The cornea, which is the translucent external layer of the eyeball, may be repairable thanks to a new breakthrough study. Researchers have revealed that the natural protein keratocan, which is involved in the development of the cornea, can be formed by bone marrow stem cells which can differentiate into the protein.

The outcome of the study could aid those with the inherited disease that is abnormal corneal cell growth.

Researchers Hongshan Liu and Winston Whei-Yang Kao at the University of Cincinnati led the study team.

The study was conducted using bone marrow cells and injecting them into the corneas of mice to see if they would be able to modify corneal abnormalities that had been induced by the researchers to imitate genetic eye mutations.

The abnormal corneas in the animal models began to transform their shape and heal due to the injected bone marrow stem cells. This occurred after only one week according to the researchers.

“We found that bone marrow stem cells can contribute to the formation of connective tissues. If we can change the function of non-corneal bone marrow stem cells by introducing them into human corneas, we can possibly repair the loss of visual sharpness caused by mutations,” Kao said.

A clinical trial is presently being planned. Future generations of those suffering from genetic corneal diseases could be helped if the trial is successful.

“When the donor cells disappear after a few years, the corneal disease often reoccurs. However, if we can place the stem cells inside the cornea, they will repair the lost function of the mutated gene, and stem cells can presumably renew themselves and maintain effective treatment longer, if not forever,” Kao said.

The research was presented in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, at the annual Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.

With the anticipation of restoring his vision with the assistance of a stem cell treatment, a blind man has taken action and undergone the controversial procedure.

Despite the caution from a UK medical authority who called the procedure “implausible”, James decided to go to a new clinic in Germany due to his desperation. James has been unable to see anything for 23 years.

James had plans to journey to Holland for the

Some doctors are saying that medicine as we know it may be altered forever after observing the outcome of a stem cell clinical trial involving Austin patients.

The trial involves taking bone marrow adult stem cells donated from healthy adults and using them to treat heart attack patients.

Rebuilding the heart muscle of heart attack patients is the promise of the research according to doctors: a feat which has never been accomplished before. With just 10 sites nationally, the trial is in its first phase.

Ben is taking part in the adult stem cell clinical trial and is one of the 53 heart attack patients involved. As a math teacher, he was eager to take the calculated risk.

As a soon to be young mother, Kimberly did not have to think when her obstetrician recommended that she consider banking the blood from her new born baby

A man will now be able to add precious years to his life with his family thanks to an anonymous donation of

Researchers assumed that beta cells, which are insulin producing cells in the pancreas, would be produced by the differentiating adult stem cells that were introduced into the tissue.

Instead, the beat cells replenished their own numbers by slowly dividing.

“Ultimately, if diabetes researchers learn how to control insulin production, we can better treat patients who now can’t produce insulin–children and adults with type 1 diabetes,” said study leader Jake A. Kushner, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “This research tells us that we need to better understand what regulates the growth of beta cells, rather than searching for adult stem cells that give rise to beta cells.”

In the May issue of Developmental Cell, Dr. Kushner’s team reported their results which were based on animal studies.

The breakthrough could establish the basis for eventual therapies since it advances the fundamental understanding of insulin biology. An instant impact on diabetic treatment is not likely due to the study.

Life-saving medication or insulin injections are presently a necessity for patients with type 1 diabetes. Medical researchers hope to restore the body

Our sense of smell is continually attacked by harsh chemicals that we unintentionally inhale, risking damage or death to our olfactory cells. Without these nerve cells, the only cells in the body to run directly to the brain with information of the outside world, we would lose our sense of smell.

But we may be able to repair the most severe damage to the nerves responsible for our sense of smell with the assistance of a backup supply of stem cell that were discovered by Johns Hopkins researchers. When adjacent cells die, the reserve cells move to correct the deficiency. But usually, they remain dormant. Next weeks online edition of Nature Neuroscience will repot on the new discovery.

Many people have faced peril at some point in their lives, but 11-month old Hailey has already faced more than most people have in their entire lives. More is on the way.

Hailey has a propensity to snore softly when she sleeps. She has two teeth and blue eyes. But since she was three months old, the Simi Valley twin has also been on chemotherapy. Yet, the insistent form of leukemia she suffers from has not stopped.

But help is on the way. At the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Hailey will get a stem cell transplant later this month. It is all thanks to an anonymous donor’s umbilical cord blood. The treatment will give her an opportunity to win her fight against leukemia. The risks are high, but the risk of not doing anything at all is higher: without treatment the leukemia will be fatal.

“She’s a pretty tough little girl,” said Hailey’s mother, Maria , biting off the words as she tried to explain how the family is managing. “Just don’t have a choice. Just doing it. Just believe she’ll be OK.”

Maria and Rick had a difficult time growing their family. They have a 21-year-old daughter named Heather, but nine miscarriages followed her birth. Thus, Hailey’s story has been dissimilar from the start. She was born along with her twin brother Ryan, from a surrogate who carried the embryos that produced the twins.

Ryan was born healthy, but at 3 months old, Hailey began to develop problems. She sustained a high fever that would not subside, and she began to vomit. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia after being rushed by ambulance to Children’s Hospital one day.

The disease makes some of the body’s white blood cells malignant, spurring them to grow uncontrollably.

“They oversuppress the other blood cells. They crowd them out,” said Dr. Neena Kapoor, director of the clinical bone marrow transplant program at Children

Stem/progenitor cells acquired from a patient

In order to fill wrinkles, perform breast augmentations, and enlarge any area of the body where more fullness is desired; stem cells are becoming an available option in the world of plastic surgery. Stem cells were approved this month for the use of cosmetic surgery in Britain and the European Union. It is likely that the United States will allow similar treatments in the future, especially with the added pressure of keeping up with the other countries who by approving the treatments, will undoubtedly make them more popular worldwide.

Using stem cells and fat derived from the patient