Click here to read Stem Cells 101, an overview of stem cell research

When researchers announced two years ago that they had found a way to turn ordinary skin cells into stem cells, it opened up the possibility that stem cell therapies might sidestep the logistical and ethical hurdles of obtaining stem cells from embryos. These “reprogrammed” stem cells seem to have the ability to transform into any kind of cell, a property known as pluripotency. But the concept has also met with skepticism about the abilities and potential dangers of the cells. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at MIT and Harvard shows that reprogrammed cells, also called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can become functioning neurons when transplanted into the brains of mice and rats; the researchers also showed that the cells can improve symptoms in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease. (Technology Review)

99% of umbilical cord cells, which can be used to treat diseases, thrown out. (Akron Beacon Journal)

Scientists in Singapore have developed a strategy to “clean up” embryonic stem cells, which researchers hope can one day be used to replace damaged tissues and for other tailor-made personal treatments. (Reuters)

You’ve heard the controversy, now get the facts: No human clinical trials use embryos. But researchers are making huge strides in developing therapies with adult cells. (Akron Beacon Journal)

Considering that an embryo created by somatic cell nuclear transfer using animal eggs and human DNA is a ‘live human embryo’ is one that may well be challenged, although if this was challenged legally I would be inclined to agree with the interpretation taken by the Licence Committee that the Courts would take the view that these types of embryos are to be covered by legislation. Although this may be the approach which would be taken by the Courts, that is not to say that the average lay person would agree that an embryo created using animal eggs, even though they have had the animal DNA removed, are fully human embryos. This is an area for ongoing ethical debate. (BioNews)

Scientists have taken skin cells from patients with eight different diseases and turned them into stem cells. The advance means scientists are moving closer to using stem cells from the patient themselves to treat disease. (BBC)

It sounds like alchemy: cells within an organism are genetically almost identical, yet they form cell types as disparate as pulsing neurons, engulfing macrophages and enzyme-secreting villus cells. Recently developed techniques appear able to prompt cells from a terminally differentiated state into one in which they not only divide indefinitely but can, in theory, become any cell type found in adults. Last year’s advances in generating such cells from mice and humans have opened what could be a new era of pluripotent stem cell biology. (Nature)

Scientists have discovered a new technique for turning embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing pancreatic tissue in what could prove a significant breakthrough in the quest to find new treatments for diabetes. (ScienceDaily)

The fact that these fetal cells aren’t destroyed by the mother’s immune system points to an immune system suppression mechanism that may be harnessed to help prevent transplant rejection, said the researchers, who added that these stem cells may provide an easily accessible source of stem cells. (HealthDay)

Now it appears that embryonic stem cells may be nearly ready for something altogether different: treating patients.

This is according to a briefing after the first-ever meeting of the Global Forum of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, recently in Half Moon Bay, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco. (Wired)

Britain is set to have its most comprehensive debate on abortion in two decades as those who oppose abortion rights seek to restrict one of the more liberal laws on this side of the Atlantic.

In coming weeks, the lower house of Parliament will take up a bill on embryonic and stem cell research. Abortion isn’t directly mentioned in the legislation, but because the measure deals with embryos, it could be amended to modify the abortion law that has been in place since 1990. (USA TODAY)

You might think I’d object to animal-human hybrid embryos on moral grounds. I do, but it’s their bad science I really take exception to. (Guardian Unlimited)

Stem-cell therapies are often touted as the future of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. But one of the challenges to developing such therapies is creating an environment in which stem cells can grow. An additional hurdle involves designing a vehicle to deliver stem cells to their target, without being detected by the body’s immune system. Now scientists at Northwestern University have engineered a “miniature laboratory” in the form of a tiny, gel-like sac. They successfully grew stem cells within the sac, delivering proteins and nutrients to the cells through the sac’s membrane. (Technology Review)

Scientists in the UK claim to have made embryos using cow eggs and human DNA through SCNT. Although the work has yet to be verified via peer review, Newcastle scientists told the press that the embryos lasted three days. From the story:

Embryos containing both human and animal material have been created in Britain for the first time, a month before the House of Commons is to vote on new laws to regulate the controversial research. A team at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne announced tonight that it had successfully generated “admixed embryos” by adding human DNA to empty cow eggs, in the first experiment of its kind in the UK. The achievement will heighten debate over the ethics of human-animal embryos, as the Commons prepares to debate the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill next month.

The point of these “cybrids,” we are told, is to study disease models. Cow eggs were used because of the (justifiable) dearth in human eggs:

Admixed embryos are widely supported by the scientific community and patient groups, as they provide an opportunity to produce powerful stem cell models for investigating diseases such as Parkinson’s and diabetes, and for developing new drugs.

Their creation, however, has been vociferously opposed by religious groups, particularly the Roman Catholic church. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the head of the Catholic church in Scotland, described the work last month as “experiments of Frankenstein proportion”…Once the technique has been tested, scientists hope to create cybrids from the DNA of patients with genetic diseases. The resulting stem cells could then be used as models of those diseases to provide insights into their progress and to test new treatments.

But the new IPSCs could do that too, and without the effort, expense, and moral contentiousness involved in trying to develop cloning techniques. Indeed, the scientist in charge of the team who created Dolly, Ian Wilmut, gave up cloning research that he had been licensed to perform precisely because of the “lead into gold” IPSC breakthrough.

I find it remarkable that the reporter didn’t raise this question with the scientists. If we can obtain the benefits they claim to be pursuing without compromising crucial moral principles, why wouldn’t we? Perhaps because, as I suspect, the real point of this is to learn to clone human life come what may.

Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal.

The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses. (BBC)

“There’s a consensus in the scientific community that it’s wrong and scientifically unsafe to use this technology for reproductive purposes. Our goal is to basically clone cells in a petri dish so that we can create replacement parts for the body, to repair damaged tissue.” (ABC News)

Some critics imply that research on adult stem cells (for instance from bone marrow) could substitute for all the use of embryonic stem cells. My research colleagues strongly deny this, but see the possibility that knowledge from stem-cell research might increase the potential for the therapeutic use of adult stem cells. Some point to the recent development of methods to transform ordinary adult cells into cells with the characteristics of embryonic stem cells. But these techniques involve viral infection and genetic modification, which makes many nervous about the utility of such cells. However, research on embryonic stem cells will undoubtedly help us to do more with adult cells. (Times Online)

Whenever most people hear the term “egg donor,” they usually consider this a good thing, as most of us assume that anyone who donates is altruistically motivated and thus engaged in something intrinsically good. And besides, it’s for a great cause, so everything is all right, yes? (FIRST THINGS)

For a rich source of stem cells to be engineered into new blood vessels or skin tissue, clinicians may one day look no further than the hair on their patients’ heads, according to new research published earlier this month by University at Buffalo engineers. (ScienceDaily)

In an exclusive interview with The Times, Sir Leszek, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said that in spite of Church teachings on the issue he saw nothing in the experiments or the plans by the Government to regulate them that was incompatible with his faith. (Times Online)

Well, the old days of “the scientists” such as some of the people over at Amendment 2 in Missouri telling reporters and legislators that adult stem cells are merely “unipotent,” that is, that they can only create their own kind of tissue, are beyond defending any more. Uterine stem cells have been injected into mice–and they grew new brain cells helping to ease the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. From the story:

The injection of uterine stem cells trigger growth of new brain cells in mice with Parkinson’s disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in an abstract presented at the 2008 Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI) Annual Scientific Meeting held March 26-29 in San Diego, California. “Previously, we were able to coax these multipotent stem cells to differentiate into cartilage cells,” said lead author Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and section chief of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Yale School of Medicine. “Now we have found that we can turn uterine stem cells into neurons that can boost dopamine levels and partially correct the problem of Parkinson’s disease.” …

The stem cells in this study were derived from human endometrial stromal cells that were cultured under conditions that induce the creation of neurons. These cells then developed axon-like projections and cell bodies with a pyramid shape typical of neurons. “The dopamine levels in the mice increased once we transferred the stem cells into their brains,” Taylor said. “The implications of our findings are that women have a ready supply of stem cells that are easily obtained, are differentiable into other cell types, and have great potential use for other purposes.”

A few years ago, I watched,my mouth agape at the baldness of the mendacity, as a scientist in Missouri testified to a legislative committee that adult stem cells were merely unipotent. It wasn’t true then, and it is beyond any repeating now.