Australian Biotech Sets Up Stem Cell Bank

Australian Biotech Sets Up Stem Cell Bank

The biotech company Mesoblast is setting up a bank where healthy donors can deposit bone marrow for later use if stem cells are needed. The news is reported in the Melbourne Herald Sun. Stem cells will be isolated from the bone marrow. The article reports that human trials are about to start to confirm that mesenchymal precursor cells isolated from the bone marrow will not cause rejection in unrelated recipients. The director of Mesoblast estimated the cost at $15,000-20,000 and reiterated that it was several years before this could approach being a standard treatment for some injuries or illnesses.

The article is a little overly enthusiastic in tone and does not give any additional scientific details. I would not rush out to bank your bone marrow yet.

Editor of Science Stands Behind Peer Review

Editor of Science Stands Behind Peer Review

The editor of the journal Science, which published Hwang Woo-suk’s now retracted work, spoke yesterday at a conference on stem cell ethics at Stanford University. According to the San Mateo County Times, Donald Kennedy said that fraud was so rare that the peer-review system did not need to be overhauled. He said that proposals that reviewers visit labs where research was done before “greenlighting” a paper were “insulting and offensive to the scientific community,” but he was open to the possibility of having authors of a paper sign a statement saying what part of the research they were responsible for.

I’m cogitating on this one for a while; I’d like to know more about the various opinions among scientists and researchers.

Developments in India

Developments in India

India continues to be one of the countries pushing forward on stem cell research, and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Parel will begin research within 6 months, according to the Mumbai Newsline. The Cardiac Department will begin trials taking stem cells from a person’s bone marrow and inserting them into the coronary artery. Other departments will begin experimental research on animals, and the Anatomy Department will focus on umbilical cord blood cells.

Meanwhile, the Business Standard reports that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is set to come out with guidelines for stem cell research in two weeks. The guidelines will include prohibitions in about 10 areas, but will allow embryonic stem cell research. Umbilical cord and adult stem cell research can be approved at the institutional level and reported to the ICMR, but all proposals for embryonic stem cell research will be evaluated by a national committee.