June 24th, 2005
Cultivating Adult Stem Cells
The field of stem cell research, while very promising, is still in its first stages - akin to gene therapy a decade ago. The cultivation of stem cells in the lab is still in the process of exploration and standardization even as researchers are pushing forward with trials for first generation therapies. Here, the Post-Gazette reports on a new step forward in the basics: "Stem cells obtained from adult muscle can multiply as often as stem cells from embryos, indicating that adult-derived cells could be cultivated for treatment purposes. ... Cells that had doubled 200 times seemed as 'fresh,' in Huard's words, as those from 50 doublings. They still carried the markers of stem cells and were able to repair muscle fibers in transplanted mice."