No blog this weekend

We're having a little family reunion, so I'll be wrapped up with relatives until Monday. See you then!

Schatten Cleared by Pitt

Schatten Cleared by Pitt

The University of Pittsburgh has announced that the investigation into Dr. Gerald Schatten regarding the Hwang Woo-suk stem cell scandal has found no scientific misconduct on Schatten’s part. An AP story can be found on the Houston Chronicle. It reports that the investigators found that he failed in his responsibility as a co-author by not being critical enough of Hwang’s now-retracted article, but no action will be taken. He was commended for bringing his concerns about Hwang to the scientific community.

Lots of Politics

Lots of Politics

Things ramped up a little bit.

Mississippi has joined the ranks of states intending to forbid embryonic stem cell research. The Mississippi House yesterday passed a bill that bans embryonic stem cell research, but it does allow Mississippians to travel out of state to participate in such research. (How generous! Imagine if you couldn’t cross state boundaries to engage in intellectual work. Sheesh.) The news is reported in the Clarion-Ledger and in the Daily Journal. The Daily Journal is more comprehensive, and reports that the bill specifically bans the SCNT procedure known as therapeutic cloning but does not ban stem cell research that uses a fertilized egg. An opponent of the bill, John Mayo, was quoted in both articles as saying, “We are politicians who don't know squat, and we shouldn't be dabbling in this.”

The Kansas City Star reports that in Missouri U.S. Senator Jim Talent withdrew his support for a state bill that would criminalize forms of embryonic stem cell research. He said it was too broad and cited scientific advances which make it possible to “get stem cells without cloning an embryo.” I presume he is talking about the research late last year, in which researchers derived stem cells by separating a cell from a blastocyst, which allows the blastocyst to develop normally. I am not aware if this method is being used extensively in research yet. Talent is up for re-election.

In Maryland, the Lt. Governor, Michael Steele, who is running for the U.S. Senate, compared embryonic stem cell research to the Holocaust in an answer to a question after a speech to the Baltimore Jewish council. Oops. He later apologized. Steele, who is black, also referred to slavery in his answer. Steele had recently returned from a trip to Israel and apparently had the Holocaust upfront in his consciousness. An AP story is on the website for WBOC Television.

In California, the Citizens’ Independent Oversight Commission for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is meeting today at Stanford University to discuss a number of proposed regulation and other issues, including royalty pay-outs to the state. An overview of the agenda is on Genetic Engineering News. This will presumably generate some more news this weekend. The San Jose Mercury News also has a story, but you may have to log in to read it.

And on the national front, CBS will have a segment on 60 Minutes this Sunday about the federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. There’s a short story on their website.

Peripheral Artery Disease Trials

Peripheral Artery Disease Trials

Indiana University is beginning clinical trials on using stem cells extracted from bone marrow to treat peripheral artery disease, according to a press release on EurekAlert. A similar study is going on in Thailand. Peripheral artery disease involves poor blood circulation, usually in the legs, as a result of hardening of the arteries. If untreated, it can in the worst cases lead to amputation.

This is a safety trial that will test only 10 people; 7 have already been treated. The treatment involves extraction of bone marrow under anesthesia, separation of the stem cells, and injection of the stem cells into the leg. Follow-up evaluation will occur several times over 12 weeks. People with heart disease tend to have fewer stem cells circulating in the blood, so the hope is that this treatment with both increase the number of stem cells in their bodies and improve blood vessel health and growth.

The researchers also hope to conduct trials using stem cells obtained from cord blood or fat tissue in order to avoid the invasive bone marrow extraction. Before this can happen, however, there needs to be work done on using growth factors to increase the production of stem cells from these sources.

The research has been promising in animal studies.

One of the things that has been blowing me away as I’ve been writing this blog is how many things can go wrong with the human body. I feel as though we are very fragile creatures, and that every day I have health is a day of grace. For those people who are suffering with a health problem, I wish you courage and strength.