New Atlas

Biology Audio available

Artificial embryos possible after embryonic stem cells breakthrough

Rich Haridy May 5, 2019

An incredible new study has for the first time found a way to transform skin cells into all three of the stem cell types that make up an early-stage embryo. This extraordinary discovery points a way toward creating an embryo without the need for an egg or sperm.

A new study reveals skin cells can be reprogrammed to form all three types of stem ...

Medical Audio available

Cancer DNA study helps uncover specific chemical causes of tumors

Rich Haridy April 15, 2019

We have known for well over a century that exposure to certain environmental agents can result in DNA mutations that ultimately cause cancer. Now a team of UK scientists has developed a way to identify specific mutational signatures in tumors that can be linked to certain carcinogens.

New research reveals specific DNA signatures of 41 different carcinogenic agents can be identified in tumors

Medical

Revolutions: The incredible potential of induced pluripotent stem cells

Nick Lavars March 20, 2019

This installment of our Revolutions series brings you up to date with the ground-breaking new discoveries made around the regenerative possibilities of induced pluripotent stem cells, which can theoretically be coaxed into any kind of cell in the human body.

Discovered in 2006, induced pluripotent stem cells can be coaxed into any kind of cell in ...

Biology

Turning stem cells into insulin-producing cells could lead to "functional" diabetes cure

Michael Irving January 17, 2019

A possible diabetes cure could be found by replenishing a patient’s own supply of beta cells, which naturally produce insulin. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are a step closer to that kind of treatment, after tweaking the recipe for turning stem cells into beta cells.

Created from induced pluripotent stem cells, these new beta cells are already producing insulin, which could ...

Medical

3D-printed nerve stem cells could help patch up spinal cord injuries

Michael Irving August 10, 2018

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have designed a silicone device, covered in 3D-printed neuronal stem cells, that can be implanted into a spinal injury. There it grows new connections between remaining nerves to let patients regain some motor control.

A 3D-printed device, loaded with neuronal stem cells, that can be implanted into an injured spinal ...

Medical

Stem cells to be transplanted into brains of Parkinson's patients in world-first trials

Nick Lavars July 30, 2018

Researchers in Japan are making exciting progress on a way to potentially arrest the deterioration of motor skills in Parkinson's patients. They are now preparing to begin transplanting reprogrammed stem cells into human brains as part of a first-of-a-kind clinical trial.

Scientists at Kyoto University are commencing trials on Parkinson's patients using induced pluripotent stem cells

Medical

Japan moves to fast-track innovative stem cell therapy with first trials on human hearts

Nick Lavars June 1, 2018

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold all kinds of potential in the world of regenerative medicine. One of the many possibilities could be repairing damaged hearts, something that will soon be put to the test for the first time ever in newly approved clinical trials in Japan.

Professor Yoshiki Sawa, center, has pioneered a new induced pluripotent stem cell therapy for treating damaged ...

Medical

Scientists neutralize and reverse a key genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's

Michael Irving April 11, 2018

One of the clearest Alzheimer's risk factors is the gene apoE4. New research has peered closer at the protein encoded by this gene and uncovered how it affects the brain, how it increases the risks of Alzheimer’s and most importantly, how the damage can be reversed.

Researchers have studied a protein linked with Alzheimer's, and found just how it damages the brain ...

Biology

Antibodies prove better at reprogramming skin cells into stem cells

Michael Irving September 12, 2017

Stem cells are the blank slate on which all the specialized cells in our bodies are built, and finding ways to revert adult cells back to that stage can help fight a whole range of illnesses. Now scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have found human antibodies that can perform the function.

Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have developed a new way to turn mature skin-like cells, ...

Biology

Blindness strikes three women after iffy stem-cell treatments

Michael Franco March 16, 2017

Stem cells have been shown to do everything from regrowing skull bones to healing damaged lung tissue. They've even restored vision in rabbits. But when three adult women tried an unproven stem-cell treatment in Florida to combat vision loss from macular degeneration, they all went blind.

Two of the women were able to see well enough to drive before the damaging procedure