NCCS researchers have found two mechanisms that turn off the expression of endocytosis-associated genes, thus helping the stem cells to maintain their pluripotency. The dual mechanism functions in such a way that even if one mechanism fails, the other can function as a back-up. Understanding of the mechanism will be helpful in regenerative medicine using iPS cells. … Continue reading NCCS finds dual mechanism that helps embryonic stem cells maintain pluripotency
Embryonic stem cell research
A step closer to regenerative medicine
A landmark study published today (September 12, 2013) in Nature shows that reprogramming of adult cells that behave like stem cells can be achieved right inside the body (in vivo). Till now, reprogramming of adult cells has been achieved only in labs (in vitro). This opens a promising window to repairing tissues right inside the … Continue reading A step closer to regenerative medicine
Editorial: Food for thought
At €2,50,000, the burger produced recently using meat cultured in a lab is probably the world’s most expensive sandwich. But it marks a major milestone in the long pursuit by a few scientists to grow meat in vitro. The small piece of meat containing 20,000 strips of muscle tissue, each one mm thick by 2.5 … Continue reading Editorial: Food for thought
Editorial: Turning the clock back
Published in The Hindu on October 10,2012 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded on Monday to Sir John B. Gurdon of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka from Kyoto University for their path-breaking discoveries was not unexpected. Dr. Yamanaka had won two other prestigious science awards — the Albert Lasker … Continue reading Editorial: Turning the clock back
The great continental divide on scientific issues
Published in The Hindu on September 23, 2010 Is the evolution theory equipped to explain the variety of species found on earth? Even as more and more evidence strengthens and finds the links that have led to the species that we find today and in the past, about 35 per cent of the Japanese and … Continue reading The great continental divide on scientific issues
Editorial: Ideology ruins science
Published in The Hindu on September 7, 2010 Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in the United States has hit a major roadblock once again. A temporary injunction by the Federal Court for the District of Columbia has turned the clock back and brought to a halt all federally funded research on hESC. The court's … Continue reading Editorial: Ideology ruins science
Retina cells grown from skin-derived stem cells
Published in The Hindu on August 25, 2009 Research on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has been progressing feverishly since 2006, when Japanese researcher, Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, first managed in 2006 to make skin cells behave like embryonic stem cells. The latest success comes from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and … Continue reading Retina cells grown from skin-derived stem cells
Hwang Woo Suk – down but not out
After becoming the pride of South Korea and gaining worldwide fame due to his `seminal' work on human embryonic stem cell research published in the journal Science in March 2004, the spectre of his past caught up with him and Hwang Woo Suk fell from the high pedestal in less than one-and-half years. But such … Continue reading Hwang Woo Suk – down but not out
Embryonic-like stem cells generated from cord blood
Published in The Hindu on October 3, 2009 Cord blood cells appear to be far more versatile to treat many diseases than previously considered. Two teams had successfully reprogrammed cord blood cells to exhibit properties similar to embryonic stem cells. Reprogrammed cells that have embryonic-like stem cell characteristics are called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. … Continue reading Embryonic-like stem cells generated from cord blood
A step closer to restoring vision using embryonic-like stem cells
Published in The Hindu on September 10, 2009 After establishing a procedure to restore vision of people whose cornea has been damaged by physical or chemical injury by harvesting limbal stem cells from the healthy eye and transplanting them to the eye that has been damaged, the Hyderabad-based LV Prasad Eye Institute has moved to … Continue reading A step closer to restoring vision using embryonic-like stem cells
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