Stem Cell Clinic

Ovarian hormones awaken newly discovered breast stem cells – Science Daily

By Stell Cell Research

Science Daily
Ovarian hormones awaken newly discovered breast stem cells
Science Daily
The discovery was made by Dr Nai Yang Fu, Dr Anne Rios, Professor Jane Visvader and Professor Geoff Lindeman as part of a 20-year research program into how the breast develops from stem cells, and how breast cancers can arise from stem cells and ...
Stem cell linked to breast cancer foundTVNZ
Melbourne scientists' breast cell study offers cancer treatment hopeHerald Sun

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Ovarian hormones awaken newly discovered breast stem cells - Science Daily

Breast cancer: Changes in immune cell composition linked to future risk – Medical News Today

By Uncategorized

For the first time, researchers have quantified the composition of various types of immune cell in breast tissue and assessed whether it is linked to later risk of breast cancer.

In the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the team - from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN - suggests that the findings reveal important clues about the role of the immune system in the early stages of breast cancer development.

First author Dr. Amy Degnim is a breast surgeon who specializes in the study of breast tissue for very early signs of premalignant change.

She says the new study supports the idea that immune-related approaches such as vaccines may be effective in preventing breast cancer.

Breast cancer is cancer that begins in the cells of the breast, although it can spread to other parts of the body. It can occur in both men and women, but it is rare in men.

In the United States, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women after skin cancer.

Based on current incidence rates, a woman born in the U.S. today has a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer during her lifetime.

For their case-controlled study, Dr. Degnim and colleagues quantified various types of immune cell in different types of breast tissue. They used samples of normal breast tissue from donors to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank, and samples of breast tissue from women diagnosed with benign breast disease at the Mayo Clinic.

Fast facts about breast cancer

Learn more about breast cancer

Benign breast diseases are noncancerous breast conditions such as cysts and fibrosis that present as lumps and thickening of tissue in the breast.

Some noncancerous breast conditions may not present symptoms and may only be found during a mammogram. Sometimes, however, they can present in a similar way to breast cancer, so it can be hard to differentiate them from breast cancer just from symptoms alone.

Unlike breast cancers, benign breast diseases are not life-threatening, but some are connected with a higher risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

Some of the study participants with benign breast disease went on to develop breast cancer later.

Altogether, the researchers collected data on 94 age-matched triplets.

Each triplet comprised: a normal breast tissue case; a benign breast disease case in which the donor developed breast cancer later; and a benign breast disease case where the donor remained cancer-free.

The results showed that the composition of immune cells in the breast tissue was different in the three different types of donor.

For example, compared with normal breast tissue, breast tissue from donors with benign breast disease had higher proportions of certain immune cells, particularly dendritic cells and macrophages. These types of immune cell work together to create an immune response.

The researchers also found that tissue from donors with benign breast disease who later developed breast cancer showed lower levels of B cells - a type of immune cell that produces antibodies.

They suggest that the reduced levels of B cells in breast tissue of women with benign breast disease who later develop cancer indicates that B cells may play an important role in preventing disease progression, and they may serve as a biomarker for breast cancer risk.

"Our findings provide evidence that the immune system may have an important role in promoting or inhibiting breast cancer development in its very earliest stages."

Dr. Amy Degnim

Learn how the spread of triple-negative breast cancer could be halted with existing drug.

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Breast cancer: Changes in immune cell composition linked to future risk - Medical News Today

Educational seminar on stem cell therapy to be featured at lunch meeting in Abilene – Salina Post

By Uncategorized

Kansas Regenerative Medicine Center (KRMC) staff will be the guest speakers at the next Healthwise 55 luncheon. Speakers Frank Lyons, MD; John Farley (Founder); and Kate Farley will define stem cells and explain their many therapeutic uses. The KRMC staff will also share how stem cell therapy is a potential alternative to joint replacements or other medical therapies.

The event will be on Thursday, February 23, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Conklin Conference Center at Memorial Hospital, located at 511 N.E. 10th, Abilene. The cost is $5.00 to cover the price of the meal. Please call Michelle McClanahan, MHS Director of Volunteer Services, at (785) 263-6692 by Monday, February 20, to make a reservation.

Healthwise 55 is a luncheon and health information program hosted by the MHS Volunteer Corps. It is open to the public for individuals ages 55 and older. It includes a meal followed by a health care professional(s) speaking on a health-related topic.

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Educational seminar on stem cell therapy to be featured at lunch meeting in Abilene - Salina Post

Can banking baby teeth treat diabetes? – Fox News

By Stem Cell Treatment

When she was just 11 months old, Billie Sue Wozniaks daughter Juno was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that affects 1.25 million people and approximately 200,000 children under age 20 in the United States.

The disease had affected several members of Billie Sues family, including her uncle, who passed away at the age of 30.

My first thought was, Her life is going to be short, the 38-year-old from Reno, Nevada recalled. The more that I learned, the more I found that many people with type 1 live longer and the treatment advances are really exciting.

While looking for treatments, Wozniak learned about encapsulation therapy, in which an encapsulated device containing insulin-producing islet cells derived from stem cells is implanted under the skin. The encapsulation device is designed to protect the cells from an autoimmune attack and may help people produce their own insulin.

After learning of the therapy through JDRF, Wozniak saw an ad on Facebook for Store-A-Tooth, a company that offers dental stem cell banking. She decided to move forward with the stem cell banking, just in case the encapsulation device became an option for Juno.

In March 2016, a dentist extracted four of Junos teeth, and sent them to a lab so her stem cells could be cryopreserved. Wozniak plans to bank the stem cells from Junos molars as well.

Its a riskI dont know for sure if it will work out, Wozniak said.

Dental stem cells: a future of possibilities

For years, stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow have been used to treat blood and bone marrow diseases, blood cancers and metabolic and immune disorders.

Although there is the potential for dental stem cells to be used in the same way, researchers are only beginning to delve into the possibilities.

Dental stem cells are not science fiction, said Dr. Jade Miller, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. I think at some point in time, were going to see dental stem cells used by dentistson a daily practice.

Dental stem cells have the potential to produce dental tissue, bone, cartilage and muscle. They may be used to repair cavities, fix a tooth damaged from periodontal disease or bone loss, or even grow a tooth instead of using dental implants.

In fact, stem cells can be used to repair cracks in teeth and cavities, according to a recent mouse study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Theres also some evidence that dental stem cells can produce nerve tissue, which might eliminate the need for root canals. A recent study out of Tufts University found that a collagen-based biomaterial used to deliver stem cells to the inside of damaged teeth can regenerate dental pulp-like tissues.

Dental stem cells may even be able to treat neurological disorders, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.

I believe those are the kinds of applications that will be the first uses of these cells, said Dr. Peter Verlander, Chief Scientific Officer for Store-A-Tooth.

When it comes to treating diseases like type 1 diabetes, dental stem cells also show promise. In fact, a study in the Journal of Dental Research found that dental stem cells were able to form islet-like aggregates that produce insulin.

Unlike umbilical cord blood where theres one chance to collect stem cells, dental stem cells can be collected from several teeth. Also, gathering stem cells from bone marrow requires invasive surgery and risk, and it can be painful and costly.

The stem cells found in baby teeth, known as mesenchymal cells, are similar to those found in other parts of the body, but not identical.

There are differences in these cells, depending on where they come from, Verlander said.

Whats more, mesenchymal stem cells themselves differ from hematopoietic, or blood-forming stem cells. Unlike hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells can expand.

From one tooth, we expect to generate hundreds of billions of cells, Verlander said.

Yet the use of dental stem cells is not without risks. For example, theres evidence that tumors can develop when stem cells are transplanted. Theres also a chance of an immune rejection, but this is less likely if a person uses his own stem cells, Miller said.

The process for banking stem cells from baby teeth is relatively simple. A dentist extracts the childs teeth when one-third of the root remains and the stem cells are still viable. Once the teeth are shipped and received, the cells are extracted, grown and cryopreserved.

Store-A-Tooths fees include a one-time payment of $1,749 and $120 per year for storage, in addition to the dentists fees for extraction.

For families who are interested in banking dental stem cells, they should know that theyre not necessarily a replacement for cord blood banking or bone marrow stem cells.

Theyre not interchangeable, we think of them as complementary, Verlander said.

Although the future is unclear for Junowho was born in 2008her mom is optimistic that shell be able to use the stem cells for herself and if not, someone else.

Ultimately, however, Wozniak hopes that if dental stem cells arent the answer, there will be a biological cure for type 1 diabetes.

I hold out hope that somewhere, someone is going to crack the code, she said.

Julie Revelant is a health journalist and a consultant who provides content marketing and copywriting services for the healthcare industry. She's also a mom of two. Learn more about Julie at revelantwriting.com.

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Can banking baby teeth treat diabetes? - Fox News

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

By Embryonic Stem Cells

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

Vital links between brain tumors and epileptic seizures – Science Daily

By Uncategorized

Detecting brain tumors at the earliest possible stage and eliminating them before seizures begin might be possible one day, according to research by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital.

In the study, which is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists report that the emergence of specific brain cells during brain tumor progression in a mouse model marked the onset of seizures and brain tumor invasion. An improved understanding of how brain tumors cause seizures can potentially lead to strategies to prevent them or treat them.

"We began this project by studying normal brain cells," said co-senior author Dr. Benjamin Deneen, associate professor in the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Baylor and the Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital. "The brain has billions of cells of which only 30 percent are neurons. Astrocytes are the predominant cell type of the remaining 70 percent. Surprisingly, astrocytes have not been studied in as much detail as neurons have."

"Although astrocytes are often broadly categorized as one cell type, a lot of diversity exists in the functions carried out by these cells," said co-senior author Dr. Chad Creighton, associate professor of medicine and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center Division of Biostatistics at Baylor.

Astrocytes play diverse roles in the brain, from supporting the functions of neurons, participating in synapse formation and function and in the release of neurotransmitters, to making the blood-brain barrier and other functions. What is not known is whether all these functions are carried out by different subpopulations of astrocytes. This study explores the cellular and functional diversity of the most enigmatic, yet most abundant cell type in the brain. Answering this fundamental question served as the starting point for this investigation.

Better understanding the underappreciated astrocyte

The researchers took populations of mouse astrocytes, which until now have been considered to be a cell type with little diversity, and used molecular markers expressed on the cells' surface to divide the cells into subpopulations according to the cell surface markers expressed. They identified five subpopulations -- the scientists called them subpopulations A, B, C, D and E -- each containing a unique combination of cell surface markers. These subpopulations were consistently present across several different regions of the brain.

Further studies showed that each subpopulation of astrocytes expressed distinct sets of genes. These molecular signatures suggested that each subpopulation might play different roles in the brain. In particular, the scientists were interested in subpopulation C, which expressed a significant number of genes associated with synapses, the junctions that transmit nerve impulses that connect networks of neurons in the brain.

The researchers compared the ability of the different subpopulations of astrocytes to support the formation and function of synapses between neurons.

"In the laboratory, we combined individual subpopulation of astrocytes with neurons and measured synapse formation and function," said Deneen. "We found that neurons incubated with subpopulation C made more synapses than neurons incubated with the other subpopulations."

Taken together, these results revealed that astrocytes in the normal mouse brain comprise at least five distinct subpopulations that differentially support synapse formation and function.

Linking astrocytes to human glioma

"Astrocytes are associated with numerous neurological conditions, including injury, multiple sclerosis, autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and brain tumors. Given that we found diverse astrocyte subpopulations, we wondered whether these subpopulations could also explain astrocyte contributions to a host of different neurological diseases," Deneen said.

One of the interests of the Deneen lab is identifying mechanisms that regulate astrocyte development and how these cells contribute to neurological diseases, in particular human glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and deadly type of brain tumor. In these type of cancer, about 80 percent of the tumor comprises transformed astrocyte-like cells, and, just as in the case of normal brain tissue, the diversity of these tumor cell subpopulations and functions in brain tumors had not been studied in detail.

In this case, the scientists used a different approach to determine whether astrocyte-like cells in human glioblastoma include different astrocyte subpopulations.

"We used publicly available genomic datasets to help us understand what distinguishes the different types of astrocytes from each other," Creighton said. "The genomic datasets compile entire genomes -- all the genes -- of different types of cells. Using this resource, we discovered that each type of human astrocyte showed very distinctive patterns of gene activation. It was by comparing these patterns with patterns associated with brain cancer or with epilepsy, using public data, that we discovered how specific types of astrocytes appear to have roles in these diseases."

To support that astrocytes seemed to play a role in human glioblastoma, the researchers genetically engineered two mouse models of the disease and observed that the astrocyte subpopulations are also present in mouse tumors. The subpopulations are also present in primary human specimens of human glioblastoma multiforme.

Astrocytes and seizures

One striking characteristic of glioblastoma, which usually leads to the discovery of the tumor, is epileptic seizures.

On one occasion Deneen was talking with Dr. Jeffrey L. Noebels, about this research. Noebels, who is professor of neurology, neuroscience, and molecular and human genetics, director of the Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory at Baylor and is a leader in the field of epilepsy, asked Deneen, "do your mice with brain tumors have seizures?" "They do," Deneen said.

This conversation led to planning a series of experiments in the mouse models of glioma to determine the time scale of the seizures and whether different sub populations of astrocyte-like cells within the tumor were associated with seizures.

The results of these experiments showed that as the tumor grows, the excitability of the adjacent neurons progressively increases. Seventy days after birth, the mice had visible seizures that correlated with the emergence of astrocyte subpopulation C. Further linking these astrocyte-like subpopulations to seizures, the scientists showed that subpopulation C expresses a significant number of genes linked to epilepsy.

While subpopulation C seems to be involved with seizures in the mouse model of glioblastoma, subpopulations B and D showed they were able to migrate more in laboratory assays than population C.

"Taken all together, the evidence from the mouse model of glioblastoma indicates that as the tumor evolves, different subpopulations of astrocyte-like cells develop within the tumor and execute distinct functions that are related to two important tumor characteristics, synaptic imbalance that can lead to seizures, and tumor migration that can lead to tumor invasion of other tissues," Deneen said.

"Less than half of the patients with epilepsy caused by a brain tumor can be helped with existing antiepileptic drugs," said Noebels, co-author of the work. "We do not understand exactly how malignant cells cause seizures, or why seizures persist after tumor surgery. Until now, we could only study this brain tissue at later misleading stages. I am excited that this next-generation experimental model in mice will allows us to study, for the first time, the earliest effects of human tumors on brain circuits before seizures actually begin and understand the mechanisms. These studies would be a major advance in patient care, allowing clinicians to bypass precious months spent searching for effective therapy to stop seizures. Because seizures themselves damage brain tissue, timely effective therapy is of the essence."

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Vital links between brain tumors and epileptic seizures - Science Daily

Stem cell treatment for baldness showing signs of success – WLS-TV

By Stem Cell Treatment

Americans spend between one and four billion dollars a year treating hair loss. Now, four surgeons in the U.S. are testing a stem cell treatment in a non-surgical procedure, and overseas trials in Japan and Egypt are already showing some success.

"It's been thirty years of concern," said Roy Woelke.

Doctor Kenneth Williams may have new hope for Roy and millions of others. He's running a clinical trial that uses stem cells and platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, to treat baldness.

"The study is taking cells that are in our body that help to regenerate or stimulate inactive or dormant hair follicles. That is the theory behind what we're doing this procedure on," said Dr. Williams.

Dr. Williams takes fat from the abdomen, emulsifies it and separates the stem cells, mixes it with the patient's own plasma which has been spun down to be super concentrated. Then, with 300 shots, injects the mixture into the scalp, twice over a three-month period. Roy hopes to get into the trial, which has five participants so far. Dr. Williams already does the procedure for paying patients who've had promising results.

Dr. Williams hopes to publish results in two years.

Doctor Williams' trial is supported by NIH, but not by a major pharmaceutical company yet. That means his trial is patient-funded, meaning they'll pay a reduced cost of the $2,500 to $5,800 procedure, depending on which arm of the trial is chosen. Contact the Irvine Institute of Medicine and Cosmetic Surgery at (949) 333-2999 or visit http://www.straandstudy.com for more information.

If you would like more information, check out the medical breakthroughs on the web at http://www.ivanhoe.com.

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Stem cell treatment for baldness showing signs of success - WLS-TV

Stem cell Icarus – BioEdge

By Stell Cell Research

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, attributed to Pieter Brueghel the Elder

What happened to the disgraced Italian surgeon who dazzled the world with artificial tracheas built up with stem cells, Paolo Macchiarini? Despite all the hype, several of his patients eventually died; others are still seriously ill. The ensuing debacle dragged Swedens Karolinska Institute into the mire and Swedish police are investigating whether he should be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

At the moment Macchiarini is the head of a research team in bioengineering and regenerative medicine at the University of Kazan, in Tatarstan, about 800 kilometers east of Moscow. But Russian authorities do not allow him to do clinical work. Instead he is confined to doing research on baboons.

Unfortunately, the story of the Italian Icarus is the story of many research projects with stem cells noisily rising and rising and rising and then silently falling out of sight. Very few stem cell therapies have reached stage IV of clinical trials.

As journalist Michael Brooks points out in the BMJ, stem cell research is a field plagued by unrealistic expectations. One study showed that 70% of newspaper articles about stem cell research have stated that clinical applications are just around the corner, in the near future, or within 5 to 10 years or sooner.

This is not simply a problem of media hype, writes Brooks. In a surprisingly large number of cases, the source of these unrealistic expectations can be traced back to the scientists themselves.

Another source of false hope is the very success of some treatments. In clinics all over the world, doctors are using unproven techniques to treat patients and sometime they appear to work. But despite grandiose claims, these successes are not documented properly and could even be spontaneous remissions. There need to be rigorous clinical trials.

A major figure in the growth of the stem cell field, Alan Trounson of the Hudson Institute in Victoria, Australia, who used to head the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, told Brooks that Fame and fortune is seductive and stem cells is one of those areas which can provide this. Close supervision is needed to keep researchers on the straight and narrow.

Finally, one cause of the stem cell hype is simply pride. The Karolinska succumbed to this temptation. According to its internal investigation, protecting its reputation led to a risk of inadequacies and shortcomings not coming to light.

Perhaps, says Brooks, The Macchiarini affair might have a silver lining for stem cell research as a whole. He quotes a man who should know, Alan Trounson: I believe the field will move on with a little more carewe certainly need to.

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Stem cell Icarus - BioEdge

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

By Embryonic Stem Cells

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

By Embryonic Stem Cells

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.

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

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