337 replies to this topic

[Cyto]

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Stem Cell Research News
Current Stem Cell News
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:::Requirements:::
(1). You will be limited to presenting information about stem cells.
(2). SCRN::IMMINST WILL NOT tolerate ANY swearing. People who fail to understand this will be BLACKLISTED from posting in the thread!
(3). Let us keep from repeating a post, look at above posts of previous days to make sure you don't post the same information, please.
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Begin News Review...

-=WHICH IS BETTER?=-

One "Hot Topic" of stem cells, in general, is the ESC vs. Adult SC.

Starting with ESC we know already that these totipotent cells can form anything if in the right Microenviroment. The microenviroment is the surrounding tissue, of the stem cell, which has been found to have ~4000 genes transcribing, which has an influence on the differentiation of the stem cell. (i.e. Myeloid precursors, B and T Lymphocites or coritcal SCs can specify in neural cells)

So the regenerative benefits of these cells are, for the most part, straight forward. There is one problem though which is keeping the mass-produced ESC from occurring genetic instability .

Now papers have been published stating that we should turn to adult stem cells and thus let the political "pro-life" agenda win. It doesn't directly state this in research papers but political workers can bend it to their agenda.

The most recent research article that casts more doubt on the adult stem cells, was reported on September 5, 2002. The experiment was conducted in Standford University and the results were: they could not coax the adult blood stem cell to form other tissues in the body.

"This is the first time somebody injected a single adult stem cell and showed that it made only blood." said Weissman, who is the lead author of this study. His study, in my point of view, illustrates that adult stem cells are mostly at the multipotent stage of specificity. Thusly it would be a tremendous effort to try and reprogram the cell just to make some cells return to a primitive stage. *there is a post down below that talks about doing this though*

What Weissman et al. did was: knock out mice bone marrow by irradiation then they took a single adult stem cell and injected it in the bone. They gave the stem cell a GFP tag or a green fluorescence protein tag which glows under a microscope (darkfield?), this would help track progeny later on when mitosis would occur.

After several weeks the stem cell (one) had repopulated the blood and immune cells of the mice. Then the researchers searched through 15 million cells all over the body they found one brain cell and seven liver cells that were green under the scope.

Now, the one brain and seven liver cells could of been an original cell fusing with the progeny of the stem cell (Developmental Cell has reported this to happen) OR it could of been the adult stem cell somehow had a massive regression of its gene array due to the influence of the microenviroments. The latter is very hard to believe.

Another experiment irradiated some mice intestines and put in one adult stem cell with the GFP to see if it would repopulate the intestines. After the intestines were reconstructed none of the green progeny showed up anywhere.

There are still researchers in the field that I hold respect for saying that they have seen adult stem cells form all types but I need extreme details. This is certainly not a game but quite a few professors are advocating that ESC are not needed. Overall, my two cents that I am sure a lot of people say too: Wait for the research!!! *look at the posts down, there is one on how miss-classification of stem cells are to blame*
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Edited by Bates, 24 January 2005 - 03:58 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=THERAPY=-
ReNeuron has licensed from the Australia Amrad Corp the patent covering cell immortalitization. They were going to start the human trials to inject embryonic stem cells into Parkinson's patients but they found that the cells loose genetic stability after being recreated many times. Now they plan to start at 2004 for the human trials. During this time they are going to continue work on the genetic stability problem. They have been working on it for around 2 years sofar.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 02 April 2003 - 11:55 PM.

[Cyto]

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-=GROWTH FACTOR=-

On October 7th:
"We isolated for the first time the stem cell in the brain that is responsible for the production of new nerve cells," Bartlett said. "This has allowed us to start to identify how this stem cell can be regulated to produce new nerve cells in our brains."

"By stimulating the production of new nerve cells in the brain, normal brain function — such as memory formation — could be enhanced," said Bartlett.

"It could also allow for the replacement of nerve cells lost because of a stroke, trauma or neurodegenerative ailments such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or motor neurone disease."

The place:
University of Queensland, Professor Perry Bartlett

Now:::
Bartlett will lead a group of researchers in setting up a cell-sorting facility for neuroscience and biotechnology after receiving a 500,000 dollar (260,000 dollar US) Australian government grant.

It will be very interesting to start looking at what nuclear factors can be contributing to this ability of stimulating mitosis. Research efforts of ReNeuron, Australia Amrad Corp, and Bartlett shows manipulating stem cells can be a frustrating job as well as rewarding.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 02 April 2003 - 11:58 PM.

[Cyto]

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-=ANTI-STEM CELLS=-

More than a year ago, President Bush restricted all federally funded scientists to use 78 existing stem-cell lines for their research.

Bush: Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great promise that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures.  This allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research without crossing a fundamental moral line..."

Did they also tell you that most of the lines have mice stem cells mixed in with them making it harder to characterize and know which ones are which? Leading researchers, yea right.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is one who supports tough restrictions on stem-cell use. A bill sponsored by Brownback would criminalize the use of any embryonic stem cells or stem cell-derived therapies obtained through human cloning.

"New advances in adult stem-cell research, being reported almost weekly, show more promise than destructive embryo research," Brownback said during a speech on the Senate floor last year.

Ok...

Bush: "Even the most noble ends do not justify the means."

So Bush, what do you think about the christian crusades, you know, killing all those people? So should we be outlawing christians? History shows they can be deadly.
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Edited by CarboniX, 06 October 2003 - 12:24 AM.

[Lazarus Long]

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-=STEM CELLS HELP: THE HEART=-

Ask and ye shall recieve

Stem Cells Offer Hope to Heart Attack Victims
Thu Jan 2, 7:07 PM ET Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Stem cells may help patients recover from heart attacks by triggering new cell growth in damaged tissue, scientists said on Friday.

Stem cells are so-called master cells that can develop into various tissues in the body and using them to repair damaged hearts is a hot area of medical research.

Two teams of doctors from Germany and Hong Kong reported promising results after transplanting stem cells extracted from bone marrow into heart muscle, although they said more research was needed on the procedure.

The aim of the procedure is to stimulate blood vessel growth in areas without sufficient blood supply, a process known as angiogenesis. It could eventually offer hope to patients with serious coronary heart disease and those unable to undergo bypass surgery.

Professor Gustav Steinhoff and colleagues from the University of Rostock, Germany, injected stem cells into six patients' hearts and found five had strikingly improved blood flow, suggesting the cells may have generated growth in damaged areas.

All patients, however, also underwent conventional bypass surgery. Steinhoff wrote in The Lancet medical journal that further clinical studies were needed to clarify the role of stem cells in the regeneration process.

A second group of scientists led by Hung-Fat Tse from the University of Hong Kong treated eight patients with stem cells from their own bone marrow and also observed an improvement in blood flow to the heart.

Last April, Australian surgeons carried out the world's first trial using bone-marrow stem cells to repair heart damage in a 74-year-old man.

Researchers hope to use stem cells to treat a variety of illnesses, including heart disease, brain disorders and diabetes.

The work is controversial because of the ethical issues surrounding the use of embryonic and fetal cells. Using adult stem cells culled from bone marrow solves that dilemma -- as well as potential problems with tissue rejection.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:01 AM.

[Lazarus Long]

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-=GENETICS OF STEM CELLS=-

Stem and cancer cells have something in common Shared protein patrols cell proliferation.
30 December 2002
KENDALL POWELL

Stem cell transplants could risk seeding cancers.
© GettyImages

The same protein may control the proliferation of stem cells and cancer cells, according to a new study1.

The finding will help researchers understand how both types of cell can divide indefinitely. But it also highlights concerns that stem cell transplants could run the risk of seeding cancers.

The discovery should help scientists manipulate stem cells to give an unlimited source for use in medicine, says Robert Tsai at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland. The hope is that stem-cell therapy will one day be able to replace or repair any damaged tissue in the body.

To do this, scientists must be able to control proliferation so that transplanted cells don't become cancerous. More researchers should be "paying attention to the molecular events that take part in the earliest stages of stem cells," says Julia Polak, director of Imperial College London's Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre.

The body normally maintains the ability of certain stem cells to renew themselves so that they can replace cells that wear out. Cancer cells hijack this property to transform into dividing tumours. The molecular link now established between stem cells and cancer cells "is something novel, as far as I'm aware," says Polak.

Tsai, and his colleague Ronald McKay showed that the protein nucleostemin is abundant in self-renewing cells such as mouse embryonic and neural stem cells and several human cancer cell lines.

By contrast, the protein is scarce in cells that have grown into a mature cell type and can no longer divide. Increasing or knocking down the level of nucleostemin in neural stem cells and cancer-like cells in the lab reduced their proliferation.

Although the exact function of nucleostemin is not yet known, it appears to behave like a molecular switch to control cell division. The researchers also showed that it binds to a protein called p53, which regulates cell proliferation and is implicated in many cancers.


References
Tsai, R. Y. L. & McKay, R. D. G. A nucleolar mechanism controlling cell proliferation in stem cells and cancer cells. Genes & Development, 16, 2991 - 3003, (2002). |Article|


© Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:02 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=COMPATABILITY ISSUE=-

Male donors transferred into females, and even better, I don't find anything saying they were related through genetics.

They found that the bone marrow stem cells differentiated into neurons in the women (detected the Y chromosome).

I haven't gotten a hold of the actual research paper but this provides another positive outlook for the regenerative capabilities of stem cells (mesenchymals). Also lets not forget the compatabilty issues!!!

Bone marrow does it all
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:06 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=GENETICS OF STEM CELLS=-

Scientists working with human embryonic stem cells have for the first time successfully spliced out individual genes from the medically promising but politically contentious cells and substituted different genes in their place.

The work is a step toward the biomedical goal of being able to rebuild or regenerate parts of the human body by transplanting either stem cells or tissues grown from stem cells into patients, scientists said. Precise genetic changes in those formative human cells might enhance their therapeutic potential or make them more compatible with patients' immune systems.

Some good news to my ears, along with the bone marrow transplants (above).
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[>] article 1

[>] article 2

[>]article 3 (better one)
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There are some points which do not apply to us:

Some scientists suggested the success might someday make it unnecessary to pursue "therapeutic cloning," in which cloned embryos would be created as a source of therapeutic tissues that match the genetic signature of the patient.

This is only for the people who have had a major illness or need something "right now" so they can avoid having to traumatize the patient even more by taking some major amounts of cells for culture.

For us is would still be: Utilize the nuclear transport technique by sucking out the unknown nucleus then put yours in. Course these nuclei are from you and would of underwent the knockout and replacement, to increase compentency (whatever gene replacements they may be). Emit the electrical discharge to make the plasma membrane close. "Trick" into dividing and have your culturing equipment ready.
It is understood that this ability to selectivly knock out genes and replace them with potentialy "better" ones can lead to increasing compatability of a cell line.
The problem I have is that it will take time to make sure a extreamly high percentage of the cells are able to be assimilated into other systems. When you could just clone your own with some of your epithelial cells, for example. Now, we do need to understand what genetic markers can "backstep" cells to be pluripotent, this could be useful for us. But we would still have mesenchymals as a backup. There is a really cool gene database at the SAGE KE site in the www.sciencemag.org website, $79 for the subscription.

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If you look to the link above about the bone marrow transplants it is interesting to find that the male bone marrow works for the female sex. I think it is safe to conclude that there is some "point" where the stem cells can still assimilate into other systems.

Interesting stuff and makes me feel better. The companies like: Stemsource, Vitacord, cryocord etc REFUSED to take my blood for genetic storage. With that option out of the way it will be necessary to further the understanding of what genes can "backstep cells" and im not talking about increasing the cells lifespan but for the pluripotency. The stem cell gene knockout and replacement techniques will aid in replacing 'X' genes and increasing competency.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:07 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=GENETICS OF STEM CELLS=-

Revisiting Nucleostemin, what is it?

Even though the topic about a nuclearprotein called nucleostemin, which has a direct influence on CNS (central nervous system) development, already has been posted I would like to revisit this interesting discovery...

As pluripotent nSCs transistion to a more differentiated phase of operation (cortical stem cells to neural stem cells, as example) the control over that specific cell lineage downregulates to the point where nucleostemin is no longer used as activly (hematopoietic is nucleostemin negative). So Tsai and McKay, the researchers, wanted to see what would happen if the nucleostemin was overexpressed and if mutations would occur in the "N-terminal and GTP-binding domains of the nucleostemin protein (2002)."

When overexpression of the nucleostemin gene occured it would decrease the diversification potentials of the stem cell. Looking at it closer, when the cell would try to replicate the DNA for division it would cease and the DNA wouldn't enter into the nucleostemin aggregates (concentrations). There would also be frequent cell deaths associated with this which could be triggered by the N-terminal interactions with p53, which regulates cell death - or the fact that if DNA replication commence correctly, then cell death will occur. This occurance also explains why there is a decrease in nucleostemin expression before Prophase, so things dont screw up. When the N-terminal domain is mutated cell death occurs since it can't interact with p53 and when the GTP-binding domain is mutated then aggregation occurs in random places - disrupting chromatin.

The regulation of this nucleostemin seems to be controlled by its GTP-binding domain but it is not known if being bound to GPT activates it or not.

Overall this protein has control over the cell death mainly in its, as Tsai and McKay put it, "primitive form (2002)." It is due to the binding with the p53 genome killswitch and if the GTP-domain is mutated, chances are, the cell will arrest and destruct.
A very interesting protein that becomes downregulated as the cell differentiates thus allowing the possibility of mutant death to occur. This sure increases quality of what cells actually are put to work in your body.

Cited Source:

Tsai, R. & McKay R. (2002) A nucleolar mechanism controlling cell proliferationin stem cells and cancer cells. Genes & Development, 16, 2991-3003.


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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:08 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=GROWTH FACTOR=-

Anyone know the recipe? <-Link Here)

New technology (unknown growth factor due to patent pending) developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory allows for pluripotent stem cells to be easily accessed from your own bloodstream. Once exposed to other growth factors they differentiated into nerve, liver and immune cells. The research will be posted later in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:09 AM.

[Aegist]

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-=THERAPY=-

Would it be possible, and would it be of any use, to remove a few Adult Stem Cells from a patient, of the type that that patient actually needs, exposing those stem cells to Telomerase, Culturing the cells for numerous doublings, then putting the stem cells back into the body?

This way we don't need to Totipotent cells, we only need to grab the multi- or even unipotent stem cells, as we need them, from where we need them.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:10 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=THERAPY=-

Since I want to maintain a biological body during life extension I do not want to take chances. To me, tinkering with the telomerase production is asking for our two forms of repair (GG-NER and TC-NER) to fail us and generate potentially cancerous cells. And we all know that cancer can evolve into some nasty webs of protein confusion. So trying to figure out how to "cure" the multiples of cancer would be time consuming and counter productive. Don't get me wrong, our two methods do work most of the time at fixing pyrimidine dimers (etc) but, lets not take the chance. Also, now that I think about it - a build up of mutations can also occur through mitotic replication.

As for the totipotent and pluripotent the only advantage one has over the other is toti can make fetal mass. Mesenchymals (pluri), which are found in the bone marrow can differ into anything so far - this is something like I want. And support that mesen's are still able to be compatible with different sexes and bloodlines is in an above post on bone marrow transplant section.

But this new growth factor seems to hold a lot of promise and I won't have to get the mesen's from my bone. I wonder if they can push it further to form other cell types...

It really aggravates me not knowing what composes these growth factors! Then I could find the gene array this functions with.

Your point is valid Another God, but I can't afford to take the chance. Unless we can improve upon the XP array for N.E.R. There are models we could try to copy but this would be something to pursue after we have secured several hundred years of life.

For quite some time I have been researching (looking in research articles) the myriads of core promoter elements and the interactions that occur during transcription, this will lead to better control of the stem cell genome and maybe increasing the sensitivity of GG-NER and TC-NER. But I have to have a strong and grandeur understanding, so bear with me. Its going to be an interesting future.

PS:The procedure you speak of sounds costly though, taking the cells from the patient may add more strain and the culturing can take months.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:10 AM.

[Mind]

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-=GROWTH FACTOR=-



Here is some additional information regarding blood stem cells from the Biochip Technology Center at Argonne National Laboratory:

The cells "are pretty rare ... but they can be expanded very easily," he said. The technique is "very simple," and many laboratories will be able to use it and move this field forward, he said.

Adding various growth factors, Huberman's group was able to get the monocyte stem cells to express markers that indicated they had become brain cells, liver cells and skin cells. They also succeeded in getting the stem cells to transform into cells of the immune system and cells lining blood vessels, he said.

In addition, the monocyte cells can be frozen and still retain their vitality. This indicates the cells could be obtained from frozen blood and used to treat patients. "If an individual donates blood, we can freeze it and later isolate these stem cells and hopefully use it in the future to help people," he said.

Here is a link to the full article Blood Stem Cells
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 15 April 2003 - 06:34 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=ANTI-STEM CELLS=-

On top of the news bit about the future of gene therapy I would also like to point out this other new bit:

On Feb 27 the House of Representatives voted to ban ALL forms of human cloning in a 241 to 155 result. EVERYTHING that has to do with ANY form of human cloning inside america will result in a $1,000,000 fine and 10 years in prison! Posting this unfortunate event is against the rules in this forum but we must also promote awareness of events in which will hinder results. In order to stay in america now it is a matter of looking into the Argonne National Laboratory results.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:14 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=CONTROLLING STEM CELLS=-

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have found how to control phenotypic occurrences in the genome. They have utilized RNA interference to actually tune genes for expression. These settings can be in the traditional "low" "medium" "high".

How does this help us? We can potentially control stem cells and how they differentiate. This may be done through inhibiting a transcript from reaching the Ribosome which could result in opening up the differentiation potential. Hence: keeping inhibitive proteins from further "deactivating certain potentials." This could be considered not really taking care of the problem "for good."
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:15 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=TOOLS TO STUDY STEM CELLS=-

3/3/2003 -- Researchers at the University of Rochester have created the highest resolution optical image ever, revealing structures as small as carbon nanotubes just a few billionths of an inch across. The new method should open the door to previously inaccessible chemical and structural information in samples as small as the proteins embedded in a cell's membrane. The research appears in today's issue of Physical Review Letters.

Small Small Small

Sofar they have a resolution of 20 nanometers but as the gold tip gets sharper and they improve the endurance of the material, it will get clearer. In other words: we can get closer to getting pictures that confirm different assemblies of the pre-initiation complex, craft better binding proteins(as well as others) and there is always more. But this will better our pursuit to control Eukaryotic Gene Regulation.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:16 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=TOOLS TO STUDY STEM CELLS=-

3/5/2003 -- University of Chicago physicists can use multiple beams of light to selectively sort microscopic particles, biological cells and large molecules, they will report Wednesday, March 5, at the American Physical Society meeting in Austin, Texas.

Full article here

Optical fractionation is based on holographic optical tweezers technology. HOT technology uses forces exerted by strongly focused, computer-generated holograms to create very large arrays of discrete optical traps. Each trap is capable of suspending a microscopic object motionless in three dimensions.

"It's a new approach based on very old principles," Grier said. "If you've seen the tiles on a Spanish roof that direct rainwater, in some respects this operates on the same principle."

The potential applications of optical fractionation include routine medical testing, pharmaceutical research and the development of entirely new biotechnological markets.

Optical fractionation is complementary to and more flexible than existing techniques such as gel electrophoresis, Grier said. Almost all of the existing techniques involve a competition between two forces that act in opposite directions along the same axis. In the case of gel electrophoresis, an applied electric field drives objects such as DNA in one direction, while the viscous drag of the gel opposes that motion.

One also can adjust the laser wavelength and power and the trap geometry, allowing the traps to instantly sort objects ranging in size from less than 100 nanometers (the size of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus), to near 100 micrometers (the diameter of a human hair).

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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:17 AM.

[sixfootbrit]

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-=Commentary=-

Combine the above two technologies and you have the worlds first 3 dimensional nanoscale manipulation device. The strides made in optical microscopes are overcoming the light wavelength "limitation"
Ah!! are we ready for this? [unsure]
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 08 May 2003 - 02:23 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=Commentary=-

The culture lag will always exist if something "violates" common beliefs. We do need the improvements so the molecular biologists, nanotech, chemical engineers (etc) can freely establish hypotheses and verify without having to worry about technology to provide an answer.

If anyone would like to futher this problem of culture lag, do so outside this thread.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 08 May 2003 - 02:24 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=ANTI-STEM CELLS CORRECTED=-

This is from the meeting when The House of Republicans decided to pass a ban on both therepeutic and human cloning.

Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., author of H.R. 534, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act, said on the House floor before the vote, "The fact of the matter is, the evidence isn't there"(source at bottom) to support the medical potential of therapeutic cloning.

"Weldon, who was a physician for 15 years and whose opinion on biotechnology is often given a lot of weight on Capitol Hill, insisted there was not a single study -- not even in animals -- indicating the technology could be used to treat disease." (same source at bottom)

Now when REAL scientists were asked about this they said he was plan wrong.

"Weldon's "statement is embarrassing particularly coming from somebody who supposedly has a medical degree," said Dr. Robert Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Mass., which is developing treatments based on therapeutic cloning." (source at bottom)

Weldon made me mad with his obvious lack of intelligence but decided to lie ot the House on the 27th. These articles that support ESCs can be found at very well known research mags like: genesdev.org - cellpress.com - nature.org - sciencemag.org.

A Nice Sum Up: "You'd be naïve to think there is no medical potential with this technology - You'd have to have your head in the sand." -- Lanza (source at bottom)



Source of quotes:
http://washingtontim...0...1-5844r.htm
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:20 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=ANTI-ESC vs. PRO-ESC=-



Dr. Sally Temple of Albany Medical Center vs. Dr. Virginia Giugliano of Albany IVF

Dr. Temple said, "One has to understand that the cells and the cell lines that we are talking about in no way resemble a baby. It's just a little group of cells that could not live outside of the culture dish." (source at bottom)

"Dr. Temple said the issue should not be controversial. People opposed to embryonic stem cell research make an inconsistent argument because more embryos are created than implanted during the in vitro fertilization process.

"If they would say to those people who want a baby 'How could you do this, how could you generate so many embryos knowing they are not going to be used?', they don't apply the argument in that case," said Dr. Temple." (source at bottom)

"She said, "What happens if the patients have finished their family building and they still have frozen embryos? If she's referring to those embryos, than the couple does have the right to donate those embryos to another couple. So in essence, they could be used for fertility aspects in another patient." (source at bottom)

In a moment I will give you Giugliano's side but since I favor Temple's she gets it first.
Look at the objective view that Temple has: they are cells that can't survive outside the dish, why don't the pro-life people battle with IVF clinics since they will discard some of the embryos. This is a good researcher, we need more with the objective answers.

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"Dr. Virginia Giugliano of Albany IVF disagrees and has a problem supporting embryonic stem cell research." (source at bottom)

Ok.

"She believes it is impossible to draw a definitive line between what is a life and what is just another group of cells." (source at bottom)

Life and "just another group of cells?" - Something is blatantly wrong here. Cells are alive. Is she talking about establishment of a brain? I don't think she is because then she would come off saying that the brain is the person and violate her religious views. I speculate that she has these.

"Dr. Giugliano said, "There are some people who believe, and there are scientists who believe also that life begins at conception when you've got just the egg and sperm coming together, and just genetic material coming together." (source at bottom)

Ok back up. Now sperm and egg = both haploid. In nature there are plenty of examples of halpontic adults (ie: Spirogyra, Marchantia) So, since "some people and some scientists think" non-life is haploid then all the species which have zygotic life-cycles are now the living dead. Since I doubt she would agree with what she just said I say she is just trying to smear science over a religious issue and making more of an ass of herself. And diploid organisms are nothing without their "dead" gametes.

"She added, "We have stem cells available which are thrown out every day in the umbilical cords of normal deliveries."
Giugliano said this would allow researchers to continue stem cell research without raising ethical questions.
Why not put the dollars into that area of research, as opposed to arguing about something that is very controversial. We are never going to be able to come to a decision where everyone is happy," said Giugliano." (source at bottom)

She is correct, we should take advantage of blood cord due to the understanding of hEukaryotic stem cells. Wait, so just because its controversial of laypeople and may hurt someones religious views means we should loose knowing how ESCs differ out to the multiples of cells? Sorry, just cause you don't think it's "right" doesn't mean the world is going to leave it. And your agruments have no basis so your shooting blanks.

"Giugliano said Temple grossly misrepresents what happens to these embryos. She said most of them are not discarded, but frozen, to potentially be used in the future. Giugliano also said that the majority of reproductive endocrinologists treat all embryos as if they were a potential, viable human being." (source at bottom)

There is an experation date on the viability of the embryos. So most will go to waste.

"Giugliano doesn't believe ethical issues over embryonic stem cell research will ever be solved. She stresses that the medical community should start to focus its attention on umbilical cord research." (source at bottom)

There is over 99% genetic similarity human to human, all research will be usefull to help backtrack cells and further control them.


Source: http://www.capitalne...=16960&SecID=17
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 15 April 2003 - 06:34 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=STEM CELLS HELP: THE HEART=-

"Until recently, the heart has been seen as an organ that cannot be healed," says Noel Caplice, M.D., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist"

T he researchers studied four female patients with leukemia who had survived 35 to 600 days after receiving bone-marrow transplants from male donors. Heart tissue samples were examined at autopsy using special staining techniques, which showed that a small portion of the heart-muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes, contained male genetic material and had therefore originated from the donor marrow. Of the more than 80,000 cell nuclei examined, about 1 in 425 (.23 percent) contained the y chromosome.

The study is important because it is the first confirmation that progenitor cells from outside the heart are capable of forming new heart muscle cells. "These progenitor cells are produced by the bone marrow and circulate in the blood," explains Dr. Caplice. "They are like stem cells in that they have potential to develop into various kinds of cells. Given the right biological signals, we have now shown they can become heart cells."

Source: http://www.bio.com/n...01619752&Page=1
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:20 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=Random=-

On March 13th the Law Lords in UK (all 5) voted to drop the last holds on ESC Research. They will still have the strict rules for handling such powerful cells but the point is research can move ahead. Now we have another problem...not enough SC Researchers. That's right folks, the US NIH Stem Cell Taskforce announced that there is a lack in the ability of people to properly culture stem cells. The NIH Taskforce is trying to mend this by sponsoring Stem Cell Training in colleges. Researchers say that it takes hands on experience to culture stem cells.

Also, to bring up something that still is hindering to scientists: Only 9 lines are able to be cultivated and 62 still won't culture. These mainly dysfunctional lines are the "Bush approved stem cells" and lets just say that: ES Cell International in Australia (five lines), University of California SF (one line), BresaGen Inc. Atlanta GA (one line), WiCell Research Inst. Madison Wisc. (two lines) ...makes it a little harder to get things done.


Something that I can't post here due to the tremendous amount of info and copyright will just have to be shortened: Understanding of the Epigenetic (gene memory) factors that play in the "role" of a differentiated cell are coming to light at a great speed. I would say in about 2 years we know exactly how it happens and what proteins (over-generalized) do what.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:21 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=CONTROLLING STEM CELLS=-

New Way to Grow Human Embryonic Stem Cells [!]

"Scientifically, using a variety of human cells to support the growth of human embryonic stem cells could speed the hunt for the signals that keep the primitive cells from changing. If that happens, we might not need any feeder cells at all."

"When it is time to create new stem cell lines, this issue will be very important," says Cheng. "Our results together with others' show that it should be possible to establish new stem cell lines without using mouse cells or proteins."

Very nice indeed. Finding:

scientists in Singapore reported using human cells -- one set from fetuses, one from the reproductive tract of women -- as feeder cells to grow human ES cells in the lab. But the cells from adult bone marrow have some distinct advantages, says Cheng.

is vague but, still holds promise for researchers being able to understand what growth factors can work best for our needs. Now we just need to get America to lift some of those nasty anti-ESC rules...
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:22 AM.

[caliban]

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-=Commentary=-

Only 9 lines are able to be cultivated and 62 still won't culture. These mainly dysfunctional lines are the "Bush approved stem cells"

Dear HelixX, could you cite your source for this?

Thanks in advance and also for the excellent information in this thread.

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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 08 May 2003 - 02:22 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=Commentary Response=-

Stem Cell Research News
Volume 5 No. 5
Information is on page 1 and 2.
Title of news article section: Lack of Trained Scientists, Not Stem Cells, Hinders Research, NIH Official Says

Direct quote:

"The NIH stem cell registry currently has nine Bush-approved "distribution quality" embryonic stem cell lines that have the ability to develop into somatic cells in vitro."

If you would like me to post some more direct quotes just ask.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 08 May 2003 - 02:23 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=PRO-STEM CELLS=-

And here we go...

In Albany, NY Christopher Reeve once again has spoken out against banning therapeutic cloning but this time he had some company. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver stated: "I have serious objections to the total ban on therapeutic cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer advanced by the Bush administration." The statement was made after the assembly voting 96-46 FOR therapeutic cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer).

"The federal government has failed in the past and it is likely to fail again," said Reeve. (direct quote)

"White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said President Bush supports efforts in Congress to ban all human cloning, but believes in advancing research through "ethical stem cell research.""(direct quote)

"Silver said he believes biotechnology companies would flock to New York and help boost the economy once it legalizes stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. Gov. George Pataki, who had not yet seen the Assembly proposal, said he supported stem cell research."(direct quote)

"The New York State Catholic Conference opposed the Assembly bill, calling it a "moral outrage."" (direct quote)

Source of information for my sum up and direct quotes: ]http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-...-...gional-wire

The New York State Catholic Conference opposed the Assembly bill, calling it a "moral outrage."

""We sympathize with those who suffer illnesses or disabilities that can potentially be aided by stem cell research. But nothing can justify the creation and killing of human beings for the purpose of possibly curing other human beings," said Executive Director Richard Barnes."

I will respond to this using another source (my sum up and direct quotes): http://seattletimes....emcells240.html

A woman named Dr. Lori Marshall who works at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle has a storage unit of embryos. This Center helps couples figure out what they would like to do with their embryos, the hot new thing to do is give them to research. But due to Bush and this pro-life agenda the storage unit is just sitting there with the embryos...letting the "life" go to waste.

"Marshall is frustrated. As an ethics panelist with the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, she believes embryos deserve special respect as potential human life — they shouldn't be sold, for example."(direct quote)

I agree, increasing information flow of stem cells shouldn't be costly.

A great sum up of two areas!

"The research

Meanwhile, stem-cell research is continuing in many places, though the Bush policy has had a big impact in limiting its scope. Some laboratories have steered away from stem-cell research completely because of the controversy, and U.S. scientists contend they will be at a significant disadvantage to their counterparts in Europe, where there are no restrictions.

Dr. Chuck Murry, an associate professor of pathology at the University of Washington, is attempting to use stem cells to regenerate human heart tissue. He received his first batch in August.

He said researchers are still trying to understand the basics — how the cells change from their primitive state into a specialized cell, or how the body controls their growth so they turn into heart muscle but don't become a tumor.

Much productive work can be done on existing stem cells, Murry said. But as science moves forward in the next two or three years, he said, researchers will begin clamoring for more diverse lines of stem cells, which can come only from new embryos.

The Bush policy does not restrict privately funded research, but so far, the biotech and pharmaceutical industries and their deep-pocketed investors have shown little willingness to pick up where the government is leaving off, because the research is not yet advanced enough to offer big returns on investment.

Private funding for research

In December, Stanford University received a $12 million anonymous donation to establish an institute to use stem cells from embryos in cancer studies. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is spending $4 million a year for a variety of stem-cell research, from embryos, adults and animals.

But such funding is minuscule compared with the muscle of the National Institutes of Health, which expects to spend $27.3 billion this year alone on medical research. That's enough money to set up an endowment the size of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation every year.

Marshall said unless the federal government throws its financial might behind more stem-cell research, she can see embryos piling up in freezers or being discarded.

"It's becoming clear that the rest of the world is going to learn things we're not going to learn," she said."(direct quote, source above)
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:26 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=WHICH ONE IS BETTER?=-

Paper titled: Fetal Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells Can Differentiate Sequentially into Neural Stem Cells and Then Astrocytes In Vitro (you can get it free at www.liebertpub.com/jht)

Hematopoietic stem cells taken from fetal hLiver have been grown in microenviroments with pre-existing astrocytes to develop hNeural stem cells. This isn't set in stone since they don't know if it actually carries out the complete functions of a neuron but it expresses genes (nestin, BMP-2) like a functioning neuron.

Took a while to look into this but I find it quite ponderous. I want to know if they work like regulars and if they do then I was wrong in my thought on regression being "hard to do." Cell memory modules (CMM) do play a major part in this of course, but the ability for other cells to influence this revamp of the placed factors is very interesting. Do the astrocytes detect lack of neurons, thus opening the cellular toolbox for reprograming? Are they freaking out? Where is this ability when neurodegenerative diseases are occurring? What genes are directly influenced to start up the gene locus alterations? This of course opens up some more questions... I welcome it since this could be displaying that all multipotents have a potential to be regressed - a pleasant plasticity if you will. But, we still have to see if they can "act" the part.
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:27 AM.

[Cyto]

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-=Random=-

Arkansa has banned all forms of cloning. North Dakota may follow. (aka: might join shit-list)

http://washingtontim...25-95699176.htm

"The European Parliament's Committee for the Environment and Public Health has backed calls from fellow MEPs for a comprehensive ban on human cloning and stem cell research."

http://dbs.cordis.lu...EN_RCN_ID:19975

"The lower house of parliament in Victoria, Australia has passed legislation to allow surplus IVF embryos to be used for stem cell research."

http://www.betterhum...ID=2003-03-26-1

[!] ON another note, www.StemCells.com is on free access. Have fun, I know I am!!! [!]
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 02 April 2003 - 11:52 PM.

[Cyto]

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-=WHICH ONE IS BETTER?=-

In the article: NIH Scientists Say Adult Stem Cells Can Be Reprogrammed it is reported that NIH researchers have shown directly from 5 women who received bone marrow transplants from their brothers that they have Y chrom cheek cells. I guess bone isn't supposed to differ into cheek cells. So this provides strong evidence that adult stem cells can somehow regress back to a primitive state then re-differentiate (aka transdifferentiation). Interesting indeed.

Source: Stem Cell Research News March 28, 2003
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Edited by XxDoubleHelixX, 03 April 2003 - 12:28 AM.