Tag: stem

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2009) Dr. Bernard Thיbaud lives in two very different worlds. As a specialist in the Stollery Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, he cares for tiny babies, many of whom struggle for breath after being born weeks before they are due. Across town, in his laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Dr. Thיbaud dons a lab coat and peers into a microscope to examine the precise effect of stem cells on the lungs.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2009) The first human embryonic stem cell treatment approved by the FDA for human testing has been shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries -- a finding that could expand the clinical trial to include people with cervical damage.

In January, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration gave Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., permission to test the UC Irvine treatment in individuals with thoracic spinal cord injuries, which occur below the neck. However, trying it in those with cervical damage wasn't approved because preclinical testing with rats hadn't been completed.

A Glasgow team is to launch a major trial to assess whether stem cells can be used to treat stroke patients, the BBC has learned.

They hope it will put the UK at the forefront of developing stem cell therapy for incurable disease.

Cells made from a human foetus will be injected into patients' brains.

It is hoped the cells will regenerate areas damaged by stroke, and increase patients' movements and mental abilities.