A new breakthrough in stem cell research could eliminate the moral questions of embryo cloning and produce new and ethical treatments. Scientists in Japan and the U.S. have created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells.

The complex and highly controversial idea of extracting stem cells from cloned embryos can be rivaled according to Japanese and American researchers who used simple lab techniques to produce their results.

Religious groups, ethicists and scientists have applauded the groundbreaking discovery which has begun to defuse one of the most controversial debates in contemporary medicine and religion.

“This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone

Fallyn McNamara is enjoying her time as a new Daisy Scout and kindergartener as best as she can. But playing with her sisters, working on craft projects, and other seemingly ordinary activities are often difficult for this 5-year-old girl.

Every aspect of Fallyn’s life is affected by recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or EB. It is a genetic disease that is considered to be incurable. But adult stem cells could be the answer as research continues to make headway for a variety of conditions.

Her skin can be wounded, and take days and even weeks to heal itself, from just the slightest pressure: the tag on her t-shirt rubbing against her neck is enough to cause injury. Chronic and painful blistering of the skin characterizes EB.

The factors confine Fallyn to a wheelchair. She doesn’t walk due to concerns about blistering on her feet from carrying her weight. She doesn’t have the stamina to walk far anyway, but can a little bit if she has to.

“Her legs are more of a problem area than the rest of her body,” said her father, Frank McNamara, a school bus driver.

Her meals are consumed using a gastro-intestinal tube.

“Her mouth is small,” McNamara explained. “She doesn’t have any cheek pockets anymore. She has a short tongue. Dental hygiene is an extreme issue.”

Many individuals with EB have to deal with a problem that affects the hands: when blistered skin began to heal, Fallyn’s fingers join together and become

Many remember the controversy that surrounded the Dolly the sheep, which was a cloned animal. Professor Ian Wilmut, of Edinburgh University, the man who was responsible for Dolly, turned his focus towards cloning human embryos for stem cell research. However, he is abandoning his quest because the appeal of adult stem cells is so great.

Wilmut’s original research involved taking embryonic stem cells and cloning them. Often considered to be the most versatile type of cell, embryonic cells are thought to have the potential to be grown into any cell in the human body. However, other sources of cells are proving to be just as flexible.

Recent research from Japan has shown that skin cells can be modified to be as powerful as embryonic stem cells, while avoiding all controversy. Professor Wilmut believes that this rival method holds the answer to the cure for serious medical conditions.

The use of embryos could be avoided entirely as the new method creates stem cells from fragments of skin.

The research has be universally praised by pro-life groups.

Interestingly, the decision to switch to an adult stem cell source was not fueled by morals, but by efficacy. Adult stem cells have crushed embryonic stem cells in terms of treatment outcomes. And embryonic stem cell research has yet to deliver one promising result or treatment, despite scientists having billions of dollars at their disposal for research and development.

Professor Wilmut said: “We’ve not made this decision because it’s ethically better.

“To me it’s always been ethically acceptable to think that if you could use cells from a human embryo to develop a treatment for a disease like motor neurone disease, for which there is no treatment at present, then that is an acceptable thing to do.”

But now, the results of the Japanese research have made Ian Wilmut reverse his focus 180 degrees. The technique, which was developed by Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, Japan, involves making stem cells taken from the skin as flexible as embryonic stem cells by genetically modifying them. Yamanaka’s research was conducted on mice.

The Japanese method has more potential than embryonic stem cell research, Professor Wilmut said his own research team held a meeting at which this point was agreed on.

He said: “The work which was described from Japan of using a technique to change cells from a patient directly into stem cells without making an embryo has got so much more potential.”

“Even though it’s only been described for the mouse, when we were considering which option to pursue, whether to clone or whether to copy the work in Japan, we decided to copy the work in Japan.”

With regenerative medicine being the holy grail of stem cell research, the eventual goal is to grow replacement body parts to replace those that age and become worn out, or sustain injury that is beyond repair.

There is still a significant amount of research that remains before Professor Yamanaka’s method can be used to grow tissue for transplantation.

But according to Professor Wilmut, the new technique could provide a better and ethically more acceptable alternative to cloning embryos for medical research.

The move was welcomed by Josephine Quintavalle, spokeswoman for Comment on Reproductive Ethics. Their groups is opposed to the use of human embryos for research purposes since it requires the destruction of the embryo itself.

She said: “At last scientists are starting to see reason. It is a gift to us all. We are at last going to see some common sense coming into the debate.”

Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, made headlines around the word in 1997, when Professor Wilmut and his team accomplished this feat.

With the way people change cell phones, it is no wonder that many individuals have at least one or two old phones lying in a drawer somewhere in their home. They may seem like useless relics of the past, especially with the new cellular technology that is available today. But they are actually more valuable then they seem. By donating old cell phones to the Jordanne Menzies Stem-Cell Therapy Fund, a persons

A research team from Wichita, Kansas has made a novel discovery involving adult stem cells that have been derived from menstrual blood.

To prepare itself to take care of a fertilized egg, the uterine lining is rebuilt each month after it has been shed to provide a new medium for egg development. The process is impressive, with a new 5 millimeter thick lining developed in only 7 days. This is accomplished by literally, growing billions of cells.

Adult stem cells are found in abundance in the endometrium, or uterine lining. But despite the rich source, actually harvesting the cells is a similar process as is involved with other sources such as bone marrow: the process is invasive.

The research team in Kansas has discovered that menstrual blood contains these endometrial stem cells as well.

The cells show characteristic cell surfaces of stem cells, given the right environment, can differentiate into at least 9 different cell types, and can create copies of themselves without differentiating. These are all qualities that can be associated with existing stem cells as well.

Menstrual blood was taken form two women for the teams research purposes. Xiaolong Meng and his team conducted the study at a private research institute in Wichita, Kansas, called the Bio-Communications Research Institute. The team collaborated with Medistem Laboratories, Inc. (OTC BB:MDSM.OB – News) (Frankfurt:S2U.F – News in making the discovery. Their paper which is titled, “Endometrial Regenerative Cells: A Novel Stem Cell Population”, has been published in the Journal of Translational Medicine. The paper can be viewed at www.translational-medicine.com/content/5/1/57

Medistem Laboratories, Inc. own the intellectual property rights to the discovery.

The menstrual blood derived cells doubled every 19.4 hours, marking a proliferation rate higher than the mesenchymal stem cells which are derived from cord blood. The researchers say that a few embryonic stem cell markers were observed in addition to the adult stem cell markers that were exhibited by the cells. One particular embryonic stem cell marker called Oct-4, which is considered a “master” marker, was observed.

Muscle, bone, fat, and nerve cells were among the nine different cell types that were created using the menstrual blood derived cells.

Researchers are saying that many types of human cells could be developed by a new type of stem cell that can be found in the blood that is shed during women’s menstrual cycles.

During the endometrial phase of the monthly menstrual cycle, a new uterine lining grows after the old one has been shed. Stem cells have been suspected to be one of the biological mechanisms that help the cells of the endometrium, or uterine lining, to regrow at such a fast rate.

Recent discoveries have proven that adult stem cells are found in large quantities within the uterine lining. However, harvesting those cells has been another issue.

Menstrual blood has provided an answer for this dilemma. Endometrial cells are found in the menstrual blood according to a study that was recently published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

The study was conducted using menstrual blood taken from two women, at the private research institute, the Bio-Communications Research Institute, in Wichita, Kansas. Xiaolong Meng led a team that studied the cells. The collaborated with Medistem Laboratories, Inc. (OTC BB:MDSM.OB – News) (Frankfurt:S2U.F – News), who own the intellectual property rights for the discovery.

Following umbilical cord blood transplantation after a reduced intensity treatment regimen, adults with hematological diseases have a three year survival rate of almost 50% according to researchers from the University of Minnesota. The journal Blood1 has published the details of the study in their October 15th, 2007, issue.

For adult and pediatric patients with hematologic diseases who do not have a suitable related or unrelated stem cell donor, umbilical cord blood transplants have become and integral part of the management. In patients with hematological malignancies, treatment outcomes from unrelated and related donors are comparable to those patients receiving umbilical cord blood transplants according to increasing research evidence. Since many patients with malignancy worsen or die before an unrelated donor is found, a major and decided advantage of cord blood transplantation is that stem cells are available without delay.

Because of the increased nucleated cell dose, when two separate cord blood collections are infused together, adult patients have better outcome according to scientists at the University of Minnesota. On the basis of being a partial rather than a full HLA match, one of the two cord blood collections is selected. Ultimately, graft versus graft reaction would reject stem cells from the mismatched umbilical cord blood collection, but the theory is that they will contribute to initial engraftment none the less.

110 patients with high-risk or advanced hematological disease were enrolled in the study. Eligibility requirements for the study included a minimum age of 45, or significant co-morbidities that precluded the administration of a myeloablative transplant regimen. The regimen used included a single low-dose of total body irradiation, cyclophosphamide, and fludarabine. Mycophenolate mofetil and cyclosporine was used for post-transplant immunosuppression. In order to achieve the protocol prescribed dose of nucleated cells, the majority of patients (85%) required two cord bloods.

Aplastic anemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplastic syndrome, Hodgkin