Scaffolding Gets Scientists Closer to Growing a Heart

21-year-old got drug 6 months ago, but it's too early to gauge results

(NEWSER) - A 21-year-old nursing student in Alabama paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident says he's "doing well" after receiving an experimental drug made from embryonic stem cells, but that it's too early to gauge his prospects of being able to walk again. Timothy Atchison tells the Washington Post that he received the drug in the closely watched experiment six months ago shortly after his accident. "We’re just in the early stages right now," he says. "It’s not at the stage to really know what’s going on." More»

Stem cells can mature into three different kinds of heart tissue

(NEWSER) - Researchers have found a cell that can become three different kinds of heart tissue, the Boston Globe reports. Harvard scientists hope that such “master” heart cells can be used to grow tissue so that researchers can perform experiments or test medications on human heart tissue, instead of animal substitutes. More»

(NEWSER) - In a result defying popular opinion, the human heart regenerates about half of its cells over the course of a normal lifespan, the New York Times reports. A study used levels of a radioactive isotope in the earth’s atmosphere released by aboveground nuclear tests, and found in our bodies, to gauge turnover. Cells damaged in heart attack do not regenerate, and scientists hope the discovery might lead to new drug therapies. More»

Rats' cardiac tissue regenerated, halting progress of disease

(NEWSER) - Researchers are using human embryonic stem cells to regrow heart muscle and actually stop the progression of heart failure in rats. Although stems cells injected into rat heart tissue had previously been shown to become muscle tissue, very few had survived. Now a team from the University of Washington has succeeded in turning as many as half the cells into heart muscle, and keeping them alive. More»