Stem cell research for diabetes is in a Golden Age. In the past few years, scientists have developed methods to generate insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cell-like cells from embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), and even directly from human skin. We’ve covered a number of recent studies in this area on our blog, … Continue reading Scientists Make Insulin-Secreting Cells from Stem Cells of Type 1 Diabetes Patients
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Taking Steps Toward Personalized Heart Transplants
Over five million Americans have heart failure (HF), a condition in which the heart muscles become too weak to pump an adequate amount of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the body’s other organs. People with heart failure suffer from shortness of breath, chronic weakness and a fifty percent chance of dying within the first five … Continue reading Taking Steps Toward Personalized Heart Transplants
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: sexual identity of organs, upping the game of muscle stem cells, mini guts produce insulin
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. A new sexual identity crisis—in our organs. With the transition from Mr. to Ms. Jenner and other transsexual news this year, it seems inevitable that … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: sexual identity of organs, upping the game of muscle stem cells, mini guts produce insulin
Protective cell therapy could mean insulin independence for diabetic patients
This has already been a productive year for diabetes research. Earlier this month, scientists from UCSF and the Gladstone Institutes successfully made functional human pancreatic beta cells from skin, providing a new and robust method for generating large quantities of cells to replace those lost in patients suffering from type 1 diabetes. Today marks another … Continue reading Protective cell therapy could mean insulin independence for diabetic patients
While You Were Away: Gene Editing Treats Mice with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Welcome back everyone! I hope you enjoyed your holiday and are looking forward to an exciting new year. My favorite thing about coming back from vacation is to see what cool new science was published. Because as you know, science doesn’t take a vacation! As I was reading over the news for this past week, … Continue reading While You Were Away: Gene Editing Treats Mice with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: growing better bone, synthetic diaphragms, nerves that make music
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. A better way to grow bone. The term hydrogel gets tossed around a lot in tissue engineering discussions. The porous, generally pliable materials used to … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: growing better bone, synthetic diaphragms, nerves that make music