate that is unparalleled among other organisms. If an adult worm is cut apart, almost any piece can form a new, fully-functional animal complete with a brain and nervous system, eyes, kidneys, gut, muscle, and skin - within just two weeks. That's why scientists consider them an ideal organism in which to study regeneration. But this phenomenon is still poorly understood.

A new report from researchers in the Snchez Alvarado Lab at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles stage-by-stage how the planarian flatworm develops as an embryo and provides new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities. The work is the first to show that stem cells key to planarian regeneration, called neoblasts, form during a specific stage of embryonic development. Neoblasts are present throughout the worm's life, and can replenish themselves and make every type of cell in the body. This feature is unique to planarian flatworms, and may underlie their incredible regenerative abilities. The findings could guide future therapeutic advances for patients suffering from degenerative diseases or traumatic injuries.

Explore further: Key molecular signal that shapes regeneration in planarian stem cells discovered

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A single adult cell from one of the most impressive masters of regeneration in the animal kingdom the planarian is all it takes to build a completely functional new worm, researchers have learned. The study ...

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Researchers report in the journal Developmental Cell that they have identified genes that control growth and regeneration of the intestine in the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.

A new report from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles the embryonic origins of planaria, providing new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities.

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Possible key to regeneration found in planaria's origins - Phys.Org

How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? – The Tidings

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 eleven 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? - The Tidings

SEQUEIRA: Stem cell research must remain in foreground – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

OPINION Where will studies fall in the Trump administrations line of immediacy? by Sean Sequeira | Feb 09 2017 | 02/09/17 12:00am | Updated 02/08/17 11:17pm

As President Trumps cabinet ossifies into its final form, several Americans predict that many policy consistencies of the past are now at risk. One place of consistency is the landscape of stem cell research. The impacts Trumps administration might have on biomedical science are still uncertain. Indeed, some cabinet appointments have incited fear in Americans who rely on stem cell therapy or perform research or work at institutions where stem cell research is a vital component of grants and general revenue. While uniformly and staunchly conservative, the Trump administration must ensure continuity within stem cell research not only to protect jobs and research institutions from bankruptcy, but to also preserve a therapy that might actually be a panacea for a range of maladies.

Stem cells, while controversial and ethically precarious to the public, should be researched and ultimately implemented as a therapeutic solution for patients that simply have no alternative. Specifically, stem cells opponents are against embryonic stem cells, which no longer account for the majority of stem cell research. Currently, the majority of stem cell research is made up of induced pluripotent stem cells, somatic cells which can regress to an embryonic state through regenerative and genetic engineering. With the seminal work of Drs. Takahash and Yamanaka, the ethical rigors associated with embryonic stem cells need not be dealt with.

However, the question arises as to why embryonic stem cells are so insatiably invaluable and why they have immense potential to solve the worlds most enigmatic medical maladies. Indeed, after a zygote forms, the subsequent cells follow a pathway based upon environmental and biological cues similar to how a student follows a pathway to become a doctor, lawyer or businessman. Stem cells are categorized according to the broadness of cell they can become embryonic stem cells are the most versatile whereas adult stem cells, like those found in your bone marrow, are comparatively discrete in their differentiation scope. So, with embryonic stem cells, appropriate cues, and research, we could theoretically program these stem cells to become a pancreas, heart, brain or liver cells. On a macroscale, stem cells provide a conduit through which to build full pancreases for diabetic patients or hearts for heart failure patients, from the ground up. Essentially, with stem cells, we can turn the tide in a seemingly perennial battle with virulent pathologies.

Induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, are actually adult somatic cells like those found on your skin which revert back to their embryonic state through transcription factors or proteins necessary to develop or progress the fate or state of a cell to a new state. In this case, the Yamanaka factors are four transcription factors are those necessary to combine with adult somatic cells in order to revert the cells back into embryonic stem cells.

Granted, while the discovery of iPSC was a phenomenal one, there is a long road ahead in order to make them a mainstream therapy and to ensure that they are morphologically, molecularly, and functionally identical to their embryonic counterparts. During the Obama administration, research institutions like the National Institute of Health were not only provided the opportunity to research using stem cells, but were also less impeded than they were during the George W. Bush administration in the quantity and quality of research they were able to undertake.

With the new administration, it has become necessary that they scrap their conservative agenda against stem cells and biomedical research by demonstrating to the public they care and see their constituents as people in need of stem cell research. The administration must recognize the ultimate way to defeat unscrupulous stem cell utilization is to fund research to find novel ways to circumvent such controversy.

Sean Sequeira is an Opinion columnist for the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at s.sequeira@cavalierdaily.com

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SEQUEIRA: Stem cell research must remain in foreground - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Stem cells: a miracle cure or playing God? – The Student

Stem cell use and research is considered by some as a morally ambiguous development for medical science. The topic has recently been thrown into the eye of the public after Olympic Skier Chemmy Alcott decided that storing stem cells from the umbilical cord and placenta after giving birth was a worthwhile insurance plan for her potentially adrenaline-junkie baby.

In the UK, the storage of stem cells is advocated by the NHS Cord Blood Bank which asks women to donate blood from their umbilical cord and placenta after birth. The blood stored can be used in stem cell transplants and therapies in the future. There is even a company called Cells 4 Life that enables people to store their stem cells for themselves for 25 years. However, not every country supports stem cell research. In the European Union, five countries prohibit any research on the topic even though another seven are in full support.

Stem cell research is thought by many doctors and medical researchers to be the cornerstone of regenerative medicine. There are many studies into potential benefits and even cures for diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. However, some argue that research in this area has gone too far with regards to the use of stem cells in the reverse of aging.

Before entering the debate on moral uses of stem cells we must understand the fundamentals. There are multiple types of stem cell. Embryonic stem cells can develop into a vast array of cells whereas somatic stem cells (from adults) can only differentiate into a limited variety of cells. Both are capable of duplicating indefinitely. Scientists have however managed to make pluripotent stem cells, meaning they have taken stem cells from adults and reversed them to make them behave like embryonic stem cells. These cells are capable of replicating almost any cell in the body, and thus making the harvesting of embryonic stem cells obsolete. This development gives an alternative to the most debateable stem cell use, that of embryonic cells.

In 2011, the Court Justice of the European Union declared a ban on patents for research involving the destruction of human embryos, after the public became aware of the use of embryonic cells from aborted foetuses in research concerning Parkinsons disease. According to Nature Science Journal, the scientists were using the dopamine (neurotransmitter) producing cells from either foetal brains or human stem cells to replace the lack of dopamine, the primary inhibitor of movement in Parkinsons patients. This was a breakthrough in Parkinsons research, and although some think it should have been further developed, the use of embryonic cells is a tipping point for a number of stem cell research supporters.

Religious views on stem cell use are some of the prime inhibitors of research. Buddhists appear to split their views the same way as the wider world; on the one hand they wish to discover new knowledge, but also do not want to do so by harming people. According to the Conference of Catholic Bishops, there is support for ethically acceptable stem cell research. Evidently, the idea of ethical research is subjective to the religion. The Southern Baptist convention is still of the opinion that it is unacceptable to destroy a human embryo for treatments as they view abortion as an act of murder, however some think that this view is ignorant of the facts of the research at the moment. It is well-known that many of the embryos used are from miscarriages, but perhaps a compromise could involve the use of those embryos. However, in the eyes of some, that may still be considered acting as God.

This debate has not yet been settled and will not reach a conclusion for some time due to beliefs deeply rooted in religious faith. Fortunately for researchers in this field, stem cells are considered ethically acceptable to be used. The only real ban in regards to this research is on the use of embryonic cells as people will likely be debating, for years to come, the first moment one should be considered a person.

Image: PublicDomainPictures

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Stem cells: a miracle cure or playing God? - The Student

Yes There’s Hope, But Treating Spinal Injuries With Stem Cells Is Not A Reality Yet – IFLScience

The 2017 Australian of the Year award went to Professor Alan Mackay-Sim for his significant career in stem cell science.

The prize was linked to barbeque-stopping headlines equating his achievements to the scientific equivalent of the moon landing and paving the road to recovery for people with spinal cord injuries.

Such claims in the media imply that there is now a scientifically proven stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury. This is not the case.

For now, any clinic or headline claiming miracle cures should be viewed with caution, as they are likely to be trading on peoples hope.

Why stem cells for spinal cord injury?

Put simply, injury to the spinal cord causes damage to the nerve cells that transmit information between the brain and the rest of the body.

Depending on which part of the spine is involved, the injury can affect the nerves that control the muscles in our legs and arms; those that control bowel and bladder function and how we regulate body temperature and blood pressure; and those that carry the sensation of being touched. This occurs in part because injury and subsequent scarring affect not just the nerves but also the insulation that surrounds and protects them. The insulation the myelin sheath is damaged and the body cannot usually completely replace or regenerate this covering.

Stem cells can self-reproduce and grow into hundreds of different cell types, including nerves and the cells that make myelin. So the blue-sky vision is that stem cells could restore some nerve function by replacing missing or faulty cells, or prevent further damage caused by scarring.

Studies in animals have applied stem cells derived from sources including brain tissue, the lining of the nasal cavity, tooth pulp, and embryos (known as embryonic stem cells).

Dramatic improvements have been shown on some occasions, such as rats and mice regaining bladder control or the ability to walk after injury. While striking, such improvement often represents only a partial recovery. It holds significant promise, but is not direct evidence that such an approach will work in people, particularly those with more complex injuries.

What is happening now in clinical trials?

The translation of findings from basic laboratory stem cell research to effective and safe treatments in the clinic involves many steps and challenges. It needs a firm scientific basis from animal studies and then careful evaluation in humans.

Many clinical studies examining stem cells for spinal repair are currently underway. The approaches fit broadly into two categories:

using stem cells as a source of cells to replace those damaged as a result of injury

applying cells to act on the bodys own cells to accelerate repair or prevent further damage.

One study that has attracted significant interest involves the injection of myelin-producing cells made from human embryonic stem cells. Researchers hoped that these cells, once injected into the spinal cord, would mature and form a new coating on the nerve cells, restoring the ability of signals to cross the spinal cord injury site. Preliminary results seem to show that the cells are safe; studies are ongoing.

Other clinical trials use cells from patients own bone marrow or adipose tissue (fat), or from donated cord blood or nerves from fetal tissue. The scientific rationale is based on the possibility that when transplanted into the injured spinal cord, these cells may provide surrounding tissue with protective factors which help to re-establish some of the connections important for the network of nerves that carry information around the body.

The field as it stands combines years of research, and tens of millions of dollars of investment. However, the development of stem cell therapies for spinal cord injury remains a long way from translating laboratory promise into proven and effective bedside treatments.

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Yes There's Hope, But Treating Spinal Injuries With Stem Cells Is Not A Reality Yet - IFLScience