The controversy over the use of cells from discarded embryos has slowed the research into the medical benefits of stem cells.

But a safer and ethical alternative can be found in adult stem cells. These cells are derived from various sources throughout the human body. These is no chance of immune rejection because a patient can even use his or her own cells.

In animals, where there is less regulation, research using stem cells has progressed far more quickly. The animal version of adult stem cell treatment was documented by ABC’s Nightline.

About 3000 horses have been treated for joint problems said the founder of VetStem in an interview with Nightline. VetStem pioneered the application of this technique. People with house pets, such as cats and dogs, began taking their pets in for the treatment once the news started to spread.

A stem cell infusion was given to a dog with hip dysplasia. A hip replacement would have cost four times the $2500 dollars the stem cell infusion cost. Much greater freedom of movement and a happier more active personality was observed in the dog within two weeks.

Since the firm has refused to release what it says is proprietary information about its methods, researchers have expressed caution about VetStem’s claims for its technique. However, despite the the lack of outside evaluation, pet owners have no doubt about the effectiveness of the stem cell treatments.

The promise of finding treatments to heal not only the joints, but also the kidneys, livers, hearts, and spinal cords injuries of humans could be accelerated if a similar technique can pass the regulatory hurdles for humans.

On Wednesday, a Japanese scientist who recently broke new ground in the field of stem cells said that the technology could be used to cure diseases and heal injuries within 10 years.

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University said the new technology is so simple that many laboratories are competing to make further breakthroughs. In November, Yamanaka’s team reported the creation of cell that were indistinguishable from those taken from human embryos. They accomplished this feat by reprogramming human skin cells.

It is only a matter of time before this technology is used in hospitals said Yamanaka while meeting with reporters in Tokyo.

“I can tell for some patients and for some diseases it may be not, like, 10 years, but for some diseases I can imagine it can take longer than 10 years,” Yamanaka said.

“That depends on diseases and injuries. There’s no single answer,” he said.

There are 220 different types of cells in the human body, and stem cells which are primitive cells, have the potential to differentiate into any of these.

With the hope that stem cells can replace diseased or damaged cells, tissues, and organs, the therapeutic potential of stem cells is enormous.

Since viable embryos had to be destroyed to extract embryonic stem cells (cells which are thought to have the greatest potential among all stem cells), stem cell research was highly controversial: until now.

Critics of embryonic stem cell research, which include the Roman Catholic Church, praised the discovery. A separate team of U.S. researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, led by James Thompson, also reprogrammed skin cells at the same time as the Japanese team.

The research has since upped the pace. Several laboratories in Japan as well as up to five in the United States have also converted human skin cells into pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

“This is because technology is very simple,” he said. “All you need is a basic technology, cell biology” and “you don’t need special technology or equipments.”

Yamanaka admitted that the many rivals in research make things stressful. But he believes “it speeds up everything, the process, because of the competition.”

“So I think it’s very good for patients who are waiting” for treatment, he said.

In order to get doctors to offer parents the option of storing their baby’s umbilical cord blood, an MP is set to launch a political bid.

A bill regarding the potentially life-saving technique will be presented to Parliament by Tory MP David Burrowes.

Umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells. Many diseases can currently be treated using these cells, and with technological advances, many more will be treated in the future.

Since NHS provision is limited to only a handful of trusts, a host of private firms have begun offering the service.

Used to treat anyone who needs stem cells for a blood cell disorder, 2000 samples are taken by the NHS each year to supply the NHS Cord Blood Bank.

But matches have been difficult to find at times. Among those cases, patients in ethnic minority groups are most likely to not find a match.

Cord blood storage is often advertised as an insurance policy by private banks since the cells can be used in the future to treat illness. However the prices for private storage are as high as

In an attempt to save 2-year-old Caden Ledbetter, who is suffering from a rare cancer called neuroblastoma which attacks the nervous system, doctors at Medical City Dallas Hospital are using stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood for treatment.

The cancer damaged the cells in his bone marrow, bones, and liver. Doctors are hoping that the stem cells extracted from cord blood, which is Camden’s own and was saved and banked upon his birth, will replace the damaged cells.

Transplant doctors are increasingly using umbilical cord blood as a source of stem cells according to research from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The cord blood derived cells , which are a type of adult stem cell, are ethical — unlike embryonic stem cell extraction, where an embryo must be destroyed in the process. Additionally, embryonic stem cells have never successfully treated a human, even in trials.

Caden is one of thousands of patients being treated with adult stem cells. Recent years have seen remarkable advances in adult stem cell treatment and research.

Approval to produce artificial skin from a patients’ own stem cells has been granted to uroderm GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI in Leipzig. This brings new hope to patients who suffer from chronic wounds.

From plucking a few hairs to a growing a piece of human skin in four to six weeks, the process sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. The actual process which is performed in the new cleanrooms at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI in Leipzig is not as simple as a Hollywood film.

Terry Yau is a kind and thoughtful man. Despite being friendly and soft-spoken, many people avoid him if they can, and in some cases fear him. Yau is a heart surgeon, and his days often involve him giving an explanation to a patient: informing them that there is nothing else doctors can do. 99 percent of potential transplant recipients don’t receive an organ due to the lack of donors. Complications eliminate other patients from surgery consideration.

“It’s a miserable life,” Dr. Yau said. “Instead of living, they’re just waiting to die. That’s the thing that I hate the most.”

So Dr. Yau is finding new ways to help.

He is working on creating