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. “Let it Grow” Goes Viral (and National!): Last week on The Stem Cellar we shared one of our favorite student videos from our annual Creativity … Continue reading Stem Cell Stories that Caught our Eye: “Let it Grow” Goes Viral, Stroke Pilot Study, The Bowels of Human Stem Cells, Tumor ‘Safety Lock.’
Research News
Grafted Stem Cells Snake through Spinal Cord, CIRM-Funded Study Finds
New research lends increasing support to the notion that paralysis may not be so permanent after all. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have generated stem cells that, when grafted onto the injured spines of rats—traverse through the injury sites, coupling with nerve cells hidden beneath the damaged tissue. These results, published today … Continue reading Grafted Stem Cells Snake through Spinal Cord, CIRM-Funded Study Finds
CIRM Creativity Student Hanan Sinada’s ‘Extraordinary’ Journey as a Budding Scientist
This summer we’re sponsoring high school interns in stem cell labs throughout California as part of our annual Creativity Program. We asked those students to share their experiences through blog posts and videos. Today, we hear from Hanan Sinada, who has been busy at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. Extraordinary. That is the word … Continue reading CIRM Creativity Student Hanan Sinada’s ‘Extraordinary’ Journey as a Budding Scientist
Creaky Cell Machinery Affects the Aging Immune System, CIRM-Funded Study Finds
Why do our immune systems weaken over time? Why are people over the age of 60 more susceptible to life-threatening infections and many forms of cancer? There’s no one answer to these questions—but scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), have uncovered an important mechanism behind this phenomenon. Reporting in the latest issue … Continue reading Creaky Cell Machinery Affects the Aging Immune System, CIRM-Funded Study Finds
Blood Test Reveals Alzheimer’s Disease Risk, CIRM-Funded Study Finds
By the time someone begins to experience the clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, the damage has already been done. An accumulation of toxic proteins is causing brain cells to whither and die, taking with them a lifetime of precious memories. But what if we had a definitive test that could predict one’s risk of developing … Continue reading Blood Test Reveals Alzheimer’s Disease Risk, CIRM-Funded Study Finds
The Fatal Flip: How Nerve Cells go from Healthy to Cancerous
Every gene in the human genome has a job to do. One such gene, called Merlin, prevents cells from dividing out of control and forming into tumors. A so-called ‘tumor suppressor,’ Merlin has proven to be essential to maintaining healthy cell division. Scientists knew that without Merlin, nerve cells grew uncontrollably, often leading to tumors … Continue reading The Fatal Flip: How Nerve Cells go from Healthy to Cancerous
A Glimpse Inside the Cellular Universe: Scientists Track the Growth of an Organism, One Cell at a Time
Trying to keep tabs on how an organism grows from a single fertilized egg into an embryo, cell by cell, is hard work. So hard in fact, that no one’s quite figured out how to do it. The problem, as researchers have lamented, is that there’s just too much happening—all at the same time—for the … Continue reading A Glimpse Inside the Cellular Universe: Scientists Track the Growth of an Organism, One Cell at a Time
What was Old is New Again: Scientists Transplant Brain Cells into Aged Mice and Reverse Memory Loss
Alzheimer’s disease starts with small, almost imperceptible steps. And then it builds. Sometimes slowly over a period of decades, other times more quickly—in just a matter of years. But no matter the speed of progression, the end outcome is always the same. The sixth leading cause of death in the United State, Alzheimer’s develops as … Continue reading What was Old is New Again: Scientists Transplant Brain Cells into Aged Mice and Reverse Memory Loss
Stem Cells become Tool to Screen for Drugs; Fight Dangerous Heart Infections.
A Stanford study adds a powerful example to our growing list of diseases that have yielded their secrets to iPS-type stem cells grown in a dish. These “disease-in-a-dish” models have become one of the most rapidly growing areas of stem cell science. But this time they did not start with skin from a patient with … Continue reading Stem Cells become Tool to Screen for Drugs; Fight Dangerous Heart Infections.
Finding your Inner Rhythm: Cedars-Sinai Cardiologists Create Biological “Pacemakers” in the Heart
If your heart has trouble keeping a steady rhythm, you normally get a pacemaker: a small device that is inserted into your body and attached to your heart. About 300,000 people receive a pacemaker each year. But what if we could harness the body’s own cells to do what an external device does today? In … Continue reading Finding your Inner Rhythm: Cedars-Sinai Cardiologists Create Biological “Pacemakers” in the Heart
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