Turning human stem cells into brain cells sheds light on neural development

Medical researchers have manipulated human stem cells into producing types of brain cells known to play important roles in neurodevelopmental disorders such as epilepsy, schizophrenia and autism. The new model cell system allows neuroscientists to investigate normal brain development, as well as to identify specific disruptions in biological signals that may contribute to neuropsychiatric diseases.

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Stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice

For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember.

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New material system permits 3-D patterning to regulate stem cell behavior

Stem cells can be coaxed to grow into new bone or new cartilage better and faster when given the right molecular cues and room inside a water-loving gel, researchers at Case Western Reserve University show.

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Stem cell proliferation and differentiation observed within hydrogel

IUPUI stem cell research could expand clinical use of regenerative human cells

Research led by a biology professor in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has uncovered a method to produce retinal cells from regenerative human stem cells without the use of animal products, proteins or other foreign substances, which historically have limited the application of stem cells to treat disease and other human developmental disorders.

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Stem cell’s ‘Holy Grail’ a sugar-coated step closer

Scientists have used sugar-coated scaffolding to move a step closer to the routine use of stem cells in the clinic and unlock their huge potential to cure diseases from Alzheimer’s to diabetes.

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Retrovirus in the human genome is active in pluripotent stem cells

A retrovirus called HERV-H, which inserted itself into the human genome millions of years ago, may play an important role in pluripotent stem cells, according to a new study published in the journal Retrovirology by scientists at UMass Medical School. Pluripotent stem cells are capable of generating all tissue types, including blood cells, brain cells and heart cells. The discovery, which may help explain how these cells maintain a state of pluripotency and are able to differentiate into many types of cells, could have profound implications for therapies that would use pluripotent stem cells to treat a range of human diseases.

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Stem cell materials could boost research into key diseases

Stem cell manufacturing for drug screening and treatments for diseases such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s could be boosted by a new method of generating stem cells, a study suggests.

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Japanese team creates cancer-specific killer T cells from induced pluripotent stem cells

Researchers from the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology in Japan report today that they have succeeded for the first time in creating cancer-specific, immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes, from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). To create these killer cells, the team first had to reprogram T lymphocytes specialized in killing a certain type of cancer, into iPS cells. The iPS cells then generated fully active, cancer-specific T lymphocytes. These lymphocytes regenerated from iPS cells could potentially serve as cancer therapy in the future.

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Human umbilical cord blood cell co-culture supports embryonic stem cell expansion

Researchers in Taiwan have developed a “safe, feasible and robust co-culture system” supplied by human umbilical cord mensenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs) to feed the sustained culture used for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) expansion prior to cell transplantation. The co-culture, said the researchers, “appears to eliminate the most feared characteristic of transplanted hESCs,” which is their propensity to form tumors.

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