San Diego regenerative medicine company ViaCyte announced this week that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved their Investigational New Drug (IND) Application for PEC-Direct, a cell-based therapy to treat patients at risk for severe complications caused by type 1 diabetes. In the US, IND approval is the final regulatory step required before a therapy … Continue reading ViaCyte Advances Cell Replacement Therapy for High Risk Type 1 Diabetes
News
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: lab-grown blood stem cells and puffer fish have the same teeth stem cells as humans
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. Scientists finally grow blood stem cells in the lab! Two exciting stem cell studies broke through the politics-dominated headlines this week. Both studies, published in … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: lab-grown blood stem cells and puffer fish have the same teeth stem cells as humans
Stem cell-derived blood-brain barrier gives more complete picture of Huntington’s disease
Like a sophisticated security fence, our bodies have evolved a barrier that protects the brain from potentially harmful substances in the blood but still allows the entry of essential molecules like blood sugar and oxygen. Just like in other parts of the body, the blood vessels and capillaries in the brain are lined with endothelial … Continue reading Stem cell-derived blood-brain barrier gives more complete picture of Huntington’s disease
Bridging the Gap: Regenerating Injured Bones with Stem Cells and Gene Therapy
Scientists from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have developed a new stem cell-based technology in animals that mends broken bones that can’t regenerate on their own. Their research was published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine and was funded in part by a CIRM Early Translational Award. Over two million bone grafts are conducted every year … Continue reading Bridging the Gap: Regenerating Injured Bones with Stem Cells and Gene Therapy
UCSD scientists devise tiny sensors that detect forces at cellular level
A big focus of stem cell research is trying to figure how to make a stem cell specialize, or differentiate, into a desired cell type like muscle, liver or bone. When we write about these efforts in the Stem Cellar, it’s usually in terms of researchers identifying proteins that bind to a stem cell’s surface … Continue reading UCSD scientists devise tiny sensors that detect forces at cellular level
Positively good news from Asterias for CIRM-funded stem cell clinical trial for spinal cord injury
Whenever I give a talk on stem cells one of the questions I invariably get asked is “how do you know the cells are going where you want them to and doing what you want them to?” The answer is pretty simple: you look. That’s what Asterias Biotherapeutics did in their clinical trial to treat … Continue reading Positively good news from Asterias for CIRM-funded stem cell clinical trial for spinal cord injury
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: update on Capricor’s heart attack trial; lithium on the brain; and how stem cells do math
Today our partners Capricor Therapeutics announced that its stem cell therapy for patients who have experienced a large heart attack is unlikely to meet one of its key goals, namely reducing the scar size in the heart 12 months after treatment. The news came after analyzing results from patients at the halfway point of the … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: update on Capricor’s heart attack trial; lithium on the brain; and how stem cells do math
Kidney Disease: There’s an Organ-on-a-Chip for That
“There’s an app for that” is a well-known phrase trademarked by Apple to promote how users can do almost anything they do on a computer on their mobile phone. Apps are so deeply ingrained in everyday life that it’s hard for some people to imagine living without them. (I know I’d be lost without google … Continue reading Kidney Disease: There’s an Organ-on-a-Chip for That
Engineered bone tissue improves stem cell transplants
Bone marrow transplants are currently the only approved stem cell-based therapy in the United States. They involve replacing the hematopoietic, or blood-forming stem cells, found in the bone marrow with healthy stem cells to treat patients with cancers, immune diseases and blood disorders. For bone marrow transplants to succeed, patients must undergo radiation therapy to … Continue reading Engineered bone tissue improves stem cell transplants
A call to put the ‘public’ back in publication, and make stem cell research findings available to everyone
Thomas Gray probably wasn’t thinking about stem cell research when, in 1750 in his poem “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”, he wrote: “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen”. But a new study says that’s precisely what seems to happen to the findings of many stem cell clinical trials. They take place, but … Continue reading A call to put the ‘public’ back in publication, and make stem cell research findings available to everyone
The Stem Cellar 