Stem Cells Show Size-Specific Reaction to Nanopatterns
(Nanowerk LLC) Scientists in Germany have found that surface topography can be more important than chemistry for stem cells. Patrik Schmuki of the Frederich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and colleagues looked at how stem cells behave on nanotube-coated surfaces and found that they show a size-specific reaction to the nanopatterns. The researchers propose that nanopatterned surfaces could have potential applications in tissue engineering and in medical implants, such as replacement hips. Schmuki suggests that decorating implant surfaces with patterns on a similar scale to cells (around 10 micrometres) may improve the implant's integration into the body.
Embryonic Stem Cells - and Other Stem Cells - Promise to Advance Treatments
(U.S. News & World Report) For Thomas Clegg, the Obama administration's decision in March to lift certain restrictions on government funding of stem cell research was beside the point. The 58-year-old congestive heart failure patient had received an experimental stem cell therapy before the new president even took office. In November, researchers at Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center in Houston removed some of Clegg's bone marrow and sent it off to a lab, where the best and hardiest of its stem cells were extracted and concentrated. Less than a month after Obama's historic election, those cells were injected directly into Clegg's heart, where the researchers hope they will spark healing and regeneration.
Time for a Scientific Code of Ethics
(LabNewsOnline) In the light of recent high-profile scandals – one researcher has asked: Just how common is scientific misconduct? And her conclusions are worrying. Daniele Fanelli of the University of Edinburgh conducted the first meta-analysis of surveys questioning scientists about their misbehaviours. The results suggest that altering or making up data is more frequent than previously estimated and might be particularly high in medical research. There have been previous estimates based on indirect data (for example, official retractions of scientific papers or random data audits) which have produced largely discrepant results. Many researchers have asked scientists directly, with surveys conducted in different countries and disciplines. However, they have used different methods and asked different questions, so their results also appeared inconclusive.
Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Gene Flaws Overlap
(Daily Mail)
A hoard of genetic flaws have been tied to both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in a huge trial that suggests the two mental illnesses have similar roots. Scientists have long believed that schizophrenia is distinct from bipolar disorder, which is also known as manic depression. But now the study, which uncovered thousands of genetic errors which predispose people to schizophrenia, showed that many were the same as those that trigger bipolar disorder. The multinational group of researchers analysed the DNA of 8,000 people with schizophrenia, and 19,000 without it, in three studies reported in the journal Nature.
Bioethicists Lead Call for Public Debates on Future Uses of Stem Cells
(EurekAlert)
More than 40 scientists, bioethicists, lawyers and science journal editors are calling on their colleagues, policy makers and the public to begin developing guidelines for the research and reproductive use of stem cell-derived eggs and sperm, even though such use may be a decade or more away. "Science has always moved faster than social debate or society's ability to grapple with these issues," says Debra Mathews, Ph.D., lead author of a paper published in the July issue of Cell Stem Cell and assistant director of science programs at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. The paper calls for all parties to begin engaging in open discussion and debates, and describes the need for informed social policy well in advance of the eventual use of eggs and sperm derived from pluripotent stem cells.
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