A bone marrow transplant was supposed to change the life of 2-year-old toddler Sorrel.

She is suffering with acute myeloid leukemia. In the UK, the condition only affects about 10 children each year, making it extraordinarily rare.

Using stem cells from an umbilical cord from Japan, her best prospect of defeating the illness is now a new type of stem cell therapy.

The alternative became plausible after she failed to respond well to chemotherapy treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and no suitable bone marrow donor was found.

Since she was diagnosed last September, Sorrel’s parents Samantha and Robert have been keeping an unwavering vigil at her bedside.

Her ground-breaking surgery is scheduled for today, and she must be closely protected from now on. She will be highly vulnerable to infection says her father who is in Bristol with her.

Robert said: “Sorrel started nine days of pretransplant conditioning last Wednesday. This will basically wipe out her own immune system in readiness for the new stem cells to be transplanted into her. This puts her in a very vulnerable position – that’s why she will be in isolation for about six weeks. It could be very bad news if she catches certain bugs, viruses, fungal infections etc during this time, so we just have to hope she can deal with it.

Dr. Banting and Dr. Best discovered insulin in 1929, but according to several American diabeteologists and researchers, this could be the most significant step towards a cure for diabetes since that time.

Type-2 diabetes afflicts 92% of the total number of diabetics worldwide. And more than 80% of patients could be improved or even cured with this treatment.

A team of researchers in Argentina demonstrated that stem cells can effectively fight and potentially cure diabetes. The levels of

On March 3rd, Freddie will celebrate his 21st birthday.

But it may only be the beginning of his life if all goes as hoped.

His parents Shirley and Fred had a decision to make when Freddie was 18 months old. He could either take his chances outside, or live the rest of his life inside a bubble. This was because Freddie

Recovery can be a painful and lengthy process for an individual who has injured an elbow or knee. These parts of the body are composed of the slow-healing tissue, cartilage. Tissue that is damaged or missing is often lost forever. However, this may no longer be the case. Stem cells could possibly facilitate the needed tissue replacements as researchers at the University of Guelph are hoping.

Improving cartilage healing after joint injuries with the assistance of stem cells is the hope for biomedical sciences professor Dean and doctoral candidate Thomas. Joint injuries are frequent and expensive in horses, so the duo has made the decision to begin their research with an equine focus. In regards to human joint injuries, encouraging results from their research could serve as a model for future human treatment.

Ground breaking research was presented at the Blenheim Wesley Center on adult stem cell transplants. Dr. Richard, an Auckland University professor gave his presentation to more than 200 people.

Giving hope to those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and other neurological conditions, the pioneering brain scientist delivered his message.

Serving as a repair system by replenishing destroyed or damaged cells in the body, stem cells can divide and differentiate into other cells.

Enabling brain cells destroyed by diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s, to be restored; a feasible number of adult stem cells were effectively transplanted for the first time by neuroscientists at the university. The test subjects were laboratory rats.

Dr. Richard says that this specific type of stem cell therapy is still at least another 10 to 15 years away for humans. But the 61-year-old Lily Medal winner said that a difference could be made within the next five to ten years thanks to new drugs developed from the research.

Adult stem cells are already used to successfully treat many other conditions.

Human brain tissue will be required so that the large research group can utilize the raw materials to study brain disease. " It is a cornerstone of the research that families bequeath the brains of loved ones to us so that research can continue," he said.

At one time scientists believed that new brain cells were not created in adulthood, however, a top U.S. scientific journal decided last week to publish Dr. Richard’s research demonstrating the opposite. He was elated to hear the news.

The entire audience was listening to every word of Dr. Richard’s enthusiastic presentation, "Brain Diseases and Stem Cells – Fact or Fantasy". His lecture was intended for regular individuals without a medical background as well as health professionals.

"There is a lot of interest currently in the potential future use of stem cells and gene therapies to treat many neurological conditions," he said.

"The recent demonstration of stem cells in the adult mammalian brain raises the exciting possibility that these cells may be able to generate neurons for cell replacement in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy."

"Our research studies provide the first evidence of neurogenesis in the diseased human brain and are exciting findings indicating the regenerative potential of the diseased human brain."

"Our studies suggest the possibility that neural stem cells in the adult human brain may provide a means for the application of novel new treatment strategies involving cell replacement techniques in the treatment of patients with brain diseases."

"However there is still considerable research to do before these exciting findings can be applied to the treatment of patients with neurological diseases."

Capable of developing into all types of cardiac cells, a new cell type in adult rat heart tissue has been found by researchers at the University of Minnesota.

This gives hope for the possibility of treatments such as the growth of new blood vessels for use in bypass surgery or to repair damaged heart muscle after a heart attack. The cells could be expanded in a lab after being harvested and then used in therapy.

Appearing in the February print edition, The journal Nature Clinical Trials Cardiovascular Medicine has published the research.

The researchers expanded tissue taken from adult rat hearts in a dish after adding certain growth factors. These cells were able to give rise to all types of cardiac cells, such as the cells that make up the left and right ventricles and blood vessels. Impressively, just as more mature heart muscle cells will do, the newly grown cells even beat in a laboratory dish.

Professor of physiology and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair, Doris, said that they injected the cells into rats with injured hearts and documented that the cells repaired the damaged tissue.