Stem Cells

In news that offers hope to millions of chrome-domes everywhere – yours truly included – Yale researchers have made a discovery that could lead to new treatments for baldness. While men with male pattern baldness still have stem cells in follicle roots, they need signals from within the skin to grow hair. Until now, the source of those signals that trigger hair growth has been unclear, but the Yale researchers claim to have now discovered it.  Read More

Every year, approximately 1.7 million people in the U.S. and Europe tear a meniscus – children and athletes are especially prone to such injuries. But first, just what is a meniscus? It’s one of two pieces of cartilage located inside each knee, that provide a cushion between the tibia and the femur. While smaller tears can heal on their own, larger tears often require a partial or complete removal of the meniscus. Within several years, this can result in the early onset of osteoarthritis. Recently, a new type of stem cell-seeded bandage, developed at the University of Bristol, has been approved for a clinical trial on meniscal tears. It may greatly reduce the need for menisectomies.  Read More

For the first time ever, scientists from the University of Montreal and Mount Sinai Hospital have generated pluripotent stem cells from horses. Pluripotency refers to a cell's ability to become any of the various other types of cells found within the body, and the ability to be able to grow such cells in a laboratory setting has great implications for the field of regenerative medicine. Not only does this latest accomplishment potentially mean big things for sick or injured horses, but it could also pave the way for lab-based human stem cell treatments.  Read More

An HIV-infected man who received stem cell treatment for leukemia from a donor with natural resistance to HIV infection appears to have been cured of HIV, according to a report on the NAM aidsmap website. The treatment, which was carried out in 2007, opens the possibility of a cure for HIV infection through the use of genetically engineered stem cells.  Read More

In a world first, scientists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have created functioning fetal intestinal tissue from pluripotent stem cells. It is now hoped that such lab-grown tissue could be used to research treatments for gastro-intestinal diseases, or for transplantation.  Read More

In what could be the first step towards same-sex couples having their own genetic children, reproductive scientists have produced male and female mice from two fathers using stem cell technology. The achievement of two-father offspring in a species of mammal could also be a step toward preserving endangered species, improving livestock breeds, and advancing human assisted reproductive technology (ART).  Read More

Stem cells, which have the ability to become various other types of cells, are at the heart of the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine – if a patient’s stem cells could be raised outside of their body, and their growth dictated, they could ultimately be used to grow replacement body parts that wouldn’t be rejected. It’s challenging, however, to create sufficient growing conditions in a petri dish. In order for stem cells to grow and differentiate within the body, they rely on chemical, mechanical and electrical cues. Although chemical cues have been combined with mechanical or electrical cues in lab settings, no one has so far been able to combine all three... at least, not until now.  Read More

A new technique that allows blood to be made directly from skin cells has been discovered. The pioneering approach by Canadian researchers uses human skin stem cells to create blood stem cells without an intermediate step that previously was thought necessary. It could be used for creating blood for surgery, or treating conditions like anemia using a patch of the patient's skin.  Read More

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have successfully used stem cells to reattach molars to tooth sockets within lab rats’ mouths. The stem cells were obtained from the periodontal ligament of molars extracted from mice, expanded in an incubator, and then seeded onto barren rat molars. This could have great implications for humans who lose teeth due to gum disease in the future... and for all those toothless old rats out there.  Read More