Stem-Cell Research

(Newser) - Lou Hawthorne's canine cloning business is well on its way—with clients paying upwards of $130,000 to duplicate their pets—but the copies of his own beloved family dog have hardly replaced her. Clones Mira and MissyToo vary in size and color, and Hawthorne's mother—keeper of the original Missy, now deceased—refuses to keep the genetic offspring, saying they lack the donor's robust calm. More »

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s transition team is hard at work deciding how and when to undo the Bush administration’s abortion policies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bush’s ban on federal stem cell research funding will be among the first to go—a move that has broad bipartisan support—along with Reagan’s “global gag rule,” which prevents US aid recipients from providing or advocating abortions, even with their own funds. More »

(Newser) - Embryos deserve “the dignity proper to a person,” the Vatican declared today in an uncompromising doctrinal declaration on reproductive science, its first in more than 20-years. The long-awaited document condemns everything from embryonic stem-cell research to human cloning to the morning-after pill, which falls “within the sin of abortion.” Human life, the church declared, “can never be reduced merely to a group of cells.” More »

(Newser) - In a frontier-busting surgery, transplant doctors have given a young woman a trachea developed in a lab using the patient's own stem cells. Stem cells from the patient's trachea and bone marrow were used to create a new rejection-proof organ in the surgery, performed in Spain in June, reports the BBC. The trachea developed its own blood supply a month after the operation. More »

(Newser) - Scientists have developed a biodegradable scaffold on which heart tissue can be grown in the lab, possibly paving the way for the creation of whole organs, the Independent reports. In the meantime, the goal is to produce living patches for mending damaged hearts. The flexible polymer matrix ensures growing cells all align the right way, and dissolve within months. More »

(AP) - Cells taken from human testicles seem as versatile as stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported today in Nature . The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues to treat diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes and for spinal cord injuries. But because of their source, they would help only half the world's population: men. More »

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a safer way to turn adult cells into stem cells, the Boston Globe reports. The cells, similar to those harvested from embryos, are called induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells; Japanese researchers introduced the method 2 years ago. But the Japanese used retroviruses, which can cause cancer; the new research uses a different virus, which is safe. More »