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Editors Policy: Obama Embryonic Stem Cell Funding May be Less Than Bush 5/20/2009 5:40:00 PM

Comment now Policy: Obama Embryonic Stem Cell Funding May be Less Than Bush

Proposed Obama administration rules on funding of embryonic stem cells would be more restrictive than those of the prior Bush administration. Obama would require prior informed consent.

Editors Breakthrough: Human Hearts Can Grow New Cells 4/20/2009 11:50:00 AM

Comment now Breakthrough: Human Hearts Can Grow New Cells

In the April 3 issue of the journal Science, a team from University of Toronto and University of Wisconsin-Madison announced their discovery that heart cells regenerate throughout a human lifetime, with a 1 percent annual turnover rate at age 25, falling to a 0.45 percent turnover rate at age 75.

Therefore, the human heart must have it's own stem cells.

Editors World's Second Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cells May Make the Blind See Again 4/20/2009 11:00:00 AM

Comment now World's Second Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cells May Make the Blind See Again

In what would be the second human trials of embryonic stem cells (the first for spinal cord injuries), a UK team is applying for regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Human Tissue Authority, in order to replace damaged cells caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness.

Embryonic stem cells will be re...

Editors Horse Stem Cell Technique to be Tested on Humans 4/16/2009 9:00:00 AM

Comment now Horse Stem Cell Technique to be Tested on Humans

It's rare for veterinary medicine to lead human medicine, but race horses are a different breed. A stem cell technique that has been used to quickly repair the tendons of race horses will be tried in humans for the first time.

British biotech firm MedCell Bioscience Ltd said on Wednesday it would start clinical tests within 12 months to extract Mesenchymal adult stem cells from a patien...

Editors Is Farah Fawcett Fighting Cancer with Stem Cell Therapy in Germany? 4/10/2009 9:40:00 AM

Comment now Is Farah Fawcett Fighting Cancer with Stem Cell Therapy in Germany?

Farrah Fawcett was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and was originally treated at The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with chemotherapy and radiation.

Her spokesman, producer Craig Nevius, announced late Monday the cancer has spread to her liver.

Several unsubstantiated reports say Fawcett has been receiving stem cell treatments in Germany, possibly for more than year. Nevius denie...

Editors Breakthrough?: British Scientists to Create Unlimited Blood Supply From Embryonic Stem Cells 3/23/2009 9:09:00 AM

Comment now Breakthrough?: British Scientists to Create Unlimited Blood Supply From Embryonic Stem Cells

Imagine ending the need for blood drives.

UK teams at NHS Blood and Transplant, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the Wellcome Trust, the world's biggest medical research charity, may do just that.

These scientists are working on becoming the world's first producers of unlimited amounts of artificial human blood from embryonic stem cells for blood transfusions.<...

Editors SHOCK: Obama Signs Bill Banning Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cells 3/13/2009 1:20:00 PM

Comment now SHOCK: Obama Signs Bill Banning Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cells

President Obama signed H.R. 1105, the “Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (aka omnibus appropriations bill) on Wednesday which included a hidden provision that explicitly bans federal funding of any "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death."

This bill is counter to the claims of Obama made just Monday where "sc...

Editors Executive Order: REMOVING BARRIERS TO RESPONSIBLE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN STEM CELLS 3/9/2009 1:00:00 PM

Comment now Executive Order: REMOVING BARRIERS TO RESPONSIBLE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN STEM CELLS

The text of President Obama's Executive Order lifting restrictions on Federal funding of embryonic stem cells.

Editors Policy: Obama Signs Executive Order Authorizing Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research 3/9/2009 11:45:00 AM

Comment now Policy: Obama Signs Executive Order Authorizing Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

President Obama signed an Executive Order authorizing Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research - overturning President Bush's ban on such funding.

Stay tuned for the details of the order.

Editors Speech: Obama Authorizes Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research March 9 2009 3/9/2009 11:45:00 AM

Comment now Speech: Obama Authorizes Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research March 9 2009

President Obama authorizes Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research by signing an Executive Order.

Editors Video: Facts - What are Cancer Stem Cells? 3/8/2009 9:20:00 PM

Comment now Video: Facts - What are Cancer Stem Cells?

Video about cancer stem cells by Dr. Mike Magee of Health Politics.

Stem cells have these properties, they can: self-renew, multiply, and proliferate extensively. We normally think about stem cells as being good and having healing properties.

But if those properties are subverted by the body, they may become "evil" stem cells and may cause cancer. (There is some dispute at this...

Editors FLASH: Policy: Obama to Sign Embryonic Stem Cell Executive Order Monday 3/6/2009 4:06:00 PM

Comment now FLASH: Policy: Obama to Sign Embryonic Stem Cell Executive Order Monday

President Obama will sign an executive order Monday authorizing Federal funds to be used in embryonic stem cell research.

This was widely expected. However, it is ironic this funding will be available just as embryonic stem cells may not be needed with the recent advances in 'artificial' embryonic stem cells (aka iPS or induced pluripotent cells).

Editors Breakthrough: Induced Stem Cells Now Made Cancer Free 3/6/2009 9:30:00 AM

Comment now Breakthrough: Induced Stem Cells Now Made Cancer Free

Since 2007, scientists have been able to reprogram adult stem cells, like skin, into (artificial) embryonic stem cells by using viruses or genes. However, these inserted viruses or genes had the potential to cause cancer or other problems.

Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch' stem cell research team at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., recently found a way to ...

Editors Deal: Stem Cells Inc. Diversifies with Embryonic Stem Cell Acquisition 3/6/2009 8:40:00 AM

Comment now Deal: Stem Cells Inc. Diversifies with Embryonic Stem Cell Acquisition

US based Stem Cells, Inc. (StemCells) acquires UK and Australia based Stem Cell Sciences plc in $5 million stock and cash deal.

This is StemCells's gambit to diversify from being solely an adult stem cell business into being a global provider of embryonic stem cells, induced stem cells (artificial embryonic), and adult stem cells.

Editors Policy: Are Embryonic Stem Cells Obsolete? 3/5/2009 9:50:00 AM

Comment now Policy: Are Embryonic Stem Cells Obsolete?

With the recent advances in reprogramming adult stem cells to mimic embryonic stem cells, and their increased survival rate in patients, has the need for embryonic stem cell research ended?

Bernadine Healy, M.D., the former head of the National Institutes of Health, and the American Red Cross, states her case.

Editors Breakthrough: Australian Scientists Regrow Mice Muscle Tissue from Adult Stem Cells 3/4/2009 10:05:00 AM

Comment now Breakthrough: Australian Scientists Regrow Mice Muscle Tissue from Adult Stem Cells

Australian scientists have become the first in the world to use adult stem cells (from a donor) to regrow damaged muscle tissue (in mice), offering hope to sufferers of muscular dystrophy.

They overcame the problem of getting the donor cells to survive for more than an hour.

Editors Policy: Embryonic Stem Cell Bill Reintroduced in US Senate 2/27/2009 10:30:00 AM

Comment now Policy: Embryonic Stem Cell Bill Reintroduced in US Senate

Senators Tom Harkin, (D) Iowa, and Arlen Specter, (R) Pennsylvania, reintroduced a Senate bill that would allow federal financing for human embryonic stem-cell research, in anticipation of President Obama’s support.

The same bill was approved by both houses of Congress in 2007, then vetoed by President Bush.

Editors Breakthrough: UCLA Team Creates Nerve Cells From Skin - Bypassing Embryos 2/25/2009 10:27:00 AM

Comment now Breakthrough: UCLA Team Creates Nerve Cells From Skin - Bypassing Embryos

A team from the University of California Los Angeles led by William Lowry, created the first motor neurons from artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, which were in turn created from ordinary skin cells.

This has huge implications for the debate over the use of and need for embryonic stem cells.

Their next step is to attach their neur...

Editors FDA: NeuralStem's Fetal Stem Cell Study for Lou Gehrig's Patients on Hold 2/25/2009 9:50:00 AM

Comment now FDA: NeuralStem's Fetal Stem Cell Study for Lou Gehrig's Patients on Hold

The US FDA put a hold on NeuralStem's clinical study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The company had intended to test its ability to safely inject fetal stem cells into the spinal cords of patients and fully replace the damaged spinal cord cells.

See Editors Human Trials: Man Cured of Multiple Sclerosis Using Adult Stem Cells 2/23/2009 11:40:00 AM

Comment now Human Trials: Man Cured of Multiple Sclerosis Using Adult Stem Cells

A Northwestern University clinical trial using adult stem cells 'cures' Edwin McClure, a Virginia Commonwealth University advertising graduate student with multiple sclerosis.

Stem cells were removed from his bone marrow and grown in a lab. His existing cells were destroyed by chemotherapy, then replaced by the new ones via injection.

His symptoms have since disappeared.

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