Regenerative medicine has been making rounds for the past few decades, and it’s here to stay! With continuous development in medical knowledge and technology, stem cell treatment might just be the solution for these conditions, curing them once and for all! Parkinson's Disease While the underlying cause of Parkinson's disease is not known, scientists are already using stem cells in treatment methods. Stem cells are used to grow nerve cells which produce dopamine and which patients lack. Treating Parkinson’s disease might be possible by replacing the deficient nerve cells with new healthy ones. The stem cells can take place of the damaged neurons, improving symptoms such as tremors, shaking and freezing. Studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells used in this procedure can survive for many years, making this method an effective form of [...]

Stem cell therapy has been around for a while, but do you know the techniques used? This blog will cover 3 types of regenerative injections used for an autologous (your own cells)procedure. Bone Marrow Derived Autologous Concentrate (BMAC) Bone marrow has long been used as a source of human stem cells. Human bone marrow has a natural supply of multipotent stem cells, which can be harvested for tissue repair and regrowth. The mononuclear cells of the bone marrow are separated and centrifuged to be injected into the individual again after having been carefully concentrated. This process of extracting a small part of the bone marrow instead of removing it along with the bone is called bone marrow aspiration. Adipose Derived Stem Cells (ADSC) In this injection, the patient's stem cells are derived from the adipose [...]

A University of California San Diego study has used lab-grown neural stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries in rats for the first time ever. Created from embryonic human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in vitro, the researchers say their revolutionary method provided long-lasting and extensive spinal cord injury recovery in the rats. "Our observations show that these spinal cord NSCs differentiate into a diverse population of spinal cord neurons occupying multiple positions along the dorso-ventral axis, and can be maintained for prolonged time periods," the researchers wrote in Nature Methods. "Grafts into injured spinal cords were rich with excitatory neurons, extended large numbers of axons over long distances, innervated their target structures, and enabled robust corticospinal regeneration." HOW SPINAL CORD INJURIES WORK To understand why this study is important, you need to understand how spinal [...]

Stem cell research is one of the fastest growing fields of medical science, however, it's still held back by a number of ungrounded myths about stem cells. Most stem cell research controversy stems from these false stem cell myths. Don't be taken in by reactionary media personalities, here are the real facts behind stem cell myths. STEM CELL MYTH 1: STEM CELLS ONLY COME FROM EMBRYOS One of the most nefarious myths about stem cell research, the stem cell research controversy over embryonic stem cells in the mid-2000s caused untold harm to the movement for stem cells across the world. The truth is embryonic stem cells are just one type of stem cells. There are many different types of stem cells and ways to harvest them ranging from blood withdrawals, to bone marrow, to [...]

Since 2006, the cornerstone of many stem cell studies have been induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPSCs. Pluripotent stem cells are essentially immature cells that can differentiate into many different types of cells. Pluripotent stem cells are key to regenerating organs and tissues, however their use was decked in controversy for many years because the main source of them was embryonic stem cells, creating ethical issues lampooned in popular culture like South Park. However, in 2006, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka changed the game with a method that reprogrammed mature cells into a pluripotent form using four growth factors. Yamanaka earned the Nobel Prize for this advancement in 2012, however there have been lingering questions about the transition process and why only 1 out of 1000 cells that are treated successfully convert into an IPSC. But [...]