Researchers Derive Animal-free Stem Cells
Scientists working at the WiCell Research Institute, a private laboratory affiliated with UW-Madison, have developed a precisely defined stem cell culture system free of animal cells and used it to derived two new human embryonic stem cell lines.
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UPMC Affiliate Gets $4.2 million Grant to Develop Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s
A foundation established by actor Michael J. Fox is giving $4.2 million to a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center affiliate called RheoGene Inc. to develop gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
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Sickle Cell Disease Corrected in Human Models Using Stem Cell-Based Gene Therapy
In a study to be published in the January 2006 issue of Nature Biotechnology, researchers led by a team of scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have devised a novel strategy that uses stem cell-based gene therapy and RNA interference to genetically reverse sickle cell disease (SCD) in human cells.
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Penn Study Finds Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments Mobilize Stem Cells
According to a study to be published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulation Physiology, a typical course of hyperbaric oxygen treatments increases by eight-fold the number of stem cells circulating in a patient’s body.
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Could Knee Stem Cells Offer New Hope on Arthritis?
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Altered Cells Deliver Parkinson’s Therapy to Brain
Genetically modified nerve ‘progenitor’ cells can be used as mini-pumps to deliver nerve growth factor to the brain, a new study in animals shows.
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MIT Researcher Finds Neuron Growth in Adult Brain
Despite the prevailing belief that adult brain cells don’t grow, a researcher at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory reports in the Dec. 27 issue of Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology that structural remodeling of neurons does in fact occur in mature brains.
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Gene Therapy Trials in the Works to Treat Hereditary Blood Diseases
Scientists in New York have developed a gene therapy they say may cure two pervasive blood disorders, and the first round of human trials is expected to begin within six months.
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Bare Metal Stents Deliver Gene Therapy To Animal Heart Vessels
Improved materials may allow stents, tiny metal scaffolds inserted into blood vessels, to better deliver beneficial genes to patients with heart disease, by reducing the risk of inflammation that often negates initial benefits.
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Cedars-Sinai Researchers Demonstrate a New Way to Switch Therapeutic Genes ‘On’ and ‘Off’
A gene therapy research team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has developed a new method of signaling therapeutic genes to turn “off” or “on,” a mechanism that could enable scientists to fine-tune genetic- and stem cell-based therapies so that they are safer, more controllable and more effective.
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New Blow to S. Korea Clone Work
South Korea’s disgraced human cloning scientist did not produce any stem cells tailored to individual patients as claimed, a panel has concluded.
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The Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University Health Sciences Center to Offer Autologous Stem/Progenitor Cells (MSCs) for Clinical Trials
The Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University Health Sciences Center is pleased to announce that it is preparing to offer stem/progenitor cells (MSCs) for use in Phase I/II clinical trials.
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ABSTRACT, REVIEWS, & SPECIAL REPORTS
An Alternative and Effective HIV Vaccination Approach Based on Inhibition of Antigen Presentation Attenuators in Dendritic Cells
This study represents the first, to our knowledge, attempt to elicit HIV-specific T cell and antibody responses by inhibiting a host’s antigen presentation attenuator, which may open a new and alternative avenue to develop effective therapeutic and prophylactic HIV vaccines.
Abstract
A Novel Method of Modifying Immune Responses By Vaccination With Lipiodol-siRNA Mixtures
This simple method of in vivo modification of immune response possesses therapeutic potential in Th1-mediated diseases such as multiple sclerosis and autoimmune diabetes.
Abstract
Purification and Unique Properties of Mammary Epithelial Stem Cells
Here we report the use of multi-parameter cell sorting and limiting dilution transplant analysis to demonstrate the purification of a rare subset of adult mouse mammary cells that are able individually to regenerate an entire mammary gland within 6 weeks in vivo while simultaneously executing up to ten symmetrical self-renewal divisions.
Abstract