Research updates 9/9/05-9/11/05

On September 11, 2005, i-newswire reported that European researchers from the Institut Pasteur had isolated muscle stem cells that were more effective in repairing muscles than the stem cells which had been used. The researchers used a new purification procedure which allowed 20,000 stem cells to be used in place of 1 million cultured cells in mice. The researchers are from the EuroStemCell project, which receives funding from the EU and includes laboratories in 24 countries.

The same source also published an article discussing a study in which scientists showed that if some molecules are not in the right location on stem cells, the cells can cause tumors. Stem cells normally divide into two parts, one parent cell maintaining the “stock” of DNA and one daughter cell differentiating into the other cell. When the proteins molecules in the new cell are disrupted, the daughter cell proliferates as a tumor. (This was also published on EurekAlert on 9/4/05.) The original study appears in the September 4 online issue of Nature Genetics.


On September 9, the Wisconsin Technology Network published an article addressing the use of stem cells in drug research. John McNeish of Pfizer's Exploratory Medicinal Sciences area spoke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. McNeish discussed the advantages of using human stem cells over mouse cells for drug research; cells could be engineered to have specific diseases and drugs tested on those cells, and human cells may respond differently to drugs than mouse cells do, enhancing drug safety. The article also pointed out that European scientists have fewer restrictions on research than American scientists do.

Also on September 9, my.DNA.com posted an article about stem cell research. The article reported on a workshop in Kobe, Japan jointly organized by the Ernst Schering Research Foundation (Berlin, Germany), the Max Planck Society (Munich, Germany) and the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (Kobe, Japan). Researchers met in Kobe September 1-3. Research findings included the conversion of human skin cells back into a “multi-potent” stage and the merger of brain cells from mice with embryonic cells, creating hybrid cells which behaved like normal embryonic stem cells. One researcher demonstrated the creation of mice through two egg cell nuclei, rather than a sperm and egg. Other research on reproduction demonstrated that embryonic stem cells can generate into egg cells. It was also suggested that germ stem cells from bone marrow could migrate to human ovaries and create new eggs. Research is also occurring on restoring the insulation of nerves in the brain and on suppressing spinal cord inflammation.