APOSEC in Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury
Beschreibung.

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APOSEC in Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury - Video

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MIAMI (PRWEB) March 19, 2015

Global Stem Cells Group and its subsidiary, Stem Cells Training, has coordinated with Emil Arroyo, M.D. and Horacio Oliver, M.D. to conduct the first of four stem cell training courses planned for Bolivia in 2015. Devised to meet the increasing demand for regenerative medicine techniques in the region, the first adipose derived harvesting, isolation and re-integration training course will take place April 4 and 5, 2015, in Santa Cruz.

The two-day, hands-on intensive training course was developed for physicians and high-level practitioners to learn the techniques in harvesting and reintegrating stem cells derived from adipose tissue and bone marrow. The objective of the training is to provide physicians with practical stem cell medicine techniques they can use in-office to treat a variety of conditions in their patients.

For more information, visit the Global Stem Cells Group website, email info(at)stemcelltraining(dot)net, or call 305-224-1858.

About Global Stem Cells Group:

Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. is the parent company of six wholly owned operating companies dedicated entirely to stem cell research, training, products and solutions. Founded in 2012, the company combines dedicated researchers, physician and patient educators and solution providers with the shared goal of meeting the growing worldwide need for leading edge stem cell treatments and solutions.

With a singular focus on this exciting new area of medical research, Global Stem Cells Group and its subsidiaries are uniquely positioned to become global leaders in cellular medicine.

Global Stem Cells Groups corporate mission is to make the promise of stem cell medicine a reality for patients around the world. With each of GSCGs six operating companies focused on a separate research-based mission, the result is a global network of state-of-the-art stem cell treatments.

About Stem Cell Training, Inc.:

Stem Cell Training, Inc. is a multi-disciplinary company offering coursework and training in 35 cities worldwide. The coursework offered focuses on minimally invasive techniques for harvesting stem cells from adipose tissue, bone marrow and platelet-rich plasma. By equipping physicians with these techniques, the goal is to enable them to return to their practices, better able to apply these techniques in patient treatments.

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Global Stem Cells Group to Hold Practical Adipose-Derived Stem Cell Harvesting, Isolation and Re-integration Training ...

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Amniotic Stem Cell Therapy Discussed by R3 (844) GET-STEM
http://r3stemcell.com/stem-cell-treatments/amniotic-derived-stem-cell-injections/ Amniotic derived stem cell therapy has become exceptionally popular due to the benefits that are being seen....

By: R3 Stem Cell

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Amniotic Stem Cell Therapy Discussed by R3 (844) GET-STEM - Video

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The Alpha Clinic for Cell Therapy and Innovation | City of Hope
A new grant to City of Hope from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) will make it possible for novel stem cell based therapies developed here at City of Hope to...

By: City of Hope

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The Alpha Clinic for Cell Therapy and Innovation | City of Hope - Video

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A human embryonic stem cell line derived at Stanford University.(REUTERS/Julie Baker/Stanford University School of Medicine/California Institute for Regenerative Medicine/Handout)

Type 2 diabetes is marked by insulin resistance, or the bodys inability to store sugar and convert it into carbohydrates for energy. Overcoming that resistance is the main hurdle scientists face in creating new treatment for the condition, but researchers in Canada have found a promising means for doing so: combining stem cell therapy and antidiabetic medication.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for nearly 95 percent of the 400 million diabetes cases worldwide. Current treatment involves imprecise insulin injection, and can produce side effects like unwanted weight gain, gastrointestinal issues and low blood glucose levels. Eighty percent of Type 2 diabetes patients are overweight.

In the study, published Thursday in the journal Stem Cell Reports, scientists observed that transplanting human stem cells into mice with Type 2 diabetes symptoms, then administering common antidiabetic drugs, improved the mices glucose metabolism, body weight and insulin sensitivity three hallmark problems associated with the condition.

There have been similar reports looking at treatment of type 1 diabetes by stem cell-based replacement, and there are many people around the world who are interested in that, lead study author Timothy J. Kieffer, a molecular and cellular medicine professor at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, told FoxNews.com. Until this point, nobody to our knowledge had tested such a stem cell-based transplant study in a Type 2 diabetes model.

Many [of these studies] have been predicted to fail because one of the characteristics of Type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, and that is in part due to obesity and higher demands of insulin, Kieffer added, and therefore it might be predicted that insulin replacement wouldnt work if were just putting insulin back.

Researchers fed four separate groups of immunosuppressed mice a different diet to try to emulate humans diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. One group of mice received a 45 percent fat diet; one a 60 percent fat diet; one a high-fat, Western diet; and the last a low-fat diet. No single group of mice developed a phenotype that exactly mimicked a Type 2 diabetes human patient, but all three high-fat groups ended up exhibiting characteristics that mirrored the hallmark features of the condition.

Study authors transplanted human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived pancreatic progenitor cells into the mice after they began exhibiting symptoms. These cells are programmed to expand and differentiate when transplanted into the pancreas, and to subsequently secrete insulin.

To transplant the human stem cells, researchers used a macroencapsulation device, a mechanism that is meant to prevent the body from detecting nonnative material as foreign and subsequently rejecting it. Because the mice were immunosuppressed, the device wasnt necessary, but Kieffer said his team used it so their findings would be more relevant for future clinical trials, wherein the patients would not be immunosuppressed. Researchers opted to induce Type 2 diabetes symptoms in immunosuppressed mice instead of using the mice model genetically engineered to assume Type 2 diabetes for that same reason.

The hope in the field is that some sort of device will eliminate the need for immunosuppression when cells are transplanted, Kieffer said.

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Stem cell therapy may help treat type 2 diabetes

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Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research
Paralysis. Life. Each day, some people wake up having to think about both. That #39;s why, each day, Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research does the same, thinking long and hard about how we can make...

By: Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research

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Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research - Video

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Foot and Ankle Injuries Treated with Prolotherapy
Are you suffering from chronic foot and ankle pain? We would love to help you. Prolotherapy is a regenerative injection treatment that stimulates the body to repair the painful areas. It is...

By: Caring Medical Regenerative Medicine Clinics

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Foot and Ankle Injuries Treated with Prolotherapy - Video

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Tennis Injuries Treated with Prolotherapy
Dr. Tim Speciale explains how Prolotherapy is a great option for tennis elbow and other sports injuries. If you would like an opinion on regenerative injection treatments, like Prolotherapy...

By: Caring Medical Regenerative Medicine Clinics

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Tennis Injuries Treated with Prolotherapy - Video

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Laurel Barchas: Becoming a Stem Cel Scientist
In this video produced by ConnectEd California, Laurel Barchas, a Ph.D. student in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, describes how her passion for stem cell research has inspired her to bring...

By: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

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Laurel Barchas: Becoming a Stem Cel Scientist - Video

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Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, Mayo Clinic Square Profile
Jonathan Finnoff, D.O., Medical Director for Mayo Clinic Square, Sports Medicine Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota discusses the services they provide in their program. Sports performance training,...

By: Mayo Clinic

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Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, Mayo Clinic Square Profile - Video

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Fox Morning Blend - The Prolotherapist March 17, 2015
In this segment, Ross Hauser, MD (The Prolotherapist) discusses how computer usage and smart phones/tablet devices can cause neck and thumb pain. If you would like more information about how...

By: Caring Medical Regenerative Medicine Clinics

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Newswise A bone marrow transplant can mean the difference between life and death for people with blood cancers and related disorders. But many patients in India cant afford the high treatment costs, and for them a transplant is not an option. This is changing thanks to a newly launched bone marrow transplant unit at M.S. Ramaiah Medical College in Bangalore.

The five-bed unit, which opened last month, was established by local physicians and hospital administrators working with Dr. Damiano Rondelli, director of the blood and marrow transplant program at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System.

Bone marrow transplants in India are done mainly at nonacademic institutions and can be prohibitively expensive. Clinical standards, including infection control, can vary at these unaccredited transplant programs.

Ramaiah aims to become the first internationally accredited bone marrow transplant program in India. It will provide transplantation under high standards of care and at a significantly lower cost. The service will be subsidized by revenues from the for-profit hospital associated with the medical college.

Its a very nice model -- sustainable, and every patient gets the same treatment, regardless of what they can pay, said Rondelli.

Rondelli first visited Ramaiah in October at the invitation of his colleague Bellur S. Prabhakar, professor and head of microbiology and immunology and associate dean for technological innovation and training at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Prabhakar had been meeting with leaders at Ramaiah to discuss working together through UICs Center for Global Health.

One of the things they wanted to do was to establish a world-class bone marrow transplantation unit, said Prabhakar.

The need for bone marrow transplantation is high in India, a country of more than a billion people. Southeast Asians have a higher genetic risk for thalassemia, a disorder of hemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the tissues. Bone marrow transplantation is the only cure.

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Chicago Physician Helps Launch Bone Marrow Unit in Bangalore

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Written by Lidia Dinkova on March 18, 2015

University of Miami stem cell research on generating healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors is on track to be tested across the US.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of federal medical research arm the National Institutes of Health, is to fund the $8 million cost if the trial wins necessary approvals.

The trial, the first of this research in humans, is a step toward restoring full heart function in heart attack survivors.

The research developed at the UM Miller School of Medicines Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute is on combining two types of stem cells to generate healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors. Scientists have in the past studied using one type of stem cell at a time, a method thats worked OK, said Dr. Joshua Hare, founding director of the UM stem cell institute.

But UM research shows that combining two types of stem cells expedites healing and regeneration of healthy heart muscle.

We could remove twice the scar tissue than with either cell alone, Dr. Hare said. We had some scientific information that they actually interacted and worked together, so we tested that. It worked.

Researchers combined mesenchymal stem cells, usually generated from human bone marrow, and cardiac stem cells, isolated from a mammals heart.

Stem cells are cells that havent matured to specialize to work in a particular part of the body, such as the heart. Because these cells are in a way nascent, they have the potential to become specialized for a particular body function.

Doctors have been using stem cells to regenerate lost tissue from bones to heart muscle. The mesenchymal and cardiac stem cells each work well in generating healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors, Dr. Hare said. Combining them expedites the process, according to the UM research.

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UM stem cell research on heart may go national

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Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully created 'mini-lungs' using stem cells derived from skin cells of patients with cystic fibrosis, and have shown that these can be used to test potential new drugs for this debilitating lung disease.

The research is one of a number of studies that have used stem cells -- the body's master cells -- to grow 'organoids', 3D clusters of cells that mimic the behaviour and function of specific organs within the body. Other recent examples have been 'mini-brains' to study Alzheimer's disease and 'mini-livers' to model liver disease. Scientists use the technique to model how diseases occur and to screen for potential drugs; they are an alternative to the use of animals in research.

Cystic fibrosis is a monogenic condition -- in other words, it is caused by a single genetic mutation in patients, though in some cases the mutation responsible may differ between patients. One of the main features of cystic fibrosis is the lungs become overwhelmed with thickened mucus causing difficulty breathing and increasing the incidence of respiratory infection. Although patients have a shorter than average lifespan, advances in treatment mean the outlook has improved significantly in recent years.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute used skin cells from patients with the most common form of cystic fibrosis caused by a mutation in the CFTR gene referred to as the delta-F508 mutation. Approximately three in four cystic fibrosis patients in the UK have this particular mutation. They then reprogrammed the skin cells to an induced pluripotent state, the state at which the cells can develop into any type of cell within the body.

Using these cells -- known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells -- the researchers were able to recreate embryonic lung development in the lab by activating a process known as gastrulation, in which the cells form distinct layers including the endoderm and then the foregut, from which the lung 'grows', and then pushed these cells further to develop into distal airway tissue. The distal airway is the part of the lung responsible for gas exchange and is often implicated in disease, such as cystic fibrosis, some forms of lung cancer and emphysema.

The results of the study are published in the journal Stem Cells and Development.

"In a sense, what we've created are 'mini-lungs'," explains Dr Nick Hannan, who led the study. "While they only represent the distal part of lung tissue, they are grown from human cells and so can be more reliable than using traditional animal models, such as mice. We can use them to learn more about key aspects of serious diseases -- in our case, cystic fibrosis."

The genetic mutation delta-F508 causes the CFTR protein found in distal airway tissue to misfold and malfunction, meaning it is not appropriately expressed on the surface of the cell, where its purpose is to facilitate the movement of chloride in and out of the cells. This in turn reduces the movement of water to the inside of the lung; as a consequence, the mucus becomes particular thick and prone to bacterial infection, which over time leads to scarring -- the 'fibrosis' in the disease's name.

Using a fluorescent dye that is sensitive to the presence of chloride, the researchers were able to see whether the 'mini-lungs' were functioning correctly. If they were, they would allow passage of the chloride and hence changes in fluorescence; malfunctioning cells from cystic fibrosis patients would not allow such passage and the fluorescence would not change. This technique allowed the researchers to show that the 'mini-lungs' could be used in principle to test potential new drugs: when a small molecule currently the subject of clinical trials was added to the cystic fibrosis 'mini lungs', the fluorescence changed -- a sign that the cells were now functioning when compared to the same cells not treated with the small molecule.

"We're confident this process could be scaled up to enable us to screen tens of thousands of compounds and develop mini-lungs with other diseases such as lung cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis," adds Dr Hannan. "This is far more practical, should provide more reliable data and is also more ethical than using large numbers of mice for such research."

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Scientists grow 'mini-lungs' to aid study of cystic fibrosis

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully created 'mini-lungs' using stem cells derived from skin cells of patients with cystic fibrosis, and have shown that these can be used to test potential new drugs for this debilitating lung disease.

The research is one of a number of studies that have used stem cells - the body's master cells - to grow 'organoids', 3D clusters of cells that mimic the behaviour and function of specific organs within the body. Other recent examples have been 'mini-brains' to study Alzheimer's disease and 'mini-livers' to model liver disease. Scientists use the technique to model how diseases occur and to screen for potential drugs; they are an alternative to the use of animals in research.

Cystic fibrosis is a monogenic condition - in other words, it is caused by a single genetic mutation in patients, though in some cases the mutation responsible may differ between patients. One of the main features of cystic fibrosis is the lungs become overwhelmed with thickened mucus causing difficulty breathing and increasing the incidence of respiratory infection. Although patients have a shorter than average lifespan, advances in treatment mean the outlook has improved significantly in recent years.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute used skin cells from patients with the most common form of cystic fibrosis caused by a mutation in the CFTR gene referred to as the delta-F508 mutation. Approximately three in four cystic fibrosis patients in the UK have this particular mutation. They then reprogrammed the skin cells to an induced pluripotent state, the state at which the cells can develop into any type of cell within the body.

Using these cells - known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells - the researchers were able to recreate embryonic lung development in the lab by activating a process known as gastrulation, in which the cells form distinct layers including the endoderm and then the foregut, from which the lung 'grows', and then pushed these cells further to develop into distal airway tissue. The distal airway is the part of the lung responsible for gas exchange and is often implicated in disease, such as cystic fibrosis, some forms of lung cancer and emphysema.

The results of the study are published in the journal Stem Cells and Development.

"In a sense, what we've created are 'mini-lungs'," explains Dr Nick Hannan, who led the study. "While they only represent the distal part of lung tissue, they are grown from human cells and so can be more reliable than using traditional animal models, such as mice. We can use them to learn more about key aspects of serious diseases - in our case, cystic fibrosis."

The genetic mutation delta-F508 causes the CFTR protein found in distal airway tissue to misfold and malfunction, meaning it is not appropriately expressed on the surface of the cell, where its purpose is to facilitate the movement of chloride in and out of the cells. This in turn reduces the movement of water to the inside of the lung; as a consequence, the mucus becomes particular thick and prone to bacterial infection, which over time leads to scarring - the 'fibrosis' in the disease's name.

Using a fluorescent dye that is sensitive to the presence of chloride, the researchers were able to see whether the 'mini-lungs' were functioning correctly. If they were, they would allow passage of the chloride and hence changes in fluorescence; malfunctioning cells from cystic fibrosis patients would not allow such passage and the fluorescence would not change. This technique allowed the researchers to show that the 'mini-lungs' could be used in principle to test potential new drugs: when a small molecule currently the subject of clinical trials was added to the cystic fibrosis 'mini lungs', the fluorescence changed - a sign that the cells were now functioning when compared to the same cells not treated with the small molecule.

"We're confident this process could be scaled up to enable us to screen tens of thousands of compounds and develop mini-lungs with other diseases such as lung cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis," adds Dr Hannan. "This is far more practical, should provide more reliable data and is also more ethical than using large numbers of mice for such research."

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Scientists grow 'mini-lungs' to aid the study of cystic fibrosis

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Newswise Stem cells can have a strong sense of identity. Taken out of their home in the hair follicle, for example, and grown in culture, these cells remain true to themselves. After waiting in limbo, these cultured cells become capable of regenerating follicles and other skin structures once transplanted back into skin. Its not clear just how these stem cells and others elsewhere in the body retain their ability to produce new tissue and heal wounds, even under extraordinary conditions.

New research at Rockefeller University has identified a protein, Sox9, that takes the lead in controlling stem cell plasticity. In a paper published Wednesday (March 18) in Nature, the team describes Sox9 as a pioneer factor that breaks ground for the activation of genes associated with stem cell identity in the hair follicle.

We found that in the hair follicle, Sox9 lays the foundation for stem cell plasticity. First, Sox9 makes the genes needed by stem cells accessible, so they can become active. Then, Sox9 recruits other proteins that work together to give these stemness genes a boost, amplifying their expression, says study author Elaine Fuchs, Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor, Robin Chemers Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development. Without Sox9, this process never happens, and hair follicle stem cells cannot survive.

Sox9 is a type of protein called a transcription factor, which can act like a volume dial for genes. When a transcription factor binds to a segment of DNA known as an enhancer, it cranks up the activity of the associated gene. Recently, scientists identified a less common, but more powerful version: the super-enhancer. Super-enhancers are much longer pieces of DNA, and host large numbers of cell type-specific transcription factors that bind cooperatively. Super-enhancers also contain histones, DNA-packaging proteins, that harbor specific chemical groups epigenetic marks that make genes they are associated with accessible so they can be expressed.

Using an epigenetic mark associated specifically with the histones of enhancers, first author Rene Adam, a graduate student in the lab, and colleagues, identified 377 of these high-powered gene-amplifying regions in hair follicle stem cells. The majority of these super-enhancers were bound by at least five transcription factors, often including Sox9. Then, they compared the stem cell super-enhancers to those of short-lived stem cell progeny, which have begun to choose a fate, and so lost the plasticity of stem cells. These two types of cells shared only 32 percent of their super-enhancers, suggesting these regions played an important role in skin cell identity. By switching off super-enhancers associated with stem cell genes, these genes were silenced while new super-enhancers were being activated to turn on hair genes.

To better understand these dynamics, the researchers took a piece of a super-enhancer, called an epicenter, where all the stem cell transcription factors bind, and they linked it to a gene that glowed green whenever the transcription factors were present. In living mice, all the hair follicle stem cells glowed green, but surprisingly, the green gene turned off when the stem cells were taken from the follicle and placed in culture. When they put the cells back into living skin, the green glow returned.

Another clue came from experiments performed by Hanseul Yang, another student in the lab. By examining the new super-enhancers that were gained when the stem cells were cultured, they learned that these new super-enhancers bound transcription factors that were known to be activated during wound-repair. When they used one of these epicenters to drive the green gene, the green glow appeared in culture, but not in skin. When they wounded the skin, then the green glow switched on.

We were learning that some super-enhancers are specifically activated in the stem cells within their native niche, while other super-enhancers specifically switch on during injury, explained Adam. By shifting epicenters, you can shift from one cohort of transcription factors to another to adapt to different environments. But we still needed to determine what was controlling these shifts.

Originally posted here:
Scientists Pinpoint Molecule That Controls Stem Cell Plasticity by Boosting Gene Expression

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

(Source: Thinkstock; art by Tanya Leigh Washington)

We're no strangerswhen it comes to wild beauty products. Snail venom, check. Probiotic bacteria, of course. Charcoal, yes, please. But when we started noticing stem cells popping up as ingredients in beauty products, we raised an eye brow.

First off, these aren't the stem cells that have caused a lot of controversy in recent years. These are (typically) stem cells extracts from plants andfruits and are believed by some to encourage cell regeneration, restoration and repair. However, some products are using human stem cell derived proteins as active ingredients. The basic idea is this:stem cell extracts uppotential growth for collagen and elastinyou know, those tissues that keep us looking youthful.

Althoughthe jury is still out on the effectiveness of stem cell-based products, one thing's for surethispossible fountain of youth comes at a steep price tag. Due to the extraction and cultivation process of stem cell extracts, products tend to be on the higher end side.

If stem cell technology sounds like something you're ready to invest in, take a peek at a view of the products on the market that caught our eyes.

Rodial Stemcell Super-Food Cleanser, $40, atus.spacenk.com

Stem cell technology from thePhytoCellTec Alp Rose mixed with Coconut Oil, Rose Hip Oil, Rose Wax and Cocoa Butter hydrate and cleanses.

Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Lifting Neck Cream, $55, atjuicebeauty.com

This blend of fruit stem cells are infused into a Vitamin C, resveratrol rich grapeseed formula to provide antioxidant protection and firm up skin.

StemologyCell Revive Smoothing Serum, $99, at stemologyskincare.com

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Why Stem Cell Beauty Products are Causing a Buzz in Anti-Aging

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Experiments placed Sox9 at the crux of a shift in gene expression associated with hair follicle stem cell identity

IMAGE:Researchers made stem cells fluoresce green (at the base of hair follicles above) by labeling their super-enhancers, regions of the genome bound by gene-amplifying proteins. It appears one such protein,... view more

Credit: Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development at The Rockefeller University/Nature

Stem cells can have a strong sense of identity. Taken out of their home in the hair follicle, for example, and grown in culture, these cells remain true to themselves. After waiting in limbo, these cultured cells become capable of regenerating follicles and other skin structures once transplanted back into skin. It's not clear just how these stem cells -- and others elsewhere in the body -- retain their ability to produce new tissue and heal wounds, even under extraordinary conditions.

New research at Rockefeller University has identified a protein, Sox9, that takes the lead in controlling stem cell plasticity. In a paper published Wednesday (March 18) in Nature, the team describes Sox9 as a "pioneer factor" that breaks ground for the activation of genes associated with stem cell identity in the hair follicle.

"We found that in the hair follicle, Sox9 lays the foundation for stem cell plasticity. First, Sox9 makes the genes needed by stem cells accessible, so they can become active. Then, Sox9 recruits other proteins that work together to give these "stemness" genes a boost, amplifying their expression," says study author Elaine Fuchs, Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor, Robin Chemers Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development. "Without Sox9, this process never happens, and hair follicle stem cells cannot survive."

Sox9 is a type of protein called a transcription factor, which can act like a volume dial for genes. When a transcription factor binds to a segment of DNA known as an enhancer, it cranks up the activity of the associated gene. Recently, scientists identified a less common, but more powerful version: the super-enhancer. Super-enhancers are much longer pieces of DNA, and host large numbers of cell type-specific transcription factors that bind cooperatively. Super-enhancers also contain histones, DNA-packaging proteins, that harbor specific chemical groups -- epigenetic marks -- that make genes they are associated with accessible so they can be expressed.

Using an epigenetic mark associated specifically with the histones of enhancers, first author Rene Adam, a graduate student in the lab, and colleagues, identified 377 of these high-powered gene-amplifying regions in hair follicle stem cells. The majority of these super-enhancers were bound by at least five transcription factors, often including Sox9. Then, they compared the stem cell super-enhancers to those of short-lived stem cell progeny, which have begun to choose a fate, and so lost the plasticity of stem cells. These two types of cells shared only 32 percent of their super-enhancers, suggesting these regions played an important role in skin cell identity. By switching off super-enhancers associated with stem cell genes, these genes were silenced while new super-enhancers were being activated to turn on hair genes.

To better understand these dynamics, the researchers took a piece of a super-enhancer, called an epicenter, where all the stem cell transcription factors bind, and they linked it to a gene that glowed green whenever the transcription factors were present. In living mice, all the hair follicle stem cells glowed green, but surprisingly, the green gene turned off when the stem cells were taken from the follicle and placed in culture. When they put the cells back into living skin, the green glow returned.

Another clue came from experiments performed by Hanseul Yang, another student in the lab. By examining the new super-enhancers that were gained when the stem cells were cultured, they learned that these new super-enhancers bound transcription factors that were known to be activated during wound-repair. When they used one of these epicenters to drive the green gene, the green glow appeared in culture, but not in skin. When they wounded the skin, then the green glow switched on.

The rest is here:
Scientists pinpoint molecule that switches on stem cell genes

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Mar 18, 2015 by Marla Vacek Broadfoot A jelly fish-green fluorescent gene marks stem cells and other proliferating primitive cells of an intestine-like structure. The central lumen hollow space is stained red. Credit: Magness Lab

The human gut is a remarkable thing. Every week the intestines regenerate a new lining, sloughing off the equivalent surface area of a studio apartment and refurbishing it with new cells. For decades, researchers have known that the party responsible for this extreme makeover were intestinal stem cells, but it wasn't until this year that Scott Magness, PhD, associate professor of medicine, cell biology and physiology, and biomedical engineering, figured out a way to isolate and grow thousands of these elusive cells in the laboratory at one time. This high throughput technological advance now promises to give scientists the ability to study stem cell biology and explore the origins of inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal cancers, and other gastrointestinal disorders.

But it didn't come easy.

One step forward

When Magness and his team first began working with intestinal stem cells some years ago, they quickly found themselves behind the eight ball. Their first technique involved using a specific molecule or marker on the surface of stem cells to make sure they could distinguish stem cells from other intestinal cells.

Then Magness's team would fish out only the stem cells from intestinal tissues and grow the cells in Petri dishes. But there was a problem. Even though all of the isolated cells had the same stem cell marker, only one out of every 100 could "self-renew" and differentiate into specialized cells like a typical stem cell should. (Stem cells spawn cells that have specialized functions necessary for any organ to work properly.)

"The question was: why didn't the 99 others behave like stem cells?" Magness said. "We thought it was probably because they're not all the same, just like everybody named Judy doesn't look the same. There are all kinds of differences, and we've been presuming that these cells are all the same based on this one name, this one molecular marker. That's been a problem. But the only way to solve it so we could study these cells was to look at intestinal stem cells at the single cell level, which had never been done before."

Magness is among a growing contingent of researchers who recognize that many of the biological processes underlying health and disease are driven by a tiny fraction of the 37 trillion cells that make up the human body. Individual cells can replenish aging tissues, develop drug resistance, and become vehicles for viral infections. And yet the effects of these singular actors are often missed in biological studies that focus on pooled populations of thousands of seemingly "identical" cells.

Distinguishing between the true intestinal stem cells and their cellular look-a-likes would require isolating tens of thousands of stem cells and tracking the behavior of each individual cell over time. But Magness had no idea how to accomplish that feat. Enter Nancy Allbritton, PhD, chair of the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. The two professors met one day to discuss Magness joining the biomedical engineering department as an adjunct faculty member. And they did discuss it. And Magness did join. But the meeting quickly turned into collaboration.

One of Allbritton's areas of expertise is microfabrication the ability to squeeze large devices into very small footprints. During their meeting, Allbritton showed Magness her latest creation, a device smaller than a credit card dotted with 15,000 tiny wells for culturing cells.

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A single-cell breakthrough

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Arthritis of low back, knees, and shoulder 2 years after stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson ND
Jim describes his results two years after bone marrow stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson ND for treatment of his arthritic low back, knees, and shoulder http://www.docereclinics.com.

By: Harry Adelson, N.D.

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Arthritis of low back, knees, and shoulder 2 years after stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson ND - Video

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Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for generating mutations in both copies of a gene in a single generation that could rapidly accelerate genetic research on diverse species and provide scientists with a powerful new tool to control insect borne diseases such as malaria as well as animal and plant pests.

Their achievement was published today in an advance online paper in the journal Science. It was accomplished by two biologists at UC San Diego working on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster who employed a new genomic technology to change how mutations could spread through a population--a concept long established in plants by the father of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel.

"Mendel conducted classic genetic experiments with peas that revealed the fundamental of inheritance in many organisms including humans," explains Ethan Bier, a professor of biology at UC San Diego whose graduate student, Valentino Gantz, developed the method. "According to these simple rules of inheritance, the fertilized egg receives one copy of most genes from our mothers and one from our fathers so that the resulting individual has two copies of each gene."

One advantage of having two copies of a gene is that if one copy carries a non-functional mutation, then the other "good" copy typically can provide sufficient activity to sustain normal function. Thus, most mutations resulting in loss of gene function are known as recessive, meaning that an organism must inherit two mutant copies of the gene from its parents before an overt defect is observed, as is the case in humans with muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis or Tay Sachs disease.

"Because individuals carrying a single mutant copy of a gene often mate with an individual with two normal copies of gene, defects can be hidden for a generation and then show up in the grandchildren," Bier adds. "This is how genetics has been understood for over a century in diverse organisms including humans, most animals we are familiar with, and many plants."

But in the past two years, Bier and other molecular biologists have witnessed a veritable revolution in genome manipulation. "It is now routine to generate virtually any change in the genome of an organism of choice at will," he notes. "The technology is based on a bacterial anti-viral defense mechanism known as the Cas9/CRISPR system."

By employing this development in their experiments with laboratory fruit flies, Gantz and Bier demonstrated that by arranging the standard components of this anti-viral defense system in a novel configuration, a mutation generated on one copy of a chromosome in fruit flies spreads automatically to the other chromosome. The end result, Bier says, is that both copies of a gene could be inactivated "in a single shot."

The two biologists call their new genetic method the "mutagenic chain reaction," or MCR.

"MCR is remarkably active in all cells of the body with one result being that such mutations are transmitted to offspring via the germline with 95 percent efficiency," says Gantz, the first author of the paper. "Thus, nearly all gametes of an MCR individual carry the mutation in contrast to a typical mutant carrier in which only half of the reproductive cells are mutant."

Bier says "there are several profound consequences of MCR. First, the ability to mutate both copies of a gene in a single generation should greatly accelerate genetic research in diverse species. For example, to generate mutations in two genes at once in an organism is typically time consuming, because it requires two generations, and involved, because it requires genetic testing to identify rare progeny carrying both mutations. Now, one should simply be able to cross individuals harboring two different MCR mutants to each other and all their direct progeny should be mutant for both genes."

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New genetic method promises to advance gene research and control insect pests

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IMAGE:Dr. Ivan Barrero Farfan, a Texas A&M University student working with Dr. Seth Murray during the study, pollinates corn to make hybrids for testing. view more

Credit: (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Dr. Seth Murray)

COLLEGE STATION - A ground-breaking Texas A&M AgriLife Research-led study on corn has identified useful gene variations for yield increases, drought tolerance and aflatoxin resistance that could make a real difference to Texas producers in the years to come, according to researchers.

The study, titled "Genome Wide Association Study for Drought, Aflatoxin Resistance, and Important Agronomic Traits of Maize Hybrids in the Sub-Tropics" was recently published in PLOS ONE, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication.

The study included the growing years of 2011, a drought year, and 2012, and was conducted on dryland and irrigated corn in College Station and in Mississippi, all with similar results, said Dr. Seth Murray, an AgriLife Research corn breeder in the soil and crop science department of Texas A&M University at College Station.

Murray said at this time all corn seed available to growers in Texas comes from commercial breeding conducted in the Midwest. As a result, there's been no significant increase in corn yields in Texas for many years, as reflected in their previous publications.

Murray designed this recently published study to see if there was a genetic reason, possibly the use of Midwest-temperate rather than sub-tropical genetics, limiting production.

He was joined in his research by Dr. Mike Kolomiets, an AgriLife Research plant pathologist, and Dr. Tom Isakeit, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service plant pathologist, both in College Station, along with students Dr. Ivan Barrero Farfan, Gerald De La Fuente and Pei-Cheng Huang.

Other researchers who also grew the test plots and contributed to the analysis were Dr. Marilyn Warburton, Dr. Paul Williams and Dr. Gary Windham, all U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service researchers at Mississippi State University.

The study was funded by a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative for Plant Breeding and Education grant. Additional support was given by the Texas Corn Producers and Texas A&M AgriLife.

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AgriLife Research study opens doors for increases in Texas corn yields, aflatoxin resistance

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A pioneering class of drugs that target cancers with mutations in the BRCA breast cancer genes could also work against tumours with another type of genetic fault, a new study suggests.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, found that errors in a gene called CLBC leave cancer cells vulnerable to PARP inhibitor drugs. Around 2 per cent of all tumours have defects in CLBC.

The study, which was carried out in collaboration with colleagues in Denmark and the Czech Republic, was funded in the UK by the European Union, and was published today (Thursday) in the journal Oncotarget.

Olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, became the first cancer drug targeted at an inherited genetic fault to reach the market when it was approved in December for use in ovarian cancer patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. Its development was underpinned by research at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).

Using an approach known as RNA interference screening - which 'silences' genes to analyse their function - researchers systematically tested which of the 25,000 genes in the human genome affected the response of cancer cells to olaparib.

The ICR team found that cancer cells with a defect in the CBLC gene were as sensitive to the drug as those with a faulty BRCA2 gene.

By analysing the molecular processes that the CBLC gene controls, researchers found that it normally allows cells to repair damaged DNA by fixing broken DNA strands back together.

This finding indicates that a flaw in DNA repair mechanisms explains the sensitivity of CBLC-defective cancer cells to PARP inhibitors - which knock out the action of another DNA repair mechanism.

DNA repair is often disrupted in cancer cells, which sacrifice genetic stability as they gain mutations that allow them to divide uncontrollably. These cancer cells may be particularly vulnerable to drugs to block DNA repair proteins, since they may lack any alternative functioning repair systems to fall back on.

Study co-leader Dr Chris Lord, Team Leader in Gene Function at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:

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World-first cancer drugs could work in larger group of patients

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IMAGE:Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding... view more

Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

New Rochelle, NY, March 18, 2015--Job recruiters may review hundreds of online resumes for a position, often screening them quickly and discarding those that are not appropriate. An applicant's email address can greatly impact first impressions and affect one's chances of getting hired according to a new study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers . The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website until April 18, 2015.

Marlies van Toorenburg, Janneke Oostrom, and Thomas Pollet, VU University, Amsterdam, designed a study to determine whether the use of an informal rather than a more formal email address by a job applicant when sending an online resume affects how hirable the person would seem to a professional recruiter. An informal email address includes slang, cute, or made-up names instead of the applicant's real name.

In the article "What a Difference Your Email Makes: Effects of Informal Email Addresses in Online Rsum Screening," the authors describe how the formal or informal nature of an applicant's email address impacts a recruiter's hirability perceptions. The researchers also compare the importance of the email address to spelling errors and the typeface used in the email in passing judgment on an online resume.

"We all have unconscious biases, and first impressions, as we know, are often difficult to change," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium. "This study may assist recruiters in becoming more conscious of their biases, as well as aiding job applicants in understanding the importance of their electronic identities."

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About the Journal

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies, plus cybertherapy and rehabilitation. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

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Could your email address keep job recruiters from reading your online resume?

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While it holds promise for eradicating genetic diseases, the technology also has big implications for the human genome: A person whose DNA is edited would pass the altered genes on to his or her children.

There's also a fear the technology could be used in unethical ways, such as "engineering" a baby to look a certain way, or to be athletic or intelligent.

"One of the concerns is that some people may want to use the technology to make trivial or cosmetic changes, rather than using it to prevent devastating diseases," said Carroll, distinguished professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

The paper Carroll co-signed is expected to amplify discussion in the scientific community, which last week heard from another group of researchers who recommend that the new technology never be used on human embryos.

Changing the genome could have unpredictable effects on future humans, and that's unacceptable, the group says.

Instead, that group, led by Edward Lanphier, chief executive of the biotechnology company Sangamo Biosciences, suggests research focus on somatic, or non-reproductive cells.

CRISPR-Cas9, was developed in the lab of Jennifer Doudna, the University of California-Berkeley scientist who organized the Napa meeting.

Hundreds of papers in the past two years have proven the usefulness of the new tool in research involving mammals.

"The applications to humans are potentially just around the corner," Carroll said.

CRISPR-Cas9 allows more subtle, precise changes in DNA than was possible with technologies used in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), he added. Such genetic engineering typically involves introducing new genes into an organism.

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Engineering humans: Utah professor joins group urging caution

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