An HIV-positive woman who received a blood stem cell transplant to treat acute myeloid leukemia appears to have been cured of HIV.The stem cells, from umbilical cord blood, contained a gene variant that makes them resistant to HIV infection.The woman has been free of HIV for 14 months since the...
Cells in our body bristle with sugars known as glycans that other cells can recognize via specialized receptors. By attaching to and modifying proteins and fats, glycans influence how proteins fold, how cues are sent between cells, and other cell-to-cell interactions. As just one example of glycans’ importance, our blood...
The chances of restoring fertility through sperm stem cell transplant are as random as a coin toss. But a team of scientists developed a new strategy that serves as a 'weighted coin' that can favorably rig the odds to achieve outcomes where fertility is successfully restored. (more…)
Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of dementia and current therapeutic strategies cannot prevent, slow down or cure the pathology. The disease is characterized by memory loss, caused by the degeneration and death of neuronal cells in several regions of the brain, including the hippocampus. Researchers have identified a small...
A groundbreaking study found that stem cells reduce the amount of virus causing AIDS, boost the body's antiviral immunity, and restore the gut's lymphoid follicles damaged by HIV. It provided a roadmap for multi-pronged HIV eradication strategies. (more…)
Scientists are developing a promising approach for treating type 1 diabetes by using stem cells to create insulin-producing cells (called beta cells) that could replace nonfunctional pancreatic cells. (more…)
Biomedical engineering researchers developed a new cell classifier tool that takes a higher-resolution look at the life cycle of neuroepithelial stem cells, which led to the discovery and exploration of a new resting phase called Neural G0. This knowledge could help scientists to better understand glioma brain tumors and develop...
Researchers have found a vital mechanism, previously thought to have disappeared as mammals evolved, that helps protect mammalian stem cells from RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus. The scientists suggest this could one day be exploited in the development of new antiviral treatments. (more…)
Researchers have created what could be a key building block for assembling a synthetic kidney. They describe how they generate rudimentary kidney structures, known as organoids, that resemble the collecting duct system that helps maintain the body's fluid and pH balance by concentrating and transporting urine. The organoids provide a...
One of the many effects of aging is loss of muscle mass, which contributes to disability in older people. To counter this loss, scientists at the Salk Institute are studying ways to accelerate the regeneration of muscle tissue, using a combination of molecular compounds that are commonly used in stem-cell...
