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Showing posts from September, 2017

New research shows promise for the production of patient-matched blood cells for therapies, disease modeling and drug screening

The approach is reliable, cost-effectiv e and relatively simple. By eliminating variables used in other systems, the lab has streamlined the process of developing blood cell precursors. This allows scientists to study the factors that affect early stages of blood cell development, and provides a mechanism for clinician-researchers to develop therapies for patients. In a series of experiments, the lab converted adult skin cells into hPSC and then used these patient specific cells to optimize their platform of blood cell precursor derivation. Various assays were employed in order to demonstrate the ability of blood cell precursors to form mature cells of blood lineage. The cells were identified in collaboration with immunology labs at Lurie Children's and Rosalind Franklin University. A description of the work, entitled "Cytokine Free Directed Differentiation of hPSC Efficiently Produces Hemogenic Endothelium With Lymphoid Potential," is published online in the journa...

First patient cured of rare blood disorder

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David Levy, proven right here along with his sister, is the primary grownup affected person cured of CDA. Credit score: David Levy Utilizing a way that avoids the usage of high-dose chemotherapy and radiation in preparation for a stem cell transplant, physicians on the College of Illinois Hospital & Well being Sciences System have documented the primary treatment of an grownup affected person with congenital dyserythropoietic anemia. CDA is a uncommon blood dysfunction by which the physique doesn't produce sufficient pink blood cells, inflicting progressive organ harm and early loss of life. The transplant method is exclusive, as a result of it permits a donor's cells to step by step take over a affected person's bone marrow with out utilizing poisonous brokers to eradicate a affected person's cells previous to the transplant. Dr. Damiano Rondelli, the Michael Reese Professor of Hematology on the College of Illinois at Chicago, says the protoc...

Parsley and other plants lend form to human stem cell scaffolds

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Human fibroblast cells, frequent connective tissue cells, rising on decellularized parsley. A staff of UW-Madison researchers from the lab of bioengineering Professor William Murphy is exploring the usage of vegetation to make the three-dimensional buildings that will sooner or later be used to restore bone and tissue. Credit score: Gianluca Fontana/UW-Madison Borrowing from nature is an age-old theme in science. Type and performance go hand-in-hand within the pure world and the buildings created by vegetation and animals are solely hardly ever improved on by people. Taking that lesson to coronary heart, scientists on the College of Wisconsin-Madison are utilizing the decellularized husks of vegetation equivalent to parsley, vanilla and orchids to kind three-dimensional scaffolds that may then be primed and seeded with human stem cells to optimize their development within the lab dish and, in the end, create novel biomedical implants. Writing March 20 within the jo...

Testing the efficacy of new gene therapies more efficiently

Better Cell Model Developed Thanks to 'Gene Scissors' Recently, a research team headed by Janine Reichenbach, a UZH professor and Co-Head of the Division of Immunology at the University Children's Hospital Zurich, has developed a new cellular model that enables to test the efficacy of new gene therapies much more efficiently. "We used Crispr/Cas9 technology to change a human cell line so that the blood cells show the genetic change typical of a specific form of Chronic Granulomatous Disease," explains the pediatrician and immunologist. In this way, the modified cells reflect the disease genetically and functionally. Until now, scientists had to rely on using patients' skin cells that they had reprogrammed into stem cells in the lab. This approach is laborious, and requires considerable time and money. "With our new testing system, this process is faster and cheaper, enabling us to develop new gene therapies for affected patients more efficiently,...

Surprising new role for lungs: Making blood

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Launch of platelets within the lung vasculature. Credit score: Picture courtesy of College of California - San Francisco Utilizing video microscopy within the residing mouse lung, UC San Francisco scientists have revealed that the lungs play a beforehand unrecognized function in blood manufacturing. As reported on-line March 22, 2017 in  Nature , the researchers discovered that the lungs produced greater than half of the platelets -- blood parts required for the clotting that stanches bleeding -- within the mouse circulation. In one other shock discovering, the scientists additionally recognized a beforehand unknown pool of blood stem cells able to restoring blood manufacturing when the stem cells of the bone marrow, beforehand considered the principal web site of blood manufacturing, are depleted. "This discovering undoubtedly suggests a extra subtle view of the lungs -- that they are not only for respiration but additionally a key associate in formation of e...

Major breakthrough in the manufacture of red blood cells

The team, from the University of Bristol and NHS Blood and Transplant, were able to manufacture red blood cells in a more efficient scale than was previously possible. The results, published in  Nature Communications , could, if successfully tested in clinical trials, eventually lead to a safe source of transfusions for people with rare blood types, and in areas of the world where blood supplies are inadequate or unsafe. Previously, research in this field focused on growing donated stem cells straight into mature red blood cells. However that method presently produces small numbers of mature cells and requires repeat donations. The world-leading team in Bristol have now developed a robust and reproducible technique which allows the production of immortalised erythroid cell lines from adult stem cells. These premature red cells can be cultured indefinitely, allowing larger-scale production, before being differentiated into mature red blood cells. Dr Jan Frayne, from the Un...

New stem cell method produces millions of human brain and muscle cells in days

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These stem cells are being grown in to muscle cells (myocytes), utilizing a brand new approach, OPTi-OX, that may develop them in a couple of days as a substitute of months. The ensuing muscle cells are absolutely useful and contract usually. The OPTi-OX technique may very well be used to make many cell varieties that have not been attainable to develop earlier than. Credit score: Matthias Pawlowski et al. Stem Cell Experiences (2017) Wellcome Belief Sanger Institute Wellcome Belief - Medical Analysis Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute Wellcome Belief Sanger Institute scientists and their collaborators on the College of Cambridge have created a brand new approach that simplifies the manufacturing of human mind and muscle cells -- permitting thousands and thousands of useful cells to be generated in just some days. The outcomes printed in  Stem Cell Experiences  open the door to producing a variety of recent cell varieties that might not be made earlier than ...

New tools to study the origin of embryonic stem cells

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Immunofluorescence microscopy reveals the completely different protein profiles of immature stem cells (colored pink) and mature stem cells (colored inexperienced). Credit score: Sarita Panula Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have recognized cell floor markers particular for the very earliest stem cells within the human embryo. These cells are thought to own nice potential for changing broken tissue however till now have been troublesome to tell apart from classical embryonic stem cells. The examine is printed within the journal  Cell Stem Cell . Through the first week of fertilisation, the embryo grows from a single cell right into a blastocyst, a hole cluster of some hundred cells. The blastocyst then attaches itself to the wall of the uterus (implantation), and for a restricted interval from fertilisation to a couple days after implantation the embryo incorporates pluripotent stem cells. These cells can grow to be all of the physique's cell varieties and a...

Molecular roadmap of human stem cell states

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Use of the immunofluorescent microscopy visualization method reveals the presence of particular proteins in naive human embryonic stem cells. The stem cells have been coloured to symbolize the totally different proteins detected on this examine. Credit score: Dr. Sarita Panula, Karolinska Institute Researchers have recognized a set of molecular 'flags' which are current on the floor of human stem cells. Stem cells are cells which have the potential to distinguish into quite a lot of specialised cells. By recognising the flags, researchers can now precisely monitor and examine stem cells because the cells transition between totally different states. This method has revealed new insights into the timing and coordination of the modifications in gene exercise and modifications to the DNA that happen as cells are reprogrammed from one state to a different. These findings will open up new methods to enhance the effectivity of cell reprogramming and to drive stem cell...

Stem cells shown to restore erection capability in men with erectile dysfunction

In recent years several groups have worked to develop stem cell therapy as a cure for erectile dysfunction, but until now the improvements have not been sufficient to allow affected men to achieve full sexual intercourse. Results presented at the European Association of Urology conference in London show that 8 out of 21 have successfully regained sexual function. Lead researcher, Dr Martha Haahr (Odense University Hospital) said "What we have done establishes that this technique can lead to men recovering a spontaneous erection -- in other words, without the use of other medicines, injections, or implants. We are now beginning a larger Phase 2 trial to better evaluate its effectiveness and confirm its safety." Erectile dysfunction affects nearly half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 to some degree. There are several possible causes, including surgery (e.g. prostate surgery), high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and psychological problems. Current re...