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To: Bucky Katt who wrote (32551)	1/7/2007 6:23:08 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 48461

BIG>New Class of Stem Cells Discovered>>> A type of cell that floats freely in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women has been found to have many of the same traits as embryonic stem cells, including an ability to grow into brain, muscle and other tissues that could be used to treat a variety of diseases, scientists reported today. The cells, shed by the developing fetus and easily retrieved during routine prenatal testing, are easier to maintain in laboratory dishes than embryonic stem cells -- the highly versatile cells that come from destroyed human embryos and are at the center of a heated congressional debate that will resume this week. Moreover, because the cells are a genetic match to the developing fetus, tissues grown from them in the laboratory will not be rejected if they are used to treat birth defects in that newborn, researchers said. Alternatively, the cells could be frozen, providing a personalized tissue bank for use later in life. The new cells are adding credence to an emerging consensus among experts that the popular distinction between embryonic and "adult" stem cells -- those isolated from adult bone marrow and other organs -- is artificial. Increasingly, it appears there is a continuum of stem cell types, ranging from the embryonic ones that can morph into virtually any kind of tissue but are difficult to tame, up to adult ones that can turn into a limited number of tissues but are relatively easy to control. The newly analyzed fetal stem cells, scientists said, have many of the advantages of both. "They grow fast, as fast as embryonic stem cells, and they show great pluripotentiality," meaning they can become many kinds of tissues, said study leader Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. "But they remain stable for years without forming tumors," he added, something that embryonic cells are not very good at. Atala and other scientists emphasized that they don't believe the new cells will make embryonic stem cells irrelevant. "There's not going to be one shoe that fits all," said Robert Lanza, scientific director at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass. "We're going to have to see which ones are most useful for which clinical conditions." George Daley, a Harvard stem cell researcher, echoed that sentiment. "They are not a replacement for embryonic stem cells," he said. But in the past, even hints that non-embryonic cells might have medical potential similar to embryonic ones have complicated the political push to expand federal funding for the controversial field. And accordingly, opponents quickly pounced on the new results. "This is wonderful news," said Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of pro-life activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes research that depends on embryo destruction. "It doesn't require harming anyone or destroying life at any stage." Last year, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have allowed federal funding of research on stem cells from embryos discarded by fertility clinics. The new Democratic-controlled Congress has promised to send the same or a similar bill to Bush's desk with even greater majorities early this term, with the House slated to vote on the matter this week. The new work, described in today's online edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology, shows that "amniotic fluid-derived stem cells" can be isolated as early as 10 weeks after conception from fluid extracted during tests widely done to detect birth defects. By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, January 7, 2007; 4:42 PMhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/07/AR2007010700674.html?nav=rss_email/components

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (32551)	5/5/2007 9:42:31 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 48461

*Alert>> Front page piece on stem cell co's in Barron's, and I think we have traded all of those mentioned in the article over the past years. ASTM STEM OSIR GERN CYTX KOOL VIAC BARRON'S COVER Stem Cells' Powerful Promise DANIEL KERNER COULD SPEAK in complete sentences and sing nursery rhymes by the time he was two. So his parents were baffled when his speech began to deteriorate. Then his motor skills started to falter until one day, when he was 4, Daniel had to crawl off the school bus that dropped him off at his suburban Southern California home. Doctors diagnosed the boy with Batten disease, a rare degenerative disorder in which the brain stops producing enzymes needed to clear cellular waste that accumulates and grows toxic. Afflicted children become blind, bedridden and demented; very few live to their teens. So on Nov. 14, 2006, Daniel became the first volunteer in a risky clinical procedure. Over eight hours at a Portland, Ore., hospital, doctors drilled a hole in his skull and injected his brain with neural stem cells collected and purified by a small biotechnology company called StemCells. Doctors hoped these cells would grow into healthy, enzyme-producing tissue. It's too soon to call the surgery a success. But within a month, Daniel's parents noticed he made more eye contact. Then Daniel said "Dad" for the first time in two years. "He was just a kid waiting to die, and he was given a gift of life," says his father, Marcus Kerner, an assistant U.S. attorney and lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Today, "Daniel is getting stronger steadily and very excited when he tries to talk." For his seventh birthday earlier this year, and with help from an instructor and special equipment, Daniel went skiing at Mammoth Mountain, a resort in the eastern part of his home state. The rest of the story> online.barrons.com