Scientists Discover More Innovation With Stem Cells

The field of adult stem cell research is growing by leaps and bounds! There is an enormous progress taking place as we speak. Firstly, scientists discovered a better way to create induced pluripotent stem cells that can produce any cell type, thus being fully able to do what embryonic stem cells can do…

In Science Magazine… 

“Given the right instructions in the lab, mature cells can turn back into embryoniclike ones that researchers covet, but the process is frustratingly slow and inefficient. By removing a molecular brake, scientists have now figured out how to reprogram cells with almost 100% efficiency.”

“In a process called cellular reprogramming, researchers increase the expression of four genes in skin, blood, or other mature cells to turn them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can become any of the body’s cell types.”

“Scientists value the method because it allows them to make patient-specific cells in the lab that they can use to study disease—and perhaps someday to treat patients. However, the reprogramming procedure is hit-and-miss. The most efficient methods reprogram only about 10% of mature cells into iPSCs.”

What if scientists could reprogram stems cells right in your body? This concept is not far fetched! A state never produced in a lab before was successful in mice!

Science Daily…

“One of the greatest achievements in recent biomedical research was in 2006 when Shinya Yamanaka managed to create embryonic stem cells (pluripotent stem cells, induced in vitro, or in vitro iPSCs) in a laboratory from adult cells, via a cocktail of just four genes. Yamanaka’s discovery, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2012, opened a new horizon in regenerative medicine.”

“CNIO researchers have taken another step forward, by achieving the same as Yamanaka, but this time within the same organism, in mice, without the need to pass through in vitro culture dishes. Generating these cells within an organism brings this technology even closer to regenerative medicine.

The first challenge for CNIO researchers was to reproduce the Yamanaka experiment in a living being. They chose a mouse as a model organism. Using genetic manipulation techniques, researchers created mice in which Yamanaka’s four genes could be activated at will. When these genes were activated, they observed that the adult cells were able to retreat in their evolutionary development to become embryonic stem cells in multiple tissues and organs.

“María Abad, the lead author of the article and a researcher in Serrano’s group, said: “This change of direction in development has never been observed in nature. We have demonstrated that we can also obtain embryonic stem cells in adult organisms and not only in the laboratory.”

The reprogrammed adult stem cells can also be removed from the body for further study. Unlike origin evolutionary research where scientists are trying to come up with a way to produce life from dead chemicals in a lab in order to take credit on the way nature has been designed, this article says no such thing, what was reprogrammed is not what happens in evolution. Even though evolution was given some props, this was an amazing year for real science that includes adult-stem cell research!

Stem Cells: Adult and Pluripotent In The News

In my local newspaper whose writers highly endorse embryonic stem cell research, reported nothing on adult stem cell research but rather focused on a study about reprogrammed stems cells. Science Daily also reported on this…

“Adult cells that have been reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) do not completely let go of their past, perhaps limiting their ability to function as a less controversial alternative to embryonic stem cells for basic research and cell replacement therapies, according to researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, John Hopkins University and their colleagues.”

IPS was first accomplished back in 2007, so scientists have a long way to go in understanding it’s implications and it’s usefulness in treatments. How much of a limitation does it have? Only time will tell. In the meantime, there is great news about the progress of adult stem cell research!

Can you imagine a hospital or on the battlefield getting huge amounts of blood to treat people without donors?  Scientists working for the Pentagon have develope artificial blood from hematopoietic stem cells which comes from umbilical cords! These blood cells are functionally indistinguishable from normal blood cells which could solve the  problem of blood shortages and being able to be transported to inaccessible areas. It will eventually be tested on humans in 2013.

How can fat in our bodies strengthen our bones? Fat contains useful stem cells and it’s already been tested in race horses…

“The method employs a gel-like material to encourage stem cells from fat to regenerate damaged bone. The stem cells have been shown to stimulate the growth of small blood vessels in developing bone, encouraging healing. The gel keeps the stem cells at the injury site; as the bone heals, the gel breaks down. Straight injection of stem cells has a limited effect,” Leach said. “If we can localize the cells at the treatment site, the treatments should be more effective.”

What about heart patients? Rather than having to extract bone marrow, doctors can use adult stem cells right in the heart tissue itself.  “Using heart-derived stem cells to treat heart attack and cardiomyopathy has some advantages over embryonic and induced pluripotent cells as they are potentially safer,” the article said.  “It’s also notable that of these three cell types, it’s only heart-derived cells that are in current human clinical trials for this sort of treatment.”

Nature became very concern when a ruling was delivered in favor of adult stem cell research funding from a group who believed their work was being shunned by the Obama Admistration shift in policy to embryonic stem cell research. Editors claim the public who funds the research has no say rather it’s “Peer review should be enough to decide which projects merit funding,” they say!

Jeff Harvey who spoke on behalf on taxpayers said…

“This is perhaps the real problem with scientists–we often think we are the only ones capable of judging our actions.  But consider what would happen if every group thought the same about their own group.  Teaching can only be judged by teachers, highway paving can only be judged by pavers, judges can only be judged by judges, presidents by other presidents, despots by other despots, and criminals by other criminals.  What a beautiful world THAT would be!!!”

From The Exciting To The Bizzare In Scientific Research

Adult stem cell research which is often times overlooked by liberals in favor of  embryonic stem cells has been one of the more exciting things to write about in the world of science.  Science Daily just recently reported that there has been an enormous jump in progress in producing better stem cells.

“The new technique, which uses three small drug-like chemicals, is 200 times more efficient and twice as fast as conventional methods for transforming adult human cells into stem cells (in this case called “induced pluripotent stem cells” or “iPS cells”).”

“Both in terms of speed and efficiency, we achieved major improvements over conventional conditions,” said Scripps Research Associate Professor Sheng Ding, Ph.D., who led the study. “This is the first example in human cells of how reprogramming speed can be accelerated. I believe that the field will quickly adopt this method, accelerating iPS cell research significantly.”

Ida, a fossil that I reported on in here before has been verified once again as not being a so-called; ‘missing link’ as hyped up by the media back in May 2009…In the BBC news outlet it states…

“The research is the first independent assessment of the claims made in a scientific paper and a television documentary earlier this year. Dr Erik Seiffert says that Ida belonged to a group more closely linked to lemurs than to monkeys, apes or us.”

Parallel Universes: Science Fiction or Theoretical Possibility?

Two scientists now claim that can actually calculate an estimate of other universes. I kid you not, this is not the twilight zone or sliders! What Hollywood has been using for years for entertainment purposes is now taken seriously by some scientists…Here is the story on how they arrived at such a strange conclusion reported by Physorg…

“To work these numbers out, Linde and Vanchurin looked back to the time shortly after the Big Bang, which they view as a quantum process that generated lots of quantum fluctuations. Then during the period of inflation, the universe grew rapidly and these quantum fluctuations were “frozen” into classical perturbations in distinct regions. Today, each of these regions could be a different universe, having its own distinct laws of low energy physics.”

Scientific research without the storytelling (evolution) has always been praised in here. There is nothing anti-biblical or anti-religion for research that enhances the quality of life whether in be in the field of electronics or biomimetics, biochemistry, biophysics, systems biology and genetics when it’s presuppose information and creationism!

Stem Cell Research Remains Controversial And Promising

Obama’s unbiblical executive order doesn’t  not specify the source of the embryos which means scientists are free to work on any embryos including  human embryos created solely for research purposes.

Even with the restrictions lifted, it remains a political battle ground on ethics so the distinction is not normally labeled properly by proponents of ES instead, they refer to it as just “stem cell” research. Science labels it like something out of the occult, “The Enlightenment Returns.”

On the flip side, adult stem cells continues it’s rampage in progress. Science Daily reports…

“Preliminary data presented on March 28 as a late-breaking abstract at the American College of Cardiology’s 58th annual scientific session from the largest CD34+ adult stem cell study for heart disease has shown the first evidence that delivering a potent form of autologous (from the patient) adult stem cells into the heart muscle of patients with severe angina may result in less pain and improved exercise tolerance.”

More treatments include, progress in adult stem cells concerning diabetics as reported in PhysOrg…

“Hess drew human bone marrow and simultaneously isolated three different types of stem cells that co-ordinate together to form new blood vessels. These are called pro-angiogenic stem cells. They were purified to remove any inflammatory or contaminated cells, and then injected into the circulation of mice which had one of their leg arteries ligated and removed.”

“The researchers showed how these stem cells have a natural ability to hone in on the area of ischemia to induce blood vessel repair and improve blood flow. Hess says this research is clinically-applicable because they studied the function of human stem cells in immune-deficient mice.”

“The preclinical data from Hess’ research was used by a biopharmaceutical company, Aldagen to receive FDA approval for a multi-center clinical trial now underway in Houston, Texas, involving 21 patients with end-stage peripheral artery disease.”

Many scientific organizations are liberal, they reject ethics and mislead the public by not making the distinctions with their labeling between adult stem cells and ES. Obama didn’t restore science. Bush allowed more ES research than Clinton did. This is all highly political with no morality with these organizations who should be demanding more money for adult stem cell research as well as praising the remarkable progress in this area.