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
Study: Using big data to help fight a deadly cancer
January 12, 2018 | Categories: Research |Researchers built an algorithm to discern which drugs might best combat patients’ individual cases of acute myeloid leukemia. The statistics are grim. For patients fighting an aggressive form of leukemia known as acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, doctors over the last 40 years have usually used a combination of two drugs to fight the disease, but it seldom cures it. Read More
Favorable interim results reported in stem-cell therapy trial
January 8, 2018 | Categories: Research |A therapy developed at UW shows promise in its first test in young boys who have an inherited deadly muscle disease. Favorable interim results have been announced in a small clinical trial of a stem-cell therapy to treat patients with a rare, deadly disease called myotubular myopathy. Read More
Network of synthetic blood microvessels built
October 4, 2017 | Categories: Research |Researchers are reporting significant progress in generating a 3-dimensional network of blood vessels that can be grown and manipulated in a laboratory. Building vascular support for stem-cell repaired tissues or replacement organs will be vital to such regenerative therapies. Read More
Mini-kidney organoids reveal renal disease secrets
October 2, 2017 | Categories: Research |Kidney organoids are revealing both the factors that influence the formation of kidney cysts, as well as how the disease progresses. The organoids are grown in labware from human stem cells. Polycystic kidney disease affects 12 million people. Until recently, scientists have been unable to recreate the progression of this human disease in a laboratory setting. Read More
Cancer trial: Expectation-setting gives way to hope
September 27, 2017 | Categories: Research |Beginning four years ago, 15 women with incurable (metastatic triple-negative) breast cancer were enrolled in a unique clinical trial. It explored one concept of “precision medicine” – the suggestion that the brain power of multiple medical experts and the collection of an immense volume of data about each woman’s condition would yield the most personalized, customized care possible. Read More
Move over Gucci; researchers create designer stem cells
September 1, 2017 | Categories: Research |UW Medicine researchers recently lead a successful effort to create “designer” stem cells that might lead to advances in cancer and aging, they say. In a paper published in the journal PNAS, the scientists showed for the first time that a computer-generated protein can be inserted into stem cells to change their epigenetic memory, whose role is to ensure that a cell’s DNA sequence remains intact as it divides. Read More
