Stem cell breakthrough raises hope of new treatments

[cal04]

Scientists have created human stem cell cultures without using any animal cells for the first time. The breakthrough will bring possible treatments for diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's a step closer.
Growing cells outside the body needs a carefully controlled environment. Typically, the mix of nutrients, growth factors and blood serum used to keep the cells healthy is derived from animals - in the case of human embryonic stem cells, the materials come from mouse embryos.


(snip)
James Thomson, a professor of anatomy at the same university who was the first person to successfully grow human embryonic stem cells in the lab seven years ago, said there had been dramatic improvements in the way cells were grown in the lab in recent years. "This is the first time it has been possible for us to derive new cell lines in completely defined conditions in a medium that completely lacks animal products," he said. Professor Thomson said researchers had previously grown stem cell cultures without animal products, but those methods used poorly defined or proprietary products.

(snip)
In early 2005, WiCell scientists reported that they were able to culture stem cells in the absence of mouse cells, the most commonly used animal product in stem cell culture systems. The new work in effect removes remaining animal products such as bovine serum and replaces them with products of human origin in a recipe that is completely defined. The two new Wisconsin stem cell lines have survived for more than seven months in the new culture medium.

The authors of the study add that the new technique could open up the stem cell debate in the US: "Derivation and culture in serum-free, animal product-free, feeder-independent conditions mean that new human cell lines could be qualitatively different from the original lines, and makes current public policy in the United States increasingly unsound." US researchers have no access to federal funding for work on stem cells created after 2001, a policy which will be debated in the Senate early this year.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1676532,00.html

[n2doc]

1. Hopefully this will be verified by other groups

Not like the bogus Korean stem cell findings...

[qazplm]

2. excuse my ignorance

but eventually, and we are talking 100s of years down the road I assume, couldn't we use stem cells or a derivative of said technology to "seed" or "rejuvenate" human cells?

In other words, I've read we are beginning to learn how to use these types of cells to help repair damaged organs, couldnt we someday find a way to seed these cells throughout the body and possibly see an impact on our lifespans?

(I admit to having very little knowledge when it comes to biology, my dabblings are more in line with astronomy, cosmology, etc.)