Enhancing the Development of Heart Cells Using Materials Derived From Silk
December 17, 2018 | Categories: Announcements, Core Faculty, Heart Regeneration, ResearchIn an exciting breakthrough that may have implications for stem cell-based treatment of heart disease, the lab of Dr. Deok-Ho Kim at the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) has successfully used silk-based materials to enhance the development of stem-cell derived cardiomyocytes. In a recent study detailed in the Journal of Materials Chemistry, […] Read More
Potential Seen for Tailoring Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment
December 3, 2018 | Categories: Announcements, Research |Drug response screening of leukemia stem cells offers clues to relapse and suggests ways to improve patient-specific therapies Advances in rapid screening of leukemia cells for drug susceptibility and resistance are bringing scientists closer to patient-tailored treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Research on the drug responses of leukemia stem cells may reveal why some […] Read More
ISCRM Faculty Shine a New Light on Scarring
October 12, 2018 | Categories: Research |Collaboration is the engine of scientific progress at UW Medicine and at the Institute of Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM), where 130 researchers are developing stem cell-based approaches to treat diseases affecting nearly every organ and system in the human body. Read More
UW Medicine Researchers Explore New Approaches to Treating Childhood Leukemia
October 1, 2018 | Categories: Research |Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of childhood cancer, representing approximately 25% of cancer diagnoses in children 0-15. More than 3,000 new cases of ALL are diagnosed every year in the United States - and the incidence rate is rising. Read More
Researchers use stem cells to restore heart function in primates
July 2, 2018 | Categories: Research |Results of a study published today in Nature Biotechnology suggest techniques that could treat patients with heart failure. Researchers at UW Medicine in Seattle have successfully used human stem cells to restore heart function in monkeys with heart failure. The findings suggest that the technique will be effective in patients with heart failure, the leading cause of death in the world. Read More
Understanding Alzheimers
May 23, 2018 | Categories: Research |New cell lines will allow researchers to probe the basic biology of Alzheimer’s. Currently, however, there are no treatments that can prevent or slow the progression of this memory-robbing disease, which affects more than 5 million Americans. One reason for this is that we really don’t know the cause of Alzheimer’s: It is known that brain cells that are crucial to forming new memories die. But we don’t know why. Read More
NIH accepts new ISCRM hESC lines
May 22, 2018 | Categories: ResearchOn May 9, 2018, three new ISCRM human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines were accepted onto the NIH Stem Cell Registry. Originated from donated human preimplantation blastocysts, Carol Ware derived the lines in medium that halted development in a preimplantation stage so they maintained a naive character. All three lines have a good karyotype. The cell […] Read More
Robots grow mini-organs from human stem cells
May 17, 2018 | Categories: Research |A robotic approach to mass-producing organoids could accelerate regenerative medicine research and drug discovery. An automated system that uses robots has been designed to rapidly produce human mini-organs derived from stem cells. Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle developed the new system. Read More
Stem-cell study points to new approach to Alzheimer’s disease
March 1, 2018 | Categories: Research |Improving the trafficking of cellular proteins in brain cells holds possibilities for new treatments and even prevention for Alzheimer’s disease, results of a new study suggest. Researchers found that a compound that enhances the shuttling of proteins within cells reduced the production of forerunners of two proteins implicated in brain cell death. Read More
Researchers program biomaterials with ‘logic gates’ that release therapeutics in response to environmental triggers
January 16, 2018 | Categories: Research |Drug treatments can save lives, but sometimes they also carry unintended costs. After all, the same therapeutics that target pathogens and tumors can also harm healthy cells. To reduce this collateral damage, scientists have long sought specificity in drug delivery systems: A package that can encase a therapeutic and will not disgorge its toxic cargo until it reaches the site of treatment — be it a tumor, a diseased organ or a site of infection. Read More