Research progress with embryonic stem cells
Two research teams have claimed this month that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can help restore heart function — although human applications are still years away. In Israel, scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology generated heart cells which functioned as biological pacemakers. The technique has been successful in pacing pigs’ ventricles.
And in New York, scientists from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center injected ESCs into mouse embryos which had a genetic heart problem which normally proves fatal. The cells developed into healthy heart tissue and influenced neighbouring cells by secreting two key signalling molecules. Their experiment indicates that there still much more to be learned about the chemistry of how ESCs actually work.
Latest posts by Mumbai (see all)
- Prescribe morning-after pills to young teenagers, say US pediatric group - November 30, 2012
- Bahrain sentences protest docs to prison - November 28, 2012
- Terry Pratchett assisted suicide documentary wins International Emmy - November 27, 2012
More Stories
China is desperate to raise its birthrate
China’s fertility rate has sunk to 1.18 children per woman and its population has begun to decline. Deaths outnumbered births...
American man says that he is both father and mother for his kids
This must be one of the most bizarre custody cases ever decided by an American court. The Superior Court of...
Are we already living in a transhumanist reality?
Last year an Oxford expert in transhumanism published “Future Superhuman: Our transhuman lives in a make-or-break century”. Elise Bohan, an...
95% of Irish women who know that their unborn child is Down syndrome have abortions
Abortion was only legalized in Ireland in 2018. One of the consequences is that the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, a...
Massachusetts politicians propose prisoners as organ donors
Massachusetts is a state where conservatism goes to die, so it was astonishing to read a bill in its legislature...
Peru’s forced sterilization tragedy drags on in the courts
For at least 25 years, indigenous Peruvian women have been fighting for justice after they were forcibly sterilized by doctors...