Adult stem cell research far ahead of embryonic

NEW YORK — A few months ago, Dr. Thomas Einhorn was treating a patient with a broken ankle that wouldn’t heal, even with multiple surgeries. So he sought help from the man’s own body.

Einhorn drew bone marrow from the man’s pelvic bone with a needle, condensed it to about four teaspoons of rich red liquid, and injected that into his ankle.

Four months later the ankle was healed. Einhorn, chairman of orthopedic surgery at Boston University Medical Center, credits “adult” stem cells in the marrow injection. He tried it because of published research from France. Continue Reading »

FDA OK’s First Human Testing Of Embryonic Stem Cells

The FDA lifted its hold on Friday for a clinical trial to test embryonic stem cells as a treatment for spinal cord injury, approving for the first time the testing of embryonic stem cells on humans.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Geron Corp., which developed the GRNOPC1 therapy, hopes to begin clinical testing on humans by the end of the year. Continue Reading »

Help End Paralysis and Win a Trip to ‘The Office’

Help “Office” star Marcus York raise money to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, and you could win a visit to the world’s most famous fictional paper company.

When a car accident left Marcus York paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair at age 22, he didn’t let it stop him from pursuing careers in television, film and modeling. Now, he’s become a well-known figure to the American public as a recurring character on NBC’s The Office. Continue Reading »

Mice hair could repair spinal damage

A POTENTIAL treatment for spinal cord injuries has been found in the most unlikely of places – mice hair.

The ground-breaking discovery, unveiled at the World Congress for Hair Research in Cairns yesterday, may give a glimmer of hope to those who cannot walk.

US and Japanese researchers have found a new source of stem cells in the hair follicles of mice. Continue Reading »

Curing spinal-cord injury life’s goal for Ottawa surgeon

OTTAWA-Dr. Eve Tsai has made a real name for herself with her work in the operating room and in the research lab, Matthew Pearson reports.

The tragedy of young lives altered forever by freak accidents or foolish mistakes drives Dr. Eve Tsai to find a cure for spinal-cord injuries.

The causes may vary from car crash to sports mishap, but the result is often the same: a lifetime of paralysis. Continue Reading »

With U.S. stem cell treatments limited, patients try other countries

Disillusioned by U.S. doctors who could not help their daughter with cerebral palsy, Kara Anderson’s parents did something they could not have imagined a few years ago: They took her to China.

Specialists in the Chicago area, where the family lives, said that Kara’s brain injury was permanent and that the 9-year-old would probably end up in a wheelchair because of severe twisting in her leg muscles. But then her parents heard stories about children who had improved after receiving injections of stem cells.

The treatment was not available in the United States. It was only commercially available abroad. Continue Reading »

Stem cell therapies: Dangers and opportunities

VANCOUVER, May 10 /CNW/ – Respected researchers from around the world agree that stem cells therapies hold a great deal of promise for people with spinal cord injuries and related neurological disorders. But how can stem cell therapies be moved forward in an ethical, safe way? Meanwhile, how can desperate patients be discouraged from travelling the world to pursue highly unethical, hugely expensive, and even dangerous treatments, and encouraged to wait for validated and safe therapies? Continue Reading »

University of Louisville, Kentucky centers develop treatments, create hope for spinal cord injuries

A bullet remains lodged in Michelle Alexander’s spinal cord nearly six years after her husband shot her four times — instantly paralyzing her — before killing himself in July 2004.

Doctors told her she’d probably never walk again. But a rehabilitation strategy being pioneered at the University of Louisville is changing her fate.

Today Alexander uses a walker to get around, takes tentative steps with two canes and gets on a specially designed treadmill four days a week as part of a research study evaluating Locomotor training, which UofL’s Susan Harkema helped develop to teach lost skills to broken nervous systems.

It’s one of several areas of spinal cord research at UofL and the University of Kentucky, home to two of about 10 large centers for such work in the nation. Continue Reading »

California funds UCI basic research on stem cells

Marian Waterman, Aileen Anderson awarded $2.6 million in CIRM grants

Irvine, Calif., April 29, 2010 — Two UC Irvine scientists will receive grants totaling more than $2.6 million to study the underlying biology of stem cells aimed at treating spinal cord injury, cancer and other disorders.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine grants to Marian Waterman and Aileen Anderson are intended to support research on the fundamental properties and mechanisms of human stem cells. Continue Reading »

Research into stem cells of adults stirs hopes

Many researchers are coming to believe they can achieve as much using adult stem cells as using controversial human embryonic stem cells.

A year after President Barack Obama eased restrictions on research into embryonic stem cells and pledged billions in new stimulus money for it, researchers are almost giddy with enthusiasm about progress in the field. They’re confident stem cells will treat — maybe someday cure — heart disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and other disorders. Continue Reading »