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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1405

Stem cells for teeth repair.

Teeth exhibit limited repair in response to damage, and dental pulp stem cells probably provide a source of cells to replace those damaged and to facilitate repair. Stem cells in other parts of the tooth, such as the periodontal ligament and growing roots, play more dynamic roles in tooth function and development. Dental stem cells can be obtained with ease, making them an attractive source of autologous stem cells for use in restoring vital pulp tissue removed because of infection, in regeneration of periodontal ligament lost in periodontal disease, and for generation of complete or partial tooth structures to form biological implants. As dental stem cells share properties with mesenchymal stem cells, there is also considerable interest in their wider potential to treat disorders involving mesenchymal (or indeed non-mesenchymal) cell derivatives, such as in Parkinson’s disease.

Teeth are complex organs containing two separate specialized hard tissues, dentine and enamel, which form an integrated attachment complex with bone via a specialized (periodontal) ligament. Embryologically, teeth are ectodermal organs that form from sequential reciprocal interactions between oral epithelial cells (ectoderm) and cranial neural crest derived mesenchymal cells. The epithelial cells give rise to enamel forming ameloblasts, and the mesenchymal cells form all other differentiated cells (e.g., dentine forming odontoblasts, pulp, periodontal ligament) (Box 1). Teeth continue developing postnatally; the outer covering of enamel gradually becomes harder, and root formation, which is essential for tooth function, only starts to occur as part of tooth eruption in children.

Tooth development is traditionally considered a series of stages that reflect key processes ( Figure I ). The first step is induction, in which signals from the epithelium to the mesenchyme initiate the developmental process. As localized proliferation of the dental epithelial cells takes place, the cells form a bud around which the mesenchymal cells condense. Differentiation and localized proliferation of the epithelial cells in the bud leads to the cap stage. It is at this stage that crown morphogenesis is initiated by the epithelial signalling centre, an enamel knot regulating the folding of the epithelium. By the bell stage, the precursors of the specialized tooth cells, ameloblasts, coordinate enamel deposition, and odontoblasts, which produce dentine, are formed. Tooth eruption involves the coordination of bone resorption and root development, and occurs postnatally.

Continue reading “Stem cell-based biological tooth repair and regeneration” | >

The Gist: They think they can start wider human trials soon which would last 2 years then have a product in 3 to 4 years.

In this video, Drs Irina and Mike Conboy talk how TPE, therapeutic plasma exchange is already available as an FDA approved procedure and the plans to extend the usage to include more age related diseases. We also discuss the company that they have formed IMU

Our guests today are Drs. Irina and Michael Conboy of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California Berkeley. their discovery of the rejuvenating effects of young blood through parabiosis in a seminal paper published in Nature in 2005 paved the way for a thriving field of rejuvenation biology. The Conboy lab currently focuses on broad rejuvenation of tissue maintenance and repair, stem cell niche engineering, elucidating the mechanisms underlying muscle stem cell aging, directed organogenesis, and making CRISPR a therapeutic reality.

Continue reading “Translating Blood Plasma Dilution To Humans | Drs. Irina & Mike Conboy Interrview Series Ep3” | >

Did you know that life extension is impossible? I didn’t until the keen minds over at the Guardian informed me as such. Fortunately before I decided to give up my career in regenerative medicine I decided to look into exactly how the Guardian came to such a revelation. What I discovered was so earth shattering that it rocked my very understanding of the world, and made me question everything I thought I knew. That realisation was that, despite their consistent insistence to the contrary, the media lies, a lot.

Ok maybe this was not as shocking as I made it out to be, in fact it’s pretty widely known by now that the media is generally no stranger to the odd lie here and there. If you are not familiar with the story allow me to give you a recap. A recent study was conducted in order to find out if human lifespans have actually increased due to advanced in medicine. To do this, scientists used statistical models to remove non-age related causes of death from historical records (such as murder, death in child birth, plague etc) in order to determine what the uninterrupted human lifespan is, and if it has increased over time. What was found is that our medical science is yet to fundamentally extend human lifespan. This comes as no surprise to anyone in the field of longevity research as we know full well that none of our current medical treatments address causes of ageing. What this study does not conclude however is that life extension is impossible.

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For the first time, an artificial molecular motor has been created that can ‘talk’ to living cells – by gently pulling their surface with enough physical force to elicit a biochemical response. The approach could help scientists decode the language that cells use to communicate with each other in tissues.

‘There is a mechanical language in the form of physical forces applied by the cells themselves, and we want to understand what information is communicated and what the consequences are,’ explains Aránzazu del Campo, who led the study at the Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Germany. ‘Ultimately, we want to be able to provide signals to cells and guide their function when they are not able to do that by themselves in disease cases.’

Usually, studying how cells communicate by sensing mechanical stimuli and producing biochemical responses requires prodding them with pipettes or the tip of an atomic force microscope. However, this doesn’t work at the more complex tissue level.

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US$8.5 Billion In Funding — 150+ Projects

Dr. Maria Millan, MD, is the President and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM — https://www.cirm.ca.gov/), an organization that was created in 2004 when voters initially approved a state Proposition which allocated US$3 billion to fund this fascinating area of medicine, and which recently received an additional US$5.5 billion in renewed funding.

Dr. Millan is a physician-scientist who has devoted her career to treating and developing innovative solutions for children and adults with debilitating and life-threatening conditions.

Continue reading “Dr. Maria Millan, MD — President and CEO — California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)” | >

As smart watches are increasingly able to monitor the vital signs of health, including what’s going on when we sleep, a problem has emerged: Those wearable, wireless devices are often disconnected from our body overnight, being charged at the bedside.

“Quality of sleep and its patterns contain a lot of important information about patients’ health conditions,” says Sunghoon Ivan Lee, assistant professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Information and Computer Sciences and director of the Advanced Human Health Analytics Laboratory.

But that information can’t be tracked on smartwatches if the wearable devices are being charged as users sleep, which prior research has shown is frequently the case. Lee adds, “The main reason users discontinue the long-term use of wearable devices is because they have to frequently charge the on– battery.”

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