Stem Cells in Focus

Stem cell research was recently brought out of the laboratory and into the public discourse in an open public forum held in conjunction with the 16th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in Melbourne, Australia, and was proudly sponsored by the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia. The public forum,...

Vaccines are routinely used to increase immunity against a variety of infectious diseases, such as influenza, measles, and chicken pox, to name a few. Rather than vaccinating against viral infectious diseases, however, imagine a vaccine that could prevent cancer. Researchers have long been interested in developing a vaccine that can help the body’s immune...

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month, a time intended to raise the visibility of a disease that effects an estimated five to ten million people world-wide and to share its personal, societal, and scientific impact. The medical community has been “aware” of this disease since its published description by James Parkinson in 1817. Let that...

Why might stem cell scientists care about a small marsupial unique to Tasmania, a small island off the coast of Australia? Good question. Tasmanian devils are afflicted with a unique type of cancer that is transmitted from animal to animal – a disease that is threatening existence of the species. Scientists are studying stem cells...

Imagine skin so fragile that rubbing or scratching it can lead to severe blistering and massive wounds. Patients with a rare genetic disease known as junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) suffer from just this painful phenomenon. JEB patients have mutations in a protein known as laminin-332, which is necessary to physically attach the top layer of...