Editors   Breakthrough?: British Scientists to Create Unlimited Blood Supply From Embryonic Stem Cells   3/23/2009 9:09:00 AM    
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   Further Advance in Artificial Stem Cells - Blood Platelets Created   2/9/2009 12:28:00 PM    1 comment
Kyoto University's Shinya Yamanaka and University of Tokyo's Naoya Takayama were the first in the world to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) cells (think artificial embryonic stem cells) using skin cells from mice in 2006, then in humans in November 2007. They have now proceeded to the next step by creating blood platelets using these cells.

Editors   Video: How Stem Cells Develop From Embryonic to Adult Cells   1/26/2009 9:00:00 AM    
Intermediate level 8 minute video explains how stem cells develop from embryo to adult cells.

Has beautiful graphics showing self replenishing cells in the intestines (similar to the ones in the skin, hair, and bones).

Explains how the nervous system, pancreas and the heart all regenerate too poorly to restore themselves after serious injury or degenerative disease.

Editors   Breakthrough: Origin of Blood Stem Cells Discovered   1/18/2009 11:50:00 AM    
The timeline of development of blood (hematopoietic) stem cells (HSCs) from the embryo to bone marrow has been proven in mice by a research team led by Nancy Speck, PhD, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

HSCs are found in the bone marrow of adults and generate all of the blood cell types in the body.

During developmen...