Science Media Centre

Nature News reports on new developments regarding the stem cell breakthrough published last week: several errors have been noted in the article and critics are unimpressed with incredibly short peer review process. An excerpt (read in full here): Stem-cell cloner acknowledges errors in groundbreaking paper Critics raise questions about rush to publication. A blockbuster paper [...]

Scientists have successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to become embryonic stem cells capable of transforming into any other cell type in the body. It is believed that stem cell therapies hold the promise of replacing cells damaged through injury or illness. While scientists have previously been able to make embryonic stem cells using this approach [...]

Japanese researchers have turned mouse stem cells into germ cells that give rise to eggs in living mice, which then produced viable offspring via in vitro fertilisation. This research, which mirrors work already done with sperm, may open the door to new insights into female germ cells and provide new leads for treating some forms [...]

The human first trial to use embryonic stem cells for the treatment of macular degeneration has published its results,representing a milestone in the use of the controversial therapy. An new trial published in the leading medical journal The Lancet, reports on the the use of human embryonic stem cells to treat macular degeneration in two [...]

Europe’s highest court has made a landmark ruling preventing the patenting of research techniques that use stem cells. The move has disappointed scientists who claim that commercial investors will abandon stem cell research if they cannot patent the results. The specific ruling is defined as: “A process which involves removal of a stem cell from [...]

Kiran Chug writes in the Dominion Post about AgResearch ending its cloning trials, due to the death rates of laboratory animals. While AgResearch will no longer be cloning animals, it will still be developing its transgenic cattle, sheep and goats, intended to produce pharmaceutically-useful proteins which cannot be easily made any other way. An excerpt: [...]

An ethics panel has granted approval for New Zealand’s first clinical trial of adult stem cell treatment for spinal cord injuries. The stem cells, harvested from their noses, will be injected into the spinal injury sites of 6 wheelchair-bound people. An excerpt: (read in full here) “”We will be contacting GPs … asking if they [...]

In this week’s Media 7, Russell Brand discusses recent news reports of ‘miracle cures’ involving experimental stem cell treatments. He discusses the reports, as well as the science behind the treatments, with Dr Bronwen Connor, of Auckland University’s Neural Repair and Neurogenesis lab director, and Adrienne Kohler, a former journalist and communications director of the [...]