Generating mature and viable heart muscle cells from human or other animal stem cells has proven difficult for biologists.

A new study has introduced a new treatment for skeletal system injuries, using stem cells from human bone marrow and a carbon material with photocatalytic properties.

Today, a stroke usually leads to permanent disability – but in the future, the stroke-injured brain could be reparable by replacing dead cells with new, healthy neurons, using transplantation. Researchers have taken a step in that direction by showing that some neurons transplanted into the brains of stroke-injured rats were incorporated and responded correctly when the rat’s muzzle and paws were touched. 

A stem cell-based transplantation approach that restores vision in blind mice moves closer to being tested in patients with end-stage retinal degeneration, according to a study. The researchers showed that retinal tissue derived from mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) established connections with neighboring cells and responded to light stimulation after transplantation into the host retina, restoring visual function in half of mice with end-stage retinal degeneration.

Scientists have used pluripotent stem cells to generate human stomach tissues in a Petri dish that produce acid and digestive enzymes. They grew tissues from the stomach’s corpus/fundus region. The study comes two years after the same team generated the stomach’s hormone-producing region (the antrum). The discovery means investigators now can grow both parts of the human stomach to study disease.

The brain tumor form glioblastoma is difficult to treat and has very poor prognosis. In a new study, scientists show that a type of stem cell in the tumor is present in different states, with different response to drugs and radiation. The results may open an avenue towards development of new treatment strategies designed to reverse therapy resistant cell states to more sensitive states.

Scientists have developed the first functional pacemaker cells from human stem cells, paving the way for alternate, biological pacemaker therapy.

Leukemia researchers have developed a 17-gene signature derived from leukemia stem cells that can predict at diagnosis if patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) will respond to standard treatment.

Stem cells produce a decoy protein to attenuate growth signals. Artificially regulating this pathway might help keep muscles supple in muscular dystrophy or during normal aging, researchers hope.

Unexpected cells have been found in the protective membranes that enclose the brain, the so called meninges. These ‘neural progenitors’ — or stem cells that differentiate into different kinds of neurons — are produced during embryonic development. These findings show that the neural progenitors found in the meninges produce new neurons after birth — highlighting the importance of meningeal tissue as well as these cells’ potential in the development of new therapies for brain damage or neurodegeneration.