CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Patients with type 1 diabetes lack the insulin-producing cells that keep blood glucose levels in check. Currently, these patients must use insulin pumps or daily hormone injections to keep levels stable.

But in a recent breakthrough in laboratories at Harvard University, researchers came upon a new technique for transforming stem cells into pancreatic beta cells that respond to glucose levels and produce insulin when necessary. The breakthrough could lead to new less invasive, more hands-off treatment for diabetes.

Remarkably, the new technique -- a complex process which involves turning on and off specific genes and takes about 40 days and six precise steps to complete -- was replicated not only on embryonic stem cells but also on human skin cells reprogrammed to act in a stem-cell-like manner. This revelation allows scientists to produce millions of insulin-producing cells while avoiding the ethical dilemmas attached to traditional stem cell research.

Previous attempts to convert stem cells into insulin-producers have proven moderately successful, but these cells mostly produced insulin at will, unable to adjust their output on the fly. The latest techniques -- developed by Douglas Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and his research colleagues -- produce insulin cells that react to glucose spikes by upping production, and lowering insulin output when there's not excess sugar to break down.

The breakthrough has already shown significant promise when used on lab mice. Diabetic mice who received a transplant of the stem cell beta cells had improved blood sugar levels, and were shown to be capable of breaking down sugar.

"We can cure their diabetes right away -- in less than 10 days," Melton told NPR. "This finding provides a kind of unprecedented cell source that could be used for cell transplantation therapy in diabetes."

But there's still one major issue. For reasons doctors still don't understand, the beta cells in humans with diabetes are attacked by the body's immune system. Researchers like Melton still have to figure out a way to protect the new beta cells from being killed -- otherwise the breakthrough won't become anything more than another short-term solution.

"It's taken me 10 to 15 years to get to this point, and I consider this a major step forward," Melton told TIME. "But the longer term plan includes finding ways to protect these cells, and we haven't solved that problem yet."

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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Research into a cure for diabetescould result in an end to insulin injections It has beenhailed as the biggest medical breakthrough since antibiotics Harvard researcher Doug Melton promised his children he'd find a cure Treatment involves making insulin-producing cells from stem cells Scientistshope to have human trials under way within a 'few years'

By Fiona Macrae for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:41 EST, 9 October 2014 | Updated: 04:45 EST, 10 October 2014

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Scientists have hailed stem-cell research into a cure for diabetes as potentially the biggest medical breakthrough since antibiotics.

It could result in an end to insulin injections, and to the disabling and deadly complications of the disease, such as strokes and heart attacks, blindness and kidney disease.

The treatment, which involves making insulin-producing cells from stem cells, was described as a 'phenomenal accomplishment' that will 'leave a dent in the history of diabetes'.

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Could this stem cell breakthrough offer an end to diabetes?

October 10, 2014 - 17:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - In what could be a major breakthrough for diabetes treatment, scientists have discovered a way to drastically alter human embryonic stem cells, transforming them into cells that produce and release insulin, RT said.

Developed by researchers at Harvard University, the innovative new technique involves essentially recreating the formation process of beta cells, which are located in the pancreas and secrete insulin. By stimulating certain genes in a certain order, the Boston Globe reports that scientists were able to charm embryonic stem cells and even altered skin cells into becoming beta cells.

The whole process took 15 years of work, but now lead researcher Doug Melton says the team can create hundreds of millions of these makeshift beta cells, and theyre hoping to transplant them into humans starting in the next few years.

"We are reporting the ability to make hundreds of millions of cells the cell that can read the amount of sugar in the blood which appears following a meal and then squirts out or secretes just the right amount of insulin," Melton told NPR.

There are 29.1 million people in the United States believed to have diabetes, according to statistics by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dating back to 2012. Thats 9.3 percent of the entire population.

Currently, diabetes patients must rely on insulin shots to keep their blood-sugar levels stable, a process that involves continual monitoring and attentiveness. Failure to efficiently control these levels can cause some patients to go blind, suffer from nerve damage and heart attacks, and even lose limbs. If Meltons beta cell creation process can be successfully applied to humans, it could eliminate the need for such constant check-ups, since the cells would be doing all the monitoring. Already, there are positive signs moving forward: the transplanted cells have worked wonders on mice, quickly stabilizing their insulin levels.

"We can cure their diabetes right away in less than 10 days," Melton said to NPR. "This finding provides a kind of unprecedented cell source that could be used for cell transplantation therapy in diabetes."

With mice successfully treated, the team is now working with a scientist in Chicago to put cells into primates, the Globe reported.

Even so, significant obstacles remain, particularly for those who have Type 1 diabetes. With this particular form of the disease, the human immune system actually targets and destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, so Meltons team is looking into encasing cells inside of a protective shell in order to ensure their safety.

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Harvard University scientists alter stem cells to make insulin

Ageless Derma Anti Aging Skin Care
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Henderson, NV (PRWEB) October 07, 2014

Stem cells from plants are becoming an increasingly popular way to turn the clock backward on skin aging. Hylunia's own light and silky Moisure Infusion contains plant stem cells and peptides that are thought to delay aging, making skin look softer smoother and younger.

Plant stem cells like the ones found in grapes are undifferentiated cells from the meristems of plants. Like human stem cells, they can replace damaged cells and renew themselves. Plant stem cells are cultured in labs, allowing scientists to have more control over the quality, quantity and purity of a plant's anti-aging substance.

Skin care stem cells are extracted from various plants, including tiny white Edelweiss flowers, a swamp plant called gotu kola, swiss apples, and raspberry cell cultures. Lilac and algae may also be used. Most of these products contain antioxidants and other chemicals that make skin look younger.

Hylunia's unique product features grape stem cells cultivated from the Gamay Teinturier Fraux grape from Burgundy, France. Their ingredient list explains that these grapes are "high in powerful antioxidants and [have] free radical scavenging capabilities."

The site adds that "The Grape Stem Cells contain special epigenetic factors and metabolites which are able to protect human stem cells against UV radiation and therefore delay aging." UV damage is responsible for up to 80% of skin aging.

Hylunia Moisture Infusion also contains peptides, which can boost collagen and block the neurotransmitters that contract the muscles that form wrinkles. They stimulate epidermal skin cells and increase skin healing and repair.

Hyluna's product contains Palmitoyl Trypeptide-5 (patented), which stimulates collagen synthesis to "strengthen skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles."

Hylunia is currently putting together a webinar about plant peptides for their professional customers like spa and salon owners. The webinar will be available soon.

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Hylunia Educates Professional Customers on Anti-Aging Peptides and Stem Cells

3 hours ago New genetic barcoding technology allows scientists to identify differences in origin between individual blood cells. Credit: Camargo Lab

A 7-year-project to develop a barcoding and tracking system for tissue stem cells has revealed previously unrecognized features of normal blood production: New data from Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Boston Children's Hospital suggests, surprisingly, that the billions of blood cells that we produce each day are made not by blood stem cells, but rather their less pluripotent descendants, called progenitor cells. The researchers hypothesize that blood comes from stable populations of different long-lived progenitor cells that are responsible for giving rise to specific blood cell types, while blood stem cells likely act as essential reserves.

The work, supported by a National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award and published in Nature, suggests that progenitor cells could potentially be just as valuable as blood stem cells for blood regeneration therapies.

This new research challenges what textbooks have long read: That blood stem cells maintain the day-to-day renewal of blood, a conclusion drawn from their importance in re-establishing blood cell populations after bone marrow transplantsa fact that still remains true. But because of a lack of tools to study how blood forms in a normal context, nobody had been able to track the origin of blood cells without doing a transplant.

Boston Children's Hospital scientist Fernando Camargo, PhD, and his postdoctoral fellow Jianlong Sun, PhD, addressed this problem with a tool that generates a unique barcode in the DNA of all blood stem cells and their progenitor cells in a mouse. When a tagged cell divides, all of its descendant cells possess the same barcode. This biological inventory system makes it possible to determine the number of stem cells/progenitors being used to make blood and how long they live, as well as answer fundamental questions about where individual blood cells come from.

"There's never been such a robust experimental method that could allow people to look at lineage relationships between mature cell types in the body without doing transplantation," Sun said. "One of the major directions we can now go is to revisit the entire blood cell hierarchy and see how the current knowledge holds true when we use this internal labeling system."

"People have tried using viruses to tag blood cells in the past, but the cells needed to be taken out of the body, infected, and re-transplanted, which raised a number of issues," said Camargo, who is a member of Children's Stem Cell Program and an associate professor in Harvard University's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. "I wanted to figure out a way to label blood cells inside of the body, and the best idea I had was to use mobile genetic elements called transposons."

A transposon is a piece of genetic code that can jump to a random point in DNA when exposed to an enzyme called transposase. Camargo's approach works using transgenic mice that possess a single fish-derived transposon in all of their blood cells. When one of these mice is exposed to transposase, each of its blood cells' transposons changes location. The location in the DNA where a transposon moves acts as an individual cell's barcode, so that if the mouse's blood is taken a few months later, any cells with the same transposon location can be linked back to its parent cell.

The transposon barcode system took Camargo and Sun seven years to develop, and was one of Camargo's first projects when he opened his own lab at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research directly out of grad school. Sun joined the project after three years of setbacks, and accomplished an experimental tour de force to reach the conclusions in the Nature paper, which includes data on how many stem cells or progenitor cells contribute to the formation of immune cells in mouse blood.

With the original question of how blood arises in a non-transplant context answered, the researchers are now planning to explore many more applications for their barcode tool.

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Barcoding tool for stem cells: New technology that tracks the origin of blood cells challenges scientific dogma

HOUSTON -

Stem cells, the body's so called "master cells," are used to treat heart disease and cancer and to grow tissue. But plants also have stem cells and they're some of the hottest ingredients in anti-aging products.

Andrea Vizcaino, 49, is trying out a new phyto-facial that comes in the form of a freeze dried serum in a vial. One of the main ingredients is stem cells from the argon tree in Morocco. She described the procedure.

"It feels warm, especially around my chin and it feels good," said Vizcaino. "Very hydrating; the skin feels moist."

Apple, echinacea and grape stem cells are already used in many skin care products, but some scientists think the argon tree cells will penetrate even deeper.

"The plant stem cells stimulate our stem cells to regenerate the skin," said skin care specialist Candy Bonura.

Allenby agrees the new products can be hydrating, but said the jury is still out about the real effectiveness of plant stem cells.

"Stem cells are kind of the buzz word right now, but we have to remember that stem cells are different in plants and different in people," Allenby said.

Bonura acknowledged these new products won't take years off your face, but many clients do see a difference.

"I see a brightening, I see a hydration, I also see the skin is more supple looking and more youthful with a glow to it," Bonura said.

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Newswise NIBIB-funded researchers report in a recent study that they were able to use human stem cells to grow brand new nerves in a rat model of spinal cord injury. The neurons grew tens of thousands of axons that extended the entire length of the spinal cord, out from the area of injury. The procedure employs induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs, which are stem cells that can be driven to become a specific cell type -- in this case nerve cells-- to repair an experimentally damaged spinal cord. The iPSCs were made using the skin cells of an 86 year old male, demonstrating that even in an individual of advanced age, the ability of the cells to be turned into a different cell type (pluripotency) remained.

Lead author Paul Lu, Ph.D., and senior author Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, and their team at the University of California - San Diego Center for Neural Repair, performed the experiment building on earlier work using human embryonic stem cells in a similar rat spinal cord injury model.1 The current work, described in the August 20 edition of Neuron, was performed to determine whether iPSCs could be used for spinal cord repair.2

The group is interested in using iPSCs to develop a potential repair for spinal cord injury (SCI) because with iPSCs, they can use cells taken from the person with the injury, rather than use donated cells such as human embryonic stem cells, which are foreign to the patient. This is an important advantage because it avoids any immune rejection that could occur with foreign repair cells.

In the current work, the iPSC-derived human neurons were embedded in a matrix that included a cocktail of growth factors, which was grafted onto the experimentally injured spinal cord in the rat model. After three months the researchers observed extensive axonal growth projecting from the grafted neurons, reaching long distances in both directions along the spinal cord, from the brain to the tail end of the spinal cord. The axons appeared to make connections with the existing rat neurons. Importantly, the axons extended out from the site of injury, an area with a complex combination of post-injury factors and processes going on, some of which are known to hinder neuronal growth and axon extension.

In the earlier study, Tuszynski and colleagues used human embryonic stem cells in a similar grafting experiment. In that study, axons grew out from the site of spinal cord injury and the treated animals had some restoration of ability to move affected limbs. The current study was undertaken to see if the same result could be achieved using the iPSC method to create the neurons used in the graft. While the use of iPSCs in the current study resulted in dramatic growth of the grafted neurons across the central nervous system of the rats, the treated animals did not show restoration of function in their forelimbs (hands). The researchers note that the human cells were still at a fairly early stage of development when function was tested, and that more time will likely be needed to be able to detect functional improvement.

Tuszynski went on to state, There are several important considerations that future studies will address. These include whether the extensive number of human axons make correct or incorrect connections; whether the new connections contain the appropriate chemical neurotransmitters to form functional connections; whether connections, once formed, are permanent or transient; and exactly how long it takes human cells to become mature. These considerations will determine how viable a candidate these cells might be for use in humans.

Lu, Tuszynski and their colleagues hope to identify the most promising neural stem cell type for repairing spinal cord injuries. Tuszynski emphasizes their commitment to a careful, methodical approach: Ultimately, we can only translate our animal studies into reliable human treatments by testing different neural stem cell types, carefully analyzing the results, and improving the procedure. We are encouraged, but we continue to work hard to rationally to identify the optimal cell type and procedural methods that can be safely and effectively used for human clinical trials.

1. Long-distance growth and connectivity of neural stem cells after severe spinal cord injury. Lu P, Wang Y, Graham L, McHale K, Gao M, Wu D, Brock J, Blesch A, Rosenzweig ES, Havton LA, Zheng B, Conner JM, Marsala M, Tuszynski MH. Cell. 2012 Sep 14;150(6):1264-73

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Grafted Stem Cells Display Vigorous Growth in Spinal Cord Injury Model

While most are familiar with the potential for 3D printers to pump out plastic odds and ends for around the home, the technology also has far-reaching applications in the medical field. Research is already underway to develop 3D bioprinters able to create things as complex as human organs, and now engineering students in Canada have created a 3D printer that produces skin grafts for burn victims.

Called PrintAlive, the new machine was developed by University of Toronto engineering students Arianna McAllister and Lian Leng, who worked in collaboration with Professor Axel Guenther, Boyang Zhang and Dr. Marc Jeschke, the head of Sunnybrook Hospital's Ross Tilley Burn Centre.

While the traditional treatment for serious burns involves removing healthy skin from another part of the body so it can be grafted onto the affected area, the PrintAlive machine could put an end to such painful harvesting by printing large, continuous layers of tissue including hair follicles, sweat glands and other human skin complexities onto a hydrogel. Importantly, the device uses the patient's own cells, thereby eliminating the problem of the tissue being rejected by their immune system.

Because growing a culture of a patient's skin cells ready for grafting can typically take more than two weeks, the machine prints the patient's cells out in patterns of spots or stripes rather than a continuous sheet, to make them go further. The result is a cell-populated wound dressing that reproduces key features of human skin and can be precisely controlled in terms of thickness, structure and composition.

Having been under development since 2008, the team recently completed a second-generation, pre-commercial prototype that they say is smaller than an average microwave. This makes it portable enough to easily transport, which gives it the potential to one day revolutionize burn care in rural and developing areas around the world.

"Ninety per cent of burns occur in low and middle income countries, with greater mortality and morbidity due to poorly-equipped health care systems and inadequate access to burn care facilities," says Jeschke. "Regenerating skin using a patients own stem cells can significantly decrease the risk of death in developing countries."

So far, the 3D-printed skin grafts have been tested on mice, with the team planning to move onto pigs before clinical trials on humans in the next few years. They were recently named the Canadian winners in the 2014 James Dyson Awards, giving them US$3,500 to continue development and putting them in the running for the $60,000 main prize.

The PrintAlive bioprinter is detailed in the video below.

Sources: University of Toronto, James Dyson Award

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PrintAlive 3D bioprinter creates on-demand skin grafts for burn victims

TARPON SPRINGS --

A veterinarian in Tarpon Springs is doing research that could alleviate a problem thousands of dogs in Florida face.

Dr. Michael Amsberry is embarking on cutting edge research that could change the lives of those dogs and their owners.

Nube and Sage are part of a pilot study at Amsberrys Tarpon Springs pet care center.

Hes injecting dogs with stem cells to help with their Dermatitis, a condition that affects dogs in Florida each year.

Often times it starts out with skin thats irritated and red and then we often well suffer from secondary bacterial and yeast infections, said Dr. Michael Amsberry, Saint Francis Pet Care Center.

The treatment is inside a little jar that contains millions of stem cells that all come from one dogs umbilical cord in California. The treatment takes about 10 minutes, and the cells are in Amsberrys patients.

It is treating the body with the body not using chemicals or drugs.

There are drugs to treat dermatitis, and some of them work well. Amsberry and others like him said theyre looking for a cleaner, less expensive way.

The process to see if stem cell therapy actually works has only just begun.

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Tarpon vet using stem cells to treat doggie dermatitis

Company plans for the future of stem cell use

by Samantha Schmieder

Staff Writer

Next Healthcare Inc. of Germantown recently launched a partnership with Arizona Cardinals wide reciever Larry Fitzgerald to promote its newest venture, CelBank Pro to other professional athletes.

Next Healthcares CelBank is the collection of cell samples and storage of their blood, skin or stem cells to be used in the future. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are able to renew themselves through cell division and can be scientifically manipulated to become another type of cell with a more specialized function. They offer hope to provide new ways to fight disease or injuries, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Essentially we are in the business of banking cells for people, Vin Singh, the founder and CEO of Next Healthcare, said.

While CelBank is geared toward anyone interested in using their own cells later in their life, CelBank Pro is geared toward sports players who are very likely to get injured or just worn down during their career.

Skin cells and stem cells are stored at a healthy time at someones life for later use in regenerative medicine, Singh said.

In 2006 and 2007, Singh, who lives in Boyds, heard about a method in Japan that was able to turn adult skin cells into stem cells. Singh decided to build Next Healthcare around these induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

For me that was the real spark. I heard about that and thought, Wow, this is an amazing, revolutionary breakthrough, Singh said. Thats where the idea came from, what can we do with that technology. There has to be something that I can do for consumers to give them an advantage.

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Germantown

Company plans for the future of stem cell use

by Samantha Schmieder

Staff Writer

Next Healthcare Inc. of Germantown recently launched a partnership with Arizona Cardinals wide reciever Larry Fitzgerald to promote its newest venture, CelBank Pro to other professional athletes.

Next Healthcares CelBank is the collection of cell samples and storage of their blood, skin or stem cells to be used in the future. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are able to renew themselves through cell division and can be scientifically manipulated to become another type of cell with a more specialized function. They offer hope to provide new ways to fight disease or injuries, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Essentially we are in the business of banking cells for people, Vin Singh, the founder and CEO of Next Healthcare, said.

While CelBank is geared toward anyone interested in using their own cells later in their life, CelBank Pro is geared toward sports players who are very likely to get injured or just worn down during their career.

Skin cells and stem cells are stored at a healthy time at someones life for later use in regenerative medicine, Singh said.

In 2006 and 2007, Singh, who lives in Boyds, heard about a method in Japan that was able to turn adult skin cells into stem cells. Singh decided to build Next Healthcare around these induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

For me that was the real spark. I heard about that and thought, Wow, this is an amazing, revolutionary breakthrough, Singh said. Thats where the idea came from, what can we do with that technology. There has to be something that I can do for consumers to give them an advantage.

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Newswise NEW YORK, September 18, 2014 Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have found a way to boost dramatically the efficiency of the process for turning adult cells into so-called pluripotent stem cells by combining three well-known compounds, including vitamin C.

Using the new technique in mice, the researchers increased the number of stem cells obtained from adult skin cells by more than 20-fold compared with the standard method. They say their technique is efficient and reliable, and thus should generally accelerate research aimed at using stem cells to generate virtually any tissue. Stem cells are immature or uncommitted cells that are theoretically capable of becoming any cell type.

This big boost in efficiency gives us an opportunity now to study stem cell programming mechanisms at high resolution, says Matthias Stadtfeld, PhD, assistant professor of cell biology and a member of the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine and the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology at NYU Langone Medical Center, who led the research.

This is a very exciting advance, says Ruth Lehmann, PhD, director of the Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology and the Skirball Institute at NYU Langone and chair of the Department of Cell Biology. The new technology developed by the Stadtfeld lab to reprogram differentiated cells efficiently and effectively brings the prospect of stem cell technology for safe use in regenerative medicine ever so much closer."

The standard method for reprogramming skin, blood, or other tissue-specific cell types into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) was reported in 2006 by the laboratory of Kyoto Universitys Shinya Yamanaka, who later won a Nobel Prize for the achievement. The method involves the artificial expression of four key genes dubbed OKSM (for Oct4, Klf4, Sox2 and myc) whose collective activity slowly prods cells into an immature state much like that of an early embryonic cell.

In principle, one could take a sample of cells from a person, induce the cells to become iPSCs, then multiply the iPSCs in a lab dish and stimulate them to mature towards desired adult cell types such as blood, brain or heartwhich then could be used to replace injured or diseased tissue in that same individual.

But there are many formidable technical obstacles, among which is the low efficiency of currently used protocols. Converting most cell types into stable iPSCs occurs at rates of 1 percent or less, and the process can take weeks.

Researchers throughout the world have been searching for ways to boost this efficiency, and in some cases have reported significant gains. These procedures, however, often alter vital cellular genes, which may cause problems for potential therapies. For the new study, reported online today in Stem Cell Reports, Dr. Stadtfeld and his laboratory team decided to take a less invasive approach and investigate chemical compounds that transiently modulate enzymes that are present in most cells. We especially wanted to know if these compounds could be combined to obtain stem cells at high efficiency, Dr. Stadtfeld says.

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NYU Langone Scientists Report Reliable and Highly Efficient Method for Making Stem Cells

11 hours ago A new method resulted in a colony of stem cells, glowing green, derived from one adult immune cell. Credit: Laboratory of Matthias Stadtfeld at NYU Langone Medical center

Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have found a way to boost dramatically the efficiency of the process for turning adult cells into so-called pluripotent stem cells by combining three well-known compounds, including vitamin C. Using the new technique in mice, the researchers increased the number of stem cells obtained from adult skin cells by more than 20-fold compared with the standard method. They say their technique is efficient and reliable, and thus should generally accelerate research aimed at using stem cells to generate virtually any tissue. Stem cells are immature or uncommitted cells that are theoretically capable of becoming any cell type.

"This big boost in efficiency gives us an opportunity now to study stem cell programming mechanisms at high resolution," says Matthias Stadtfeld, PhD, assistant professor of cell biology and a member of the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine and the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology at NYU Langone Medical Center, who led the research.

"This is a very exciting advance," says Ruth Lehmann, PhD, director of the Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology and the Skirball Institute at NYU Langone and chair of the Department of Cell Biology. "The new technology developed by the Stadtfeld lab to reprogram differentiated cells efficiently and effectively brings the prospect of stem cell technology for safe use in regenerative medicine ever so much closer."

The standard method for reprogramming skin, blood, or other tissue-specific cell types into "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPSCs) was reported in 2006 by the laboratory of Kyoto University's Shinya Yamanaka, who later won a Nobel Prize for the achievement. The method involves the artificial expression of four key genes dubbed OKSM (for Oct4, Klf4, Sox2 and myc) whose collective activity slowly prods cells into an immature state much like that of an early embryonic cell.

In principle, one could take a sample of cells from a person, induce the cells to become iPSCs, then multiply the iPSCs in a lab dish and stimulate them to mature towards desired adult cell types such as blood, brain or heartwhich then could be used to replace injured or diseased tissue in that same individual.

But there are many formidable technical obstacles, among which is the low efficiency of currently used protocols. Converting most cell types into stable iPSCs occurs at rates of 1 percent or less, and the process can take weeks.

Researchers throughout the world have been searching for ways to boost this efficiency, and in some cases have reported significant gains. These procedures, however, often alter vital cellular genes, which may cause problems for potential therapies. For the new study, reported online today in Stem Cell Reports, Dr. Stadtfeld and his laboratory team decided to take a less invasive approach and investigate chemical compounds that transiently modulate enzymes that are present in most cells. "We especially wanted to know if these compounds could be combined to obtain stem cells at high efficiency," Dr. Stadtfeld says.

Two of these compounds influence well known signaling pathways, called Wnt and TGF-, which regulate multiple growth-related processes in cells. The third is vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid). Best known as a powerful antioxidant, the vitamin was recently discovered to assist in iPSC induction by activating enzymes that remodel chromatinthe spiral scaffold for DNAto regulate gene expression.

Simon Vidal, a graduate student in the Stadtfeld lab, and Bhishma Amlani, a postdoctoral researcher, looked first at mouse skin fibroblasts, the most common cell type used for iPSC research. Adding to fibroblasts engineered to express OKSM either vitamin C, a compound to activate Wnt signaling, or a compound to inhibit TGF- signaling increased iPSC-induction efficiency weakly to about 1% after a week of cell culture. Combining any two worked a bit better. But combining all three brought the efficiency to about 80 percent in the same period of time.

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Team reports reliable, highly efficient method for making stem cells

St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) September 16, 2014

Aging skin inevitably wrinkles, thins and sags.

The main internal reason for this is loss of collagen production. By age 60, skin has 45% less collagen than it did when young due to this slow down. Collagen holds up skin structure.

In order to maintain healthy, beautiful skin, collagen production should be boosted. There are several ways to do this, but the relatively new scientific approach is through use of stem cells (non-embryonic).

"The cost is higher than other types of serums, but you also get what you pay for," says Kathy Heshelow, founder of Sublime Beauty."Stem cell serums rich in growth factors and human fibroblast conditioned media bring back firmer, younger and smoother skin."

Scientists have used these ingredients in wound repair with great success, and the crossover to skin care seemed natural. TGF-b or Transforming Growth Factor-beta is considered to be one of the most important growth factors to stimulate collagen production, promote synthesis and inhibit thinning of skin.

The Sublime Beauty serum, Cell Renewal | Fibroblast Serum, contains these very growth factors. A brochure explaining more about the ingredients is available on the product page of the company webstore.

Similar serums on the market are far more expensive the one offered by Sublime Beauty. Take 25% Off the stem cell serum at Amazon with coupon code FIBRO52V now.

ABOUT: Sublime Beauty is a quality skincare company that focuses on products to Age Younger. Ingredients help to boost collagen, hydrate, relax wrinkles and improve skin. A niche includes healthy Skin Brushes. The company webstore offers free standard shipping and a VIP Club. Sign up for Secret Sales on the site. Products also available on Amazon.

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A Superior Way to Make Skin Younger and Assure Continual Collagen Production, from Sublime Beauty

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12-Sep-2014

Contact: Peggy Murphy pemurphy@luriechildrens.org 773-755-7485 Children's Memorial Hospital

Metastatic melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer whose incidence is on the rise at an alarming rate. Research has revealed that metastatic tumor cells share similar signaling pathways with embryonic stem cells to sustain plasticity and growth. However, major regulators of these pathways are often missing in tumor cells, thus allowing uncontrolled tumor growth and spreading to occur.

During early vertebrate development, Nodal, an embryonic growth factor that governs the growth, pattern and position of tissues, is critical for normal maturation. Nodal plays a significant role in maintaining the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells, meaning the ability of stem cells to differentiate into any of the three germ layers that comprise the body. The recent discovery of Nodal's re-expression in several aggressive and metastatic cancers has highlighted its critical role in self-renewal and maintenance of the stem cell-like characteristics of tumor cells such as melanoma. However, the signaling pathway receptors utilized by melanoma cells to propagate Nodal's effect remain(s) mostly anecdotal and unexplored.

The laboratory of Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD made the novel discovery that embryonic stem cells and metastatic melanoma cells share a similar repertoire of receptors known as Type I serine/threonine kinase(s), but diverge in their Type II receptor expression. Further testing indicated that metastatic melanoma cells and embryonic stem cells use different receptors for Nodal signal transduction. These findings reveal the divergence in Nodal signaling between embryonic stem cells and metastatic melanoma that can impact new therapeutic strategies targeting the re-emergence of embryonic pathways in cancer.

This work is published in the International Journal of Cancer. Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD points out: "Nodal-expressing tumor cells don't respond favorably to conventional therapies, supporting the premise that a combinatorial approach to targeting Nodal subpopulations within tumors, along with a front-line therapy, would constitute a more rational approach for treating aggressive cancer". Zhila Khalkhali-Ellis, PhD, senior research scientist in the Hendrix laboratory and the lead author says: "Our discoveries are important for advanced stage aggressive melanoma. Given that limited therapeutic options are currently available for this cancer, we have the opportunity to investigate whether the receptors can be modulated so that the signaling molecule can be neutralized to decrease aggressive behavior." The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Zhila Khalkhali-Ellis, PhD is Research Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; and a member of the Cancer Biology and Epigenomics Program of Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute, affiliated with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD is President & Scientific Director of Manne Research Institute; Children's Research Fund Professor; William G. Swartchild, Jr. Distinguished Research Professor at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

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Re-expression of an embryonic signaling pathway in Melanoma utilizes different receptors

TOKYO: Japanese researchers on Friday (Sep 12) conducted the world's first surgery to implant "iPS" stem cells in a human body in a major boost to regenerative medicine, two institutions involved said.

A female patient in her 70s with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common medical condition that can lead to blindness in older people, had a sheet of retina cells that had been created from iPS cells implanted. "It is the first time in the world that iPS cells have been transplanted into a human body," a spokeswoman for Riken, one of the research institutions, told AFP.

The research team used induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells - which have the potential to develop into any cell in the body - that had originally come from the skin of the patient. Until the discovery of iPS several years ago, the only way to obtain stem cells was to harvest them from human embryos.

"We feel very much relieved," ophthalmologist Masayo Takahashi, the leader of the project at Riken, told a news conference after the surgery in Kobe. "We want to take it as a big step forward. But we must go on and on from here."

In a statement, the institution said that "no serious adverse phenomena such as excessive bleeding occurred" during the two-hour procedure. The surgery is still at an experimental stage, but if it is successful, doctors hope it will stop the deterioration in vision that comes with AMD.

The patient - one of six expected to take part in the trial - will be monitored over the next four years to determine how well the implants have performed, whether the body has accepted them and if they have become cancerous.

AMD, a condition that is incurable at present, affects mostly middle-aged and older people and can lead to blindness. It afflicts around 700,000 people in Japan alone.

The study was being carried out by researchers from government-backed research institution Riken and the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital.

Stem cell research is a pioneering field that has excited many in the scientific community with the potential they believe it offers. Stem cells are infant cells that can develop into any part of the body. Harvesting from human embryos is controversial because it requires the destruction of the embryo, a process to which religious conservatives, among others, object.

Groundbreaking work done in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, a Nobel Laureate in medicine last year, succeeded in generating stem cells from adult skin tissue.

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Japan carries out first iPS stem cell retina surgery

Aired 9/12/14 on KPBS News.

San Diego scientists have taken a neurochemical fingerprint of schizophrenia. And they did it without probing the brains of lab mice.

San Diego scientists have taken a neurochemical fingerprint of schizophrenia. And they did it without probing the brains of lab mice.

UC San Diego's Vivian Hook, first author of a paper published Thursday in Stem Cell Reports, says mice just wouldn't cut it for her research on schizophrenia.

"The basic reason I didn't do it in mice is because mice naturally don't get schizophrenia," Hook said.

Hook and her colleagues tried a fairly new approach. They took skin cells from three schizophrenia patients, converted them into stem cells, and then turned those stem cells into brain cells. They ended up with tiny brain fragments in a dish, which mirrored the cells inside the actual brains of those human patients.

"We found that the schizophrenic neurons showed aberrant increases in certain neurotransmitters. The cells were pumping out more dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine than non-schizophrenic brain cells," Hook said. "There's a chemical imbalance that has been predicted in schizophrenia, and these model schizophrenic-derived nerve cells provide data showing that."

Hook says the study also proves that stem-cell derived neurons can secrete neurotransmitters, just like cells in living human brains. That could open up research into new drugs for schizophrenia, and could potentially help answer longstanding questions about conditions like autism, ALS and Alzheimer's.

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Stem Cells Give San Diego Scientists Useful Portrait Of Schizophrenia

Researchers at EMBL-EBI have resolved a long-standing challenge in stem cell biology by successfully 'resetting' human pluripotent stem cells to a fully pristine state, at point of their greatest developmental potential. The study, published in Cell, involved scientists from the UK, Germany and Japan and was led jointly by EMBL-EBI and the University of Cambridge.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells, which originate in early development, are capable of differentiating into any type of cell. Until now, scientists have only been able to revert 'adult' human cells (for example, liver, lung or skin) into pluripotent stem cells with slightly different properties that predispose them to becoming cells of certain types. Authentic ES cells have only been derived from mice and rats.

"Reverting mouse cells to a completely 'blank slate' has become routine, but generating equivalent nave human cell lines has proven far more challenging," says Dr Paul Bertone, Research Group Leader at EMBL-EBI and a senior author on the study. "Human pluripotent cells resemble a cell type that appears slightly later in mammalian development, after the embryo has implanted in the uterus."

At this point, subtle changes in gene expression begin to influence the cells, which are then considered 'primed' towards a particular lineage. Although pluripotent human cells can be cultured from in vitro fertilised (IVF) embryos, until now there have been no human cells comparable to those obtained from the mouse.

Wiping cell memory

"For years, it was thought that we could be missing the developmental window when nave human cells could be captured, or that the right growth conditions hadn't been found," Paul explains. "But with the advent of iPS cell technologies, it should have been possible to drive specialised human cells back to an earlier state, regardless of their origin -- if that state existed in primates."

Taking a new approach, the scientists used reprogramming methods to express two different genes, NANOG and KLF2, which reset the cells. They then maintained the cells indefinitely by inhibiting specific biological pathways. The resulting cells are capable of differentiating into any adult cell type, and are genetically normal.

The experimental work was conducted hand-in-hand with computational analysis.

"We needed to understand where these cells lie in the spectrum of the human and mouse pluripotent cells that have already been produced," explains Paul. "We worked with the EMBL Genomics Core Facility to produce comprehensive transcriptional data for all the conditions we explored. We could then compare reset human cells to genuine mouse ES cells, and indeed we found they shared many similarities."

Together with Professor Wolf Reik at the Babraham Institute, the researchers also showed that DNA methylation (biochemical marks that influence gene expression) was erased over much of the genome, indicating that reset cells are not restricted in the cell types they can produce. In this more permissive state, the cells no longer retain the memory of their previous lineages and revert to a blank slate with unrestricted potential to become any adult cell.

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Scientists revert human stem cells to pristine state