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Next
Event
Friday, August 22, 2008, 07:00 PM: Simulations of Society with Loren Cobb
Loren Cobb will present his peculiar 15-year journey into sociological model-making for various military entities, including US Southern Command, the Swedish Ministry of Defence, the British Ministry of Defence, the United Nations, and a miscellany of Latin American countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, ...).
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Stem Cells
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An international consortium of scientists published the largest existing survey comparing genetic and chemical traits of human embryonic stem cell lines from around the world.
"You could call this an encyclopedia of embryonic stem cells. "
The study compared 59 lines of stem cells from 17 laboratories around the world and assessed the similarities and differences in the expression of many common molecular markers.
Researchers also identified certain cell surface antigens and developmentally regulated genes that characterize all human embryonic stem cell lines isolated to date, despite the cell lines' variety of genetic backgrounds and growth conditions. The similarities identified in the study will help set benchmarks for future stem cell work.
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A Missouri House of Representatives committee was urged Tuesday to let voters have another say about what forms of stem cell research to allow in Missouri.
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One argument for stem cell research is that it might generate fresh replacement cells for those destroyed by such horrific diseases as ALS, the paralyzing nervous system disorder popularly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The latest research suggests those predictions might be unrealistic: Replacing cells that die off in a disease still leaves open the question of why the cells died in the first place.
Stem cells may be more valuable as a "disease model" -- used to study disease -- rather than a simple source of replacement parts.
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ValiRx have developed a new, in-line, cell purification device that allows stem cells to be selectively and efficiently removed from a blood sample in a more patient-friendly manner. The Polymer-Antibody Cell Separation (PACS) system works in an analogous manner to the affinity columns used to purify monoclonal antibodies.
The separation and purification of stem cells from the blood is a necessity for both efficient stem cell research and the development of reproducible stem cell therapies.
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A recent study appears to show for first time evidence that human embryonic stem cell lines can differentiate into germ (reproductive) cells.
Similar results have been seen in mice embryonic cell lines, but this is the first time such cell differentiation has been documented occurring in human cell lines.
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Geron reported that GRNOPC1, the company’s human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based oligodendroglial progenitor therapeutic, produces multiple nerve growth factors, proteins that stimulate the survival and regeneration of neurons damaged during spinal cord injury.
The studies describe a newly discovered neurotrophic effect that, in addition to the previously documented in vivo remyelinating activity of these cells, serves as a second mechanism of action that demonstrates the product’s beneficial effects when injected into animal models of acute spinal cord injury.
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Two papers report for the first time that astrocytes (the most abundant non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system), which carry a mutated gene known to cause some cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease), induce motor neuron death. This indicates that astrocytes may contribute to ALS by releasing a toxic factor that damages neurons. These findings suggest that developing an effective therapy for ALS would require overcoming the destructive effects of astrocytes and replacing the damaged motor neurons, possibly by transplanting motor neurons derived from embryonic stem cells.
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Brain cells derived from human embryonic stem cells improved the condition of rats with Parkinson’s-like symptoms dramatically, but the treatment caused a significant problem – the appearance of brain tumors – that scientists are now working to solve.
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Researchers report a new and efficient strategy, using eggs alone, for creating mouse embryonic stem cells that can be transplanted without the risk of rejection because the cells are compatible with the recipient's immune system. Though done in mice, the work establishes the principle of using unfertilized eggs as a source of customized embryonic stem cells that are genetically matched to the egg donor at the genes that control recognition of cells by the immune system, making them potentially useful for transplantation therapies.
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Robert Harmon, veterinarian and CEO of Vet-Stem, explained how his company is currently providing stem cell therapies for animals. Client veterinarians send a fat-tissue sample from their animal patients to Vet-Stem, where the stem cells are extracted from the tissue. Vet-Stem then merely creates a syringe-loaded dose of cells and sends them back to the attending vet. Injected into injured or degenerated tissue, the stem cell treatment evokes healing in unprecedented ways.
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In the rancorous public debate over federal research funding, stem cells are generally assigned to one of two categories: embryonic or adult. But that's a false dichotomy and an oversimplification. A new study adds to mounting evidence that stem cells in the developing fetus are distinct from both embryonic and adult stem cells.
Fetal stem cells comprise a separate class. Fetal blood-forming stem cells in an umbilical cord blood behave differently than adult blood-forming stem cells after transplantation into patients.
The team has identified the first known gene, Sox17, required for the maintenance of blood-forming stem cells in fetal mice, but not in adult mice.
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Researchers are now able to study stem cells from the brains of adult mice and their neurogenesis in long-term cell cultures. They have developed a new method which allows them to generate exactly those neurons from stem cells in cell culture as those that would develop in the living brain.
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A group of researchers describes an experiment in which nascent rat neural stem cells were used to prod blood vessel cells to assume properties of the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is an anatomical feature in humans and other animals that protects the brain from chemicals and other harmful agents, but also limits the ability of clinicians to administer helpful drugs. Demonstrating that developing brain cells can release factors that may coax small blood vessels to exhibit the properties of the blood-brain barrier is important for a number of reasons. First, it forms a basis for understanding the mechanism that provides critical protection for the brain. Second...
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The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has called for a public consultation into the use of animal eggs to create cloned hybrid or chimeric human embryos for laboratory-based disease research.
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Researches report success using uniparental embryonic stem cells to replace blood stem cells in mice.
Uniparental embryonic stem cells are an appealing alternative source of patient-derived embryonic stem cells, as they have several advantages over embryonic stem cell lines generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (also known as therapeutic cloning).
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Geron announced the presentation of new data that document the company’s progress in the development of first-in-class therapeutic products from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) for the treatment of degenerative diseases. The data pertained to four products in development: (1) GRNOPC1, Oligodendroglial Progenitor Cells for acute spinal cord injury, (2) GRNIC1, Islet Clusters for diabetes, (3) GRNCM1, Cardiomyocytes for myocardial infarction and (4) osteoprogenitor cells for bone fractures and osteoporosis. Other presentations at the meeting described advances in hESC culture and derivation techniques and further characterization of hESC-derived hepatocytes for liver failure and drug metabolism testing.
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Scientists have found a set of "master switches" that keep adult blood-forming stem cells in their primitive state. Unlocking the switches' code may one day enable scientists to grow new blood cells for transplant into patients with cancer and other bone marrow disorders.
The scientists located the control switches not at the gene level but farther down the protein production line in more recently discovered forms of ribonucleic acid, or RNA. MicroRNA molecules, once thought to be cellular junk, are now known to switch off activity of the larger RNA strands that allow assembly of the proteins that let cells grow and function.
"Stem cells are poised to make proteins essential for maturing into blood cells, but microRNAs keep them locked in their place."
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After a decade of research, Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientists have succeeded in reprogramming adult stem cells from the testes of male mice into functional blood vessels and contractile cardiac tissue. The research offers a promising new source of stem cells for use in organ regeneration studies.
"It appears that these specialized GPR125-positive spermatogonial cells could be an easily obtained and manipulated source of stem cells with a similar capability to form new tissues that we see in embryonic stem cells."
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Australian scientists will be allowed to create human embryo clones for medical research after the country's lawmakers voted to end a four-year ban on the practice. New legislation legalizes the creation of human embryos through so-called somatic cell nuclear transfer to aid treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
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Low levels of toxic substances cause critical stem cells in the central nervous system to prematurely shut down.
The researchers exposed a specific population of brain cells to low levels of lead, mercury, and paraquat, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. These cells, called glial progenitors, are advanced-stage stem cells that are critical to the growth, development, and normal function of the central nervous system. These compounds turned off specific sets of receptors and set into motion a molecular chain reaction that causes the cells to shut down and stop dividing.
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A newly published study by UConn researchers confirms the potential of reprogramming cells by cell fusion.
The technique can create stem cells for use in research, without harming embryos.
The study is likely to intensify mounting scientific interest in reprogramming ordinary adult cells – somatic cells – back to their pristine condition when they were stem cells in the embryo. "Our results show conclusively that factors in embryonic stem cells can reprogram the somatic genome, providing a possible avenue to create pluripotent stem cells without cloning,"
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Researchers have created major histocompatible complex (MHC)-matched parthenogenetic embryonic stem (pES) cells in mice that successfully engraft in an immunocompetent system. The work is a "tremendous advance." This is the first report to assess the MHC regions of pES cells.
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Researchers have found that mouse oocytes that fail to become fertilized during in vitro fertilization are nevertheless often capable of succeeding as "cytoplasmic donors" during a subsequent cloning step using so-called nuclear transfer.
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