Stem cells

Funds Represent Next Round in 11-Year, $600-Million Stem Cell Research Initiative; Requests for Applications (RFAs) to Access the Funding will be Issued Today

May 8, 2008 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson today announced that nearly $109 million in new state funding is being made available to support stem cell research initiatives in New York. The nearly $109 million represents the second round of available funding from the state’s 11-year, $600 million stem cell research initiative that was approved as part of last year’s state budget.    » read more »

04/07/2008 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the announcement by University of California, San Diego researchers about a new drug to treat a rare blood disorder that can lead to leukemia. Stem cell research, funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), led to the discovery of this new treatment.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: Photo by Andrew (CC)    » read more »

April 3, 2008 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that the state’s Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee has directed the allocation of $9.84 million in stem cell research funds to scientists based in Storrs, Farmington and New Haven.

Photo by tigerweet (CC)    » read more »

March 12, 2008 -- MADISON -- Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle announced today that Madison will host the World Stem Cell Summit on September 22 - 23, 2008, bringing together premier researchers, advocates, investors, and other industry leaders to advance stem cell research and the promising technologies that will save lives.    » read more »

02/28/2008 -- California Governor Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the announcement that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Major Facilities Grants program is expected to generate approximately $750 million for new stem cell research facilities throughout California:    » read more »

January 29th, 2008 -- SANTA FE - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today applauded Senate passage of the Biomedical Research Act by a vote of (20-18). Senate Bill 23 sponsored by Senator John Ryan, will allow research universities such as UNM to conduct embryonic stem cell research.    » read more »

January 18, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today called for passage of legislation they have sponsored to develop ethical stem cell research and prohibiting the cloning of a human being.    » read more »

13 January 2008 -- Researchers at the University of Minnesota seeking new treatments for heart disease have grown a beating rat heart in the lab by using stem cells. The research reported by the journal Nature Medicine is laying the groundwork for the transplant of what the scientists are calling bio-artificial organs in humans.    » read more »

$14.5 Million in Awards Granted Today

January 7, 2008 -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson today announced the first grant awards of New York State's new $600 million multi-year stem cell research program, offering new hope to people who suffer from debilitating and life threatening diseases and ailments such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer. The awards -- totaling $14.5 million -- were approved today at a meeting in New York City of the Funding Committee of the Empire State Stem Cell Board.    » read more »

17 December 2007 -- 2007 was a year notable for breakthroughs in medicine. VOA's Carol Pearson looks back at some of the top medical stories of the year.

One of the most promising developments in health in 2007 was the discovery that adult skin can be made into cells like embryonic cells.

The major ethical advantage: no embryo has to be destroyed.    » read more »

In a Washington Post commentary, AAAS CEO Alan I. Leshner and developmental biologist James A. Thomson said that while new discoveries enabling scientists to turn skin cells into multi-purpose stem cells "launches an exciting new line of research," policy makers and the public should not ignore the promise of embryonic stem cell research.

The authors wrote that although the recent stem cell advances should be considered breakthroughs, scientists are still at "square one, uncertain at this early stage whether souped-up skin cells hold the same promise as their embryonic cousins do."    » read more »

November 20, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today made the following statement in reference to scientists who have turned human skin cells into embryonic stem cells without using embryos. The findings are published online today in Science, in a paper written by Dr. James Thomson and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin.    » read more »

20 November 2007 -- Two separate teams of scientists say they have transformed ordinary human skin cells into ones that look and act like embryonic stem cells.

Laboratory teams at universities in the United States and Japan Tuesday announced the breakthrough, which may someday produce the medical benefits of embryo cloning without political, scientific and ethical controversies.

Both teams used a retrovirus to transport four genes into the skin cells, producing ones that mimic embryonic stem cells.    » read more »

15 November 2007 -- US scientists have cloned a monkey, using the resulting embryos to grow valuable stem cells. The development is the first time a primate embryo has been created, leading experts to speculate that it's a matter of time before human embryos are cloned to treat disease.

Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University used the DNA of skin cells from rhesus macaque monkeys to create embryos from which they extracted stem cells three days later.

In earlier research, the team successfully cloned mouse embryos.    » read more »

11/07/2007 -- Patients’ own stem cells injected into their hearts after treatment for an ST elevation heart attack improved their hearts’ improved pumping ability, researchers reported during a late-breaking special session on stem cell research at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2007.

In the IM-BMC randomized, double-blind trial, researchers assessed the safety and efficacy of injecting sufferers’ own stem cells into their hearts. The patients had been initially treated with clot-busting drugs, followed by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).    » read more »