“The Morning Briefing” is SmartPlanet’s daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we’re reading about developments in stem cell research.
1.) State Bill bans fetus use In food industry. A new bill has been introduced by State Sen. Ralph Shortey in the Oklahoma Legislature which prohibits “the manufacture or sale of food or products which use aborted human fetuses.” (Yes, it’s real). According to the senator, research has shown some companies and organisations in the food industry are using human stem cells in product research.
2.) New study may contribute to Alzheimer’s Research. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have developed technology that uses stem cells to increase the accuracy of current models which display damage processes in the brain cells of Alzheimer’s sufferers.
3.) Stem cells = immortality? A new report published in Nature Communications aims to challenge current assumptions concerning cell degeneration. Within this study, the authors isolated a pool of stem cells from muscle tissue and transplanted them in to ageing mice. The experiment gave the mice over double their predicted lifespan.
4.) Stem cell research wages war on Huntington’s disease. Scientists at UC Davis have created a new technique which stalls the genetic problem that causes Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s disease is genetically inherited, in which the body produces a mutated version of a protein, huntingtin, that destroys nerve cells within the brain.
5.) Stem cells may restore vision? After an experiment using embryonic stem cells, two legally blind women appear to have gain some semblance of vision.
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