NEWS and OPINIONS
Stem Cell Transplant May Halt Nerve Fiber Damage in RRMS: Study
Markers of nerve damage fell significantly in most patients after transplant by Marisa Wexler - Multiple Sclerosis News Today Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) reduces markers of nerve fiber and myelin damage in people with relapsing-remitting MS...
FDA creates “Super Office” to manage growing cell and gene therapy workload
By Greg Slabodkin, ScienceBoard Editor in Chief The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has elevated and reorganized its Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (OTAT) to a “Super Office” within the Center of Biologics Research and Evaluation (CBER) to meet its...
A Bold Effort to Cure HIV—Using Crispr
An experiment tests whether the gene-editing technology can stop the virus from replicating, which would ultimately wipe out the infection. By Wired.com In July, an HIV-positive man became the first volunteer in a clinical trial aimed at using Crispr gene editing to...
Ancient disease has potential to regenerate livers, study finds
University of Edinburgh - Eurekalert.org Leprosy is one of the world’s oldest and most persistent diseases but the bacteria that cause it may also have the surprising ability to grow and regenerate a vital organ. Scientists have discovered that parasites associated...
Sierra Space and UC San Diego to develop first stem cell research institute in space
By Jim Cornall - Labiotech.eu Sierra Space and University of California San Diego, one of the world’s top 15 research universities and a leader in microgravity research, have formed a new agreement with the goal of defining the future of human health care research in...
For the First Time Ever, People Are Getting Transfusions of Lab-Grown Blood Cells
UK scientists have begun the first clinical trial of lab-grown red blood cells, with the hope that they survive longer in volunteers than donated blood cells. By Ed Cara - Gizmodo An important clinical trial is now underway in the UK. The study is the first to...
How horseshoe crab blood became one of the most valuable liquids in medicine
By Bill Schutt - Big Think The crabs' blue blood contains an ancient immune defense mechanism that has helped save countless human lives. The story of the Atlantic horseshoe crab’s first turn toward medical relevance occurred in 1956. That’s when Woods Hole...
Three Noteworthy Applications of CRISPR
By Demaris Mills, Integrated DNA Technologies - Technology Networks Only 10 years ago, Nobel prize-winning work introduced CRISPR, or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, as a new and powerful genome editing tool. Since then, many exciting...
FDA approves first ALS drug in 5 years after pleas from patients
The treatment was thought up by two Brown University undergraduates a decade ago. By Laurie McGinley - The Washington Post The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday overcame doubts from agency scientists and approved a fiercely debated drug for ALS, a move that...
Stem Cell Grafts and Rehabilitation Combined Boost Spinal Cord Injury Results
By UC San Diego Today In animal models, researchers found that intensive physical therapy in tandem with implanted neural stem cells increased tissue growth, repair, and functionality more than those treatments alone In recent years, researchers have made measurable...
Reactive Oxygen Species Found to Play Key Role in Stem Cell Function
By University of Oxford - Genengnews.com Scientists at Mount Sinai say they have published one of the first studies to demonstrate the importance of reactive oxygen species in maintaining stem cell function and preventing inflammation during wound repair. The team...
How an experimental treatment beat a little girl’s cancer
CBS Sunday Morning Emily Whitehead has a secret weapon: "My T-cells, part of my immune system, were trained to fight and kill my cancer." She was only six when she became the first child ever to receive genetically-modified T cells. The experimental treatment cured...