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Scientists produce functional heart pacemaker cells

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Dr. Stephanie Protze, post-doc fellow, and Dr. Gordon Keller, Director of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medication, study a cell cuture plate with human pacemaker cells generated from pluripotent stem cells for the primary time. This growth paves the way in which for a organic pacemaker taking the place of an digital one. Credit score: Courtesy of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medication Scientists from the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medication, College Well being Community, have developed the primary purposeful pacemaker cells from human stem cells, paving the way in which for alternate, organic pacemaker remedy. Their findings, "Sinoatrial node cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent cells perform as a organic pacemaker," revealed on-line in  Nature Biotechnology  on Dec. 12, element how human pluripotent stem cells might be coaxed in 21 days to grow to be pacemak...

Researchers turn back the clock on human embryonic stem cells

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Left to proper: Photos of an early, three day-old human embryo, 5 day-old human embryo, a colony of the brand new 3i human ESC cells developed by the Zambidis laboratory, and a colony of a traditional human ESC, which is developmentally extra mature. Human ESC colonies are stained for nuclei (blue), the stem cell marker OCT4 (pink), and the stem cell marker TRA-1-8 1 (inexperienced). Credit score: Elias Zambidis and Yulian Zhao Johns Hopkins scientists report success in utilizing a cocktail of cell-signaling chemical compounds to additional wind again the organic clock of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), giving the cells the identical flexibility researchers have prized in mice ESCs. The investigators say the flexibility to reset the stem cells' developmental clock to an earlier stage gives new alternatives to efficiently coax human stem cells into making any form of cell on demand to be ...

Chinese herbal treatment shows signs of effectiveness in bone marrow recovery

More than 80 percent of cancers have increased telomerase activity, and other medical conditions are also associated with decreased or abnormal telomerase function. The ability to increase or decrease telomerase activity has important implications for treating cancers in which insufficient numbers of blood cells are produced. When a person's bone marrow is unable to keep up with the need for healthy blood cells, bone marrow failure is triggered. Bone marrow failure affects about seven in 100,000 people annually. TSY-1 has been used in China for many years to treat aplastic anemia, a condition in which the body stops producing enough new blood cells and myelodysplastic syndrome or preleukemia; both are associated with telomerase abnormality. The five-year study, led b y UCLA Jonsso n Comprehensive Cancer Center member Dr. Jianyu Rao, measured the ability of TSY-1 to affect telomerase activity in cancer cells lines, including one known as HL-60, as well as normal peripheral b...

New findings about stem cells in the brain of patients with epilepsy

"We have confirmed what earlier studies indicated, and gained new knowledge about molecular characteristics of these neural stem cells," says Milos Pekny, professor at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology. Neural stem cells with the ability to form new neurons in the brain are normally present in the hippocampus (the part of the brain connected to learning and memory) and in the subventricular zone of the brain. However, in 8 of 14 patients in the study, neural stem cells were present outside these regions, namely in the epileptic brain tissue that was surgically removed. Over 50 operations of this kind are conducted in Sweden each year, of which about 20 in Gothenburg, with most patients becoming seizure-free or having significant reduction in seizure frequency. After an extensive investigation aiming at the precise localization of the epileptic focus, brain tissue that is damaged due to malformation, injury or other cause, is surgically removed. Good teamwo...