Stem Cell Clinic

Bookmarks on Stem Cell Genes Preserve Cell Identity – Cornell Chronicle

By adminMay 17, 2017Uncategorized

Stem cells preserve their identities after cell division by using a series of protein bookmarks on their genes, according to new research published by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine. The results may further the understanding of how certain diseases like cancer develop and could have broad clinical implications for preventing disease.

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are cells that have the ability to transform into any kind of cell in the body. What type of cell each stem cell becomes called cell identity is determined by a tightly-controlled system regulated by various proteins. As these cells divide by mitosis, each so-called daughter cell produced should be the same type as its cell of origin. But during mitosis the control system is briefly disrupted, creating a window in which a cell can forget its identity and transform into a different kind of cell.

Dr. Effie Apostolou

If a cell doesnt remember what its supposed to be, it can transform into something else, even a malignant cell, saysDr. Effie Apostolou, an assistant professor of molecular biology in medicine and member of theSandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Centerat Weill Cornell Medicine. Understanding how this process is controlled is fundamental to understanding how many diseases arise.

In a paper published May 16 in Cell Reports, Dr. Apostolou and her team found that cell identity is preserved in pluripotent stem cells through a series of small modifications in proteins known as bookmarks on the cells genes. These bookmarks do not change during mitosis. So when the cell resumes its functions, such as transcription, after mitosis, this bookmark serves as a checkpoint to make sure that this process happens properly, Dr. Apostolou said. In this way, PSCs ensure that daughter cells are the same as their mother cells.

The researchers identified some proteins that were possible candidates for bookmarks and then removed those proteins from cells during the critical window in mitosis. If indeed this time window and the presence of these proteins are critical during mitosis, then the cell identity will be challenged, Dr. Apostolou said.

They found that when these mitotic bookmarks were degraded in PSCs, the cells were unable to maintain their identities: they did not reliably divide into the same kind of cell generation after generation. This tells us that these bookmarks are an important mechanism for keeping stem cells working properly, Dr. Apostolou said.

Because pluripotent stem cells hold great promise for prevention and treatment of many diseases, this finding is key, she said. Understanding cell identity is fundamental to understanding disease, as many, including cancer and some neurological diseases, are the result of cell identity being lost.

Mitosis can be either a crisis for cell identity or an opportunity for a new identity to arise she said. If we understand more about how cells maintain their identities during this process, we will better understand tumor formation and we may even be able to push stem cells into an identity that is therapeutically relevant for a given disease.

Single cell focus reveals hidden cancer cells – Medical Xpress

By adminMay 17, 2017Uncategorized

May 16, 2017 Single cell focus reveals hidden cancer cells. Credit: Shutterstock

Researchers have found a way to identify rogue cancer cells which survive treatment after the rest of the tumour is destroyed, by using a new technique that enables them to identify and characterise individual cancer cells.

Recent breakthroughs are revolutionising cancer treatment, enabling doctors to personalise chemotherapy for each patient. However, although these new treatments are often highly effective, all too often the cancer grows back, eventually causing relapse.

An international research team, led by Professors Adam Mead and Sten Eirik Jacobsen at the University of Oxford and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, have found a way to identify rogue cancer cells which survive treatment after the rest of the tumour is destroyed, by using a new technique that enables them to identify and characterise individual cancer cells.

Professor Adam Mead of Oxford University's Radcliffe Department of Medicine, said: 'It is increasingly recognised that tumours contain a variety of different cell types, including so-called cancer stem cells, that drive the growth and relapse of a patient's cancer. These cells can be very rare and extremely difficult to find after treatment as they become hidden within the normal tissue.

'We used a new genetic technique to identify and analyse single cancer stem cells in leukaemia patients before and after treatment. We found that even in individual cases of leukaemia, there are various types of cancer stem cell that respond differently to the treatment. A small number of these cells are highly resistant to the treatment and are likely to be responsible for disease recurrence when the treatment is stopped. Our research allowed us uniquely to analyse these crucial cells that evade treatment so that we might learn how to more effectively eradicate them.

'This technique could be adapted to analyse a range of different cancers to help predict both the likely response to treatment, and the risk of the disease returning in the future. This should eventually enable treatment to be tailored to target each and every type of cancer stem cell that may be present.'

Molecularly targeted therapies for cancer frequently induce impressive remissions, however, complete disease elimination remains rare, and patients remain at risk of disease relapse. At a cellular level this is likely to reflect differences between individual cancer cells, so-called intratumoural heterogeneity, which underlies this differential response to treatment.

The researchers from the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford's Radcliffe Department of Medicine used a technique called single-cell analysis to study thousands of individual cancer cells in a type of blood cancer called chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) before and after treatment. Being able to identify each subpopulation using this single cell analysis technique will be an important step towards tailoring treatment to each patient.

Explore further: Proportion of cancer stem cells can increase over the course of cancer treatment

More information: Alice Giustacchini et al. Single-cell transcriptomics uncovers distinct molecular signatures of stem cells in chronic myeloid leukemia, Nature Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nm.4336

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ReNeuron wins 1.8 million for cell therapy development – PharmaTimes

By adminMay 17, 2017Uncategorized

ReNeuron has won a 1.8 million grant from Innovate UK to advance its next generation commercial cell therapy manufacturing capabilities.

The award will support work being undertaken by the UK stem cell company and the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult.

In particular it will fund key process development activities relating to up-scaled commercial manufacture of ReNeurons cell therapy candidates.

Sharon Grimster, general manager, Wales, at ReNeuron, said: We are delighted to have won this prestigious and highly competitive grant from Innovate UK. It enables us to further pursue and optimise our cell therapy manufacturing processes as our therapeutic programmes get closer to market.

The grant award will also assist ReNeuron in the execution of its strategy to ultimately bring the manufacture of its cell therapy candidates in-house to meet demand following market approval.

ReNeurons lead stem cell candidate is for patients left disabled by a stroke. Last year a Phase I trial of showed its CTX cell therapy candidate improved neurological function in patients with stable motor disability following a stroke for at least 24 months.

Adoptive T-Cell Therapy Induced Response in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma – Cancer Network

By adminMay 17, 2017Uncategorized

More than one-third of patients with metastatic uveal melanoma had objective tumor regression when treated with adoptive transfer of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), according to results of an unplanned interim analysis published recently in Lancet Oncology.

We observed that a single infusion of TILs after a non-myeloablative lymphodepleting conditioning regimen could induce objective tumor regression, wrote Smita S. Chandran, PhD, of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues, including individuals whose disease was refractory to immune checkpoint blockade.

Unlike cutaneous melanoma, use of immune-based therapies in the rare uveal melanoma have been disappointing. Recent studies have shown that adoptive T-cell therapy led to salvage responses in a variety of refractory solid tumors. Therefore, with this study, Chandran and colleagues tested whether adoptive transfer of TILs could mediate tumor regression in uveal melanoma.

The phase II study included patients aged 16 or older with metastatic uveal melanoma. Metastasectomies were performed to obtain tumor tissue and generate the autologous TIL cultures. Patients were given lymphodepleting chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was objective tumor response.

The trial included 21 consecutive patients who received TIL therapy, of which 20 were evaluable. Of the 20 patients, seven (35%) had objective tumor regression.

These results challenge the belief that uveal melanoma is a cancer resistant to immunotherapy, wrote Chandran and colleagues.

One patient achieved a complete response of hepatic metastases. The additional six patients had partial responses, two of which are ongoing. Three of the responders were refractory to previous immune checkpoint blockage.

The precise mechanism for the anti-tumor responses observed in this study is still under investigation, the researchers wrote. All patients received a single cycle of fludarabine and cyclophosphamide, not intended as a direct cytotoxic therapy, but rather as a lymphocyte-depleting regimen before cell transfer to enhance T-cell engraftment and efficacy. Although neither of these chemotherapies has shown activity in metastatic melanoma, we cannot completely exclude their possible role in the tumor responses.

The most common grade 3 or worse chemotherapy-related adverse effects were lymphopenia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia.

In an editorial that accompanied the study, Kimberly M. Komatsubara, MD, and Richard D. Carvajal, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center in New York, wrote that the proportion of patients achieving a response as a measure of clinical efficacy is not an established surrogate for progression-free or overall survival in uveal melanoma and must be interpreted with caution. They added that further data will be important in interpreting the clinical effect of this therapy.

Although promising, the results reported by Chandran and colleagues are based on 20 assessable patients and thus must be considered preliminary, requiring confirmation in a larger patient population, they wrote. Overall, however, these data provide important evidence that the immune system can be harnessed to treat uveal melanoma and serves to identify adoptive transfer of TILs as a high-priority avenue of further research for patients with this disease

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Adoptive T-Cell Therapy Induced Response in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma - Cancer Network

Retired Lexington Police Department Canine Undergoes Stem Cell Treatment – LEX18 Lexington KY News

By adminMay 17, 2017Stem Cell Treatment

LEXINGTON, Ky (LEX 18) A retired canine with the Lexington Police Department is still a big goofy dog that acts like a puppy, thanks to stem cell transplants, Garik can continue to do so with less pain.

The City of Lexington featured the dog's story on their website.

Officer Brian Burnette said that he is living the dream by getting to be an officer in the canine unit. He told the City of Lexington that after a couple of years of not connecting with one dog, he was switched to Garik the German Shepherd.

As soon as I got him, we could hit the street together. His drive, we just matched perfectly together, he said.

He described the now seven-year-old dog as a big goofy dog that acts like a puppy and enjoys sniffing for little sticks or twigs in the grass.

While Garik is an active, playful dog, in 2016, Burnette began to notice that something was different. Garik was in a lot of pain. His legs would shake while they were out and he would trip. The department thought that Garik might have hip dysplasia, but Garik had developed a degenerative bone spur on his spine, causing him much pain.

Garik retired and Burnette took him home to live a relaxed life, but Burnette was still concerned about the dog's pain.

That's when a Nicholasville-based company came to the rescue.

Dr. Jeff Baker, President and COO of MediVet Biologics offered a free stem cell kit for Garik.

My mom's a cancer survivor. And she's had stem cell transplants. But I had no idea they even did this for dogs, Burnette told the City of Lexington.

During the treatment, stem cells are extracted from Garik's fat tissue and then re-injected into his body. The procedure is done at Woodford Animal Hospital.

Garik has received two stem cell injections so far.

While the therapy won't cure Garik's condition, they say it will relieve his pain significantly.

This isn't the first time MediVet has helped service dogs, they also donated stem cell therapy kits to the dogs that searched Ground Zero and the Pentagon after 9/11.

Ageless Wellness treats arthritis with your own stem cells in Peachtree City – The Citizen.com

By adminMay 17, 2017Stem Cell Treatment

SponsoredFeature

People suffering from chronic joint pain and facing the prospect of surgery have an alternative treatment option with SVF (Stromal Vascular Fraction) stem cell therapy at Stem Cell Center of Georgia offered exclusively by Ageless Wellness Center of Peachtree City.

Stem cells are baby cells that can turn into any tissue in the body, including cartilage and bone, as well as muscle and nerves, explains Dr. Jamie Walraven of Ageless Wellness. Any disease process that is inflammatory, autoimmune or degenerative can be helped by stem cells, including rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, Walraven says. These can cause degeneration, swelling, inflammation, and clicking in the joints causing crippling pain. It often progresses to limited range of motion and mobility.

Linda Faulkner, Certified Family Nurse Practitioner at Ageless Wellness, says the treatment is recommended for anyone who has difficulty getting up steps, standing from a chair, walking, or bending due to osteoarthritis.

Anything that you use your knees for that causes pain limits your quality of life, Faulkner says. We get patients who want to be able to go to Disney World again with their grandkids.

Ageless Wellness uses adipocyte derived stem cells harvested from the patients own fat, performing a mini liposuction to obtain about a cup and a half, Walraven explains. The remaining process takes about an hour and a half.

After that we have 8 to 12 ml of stem cells plus growth factors, a stem cell soup if you will, Walraven says. We redeploy the stem cells into the joints and via IV to affect a positive outcome of regeneration of the cartilage, bone and synovial fluid in that knee. This is all done in our office in a procedure that takes approximately three hours from start to finish.

In patients with osteoarthritis, the SVF stem cell treatments have the potential to re-grow cartilage, Faulkner says.

So far, insurance companies have been reluctant to cover joint SVF stem cell therapy, Walraven says, and thats unfortunate because there really is no downtime to the procedure.

With knee surgery youre out of work for a good two weeks. Youre in rehab for a couple of months, Walraven says. Further, if you look at SVF stem cell treatment versus a knee surgery that insurance will pay for, theres a large out-of-pocket deductible.

Insurance wont pay for it until they figure out that it saves them money, she says. Knee replacement surgery usually isnt recommended until the condition is severe, because a knee replacement only lasts 10-15 years.

The ideal candidate is someone who either doesnt want to go through surgery or rehab, or cant have surgery for whatever reason, Walraven explains. Maybe theyre a poor surgical candidate or theyre too young, a 40- or 50-year-old weekend warrior that was an athlete back in the day but blew out their knees and hobbles around with pain.

That describes one Ageless Wellness patient named Eric, a policeman who was facing knee replacement surgery.

He had bone-on-bone in his right knee and wasnt able to exercise or run anymore during his workouts, Faulkner says. He presented with pain and was limited at work because of bending. We did SVF stem cell treatment and four months in did an enhancement with platelet-rich plasma.

At 11 months, Ageless Wellness took new x-rays of Erics knee that showed increased joint space and regenerated cartilage. He no longer suffers pain and is now able to exercise. Ageless Wellness is part of the Cell Surgical Network, which is operating under patient-funded clinical investigational research protocols. Patients are followed through a research database for five years. So far, 5,000 joint procedures have been done with no significant complications.

We cant ever guarantee results, but overall patients do exceptionally well, Walraven says. The majority have decreased pain and significant improvement in symptoms after SVF stem cell therapy.

Stem Cell Center of Georgia is located within Ageless Wellness Center at 1000 Commerce Drive, Suite 300, Peachtree City. For more information or to make an appointment, call 678-364-8414 or visit their website at agelesswellnessptc.com.

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Ageless Wellness treats arthritis with your own stem cells in Peachtree City - The Citizen.com

Maryland fund awards $8.5 million for stem cell research – Baltimore Sun

By adminMay 17, 2017Stell Cell Research

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission has awarded $8.5 million to 29 projects that will explore how human stem cells can regenerate heart tissue, treat muscular dystrophy and sickle cell disease, and aid diabetes management, among other medical conditions.

The awards, made through the state-funded Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, are intended to accelerate work by researchers and startup companies using human stem cells to advance medical treatments.

"We want to accelerate the transformation from science and technology to commercial products and clinical treatments," said Dan Gincel, the fund's executive director.

The initiative has awarded $139 million to 400 projects since it was established in 2006. The fund and commission are managed by TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corp.

The grants support projects at various stages, from discovery and gathering data, through clinical trials and steps toward commercialization.

As more projects move closer to commercialization, TEDCO expects to accelerate the pace of the fund's awards, said Gincel, who is also TEDCO's vice president of University Partnerships.

The $8.5 million awarded this month was part of the state's fiscal 2017 budget. The budget for fiscal year 2018, which starts July 1, includes $8.2 million for stem cell research, Gincel said.

This year's recipients come from six companies and six research institutions, including Johns Hopkins University; University of Maryland, Baltimore; and University of Maryland, College Park.

Other research institute recipients are based at the Hussman Institute for Autism in Catonsville, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and the Kennedy Krieger Institute, both in Baltimore.

Longeveron, TissueGene, MaxCyte, Propagenix, Seraxis and 3Dnamics are the companies that received grants.

All the companies are based in Montgomery County except for Longeveron, which is based in Florida. Longeveron's clinical trial for treating a heart condition in infants is being conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Gincel said.

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Maryland fund awards $8.5 million for stem cell research - Baltimore Sun

TEDCO awards $8.5 million in stem cell grants – Baltimore Business Journal

By adminMay 17, 2017Stell Cell Research

Baltimore Business Journal

TEDCO awards $8.5 million in stem cell grants
Baltimore Business Journal
The money will be provided through the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, which supports stem cell research grants and loans to public and private entities. To qualify for funding, the research must be conducted in Maryland and must involve use of human ...

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TEDCO awards $8.5 million in stem cell grants - Baltimore Business Journal

Texas leans into unproven stem cell treatments, to the dismay of … – STAT

By adminMay 17, 2017Stell Cell Research

e made the emotional plea to his colleagues: Pass this bill.

It might give somebody like my wife a chance to walk, Texas Representative Drew Springer said through tears late Thursday at the state Capitol in Austin. Id trade every one of my bills Ive passed, every single one of them, to get the chance to hear HB 810.

HB 810 is one of three bills being considered in the Texas Legislature that would make it easier for sick people to try unproven therapies at their own risk, and cost. Springers bill would allow clinics offering unapproved stem cell treatments to treat patientsin Texas. HB 661 would permit people with chronic illness to get therapies in early-stage clinical trials not just terminally ill patients, as the states current right-to-try law does. And HB 3236 would allow companies to charge patients for unproven therapies.

The debate in Texas echoes a national discussion over how much access patients should have to experimentaldrugs. For the lawmakers supporting the measures, the issue is about the ability to make ones own decisions about health care and not let bureaucracy get in the way of that. But for stem cell researchers and many patient advocates, the bills are dangerous; they make it easier for people to be fleeced or potentially harmed by treatments with little evidence suggesting that they work, orare safe.

With patients demanding experimental drugs, right to try is becoming the law of the land

When patients get desperate, they have a capacity to suspend disbelief, said Sean Morrison, a stem cell biologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. When offered the opportunity of a therapy they believe in, even without data and if the chances of benefit are low, theyll fight for access to that therapy. The problem is there are fraudulent stem cell clinics that have sprung up to exploit that.

The personal appeal from Springer, whose wife is paralyzed from the waist down, has worked, at least for now. HB 810 and the other two billspassed the House on Friday with no opposition. They have now moved to the Senate, which only has two weeks to take them up before the Legislature breaks on May 29 for two years.Governor Greg Abbott has indicated he supports HB 810.

Stem cells hold tremendous promise as therapies, but experts say they are still experimental and are not ready to be widely deployed outside regulated and limited trials. Yet clinics offering unproven, and sometimes dangerous, stem cell treatments to eager patients have proliferated around the country in recent years even without the state law, there areat least 71 clinics selling unapproved stem cell therapies in Texas alone.Stem cell scientists fear that the Texas bill would lend legitimacy to the field, provide false hope to patients, and even embolden hucksters touting stem cells as miracle cures for everything from diabetes to multiple sclerosis to spinal injuries.

It may sound like an appealing idea to allow seriously ill patients accelerated access to experimental therapies, Sally Temple, the president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, wrote to Texas lawmakers this month. But in the absence of full clinical testing, these bills will allow snake oil salesmen to sell unproven and scientifically dubious therapies to desperate patients.

When offered the opportunity of a therapy they believe in, even without data and if the chances of benefit are low, theyll fight for access to that therapy.

Sean Morrison, stem cell biologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

In the letter, Temple also wrote that the bills would cost more lives than they save and will undermine confidence in Texas medical system. She cited the three women who were blinded after receiving stem cell procedures at a Florida clinic. At least one of the women thought she was participating in a clinical trial.

For the most part, stem cell clinics and their claims are unchecked. Theyhave largely avoided regulatory scrutiny because they typically take a patients own stem cells and inject them back into the person, meaning the cells are considered minimally manipulated,taken, perhaps, from belly fat, purified, and injected near the persons knee. Plus,stem cell clinics typically do not publish data about their interventions and their patients results, so outside researchers have not been able to verify even their supposed successes.

If these clinics really did have a cure for something, you think they would collect systematic data and publish it in a journal, so people would know, Morrison said.

In a phone interview the morning after his speech, Springer, a Republican who represents a North Texas district, said he wanted to maintain some level of oversight for stem cell therapies and that the state attorney generals office or health department could step in should problems arise. But he said he leaned toward letting people have treatments they think can help them, especially because the drug approval process takes so long.

Stem cell clinics hawking unproven therapies sprout up across US

Springers wife was injured in a diving accident when they were dating and has been in a wheelchair since. He said they stored cord blood from when one of their children was born 16 years ago in hopes that the stem cells from that could one day help his wife. For now, he wants the Texans who head to places like Panama and China for stem cell therapies to be able to get them in their home state, under state law.

We do have a responsibility not to let every snake oil salesman come in, Springer said, but when we do have these rays of hope, we have to make sure theyre available.

Springer is only an author of HB 810, not the other two measures. The lead authors of the other two measures, Republican Representative Tan Parker for HB 661, and Republican Representative Kyle Kacal for HB 3236, did not respond to requests for comment.

HB 810 would give some legal recognition to the stem cell clinics that are already operating in Texas, an indication that troubles some researchers. Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell scientist at the University of California, Davis, co-led a nationwide survey that found Texas has more stem cell clinics than many other states, but that the businesses were part of a national pattern. But he said he hasnt seen other states consider the types of policies Texas is weighing now.

The kind of murky status quo that exists now for regulating stem cell clinics is quite different than there being laws on the books that explicitly say that what the clinics are doing is legal at the state level, Knoepfler wrote in an email.

A few years ago, in one famous case, a Houston company, Celltex Therapeutics, moved its treatment operations to Mexico after a warning from the Food and Drug Administration. But experts wonder if the FDA would take such an action again if the bills became law in Texas, even though the agency would still maintain its authority to do so under federal law. That concern also stems from the feeling that the regulation-averse Trump administration wouldnt endorse such actions, especially because Vice President Mike Pence is a proponent of right-to-try measures and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, credits a stem cell treatment from Celltex for helping relieve his back problems.

Perrys story and Springers emotional testimony highlight the uphill battle scientists have faced in recent years as right-to-try laws have been passed around the country. Powerful personal stories of patients cured by unapproved drugs or who die before they can get access to an experimental drug have swayed many lawmakers from both parties.

They look at us like were the devil, which pisses me off because were doing it the right way, said David Bales, the chairman of Texans for Cures, a stem cell research advocacy group that opposes the three bills as written.

Baless group wants to fund legitimate clinical trials involving stem cell treatments to help determine in what ways the cells can help patients. But for now, its top target is stopping HB 3236, which would open the door to patients paying for experimental therapies. Virtually all reputable clinical trials provide experimental treatments to patients at no cost and ofteneven pay participants for their effort.

We dont think that patients in the most vulnerable positions should pay for an unproven drug, Bales said.

Springer, the state representative, said he had not spoken to the governor about HB 810. But Abbott, who has been paralyzed from the waist down since a 1984 accident, when a tree branch fell on him while he was out for a run, tweeted a message of support to Springer early last Friday.

I look forward to signing HB 810, the tweet said.

Andrew Joseph can be reached at andrew.joseph@statnews.com Follow Andrew on Twitter @DrewQJoseph

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Researchers uncover new way of growing stem cells – Phys.Org

By adminMay 17, 2017Stell Cell Research

May 16, 2017 by David Stacey Credit: University of Western Australia

Research led by The University of Western Australia has discovered a new, simple and less expensive way of growing human stem cells.

Using hydrogel, a gel with a gradient that can be used to mimic the stiffness of human body tissues, the researchers were able to generate positive outcomes for the growth of stem cells.

Dr Yu Suk Choi from UWA's School of Human Sciences at The University of Western Australia led the international collaboration which also included researchers from the University of California, San Diego (USA) and Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (Germany).

"Stem cells work by using the 'stiffness' of surrounding tissue as a gauge to identify the way they need to behave in a particular environment in the human body," Dr Choi said.

"By using hydrogel to mimic the stiffness of tissue, we found we could 'trick' the stem cells into behaving in particular ways to help them grow and encourage the cells to behave in positive, regenerative ways.

"Hydrogel is simple and inexpensive to produce and could have a wide range of applications in biology labs that don't always have the infrastructure available to use other methods to mimic the stiffness of tissue to aid stem cell growth."

Dr Choi said the research may have important uses in combating serious illnesses affecting the human population.

"Many degenerative diseases result in changes to tissue stiffness which alters the behavior of cells," he said.

"But by controlling tissue stiffness we can revert cell behavior back to normal, and change their behavior at the disease site into more regenerative behaviour. This will help us us to treat diseases such as cancer that are currently very difficult to treat."

The next step for the researchers will be to use hydrogel with patient originated cells to further understand the effect of tissue stiffness on cell behaviour.

Explore further: Inbuilt body clocks link breast stiffness to cancer risks

More information: William J. Hadden et al. Stem cell migration and mechanotransduction on linear stiffness gradient hydrogels, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1618239114

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Researchers uncover new way of growing stem cells - Phys.Org