Archive for the ‘Research’ Category
Keeping pace with stem cell technology
On the same day that I learned the (disturbing and sad) news that a friend, a woman in her early 40s, has a pacemaker, I read that a stem cell scientist in cardiovascular medicine, at the University of California, has received a grant to develop stem cells that “could serve as a biological alternative to…Read more
Fulfilling our pluripotential: iPS cells 6 years on
It has taken just six years since the release of his seminal publication on the genetic reprogramming of human somatic cells for Shinya Yamanaka to be awarded the most prestigious of all accolades: the Nobel Prize. Compare that to his co-recipient, Sir John B. Gurdon, whose critical paper was first published 50 years ago in…Read more
Stem cells: the fountain of fertility?
I periodically indulge myself in the personal lives of the Seattle Grace Hospital staff on Grey’s Anatomy. I am particularly fond of the character Dr. Addison Montgomery, world-class neo-natal surgeon. After enduring some juicy relationship drama, Addison decides to have a baby, which sends her on a journey to California where she visits a fertility…Read more
Will stem cells eventually outperform pharmaceuticals or will they come to Big Pharma’s rescue?
You don’t have to follow pharmaceutical industry news to know that this summer has been a disappointing one for Alzheimer’s research. Many major media outlets covered the failure of potential Alzheimer’s drug bapineuzumab (Pfizer/Johnson & Johnson) in Phase II/III clinical trials, announced earlier this summer. Another disappointment came late last month with the report of…Read more
Airway epithelial cells created from human patients could provide a powerful drug-screening tool for Cystic Fibrosis
If you tuned into the evening news on Monday night (at least here in Canada), you would have seen my PhD supervisor Janet Rossant, discussing a recent advancement in stem cell differentiation. Amy Wong, post-doctoral fellow in the Rossant lab, created a protocol for differentiating human pluripotent stem cells into mature airway epithelial cells. The…Read more
Scientists lose the paper cranes and become experts in nucleic acid origami for siRNA delivery
It takes precision, focus and persistence to perfect the art of origami. So perhaps it is no accident that researchers have needed to apply the same skills to overcome challenges in siRNA delivery, right down to the folding. A couple of years ago, my fellow blogger Paul Krzyzanowski introduced us to RNA interference (RNAi) technology….Read more
What if the game changes again? Perfect ES models in sight
While the 2012 US election was in full swing, I reminded readers that despite the dominance of the world’s economic problems in this cycle, stem cell research was a political issue that hadn’t completely gone away.Methods to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) have constantly improved over the past few years, elegantly positioning…Read more