Jonathan Knight George W. Bush has won the presidential election. But Republicans are not the only ones celebrating the poll results: biologists who wish to pursue human embryonic stem-cell research have also had good news. All they have to do is move to California, if they aren't already there, and apply for a share of the $3 billion that voters have just approved for their field. By 59% to 41% of votes, Californians said "yes" to Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, which will raise around $300 million a year for a decade through bond sales. The money will pay for research that has not been eligible for government money since 9 August 2001, when President George W. Bush limited federal spending on human embryonic stem-cell research to cell lines in existence as of that date. The creation of new cell lines involves the destruction of a days-old human embryo. Most biomedical researchers believe that the number of lines available under the 2001 rule will be inadequate to realize the potential of stem-cell research, which might give insight into the causes of degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's. Such discoveries may to lead to new treatments, and therapies that use embryonic stem cells themselves to replace damaged tissues could also emerge. ©2004 Nature Publishing Group

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Link ID: 6368 - Posted: 06.24.2010

When embryonic stem cells prove their medical merits, public support--both social and financial--will probably grow substantially, said National Institutes of Health director Elias A. Zerhouni in a panel discussion held Wednesday in Washington, D.C. by Scientific American. Comparing the state of embryonic stem cell science today to that of organ transplantation during the 1950s and '60s, Zerhouni noted that public consensus in favor of organ transplants only emerged when the "greater good" offered by the treatment had been fully demonstrated. "This is the people's dollars we're talking about," Zerhouni stated, "and that's where the rubber hits the road." Without public consensus, he explained, consensus in Congress to expand funding for embryonic stem cell science is unlikely. "California is going to test that," he added. A November 2nd California ballot initiative seeking to raise $3 billion for stem cell research in that state loomed large in the panel's discussion of the best way for science and society to proceed with regard to embryonic stem cell research. If passed, California's Proposition 71 might break an essential impasse in the debate over using embryos in research. Proponents say that without adequate funding and materials, U.S. scientists cannot fully explore the potential of embryonic cells. Critics counter that without demonstrated medical potential, the ethical risks of expanding embryo research are too great. © 1996-2004 Scientific American, Inc.

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Link ID: 6177 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Robert Lanza and Nadia Rosenthal Stem cells raise the prospect of regenerating failing body parts and curing diseases that have so far defied drug-based treatment. Patients are buoyed by reports of the cells' near-miraculous properties, but many of the most publicized scientific studies have subsequently been refuted, and other data have been distorted in debates over the propriety of deriving some of these cells from human embryos. Provocative and conflicting claims have left the public (and most scientists) confused as to whether stem cell treatments are even medically feasible. If legal and funding restrictions in the U.S. and other countries were lifted immediately, could doctors start treating patients with stem cells the next day? Probably not. Many technical obstacles must be overcome and unanswered questions resolved before stem cells can safely fulfill their promise. For instance, just identifying a true stem cell can be tricky. For scientists to be able to share results and gauge the success of techniques for controlling stem cell behavior, we must first know that the cells we are studying actually possess the ability to serve as the source, or "stem," of a variety of cell types while themselves remaining in a generic state of potential. But for all the intensive scrutiny of stem cells, they cannot be distinguished by appearance. They are defined by their behavior. © 1996-2004 Scientific American, Inc.

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Link ID: 5549 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BY JAMIE TALAN Scientists have transplanted adult stem cells from the bone marrow of rats into the brains of rat embryos and found that thousands of the cells survive into adulthood, raising the possibility that someday developmental abnormalities could be prevented or treated in the womb. Dr. Ira Black, chairman of the department of neuroscience at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said the cells took on the properties of brain cells, migrating to specific regions and taking up characteristics of neighboring cells. "They exhibited the same flexibility in the living brain as we had observed in culture," said Black, director of the school's Stem Cell Center. His findings were published today in the Journal of Neuroscience. Copyright © Newsday, Inc. Produced by Newsday Electronic Publishing.

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Link ID: 5455 - Posted: 06.24.2010

One of the many mysteries of stem cells is how they morph from a universal cell type, full of possibility, into one that's tailored for a specific job. Now scientists say they've hit on a startling explanation for some of these cells: A minuscule RNA molecule helps guide the early development of neurons and other brain cells. The finding is the latest addition to an ever-lengthening repertoire for small RNA molecules. Small RNA molecules can bind to and blunt expression of DNA stretches with a complementary sequence. The first clues that they have a hand in stem cell development came in plants. Then scientists reported that members of a class of RNA molecules called microRNAs direct the development of blood and bone marrow cells in mice. These studies and others suggested that small RNAs play a leading role in development. The possibility that they might be important in nerve cell development intrigued neuroscientists Fred Gage and Tomoko Kuwabara of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and colleagues, who were studying how adult neural stem cells differentiate. The group probed human, adult neural stem cells for small RNA molecules and fished out more than 50 types. One double-stranded molecule stood out: It matched a DNA site that a protein key to neural development binds to. That protein, called NRSF, blocks the expression of 64 different genes and prevents them from turning a cell into a neuron. Furthermore, the team found, differentiating neural stem cells expressed the RNA at high levels, and introducing extra doses spurred neural stem cells to become neurons. Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Link ID: 5159 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Both of the leading Democratic candidates say the federal government should support embryonic stem cell research that could lead to cures for millions of patients. As this ScienCentral News video reports, a leading stem cell researcher left the U.S. to pursue that dream. South Korean scientists announced on February 12th that they had cloned human stem cells, which could be used to replace cells damaged by disease or aging. The research was announced in the U.S. but is strictly limited here, which has forced some Americans to do their research abroad. Roger Pedersen, professor of regenerative medicine at the University of Cambridge and director of the Cambridge Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, decided in 2001 to leave the University of California at San Francisco for England when President Bush banned research that creates any type of human embryo. "The United States government had at that moment cancelled its plans, suspended really any consideration of funding this area of research," Pedersen says. "And I had by then dedicated my entire lab to carrying out research on human embryonic stem cells. I had to consider other options," he says. "One way would be to stop working on human embryonic stem cells, but I didn't choose that option. I chose to move to a country that was willing to provide support, broad support for this research." © ScienCentral, 2000-2004.

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David Ewing Duncan Doug Melton sighs. For hours, this Harvard molecular embryologist has been toiling in a small personal lab attached to his office in Cambridge, Mass., where he's trying to save the lives of his two children. Twelve-year-old Sam and 16-year-old Emma have been diagnosed with insulin- dependent diabetes. If Melton's research is successful, they could be spared the organ failure, blindness and heart disease that eventually afflict diabetics -- but only if Melton is allowed to continue his work by lawmakers in Washington, D.C. They worry that his methods might be immoral or dangerous and are threatening to shut down his work. Melton, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences at Harvard University, studies the mechanisms of how embryonic stem cells form in mice and humans just after an egg is fertilized. These stem cells have the unique ability to grow into any tissue in the body -- whether of a liver, eyeball or skeleton. ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle

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Scientists hope they'll serve as brain repair kit Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer A mysterious type of stem cell found in the brain appears to be a possible wellspring of fresh nerve cells and, when something goes haywire, the starting point of a common form of tumor, scientists are reporting. The finding lays new ground for understanding the fundamental biology of stem cells in the adult brain. Scientists hope these cells and the signaling molecules that govern their fate might someday serve as a repair kit for treating brain injury, strokes or neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. The study resulted from a collaboration of neuroscientists and brain surgeons at UCSF Medical Center, led by Dr. Nader Sanai, a 26-year-old neurosurgery resident. Dr. Mitchel Berger, chair of neurosurgery, and stem- cell expert Arturo Alvarez-Buylla were senior authors. ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle

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Link ID: 5009 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Chemical might help human cells reach clinic. ERIKA CHECK A humble marine snail has helped scientists to unravel the signals that keep stem cells young. Human embryonic stem (ES) cells can give rise to almost all of the body's different cell types. They could eventually provide patients with replacement tissues - but there are some roadblocks that currently prevent researchers from putting the cells into patients' bodies. One problem is that scientists don't yet know how to control the cells' transformations into other types. Another is that the cells cannot be grown without help from mouse cells, which means that they could be contaminated with mouse proteins. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

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Link ID: 4730 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A vote to permit stem-cell research is a vote to alleviate suffering, says former MP REGINALD STACKHOUSE By REGINALD STACKHOUSE Let's call him Jack. Let's also admit he's serving a life sentence. Jack will spend the rest of his life behind locked doors. But not for murder. Not for child abuse. Nor any other crime. Alzheimer's disease has taken over Jack's brain and he can't be trusted to live outside a security-controlled care centre. It's a pathetic fate for an academic whose life had been dedicated to the mind. Pathetic to be cut off from family and friends. Pathetic never to know his first grandchild. Pathetic most of all because this could be prevented. © 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc.

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Link ID: 4239 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Stem cells from the brain do not provoke an immune response when transplanted to different parts of another individual's body, suggests a study in mice. The finding could help overcome immune rejection, one of the most difficult obstacles to developing therapies to treat people with central nervous system problems such as spinal cord injuries and Parkinson's disease. Michael Young, at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard, and US and Japanese colleagues have shown that stem cells from the brain have a special "immune privilege" even when they are transplanted to places outside their normal location in the central nervous system. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

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Link ID: 4062 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Nerve cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and transplanted into paralysed rats have enabled the animals to walk again. The findings add to a growing number of studies that suggest embryonic stem cells could have a valuable role to play in treating spinal injuries. The researchers, whose work was funded by stem cell giant Geron of Menlo Park, California, say trials on people could start in just two years. But the first trials are likely to involve patients with recent spinal cord injuries and localised damage. Treating people who have been paralysed for years or suffer from degenerative nerve diseases would be far more difficult. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

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Link ID: 3991 - Posted: 06.24.2010

-- In the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins researchers report that injection of human stem cells into the fluid around the spinal cord of each of 15 paralyzed rats clearly improved the animals' ability to control their hind limbs -- but not at all in the way the scientists had expected. "Our first hypothesis was that functional recovery came from human cells reconstituting the nerve circuits destroyed by the paralysis-inducing virus we gave the rats," says first author Douglas Kerr, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "Some of the tens of thousands of implanted primitive human stem cells did become nerve cells or the like, but not enough to account for the physical improvements. "Instead, these human embryonic germ cells create an environment that protects and helps existing rat neurons -- teetering on the brink of death -- to survive," he says. Copyright © 1992-2003 Bio Online, Inc.

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Link ID: 3968 - Posted: 06.24.2010

MADISON - Scientists working with cells that may someday be used to replace diseased or damaged cells in the brain have taken neural stem cell technology a key step closer to the clinic. Writing in the current online edition (June 2003) of the Journal of Neurochemistry, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center describe the first molecular profile for human fetal neural stem cell lines that have been coaxed to thrive in culture for more than a year. The work is an in-depth analysis of global gene expression in human neural stem cells and demonstrates a method for prolonging the shelf life of cultured fetal stem cells, making it possible to generate enough cells to use to treat disease, says Lynda Wright, the lead author of the paper. Copyright © 2003 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

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Link ID: 3905 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service The key gene that keeps embryonic stem cells in a state of youthful immortality has been discovered. The breakthrough may one day contribute to turning ordinary adult cells into those with the properties of human ESCs. This would end the need to destroy embryos to harvest the cells for new medical treatments. ESCs are unique as they are "pluripotent" - capable of differentiating into the different cells in the body - and hold great potential for treating damaged or diseased organs. But until now scientists did not know how a stem cell renews itself or develops into an new kind of cell. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

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Link ID: 3862 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Transplanted bone-marrow cells may be fusing with, not replacing, damaged tissues. HELEN R. PILCHER Transplanted adult stem cells may repair liver damage by fusing with host cells, rather than by producing new liver cells, two new studies suggest. The stem cells may reprogramme host cells' genetic material. The findings are likely to fuel the debate over how versatile adult stem cells are and how they repair tissues. Adult stem cells' apparent ability to produce myriad cell types has raised hopes that transplants could treat conditions from liver disease to stroke, without recourse to the ethically contentious use of embryonic stem cells. Previous studies have indicated, for instance, that adult bone-marrow stem cells can turn into several cell types, including blood, liver, muscle and pancreas. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

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Link ID: 3632 - Posted: 06.24.2010

John Travis A person's blood could someday provide replacement cells for that individual's damaged brain or liver, a provocative study suggests. Human blood contains so-called stem cells that can be transformed outside the body into a variety of cell types, according to the report. This unexpected, and accidental, discovery may add a new element to the politicized debate over whether stem cells that persist in adults can match the therapeutic potential of stem cells derived from human embryos. The possible new source of adult stem cells came to light when a coworker became ill and couldn't attend to petri dishes containing human blood cells called monocytes, says Eliezer Huberman of Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory. In the body, these white blood cells migrate into tissues and mature into specialized immune cells, such as macrophages. Huberman's team has been studying the cellular signals behind this maturation. Left without nutrients, some of the unattended monocytes morphed into cells that didn't look like immune cells, Huberman's team noticed. Following up on this chance observation, the researchers identified a subgroup of monocytes that they could convert into various kinds of cells. Copyright ©2003 Science Service. All rights reserved.

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Link ID: 3492 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Ed Susman UPI Science News From the Science & Technology Desk ORLANDO, Fla., (UPI) -- Scientists have achieved success in manipulating primitive cells to become nervous system cells, which, in some cases, restored leg function to laboratory animals with spinal cord injuries, they reported Tuesday. However, they cautioned, translating the promising animal work to people could take years. "These things are not impossible," said Dr. Mark Tuszynski, associate professor of neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. "But we are looking at a time frame of several years, if everything goes well -- which it rarely does." Copyright © 2002 United Press International

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Link ID: 2936 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By WILLIAM HATHAWAY, Courant Staff Writer Neural stem cells may actually play doctor to damaged brain cells, not just replace dead and dying ones, new research has found. And a second study appearing in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology shows transplanted stem cells also can replace lost brain tissue in mice - if they are placed within a biodegradable "scaffold" before being transplanted. In the first study, transplanted cells actually rescued mice brain cells damaged with chemicals to mimic the degeneration caused by Parkinson's Disease. Copyright © 2002 by The Hartford Courant

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Link ID: 2805 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Stem cells modified to produce a cancer-killing immune chemical can track and destroy difficult-to-treat brain tumours, US researchers have found. They hope the work in mice could lead to new treatments for people with gliomas. Standard glioma treatment involves surgery, followed by radiotherapy or chemotherapy. But tiny groups of glioma cells often spread deep into healthy brain tissue, so even if the main tumour is wiped out, the risk of recurrence of the cancer is high. Life expectancy after diagnosis is normally about one year. A team led by John Yu at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles took neural stem cells from mice fetuses and genetically engineered them to produce interleukin 12. This is an immune stimulating chemical known to kill gliomas. The team then injected the modified stem cells into implanted gliomas in the brains of mice. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

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Link ID: 2804 - Posted: 06.24.2010