Stem Cells Kick Ass

Now that President Obama has rightfully re-introduced science and critical thinking to our government's decision-making process, and overturned the ridiculous ban on stem-cell research instituted by Preznit Dubya, the United States will have to fight to catch up with the rest of the world's research. The United States used to be the single most advanced research nation on the planet, but that standing has been eroded by politicians and idiots who wish to pursue policies in line with their personal religious thoughts instead of the common good.
Luckily England, among other countries, never listened to dumb-ass Preznit Dubya. Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and led by Dr Mike Modo of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, have announce an incredible finding.

Effective stem cell treatment for strokes has taken a significant step forward as scientists reveal how they have replaced stroke-damaged brain tissue in rats. - ( Science Daily )

The work, which was carried out at the University of Nottingham, showed that,

. . . by inserting tiny scaffolding with stem cells attached, it is possible to fill a hole left by stroke damage with brand new brain tissue within 7 days.

Amazing shit! Previously, applying stem-cells to tissue surrounding the areas killed by strokes in rats would not succeed properly. The stem cells would attach to the healthy tissue and not "fill in" the vacant space left by the dead brain cells. With this new "scaffolding" technique, the stem cells actually fill in the empty area! Click the image below to enlarge.

That is amazing stuff indeed. So many people suffer from strokes, many of them go years without realizing that a mini-stroke has happened, much less that there has been permanent damage. Oftentimes it gets misdiagnosed as dementia or the early onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Of course, these news are preliminary, but it is a very promising development, and will likely be available as human treatment within the decade. The future of medicine is being written right now. It may very well be that in 10-20 years' time our modern pharmaceutical/chemical medicine will be as outdated as electroshock therapy and leeches. -FUPPETS- is hype!

Organ Generation Breakthrough

For the past 8 years geneticists and bio-engineers in the United States have been crippled by Federal law enacted by the last administration which forbade the use of embryonic stem cells and severely limited the capabilities of American researchers. They accomplished this by curtailing all funding, or threatening to curtail all funding, to any school, organization, or business that would seek to research embryonic stem cells. Since nearly all of this high end research is done at publicly funded Universities, it effectively shut the stem cell research down in the United States.
Scientists, being extremely resourceful people, went on to make great advances using adult stem cells, but it was like working with plaster of paris instead of the finest marble. The results just would not be as productive. The myriad of ailments and problems that stem cells could treat are quite expansive, but massive research is needed, as always, to develop this amazing resource.
It is a good thing than that the current administration has lifted the ban on stem cell research, and propelled the US scientists back into a rush of research. One of the most exciting possibilities lies in actually growing replacement organs by having the stem cells develop into specific tissue, the only thing stem cells do. The main issue with this, at least at the beginning stages we are in now, was finding a suitable matrix upon which the stem cells would be able to grow.

. . . Scientists from Stanford and New York University Langone Medical Center describe how they were able to use a "scaffolding" material extracted from the groin area of mice on which stem cells from blood, fat, and bone marrow grew. This advance clears two major hurdles to bioengineered replacement organs, namely a matrix on which stem cells can form a three-dimensional organ and transplant rejection.
"The ability to provide stem cells with a scaffold to grow and differentiate into mature cells could revolutionize the field of organ transplantation," said Geoffrey Gurtner, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery at Stanford University and a senior researcher involved in the work. - ( Science Daily )

Here is a link to the full story. In essence, they took tissue containing fat, blood
vessels and skin from a mouse, placed the stem cells upon this tissue, put the
whole thing in a bioreactor which provides nutrients and oxygen to keep it
alive, and then "seeded" the tissue with stem cells. Once this was done, the tissue was placed back into the mouse and continued to grow, WITHOUT REJECTION of any kind! If such a thing can be developed, and coaxed to grow whole organs, imagine the benefits to people who need new kidneys, livers, corneas, hearts, etc., but who will likely never get the transplants that match. This is a very exciting time in medicine. Hell yeah.