Tremors, muscle stiffness, shuffling, slow movement, loss of balance. These are all symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder that progressively destroys the dopamine-producing neurons in the brain that control movement. While there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, there are drugs like Levodopa and procedures like deep brain stimulation that alleviate or improve … Continue reading Stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease shows promise in monkeys
Parkinson’s
Harnessing DNA as a programmable instruction kit for stem cell function
DNA is the fundamental molecule to all living things. The genetic sequences embedded in its double-helical structure contain the instructions for producing proteins, the building blocks of our cells. When our cells divide, DNA readily unzips into two strands and makes a copy of itself for each new daughter cell. In a Nature Communications report … Continue reading Harnessing DNA as a programmable instruction kit for stem cell function
Scientist grow diseased brain cells in bulk to study Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
Daily trips to the local grocery store have become a thing of the past for many with the rise of wholesale stores like Costco and online giants like Amazon. Buying in bulk is attractive for people who lead busy lives, have large families, or just love having endless pairs of clean socks. Scientists who study … Continue reading Scientist grow diseased brain cells in bulk to study Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
Stories that caught our eye: An antibody that could make stem cell research safer; scientists prepare for clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease; and the stem cell scientist running for Congress
Antibody to make stem cells safer: There is an old Chinese proverb that states: ‘What seems like a blessing could be a curse’. In some ways that proverb could apply to stem cells. For example, pluripotent stem cells have the extraordinary ability to turn into many other kinds of cells, giving researchers a tool to … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: An antibody that could make stem cell research safer; scientists prepare for clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease; and the stem cell scientist running for Congress
Listening is fine. Action is better. Why patients want more than just a chance to have their say.
Type in the phrase “the power of the patient voice” in any online search engine and you’ll generate thousands of articles and posts about the importance of listening to what patients have to say. The articles are on websites run by a diverse group from patients and researchers, to advocacy organizations and pharmaceutical companies. Everyone … Continue reading Listening is fine. Action is better. Why patients want more than just a chance to have their say.
Could the Answer to Treating Parkinson’s Disease Come From Within the Brain?
Sometimes a solution to a disease doesn’t come in the form of a drug or a stem cell therapy, but from within ourselves. Yesterday, scientists from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden reported an alternative strategy for treating Parkinson’s disease that involves reprogramming specific cells in the brain into the nerve cells killed off by the … Continue reading Could the Answer to Treating Parkinson’s Disease Come From Within the Brain?
How Parkinson’s disease became personal for one stem cell researcher
April is Parkinson's disease Awareness Month. This year the date is particularly significant because 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of British apothecary James Parkinson's "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy", which is now recognized as a seminal work in describing the disease. To mark the occasion we talked with Dr. Birgitt Schuele, … Continue reading How Parkinson’s disease became personal for one stem cell researcher
Stories that caught our eye: $20.5 million in new CIRM discovery awards, sickle cell disease cell bank, iPSC insights
CIRM Board launches a new voyage of Discovery (Kevin McCormack). Basic or early stage research is the Rodney Dangerfield of science; it rarely gets the respect it deserves. Yesterday, the CIRM governing Board showed that it not only respects this research, but also values its role in laying the foundation for everything that follows. The … Continue reading Stories that caught our eye: $20.5 million in new CIRM discovery awards, sickle cell disease cell bank, iPSC insights
Using stem cells to fix bad behavior in the brain
Diseases of the brain have many different names, from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to ALS and Huntington’s, but they often have similar causes. Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco are using that knowledge to try and find an approach that might be effective against all of these diseases. In a new CIRM-funded study, … Continue reading Using stem cells to fix bad behavior in the brain
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: 3D mini-lungs, Parkinson’s culprit, Motherless babies!
Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Mimicking human air sacs – a new lab tool for studying respiratory disease Studying a flat lawn of cells in a petri dish is so … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: 3D mini-lungs, Parkinson’s culprit, Motherless babies!
The Stem Cellar 