CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois researchers have found a key to keeping stem cells in their neutral state: It takes a soft touch.
In a paper published in the journal PLoS One, the researchers demonstrated that culturing mouse embry…
Tampa, Fla. (Nov. 01, 2010) — When researchers tested three different labeling agents on three different stem cell populations to determine what effect the labeling agents had on stem cell phenotype, biological behavior and migration abilities, …
Vitamin C helped convert mouse embryonic stem cells growing in the laboratory to heart muscle cells, researchers report. This basic-research discovery could lead to future research on ways to treat people suffering from damaged heart muscle. “Although the findings of this study are very preliminary with respect to their impact on human lives, this line of research has enormous implications for the future care of thousands of patients who develop heart failure each year,” says Robert O. Bonow, M.D., president of the American Heart Association.
Researchers have shown that cells from the bone marrow give rise to insulin-producing cells in the pancreas of mice, opening a potential new way to treat diabetes. These morphed cells actually produce the hormone insulin in response to glucose and display other characteristics demonstrating that they truly function as pancreas cells, according to a new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers.