Stem Cells

In a world-first clinical trial, three babies have been born after receiving stem cell treatment for spina bifida. A stem cell patch is applied to the fetus’ spine while still developing in the womb, and early results are promising one year on.

A new study has highlighted one way insufficient sleep can harm your immune system, making you more vulnerable to infections and inflammatory disease by damaging your body’s hematopoietic stem cells.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have demonstrated how a microfluidic device that mimics the embryonic heart can produce blood stem cell precursors, which could let blood stem cells be manufactured on demand.

Researchers have created some of the most advanced synthetic mouse embryos out of stem cells, removing the need for sperm, eggs and even a womb. The technology could help us understand development and eventually be used to grow organs for transplant.

A 66-year-old man has become the fourth patient, and the oldest to date, to be effectively cured of a HIV infection after undergoing a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that has been linked to HIV resistance.

Australian scientists have demonstrated a new way to restore insulin production in pancreatic cells, using a drug that’s already approved for use in humans. The study could mark a major breakthrough towards new treatments for diabetes.

Japanese scientists have successfully cloned mice from freeze-dried adult cells, which can be stored easily for long periods of time. The cloned mice were later able to have their own offspring, potentially aiding conservation of endangered species.

Researchers have developed a new drug cocktail that can convert cells into totipotent stem cells, the very seeds of life. These cells can differentiate into any cell in the body, potentially bypassing the need for sperm and eggs to grow an organism.

Scientists adapting stem cell therapies for difficult-to-treat tumors have developed a highly efficient off-the-shelf approach that showed "profound efficacy" in mouse models of aggressive brain cancer, laying the groundwork for clinical trials.

A team experimenting with Parkinson's disease treatments has demonstrated how implanting carefully cultivated stem cells into rats can bring about remarkable recovery from motor symptoms typical of the disease.

Type 1 diabetes can be a rare but serious side effect of a cancer treatment that use what are known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. In a new study in mice, researchers in Japan have shown that administering stem cell therapy could help prevent this.

Tendon injuries are painful and don’t always heal properly. Researchers at the Terasaki Institute have now shown that silk scaffolds loaded with stem cells can help tendons regenerate more effectively.