Navigation Links
Teasing out tissue from blood

It would be the ultimate in tissue therapy. Simply supply a bag of your blood and come back two weeks laterto find it turned into cells from other tissues, ranging from brain and liver cells to the insulin-producing beta islet cells of the pancreas.

The idea is to revert a patient's blood cells to the stem cell stage and then chemically nudge them to re-specialise into particular tissue types that can be implanted to heal damaged tissue. A huge advantage over using donated tissue is that the transplant would be "autologous" ?made of the patient's own cells, thus avoiding immune rejection.

"It's autologous, we don't need to worry about rejection of tissue, and immunosuppression," says Glenn Winnier of Pharmafrontiers, a company in Woodland, Texas. It now claims to have refined a way to produce stem cells from whiteblood cells called monocytes and develop them into many different tissue types including, crucially, insulin-producing cells.

Most mainstream stem cell researchers are sceptical, however, because the idea that specialised cells like monocytes can be "de-differentiated" back to more primitive stem cells remains heretical. "Let's see first how they perform functionally," says Stephen Minger of King's College London.

Pharmafrontiers is to present its latest results at the end of this month in Toronto at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting. Deriving "stem cells" from monocytes was originally reported in 2003 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol 100, p 2426) by a team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, but Pharmafrontiers bought up and refined the technology.

The company says it can de-differentiate monocytes into "multipotent" stem cells by exposing them to certain nutrients and growth factors. Such stem cells can give rise to many but not all tissue types like "pluripotent" embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Different combinations of growth factors can then turn the stem cells i
'"/>

Source:New Scientist


Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. U-M scientist to talk about tissue engineering at AAAS
2. Gene therapy converts dead bone graft to new, living tissue
3. NC State scientist finds soft tissue in T. rex bones
4. Medical molecules designed to respond to visible light that can penetrate tissue
5. Cancer related gene p53 not regulated as indicated by previous tissue culture research
6. Simple sea sponge helps scientists understand tissue rejection
7. New study shows SARS can infect brain tissue
8. Scientists develop nanotech-laser treatment that kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue
9. Gene therapy may protect normal tissues during radiation retreatment for lung cancer
10. Cells from amniotic fluid used to tissue-engineer a new trachea
11. New drug could reduce tissue damage after heart attack
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Teasing out tissue from blood

(Date:10/10/2008)..., Researchers report on a previously unknown rela...ic rate of their mitochondria a cell,s energy make...have a greater capacity to differentiate and are m...pearing this week in JBC, could lead to methods of...or therapeutic use and may provide some insights i...
(Date:10/10/2008)..., MARSHFIELD, MILWAUKEE, MADISON Governor Jim Do...en four Wisconsin research institutions to advance...hat proactively addresses diseases. The Wisconsin ...fort among the Marshfield Clinic, Medical College ... of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) and UW-Mil...
(Date:10/10/2008)... 10 October 2008.- During the 1950s, Austrian and ...e Everest region in Nepal taking photographs of th... time, the Swiss glaciologist Fritz Mller spent ei...etres, studying and photographing the Himalayan gl...white photographs taken by these scientists are of...
(Date:10/10/2008)... This release is available in German . , DNA... information in all forms of life, is highly resis...understanding the mechanism for its photostability...the interaction between the four chemical bases th...niversity have succeeded in showing that DNA stran...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Governor Doyle announces historic genomic research collaboration 2'Himalaya -- Changing Landscapes' photo exhibition draws attention to the impacts of climate change 2'Himalaya -- Changing Landscapes' photo exhibition draws attention to the impacts of climate change 3Can genetic information be controlled by light? 2Patient Data Analysis Report Finds More Than 75 Percent of Chronically Ill Patients Unable to Obtain Needed Healthcare Have Some Form of Insurance 22076 1Patient Data Analysis Report Finds More Than 75 Percent of Chronically Ill Patients Unable to Obtain Needed Healthcare Have Some Form of Insurance 22076 2Sentry Enhances Offerings with Temperature Controlled Custom Bio Pharmaceutical Finishing Services 6054 1Sentry Enhances Offerings with Temperature Controlled Custom Bio Pharmaceutical Finishing Services 6054 2Sentry Enhances Offerings with Temperature Controlled Custom Bio Pharmaceutical Finishing Services 6054 3Parks Associates Analysts Present Insights on Broadband Digital Content Advertising Home Systems and Digital Health at CONNECTIONS 28TM 29 22075 1Parks Associates Analysts Present Insights on Broadband Digital Content Advertising Home Systems and Digital Health at CONNECTIONS 28TM 29 22075 2Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Shows Derma Sciences MEDIHONEY 28TM 29 Eradicates MRSA From Chronic Venous Ulcers 2456 1Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Shows Derma Sciences MEDIHONEY 28TM 29 Eradicates MRSA From Chronic Venous Ulcers 2456 2Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Shows Derma Sciences MEDIHONEY 28TM 29 Eradicates MRSA From Chronic Venous Ulcers 2456 3Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Shows Derma Sciences MEDIHONEY 28TM 29 Eradicates MRSA From Chronic Venous Ulcers 2456 4
...dmark study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (...s living in one of India’s best-run national parks...ar from poaching and natural mortality, yet their ... reproductive rates and abundant prey. The study,... the need of maintaining protected areas with high...
...a 1950,s Detroit automaker, it appears that nature...rdy chassis. , A new study combining advanced com...y molecular biologists at Rice University and Bayl...le parts of a protein are also the parts that fold...sue of the journal Structure. , Nature refuses t...
...rchers have found that a class of RNA molecules, p... protect sex cells from self-destructing. These fi...of the journal Cell. , Central to this discovery ...n a gene is ready to produce a protein, the two st...irst strand produces a molecule called messenger R...
...esearch offers tantalizing clues as to why some te...more aggressive or kill themselves. The research ...e, which is published by the American Psychologica...ersity of Texas at Austin found that juvenile hams...which is sold in the United States as Prozac, beca...
Other Biology News:Wild tigers need cat food 2Protein folding: Building a strong foundation 2Scientists discover role for dueling RNAs 2Adolescent but not adult hamsters are more aggressive on low dose of fluoxetine 2
(Date:10/10/2008)...ire-FirstCall/ -- Wyeth (NYSE: WYE ),announced to...dividually,and as Administrator of the Estate of E...rt of Common Pleas found in favor of Wyeth., "We ...e evidence," says,Bob Nicholas, an attorney from R...der,s death was tragic, the medical evidence clear...
(Date:10/10/2008)...e Sixth Milestone in its Ofatumumab ...mark, October 10 /- Genmab ...sixth milestone for,ofatumumab (HuMax-CD20(R)) und...line (GSK). A milestone payment of approximately D...triggered by the first patient,receiving treatment...
(Date:10/10/2008)...RNewswire/ -- Finesse Solutions, LLC,Santa Clara,...utions for,life science process applications, anno...reactor control software. TruBio 3.4 software can ...ications, ranging from 1L bench,top R&D glass to 1...4,software is optimized for DeltaV version 9.3 fro...
(Date:10/10/2008)...0 /Xinhua-- Beike,Biotechnology Co. L...ader in,stem cell research and treatment through e...ned eight separate mutual cooperation agreements w... stem cell research organizations.,As part of the ...l Expert,Advisory Committee" and a separate "Data ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Genmab Reaches Milestone in Ofatumumab Collaboration 2Finesse Solutions Launches TruBio 3.4 Bioreactor Control Software 2Stem Cell Leader Beike Signs 8 New Cooperation Agreements, Establishes Safety Monitoring Boards 2Stem Cell Leader Beike Signs 8 New Cooperation Agreements, Establishes Safety Monitoring Boards 3
... . - Alex Vodenlich believes his life-science comp...with the acquisition of a protein chip platform fr...end on the degree to which the technology improves... , ,GenTel, which has developed a protein chip us...n during an open house at its new facility in the ...
...s . - In a move to strengthen its ability to fight... Fiserv has acquired NetEconomy , a financial cr...eadquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands. , ,Fin.... , ,NetEconomy, founded in 1993, has developed a...ntion, and compliance. Those applications will be ...
... . - As part of a new strategic plan featuring enh...Midwest Airlines has announced the launch of nons...Raleigh/Durham, N.C., the airport that serves Res...line, which has been fending off a hostile takeove...am is a frequently requested destination of busine...
... Providing few details, NimbleGen Systems annou...initial public offering. , ,The share price and nu...an Securities is taking a lead role, with Thomas W... W. Baird & Co. participating. , ,NimbleGen is one...lion venture capital investment at the close of 20...
Other Biology Technology:GenTel acquires GlaxoSmithKline chip platform 2GenTel acquires GlaxoSmithKline chip platform 3
DeStreak Reagent, 1 ml. Improves reproducibility and quality of 2-D gels by preventing streaking.Eliminates extra spots caused by nonspecific oxidation of proteins.Stabilizes proteins throughout enti
... major advantages over other RNA precipitation met...or carbohydrates. It is the method of choice for r...s from RNA preparations. Note, LiCl precipitation ...A isolations. If the RNA is to be used for RT-PCR,...
LIVE/DEAD® Sperm Viability Kit *200-1000 assays*
Human Xg Affinity Purified Polyclonal Ab Keywords: Xg glycoprotein, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia Protein Family:
Biology Products: