More Money Required For STEM CELL Research in Canada?

Stem cells are critical for regenerative medicine, medicine that involves growing new cells, tissues or organs, according to the article below. Stem cell therapies are being used to treat a number of diseases including leukemia and some immune disorders and experimental procedures are being done for other illnesses. The writer suggests that unless the government spends a lot more in this area, then Canada will fall behind other countries in this research.
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Canada's mantle as stem-cell leader fading, experts warn:

By Meagan Fitzpatrick, Postmedia News November 2, 2010

OTTAWA — Canada has been a world-renowned leader in stem cell research but is now falling behind and its international reputation is at risk unless major investments are made in the rapidly evolving field, researchers warned parliamentarians Tuesday.

Canada first discovered stem cells, the precursors of all cells in the body, 50 years ago and, until recently, was at the forefront of research, MPs on the House of Commons health committee heard Tuesday from leading experts in the field. Funding is drying up, however, and Canada is quickly being overtaken by other jurisdictions which are spending massive amounts of money because they consider stem cell research the future of medicine.

"Stem cell research is an area which Canada has pioneered, has led the world, and we've got the talent, the will and the expertise to continue to do so," said Dr. Drew Lyall, chair of the Canadian Stem Cell Foundation. "It's simply not realistic to expect Canada, or indeed anyone else, to keep up to remain globally competitive in the long-term without some further dedicated investment in the field."

Lyall and other witnesses testifying before the committee, noted that the state of California alone, is investing $3 billion over a 10-year period in stem cell research projects. The entire country of Canada is investing nowhere near that amount, he said.

Stem cells are critical for regenerative medicine, medicine that involves growing new cells, tissues or organs. Stem cell therapies are being used to treat a number of diseases including leukemia and some immune disorders and experimental procedures are being done for other illnesses.

Stem cell therapies are considered to hold great promise for treating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, arthritis, diabetes, hemophilia and spinal cord injuries.

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New Adult Stem Cells Could Speed Progress in Regenerative Medicine

According to the following article, researchers at the University at Buffalo have engineered adult stem cells that scientists can grow continuously in culture, a discovery that could speed development of cost-effective treatments for diseases including heart disease, diabetes, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. This is a really exciting development, because it eliminates the controversy about embryonic stem cells.
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Researchers Engineer Adult Stem Cells That Do Not Age, Overcoming a Major Barrier to Progress in Regenerative Medicine:
http://nextbigfuture.com

Biomedical researchers at the University at Buffalo have engineered adult stem cells that scientists can grow continuously in culture, a discovery that could speed development of cost-effective treatments for diseases including heart disease, diabetes, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

UB scientists created the new cell lines – named "MSC Universal" – by genetically altering mesenchymal stem cells, which are found in bone marrow and can differentiate into cell types including bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and beta-pancreatic islet cells.

Lee says his research team has generated two lines of MSC-Universal cells: a human line and a porcine line. Using the engineering technique he and colleagues developed, scientists can generate an MSC-Universal line from any donor sample of mesenchymal stem cells, he says.

"I imagine that if these cells become routinely used in the future, one can generate a line from each ethnic group for each gender for people to choose from," Lee says.

The researchers say the breakthrough overcomes a frustrating barrier to progress in the field of regenerative medicine: The difficulty of growing adult stem cells for clinical applications.

Because mesenchymal stem cells have a limited life span in laboratory cultures, scientists and doctors who use the cells in research and treatments must continuously obtain fresh samples from bone marrow donors, a process both expensive and time-consuming. In addition, mesenchymal stem cells from different donors can vary in performance.

The cells that UB researchers modified show no signs of aging in culture, but otherwise appear to function as regular mesenchymal stem cells do – including by conferring therapeutic benefits in an animal study of heart disease. Despite their propensity to proliferate in the laboratory, MSC-Universal cells did not form tumors in animal testing.

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