However, advancements in
engineering human stem cells are now allowing researchers to grow mini-organs in labs, and gene - editing tools can be used to insert specific mutations into these cells.
To build an in vitro model of the human glomerulus to probe deeper into its function and vulnerabilities to disease and drug toxicities, researchers have been attempting to
engineer human stem cells — that in theory can give rise to any mature cell type — so that they form into functional podocytes.
Not exact matches
To see whether this also applies to
humans, the team
engineered stem cells from people with and without Down's syndrome and injected them into mice.
On to the blocks were poured a mixture of recombinant
human bone morphogenic protein (BMP) powder — a genetically
engineered protein that causes
cells to ossify or become bone — and liquid bone marrow containing
stem cells.
Then, to boost the number of
cells, which is another hurdle in tissue
engineering, the researchers mixed the chondrocytes with
human mesenchymal
stem cells from bone marrow.
To hunt for drugs that target these
cells, Piyush Gupta, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and colleagues genetically
engineered ordinary
human cells so that they acquired some of the properties of cancer
stem cells, including being impervious to chemotherapy.
To fully realize the field's clinical potential, the tissue
engineers of the future must possess «a broad understanding of basic sciences (including biology, chemistry, and physics) and a sophisticated understanding of
human pathophysiology,
stem cell biology, and tissue mechanics.»
«Genetic
engineering of
human stem cells has not been used for disease - associated genomic deletions,» said Dr. Papapetrou.
Tufts University biomedical
engineers recently published the first report of a promising new way to induce
human mesenchymal
stem cells (or hMSCs, which are derived from bone marrow) to differentiate into neuron - like
cells: treating them with exosomes.
In fact, recent breakthroughs in the creation of
human induced pluripotent
stem cells (IPS) and the
engineering of biodegradable scaffolds to create tissues may ultimately be applicable to most health conditions known to humankind.
Once Katlyn arrived in May 2007, Candotti and his team removed
stem cells from her bone marrow and exposed them to the
engineered retrovirus, creating a
human - virus hybrid.
A company called Hematech is already breeding genetically
engineered cattle (derived from cloned
stem cells) that produce
human antibodies to fight bacterial infections, and the animals» welfare is not compromised in any way.
Kotton built a reporter gene that glowed green when the
stem cells first expressed Nkx2 - 1, and Hawkins
engineered the same gene into
human cells.
Shah and his team induced toxin resistance in
human neural
stem cells and subsequently
engineered them to produce targeted toxins.
They used the gene editing technology CRISPR to
engineer a series of
human embryonic
stem cell lines, which were identical apart from the number of DNA repeats that occurred at the ends of their HTT genes.
«Our group pioneered the development of
cell culture technology for harvesting large numbers of
stem cells from
human bone marrow and
human umbilical cord blood,» Dr. Yeh said, noting that
stem cells from these two sources are abundant and can be guided into different types of
cells using tissue
engineering.
«The introduction of mitochondria into damaged
cells has beneficial effects on the health of
cells and, in the long term, we believe that mesenchymal
stem cells could even be
engineered to create more effective therapies for lung disease in
humans.»
Single -
cell RNA - Seq analysis also helped researchers benchmark the
engineered 3D liver tissues generated from
stem cells against naturally occurring
human fetal and adult liver
cells.
Dr. Sonntag studies this concept on the molecular and cellular level using a translational research approach that integrates the analysis of
human material, such as postmortem brains, primary
cell systems, and neural
cell populations generated from patients» - or healthy individuals» - derived induced pluripotent
stem cells (iPSC), or induced neurons (iNs), in combination with molecular, biochemistry, and lentivirus - mediated gene -
engineering technologies.
INGESTEM, the national infrastructure in biology and health certified by the «Investissements d'Avenir» program and the Ile - de-France Region (DIM Biothérapies), is the first French network of therapeutic innovations based on pluripotent
stem cells,
human tissue
engineering and their biomedical applications.
Non-virally
engineered human adipose mesenchymal
stem cells produce BMP4, target brain tumors, and extend survival.
Cardiac repair in guinea pigs with
human engineered heart tissue from induced pluripotent
stem cells.
Using
human stems cells and segments of rat intestines, scientists
engineer bowels that are capable of absorbing nutrients.
San Diego, CA (December 9, 2008)-- Novocell, Inc., a
stem cell engineering company, today announced a collaboration with renowned
stem cell researcher Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, Japan, to allow Novocell to explore the creation of
human islet
cells from induced pluripotent
stem (iPS)
cells.
San Diego, CA (June 3, 2009)-- Novocell, Inc., a
stem cell engineering company, today announced that it has received U.S. Patent No. 7,541,185 with method claims covering the use of endoderm
cells derived from
human embryonic
stem cells (hESCs) for drug discovery.
The team used genetically
engineered mice to study the effects of different
human apoE variants on the maturation of neural
stem cells or progenitor
cells, from which new neurons develop in the adult brain.
ANN ARBOR, Mich — By combining
engineered polymeric materials known as hydrogels with complex intestinal tissue known as organoids — made from
human pluripotent
stem cells — researchers have taken an important step toward creating a new technology for controlling the growth of these organoids and using them for treating wounds in the gut that can be caused by disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
We have recently developed the use of site - specific nucleases to genetically
engineer human pluripotent
stem cells, which can be maintained indefinitely and differentiated into any
cell type of interest.
InvivoSciences makes
engineered heart tissues from mouse embryonic
stem cells and
stem cells from differentiated adult tissues in
humans, such as fat and skin.
Gladstone scientists are
engineering tissues from
stem cells to create better models of
human disease.
Zonari E, Desantis G, Petrillo C, Boccalatte FE, Lidonnici MR, Kajaste - Rudnitski A, Aiuti A, Ferrari G, Naldini L, Gentner B. Efficient ex vivo
engineering and expansion of highly purified
human hematopoietic
stem and progenitor
cell populations for gene therapy.
Embryonic
stem cells derived from
human blastocysts have the key advantage of pluripotency, meaning that they form nearly all
cell types but also have the disadvantage of forming tumors in vivo, which may limit clinical application to tissue
engineering rather than
cell transplantation.
San Diego, CA (March 31, 2009)-- Novocell, Inc., a
stem cell engineering company, today announced that it has received U.S. Patent 7,510,876 with claims covering
human definitive endoderm
cells, an essential
cell for generating not only pancreatic type
cells, which Novocell is developing for use as a
cell therapy for diabetes, but also other endoderm lineage - derived tissues and organs such as lungs, intestine, liver, thymus and thyroid.
Gladstone's newest recruit, Dr. McDevitt, will continue to use his background in biomedical
engineering to improve and accelerate the development of
human tissues from
stem cells.
McDevitt, a senior investigator at Gladstone, received the award to fund his efforts to use
human pluripotent
stem cells to
engineer microscale tissue constructs.
Distilling the most radical accomplishments being made in labs worldwide, including gene therapy, genetic
engineering,
stem cell research, life extension, brain - computer interfaces, and cloning, More Than
Human offers an exciting tour of the impact biotechnology will have on our lives.