A combination drug trial to eradicate B-cell malignancies launched

13-Mar-2018 - Fueled by a multimillion dollar grant from the state's stem cell agency, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with local biotechnology company Oncternal Therapeutics, have launched a phase Ib/II clinical trial to evaluate the combined ...

The origin of stem cells

Protein WOX2 is responsible for enabling plants to develop organs throughout their lives

10-Feb-2017 - Freiburg plant biologist Prof. Dr. Thomas Laux and his research group have presented initial findings on how shoot stem cells in plants form during embryogenesis, the process of embryonic development. Pluripotent stem cells can develop into any type of cell in an organism. In contrast to animals, ...

TET proteins drive early neurogenesis

12-Dec-2016 - The fate of stem cells is determined by series of choices that sequentially narrow their available options until stem cells' offspring have found their station and purpose in the body. Their decisions are guided in part by TET proteins rewriting the epigenome, the regulatory layer of chemical ...

Updating embryo research guidelines

21-Nov-2016 - With advancing lab technology perhaps calling into question a longstanding guideline that prohibits experimentation on human embryos older than 14 days, scientists and ethicists gathered at Harvard Law School recently to discuss whether and how that stricture should be revised. Some speakers at ...

New hope for Zika treatment found in large-scale screen of existing drugs

31-Aug-2016 - Scientists report that a specialized drug screen test using lab-grown human cells has revealed two classes of compounds already in the pharmaceutical arsenal that may work against mosquito-borne Zika virus infections. In a summary of their work the investigators say they screened 6,000 existing ...

A gene called Prkci helps organize organisms and their organs

15-Jun-2016 - In the study, USC Stem Cell researcher In Kyoung Mah from the laboratory of Francesca Mariani and colleagues demonstrated Prkci's role in organizing cells into balls and tubes during early embryo and organ formation. In their experiments, the researchers used mouse stem cells to form what are ...

New biomarker to assess stem cells developed

02-Feb-2016 - A research team led by scientists from UCL have found a way to assess the viability of 'manufactured' stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The team's discovery offers a new way to fast-track screening methods used in stem cell research. iPSCs are derived from cells, usually ...

Memory loss enables the production of stem cells

11-Dec-2015 - Scientists from the Research Institutes of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) and Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna and from the Harvard Medical School in Boston have identified a long-sought “roadblock factor” in stem cell engineering that prevents the conversion of adult cells into induced ...

Image-tracking technology helps scientists study nature v. nurture in neural stem cells

07-Sep-2015 - One of the longstanding debates in science, that has, perhaps unsurprisingly, permeated into the field of stem cell research, is the question of nature versus nurture influencing development. Science on stem cells thus far, has suggested that, as one side of the existential debate holds: their ...

Stem cells help researchers study the effects of pollution on human health

12-Aug-2015 - A recent study shows that embryonic stem cells could serve as a model to evaluate the physiological effects of environmental pollutants efficiently and cost-effectively. The use of stem cells has found another facade. In the world we live in today, people are constantly exposed to artificial ...