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In what could be a life-saving breakthrough for diabetics, scientists are working on a project to make stem cells perform the functions of beta cells, located inside the pancreas and responsible for producing insulin. Insulin is the hormone that converts sugar (glucose) and starches into energy and regulates blood sugar inside the body. Using stem cells' capability to develop into any cell-type in the body, scientists from the US National Institutes of Health, University of California, and the University of Alberta are extracting stem cells from the brain (neurons), the pancreatic duct and umbilical chord blood (embryonic stem cells) to...

A woman who was pregnant when she was diagnosed with leukemia is alive thanks to a unique transplant of umbilical cord blood from two different donors. It was the first time such a procedure had been performed in Colorado. "There were some times where the odds were stacked against us," Sheila Gannon, a leukemia survivor said. Gannon gave birth to her son Sawyer 2 weeks early so she could start chemotherapy. There were infections and complications during that treatment. No bone marrow match was found. Centers that offer umbilical cord blood rejected Gannon at first because her leukemia wasn't in...

Cord Lining Stem Cells discovered by CellResearch Corporation makes headway in areas with exciting potential therapeutic applications. CellResearch Corporation, a Singapore-based biotech company, announced in July 2005 its discovery of a new source of stem cells found in the outer lining membrane of the umbilical cord. Not only does this source of stem cells yield an extremely high number of cells, it also avoids ethical objections as it is acquired from the afterbirth which is routinely discarded as medical waste. CellResearch Corporation is now ready to reveal new collaborations with various medical institutions in Singapore and around the world that...

Up until now, stem cell research has been slowed by ethical controversy — as well as by the rarity of the extraordinary cells themselves. That could be about to change: A Florida State University research team reports that it has designed a biomedical device that will allow stem cells derived from adult bone marrow to be grown in sufficient quantities to permit far more research — and allow faster growth of tissues that can be transplanted into patients. Teng Ma, an assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at the Florida A&M University-FSU College of Engineering, and colleagues have created...