LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have developed a new stem cell technique for growing working liver cells which could eventually avoid the need for costly and risky liver transplants.

Scientists use cloning to make human stem cells

2011-10-05T10:30:44Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists for the first time have used a cloning technique to get tailor-made embryonic stem cells to grow in unfertilized human egg cells, a landmark finding and a potential new flashpoint for opponents of stem cell research.

The researchers were trying to prove it is possible to use a cloning technology ca...

U.S. firm wins UK embryonic stem cell trial go-ahead

2011-09-22T12:00:10Z

LONDON (Reuters) - British drug regulators have granted approval to Advanced Cell Technology to conduct the first trial in Europe of human embryonic stem cells, testing the cells in people with a progressive form of blindness, the firm said...

Europe's first human embryonic stem cell trial approved

2011-09-22T10:30:47Z

A US biotech company said Thursday it will soon begin the first-ever European trials using human embryonic stem cells in an experimental treatment for people with a form of juvenile blindness.

The Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology said the trials will involve 12 patients with Stargardt's disease and will be based at Moorfields Eye Hospital in <...

US firm launches European human stem cell trial

2011-09-22T10:30:45Z

A US biotech company said Thursday it will soon begin the first-ever European trials using human embryonic stem cells in an experimental treatment for people with a form of juvenile blindness.

The Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology said the trials will involve 12 patients with Stargardt's disease and will be based at Moorfields Eye Hospital in <...

Scientists appeal on embryonic stem cell funding

2011-09-19T14:00:19Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two scientists on Monday appealed a ruling that permitted federal funding of human embryonic stem research to go forward, an effort by the U.S. government to try to find cures for deadly diseases.

Dr. James Sherley, a biological engineer at Lee Myung-Bak promised Monday to spend some $89 million restoring South Korea's reputation as a leader in stem cell research, five years after a scandal tarnished its reputation.

"The government has decided to foster the stem cell industry as a core new growth engine," he said in a radio address, adding about 100 billion won ($89 million) in state funds would be...

South Korea sets sights on becoming stem cell powerhouse, again

2011-09-18T20:00:10Z

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's president vowed on Monday a series of regulatory reforms to help regain its place as a stem cell research powerhouse, trying to reclaim momentum five years after a cloning scandal.

President Lee Myung-bak

EU clears stem cell trial for broken hearts

2011-09-05T03:30:04Z

LONDON (Reuters) - An Australian company developing a stem cell treatment to prevent heart failure has been given the go-ahead for a mid-stage clinical trial in Europe, moving potential "off-the-shelf" stem cell treatments a step closer.

Mesoblast said Monday it had won clearance from the

Pioneering UK stem cell trial passes safety test

2011-09-01T01:30:13Z

LONDON (Reuters) - A pioneering clinical trial to inject stem cells into the brains of patients disabled by stroke has been cleared to progress to the next stage after the treatment raised no safety concerns in the first three candidates.

ReNeuron Group PLC, the British biotech behind the trial, said the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board had reviewed safety data from its ...

US judge tosses lawsuit blocking stem cell funds

2011-07-27T17:30:19Z

In a victory for the President Barack Obama administration, a US federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit that had temporarily blocked federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Judge Royce Lamberth's summary judgment followed an appeals court decision in April that also ruled against ...

U.S. judge upholds federal embryonic stem cell funds

2011-07-27T08:30:12Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday upheld the federal government's rules that allow funding of human embryonic stem cell research, ruling for the Obama administration.

U.S. District Judge Roy...

South Korea back in stem cell spotlight with new treatment

2011-07-06T23:30:06Z

SEONGNAM, South Korea (Reuters) - More than five years after South Korea's scientific reputation was shattered by a cloning research scandal, the country has approved stem cell medication in the form of a treatment for heart attack victims for the world's first clinical use.

South Korea all but put stem cell research into the deep freeze after a pre-e...

France set to uphold curbs on embryonic stem cells

2011-05-26T05:30:13Z

PARIS (Reuters) - France looked set on Thursday to maintain its curbs on human embryonic stem cell research after the conservative government fought off a parliamentary bid to liberalize the country's bioethics law.

The National Assembly voted to uphold the curbs in the second reading of the new bioethics law. Conservative legislators and the

In new study, 'adult' stem cells face new hurdle

2011-05-13T14:30:31Z

Scientists on Friday raised questions about the safety of reprogramming adult cells, an experimental technique which supporters say could one day lead to the growing of replacement tissue in the lab.

Certain kinds of these cells may be rejected by the immune system, which would thus doom them as an option for transplant, according to a study published online by the British science journal Nature

Court allows US stem cell funding to continue

2011-04-29T17:30:20Z

A US federal appeals court on Friday ruled that government funding for embryonic stem cell research can go ahead, handing a major victory to President Barack Obama's administration.

The ruling tossed out a ban on federal funds ordered by a judge last year, after a coalition of groups argued that a 1996 law makes it illegal to use taxpayer cash to pay for research that d...

Court backs funding for embryonic stem cells

2011-04-29T10:00:19Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration can continue using federal tax dollars to fund human embryonic stem cell research, an appeals court ruled on Friday, overturning a judge's decision and handing a victory to the White House.

A federal ju...

US court backs funding for embryonic stem cells

2011-04-29T08:00:33Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration can continue using federal tax dollars to fund human embryonic stem cell research, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday, overturning a lower court decision and handing a victory to the Reuters) - Research scientists hit out on Wednesday at a European Court of Justice (ECJ) case they say could block development of embryonic stem cell-based therapies in Europe.

The ECJ's advocate general has said all patents on embryo...

Imperfections mar hopes for reprogrammed stem cells

2011-03-31T15:00:15Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - When scientists announced 5 years ago they could reprogram ordinary skin cells into behaving like embryonic stem cells, religious conservatives and others who opposed the use of stem cells cheered the advance.

But while they have proven to be a powerful new way to study human disease, the reprogrammed cells -- known as induced...

Rush for patents is choking US stem cell research

2011-01-25T12:30:43Z

Cures for paralysis, blindness and diabetes could all be in reach with embryonic stem cell research, but the pursuit of medical progress is being choked by the US rush to secure patents, experts say.

Scientists are busily filing for legal patents that give them exclusive intellectual property rights for each discovery they make in the hopes that one day, one will lead to a blockbuster cure and big cash for those who devised it.

But the process means that US scientists -- alre...

Mice study shows breakthrough in treating fetal defects

2011-01-18T15:30:22Z

US researchers have discovered why fetal stem cell transplants, once considered a promising field for treating congenital defects before birth, were failing: it was all mother's fault.

But mom's cells could also be the solution, according to a study on mice released Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The mistake may have been that doctors were trying to match transplantable bone marrow stem cells to the fetus. The mother's immune system would recognize the new ...

US approves new trial of embryonic stem cells

2011-01-03T11:30:36Z

US biotech company Advanced Cell Technology said Monday it was cleared by the government to start its second trial using human embryonic stem cells to treat blindness, this time in older people.

The trial will examine the therapy's ability to safely treat people with a condition known as dry age-related macular degeneration, the most common form of irreversible vision loss in people over age 6...

Stem cell research breaks new ground in 2010

2010-12-30T19:30:35Z

Two US companies this year broke new ground by winning regulatory approval to start the first experiments using embryonic stem cells on humans suffering from spinal cord injury and blindness.

The potent but hotly debated cells can transform into nearly any cell in the human body, opening a path toward eliminating such ills as Parkinson's disease, paralysis, diabetes, heart disease, and maybe even the ravages of aging.

...

US stem cell research breaks new ground in 2010

2010-12-30T11:30:37Z

Two US companies this year broke new ground by winning regulatory approval to start the first experiments using embryonic stem cells on humans suffering from spinal cord injury and blindness.

S.Korea upholds suspended term for faked stem-cell research

2010-12-16T14:31:03Z

A South Korean appeals court Thursday upheld a suspended prison term for a scientist whose claims of stem-cell breakthroughs rocked the scientific world until his research was found to be faked.

But the court reduced the penalty on Hwang Woo-Suk, imposing an 18-month sentence suspended for two years.

In October last year Hwang had received a two-year sentence -- suspended for three years -- for embezzling ...

Stem cells used to make pancreas, gut cells

2010-12-12T21:30:32Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells can be transformed into the pancreatic cells needed to treat diabetes and into complex layers of intestinal tissue, scientists demonstrated in two experiments reported on Sunday.

In one, a team turned immature sperm cells into pancreatic tissue, while another team turned embryonic stem cells into complex layers of intestinal tissue.

Both studies show n...

Japan team say stem cells helped monkey jump again

2010-12-08T08:30:56Z

Japanese researchers said Wednesday they had used stem cells to restore partial mobility in a small monkey that had been paralysed from the neck down by a spinal injury.

"It is the world's first case in which a small-size primate recovered from a spinal injury using stem cells," professor Hideyuki Okano of Tokyo's Keio University told AFP.

Okano's research team, which earlier helped a mous...

Obama Executive Order Lifts Strict Limits On Stem Cell Research

2010-11-29T09:32:01Z

MADISON, WI - MARCH 10: Irina Elcheva an employee of WiCell Research Institute, Inc. prepares stem cells for culture at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at University Wisconsin-Madison March 10, 2009 in Madison, Wisconsin. On March 9, 2009

Pushing Social Issues

2010-11-26T12:01:23Z

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2005, file photo Jennifer Frane, a technician at the WiCell Research Institute, checks on the growth and viability of embryonic stem cells in Madison, Wis. Although fixing the economy is the top priority, incoming University of Michigan Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Alessio Fasano, director of the Mucosal Biology Research center at the University of Maryland talks during a meeting between the Vatican and Italian and American scientists and health officials at NU Board of Regents Jim McClurg, left, Brad Bohn, center, and Chuck Hassebrook listen as Rick Kolkman of North Platte testifies in opposition to a resolution restricting embryonic stem cell research at the board's Nov. meeting in