Living Bandages!!

Scientists have successfully grown a "living bandage" from a patients own cells to heal a common sporting knee injury . Scientists at Bristol University have now managed to heal cartilage tissue in a laboratory with stem cells taken from a patient’s own bone marrow. They used the cells to coat a sponge-like scaffold, and placed it inside the tear in the cartilage. The stem cells pulled the two pieces of torn cartilage together. This is great step towards organ regeneration(The future of stem cell research). Many men and women suffer injuries on a daily basis resulting from twisting the leg during jogging, football, rugby, horse riding or skiing. Professional sportsmen opt to have the tissue removed. Removal of the loose cartilage allows the athletes to recover but has lethal consequences like development of osteoarthritis.
Thats why the stem cell living bandages is a great news to all. The team at Bristol University led by Anthony Hollander are testing the bandages on patients. It is a very unique idea where the scaffold is placed inside the tear and the stem cells knit across the two sides of the lesion and cause a reuniting of the two sides. This concept might be helpful in successfully healing the wound completely.
It is because of such efforts that the field of regenerative medicine will be driven forward.

Improving techniques

I just came across the article where the team of scientist at Harvard University have claimed to develop a new way of transforming adult cells into stem cells without the usage of harmful viruses that can lead to cancer. They have used a totally new type of virus which can transform cells without the hassle of genetic alterations. This type of virus was never used in the stem cell production. The main benefit of this technique is that it rules out the usage of retroviruses which are used for the production of iPS i.e. induced pluripotent stem cells, which cause genetic alterations. Shinya Yamanaka, who led one of the teams at Kyoto University in Japan, first demonstrated the technique using mouse cells last year. Only with such efforts, is the research in the enormous field of stem cell possible.
So also scientists are actively searching for various chemicals that may used instead of the viruses that lead to genetic alterations. The main hurdles before scientists are transforming cells into stem cells free from genetic alterations and then perfecting the technique to transform these cells into any cells of the body. But techniques like these and iPS have ruled out the possibility of misuse of cells for cloning.
The research has still a long way to go but with efforts like these can the research advance with fruitful returns.

Updated Stem Cell Guidelines Released

On 5th September 2008 The National Academics released guidelines for the Human embryonic stem cell research, basically updating the issues tackled in 2005 and 2007. Technically speaking the guidelines are important since a lot of research is going on in the stem cell field and if all the efforts taking place are streamlined then the research can be effectively boosted. Plus there should be some ethical barriers which should not be crossed.

Some of the guidelines, right from the year 2005 are as follows, Embryonic stem cell research oversight (ESCRO) committees should be established which includes legal and ethical experts, as well as representatives of the public, and experts in biology and stem cell research. Stem cells are usually harvested from a blastocyst. The proposals for research on this should reviewed by the ESCRO committees. Nuclear transfer must not be used for reproductive cloning. Human embryos used for research should not be grown in culture for longer than 14 days, Donor consent must be obtained at all times and which can be withdrawn at any point of time before the stem cell lines are obtained. The donors should not be paid. ESCRO committee should maintain records of the produced stem cell lines and the medical history of donors. . As a good management practice that institutions conducting human embryonic stem cell research are asked to carry out periodic audits of their ESCRO committees to ensure proper performance and make the findings of the audits available to the public. These are some of the points mentioned in the guidelines

The need for the Updated was due to the introduction of ips (induced pluripotent cells) (Discovered by the genius Shinya Yamanaka )which are made by reprogramming non embryonic adult cells into a stem-cell-like state and can be further used to develop other functional cells. The one thing that i liked personally about the whole report was that the public must be made aware by the various research institutions about the research that they are carrying out. This in turn can help boost the public support for the reseach work so also the number of people adapting the stem cell way of cure will increase.

The complete set of guidelines are avaliable on the National Academics web page.

Stem Cell Research Milestone Reached!!!

After a lot of research and after overcoming various setbacks the stem cell research is finally striking the right chords. Recently Japanese scientist reported that they had generated stem cells by reprogramming adult skin cells. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University was successful in turning back the clock on cheek cells from a middle-aged woman, which is simply fascinating. Earlier the scientists were using a technique called SCNT i.e. somatic cell nuclear transfer in which the genetic materials from the donor egg was removed and replaced with the genetic material from another aging cell. But the chances of success were scarce even with a constant rich supply of donor eggs and under the hands of a experienced scientist. So the best alternative was to introduce genes into the already aging cell that could reprogram it back to an embryonic state. This is the new technique that has come into existence know as iPS (Induced pluripotent stem cells). This new technique is well within the ethical barriers since no embroy's are produced. Shinya Yamanaka is the pioneer of iPS technique
Using this technique American researchers have done something quiet groundbreaking. They have created the first nerve cells from reprogrammed stem cell. The scientist at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute led by Kevin Eggan and the scientist team at Columbia University led by Christopher Henderson were successful in generating motor stem cells from the skin cells of two elderly patients with rare form of ALS. ALS is a degenerative neuronal disorder in which the motor neurons which control the voluntary movements are degenerated. The only question revolving around iPS was whether iPS works only with dedicated stem cells from adults or cells from diseased individuals can also be used for this technique. Shinya Yamanaka had used healthy individuals for his experiments but the research carried out by Eggan and Henderson silenced this debate once and for all.
All the scientists agree that the technique of iPS has a long way to go before it can be used therapeutically, mostly because iPS requires the use of viruses to deliver the time-reversing genes into adult cells but now scientists are making efforts to stimulate the time reversal process chemically rather than genetically. Actually its still unclear if the stem cells acquired this way can prove as efficient as the ones from embryo but its a major breakthrough since it is possible make patient-specific stem-cell lines to treat diseases that affect people very late in life.

Rock On !!!!!!!!!

Wow!!!! just saw the trailer of Farhan Akhtar's upcoming film ROCK ON. Seems to be a good package. Everyone including Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny and Prachi Desai (heard she is a television actress,God knows am not much into sad soaps) have superb looks. Arjun Rampal resembles James Hetfield from his early days in Metallica . The music is superb (of course scored none other than Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy). It is totally different from the conventional style of bollyowood music introducing the genres like rock and metal into bollywood. Farhan Akhtar has done a commendable job of singing. He has sung 6 out of 9 songs. Rock On is the story of 4 boys who put together a band, but never make it big. Ten years hence, fate decides to bring them together once again and set them on a journey back from where they left off. The story doesn't appeal to me that much but it will be a new experience to see Farhan acting. Plus rock and metal fans will enjoy the surround sound experience. Scheduled release is in August lets hope it meets a good response because films like these are just not appreciated by the public because they only prefer mindless and stupid love stories and romantic flicks where everything is baseless and idiotic. Anyways wishing Farhan and the whole team the very best!

Fisrt Clone Human Embryo In UK!!!!

I was shocked to read that the scientist team at Newcastle University have created the first clone human embryo. The research team headed by Dr Stojkovic who took eggs from 11 women, removed the genetic material and replaced it with DNA from embryonic stem cells. The donor eggs were provided by a gynaecologist working in the NHS. This is like a major breakthrough because if this type of experiment was carried out elsewhere in Europe then Dr Stojkovic would have faced serious consequences. Therapeutic cloning is allowed only in England and i am really glad for that one because there are no restrictions and second that if am luck enough then ill get to meet him in person. But as usual the ethical commented on the experiment declaring it to be unsafe, inefficient and unethical. I agree that we should respect life but it is only through such efforts that new and innovative methods of curing diseases can be found. But the scientist themselves agree that its still a long way to go before one can really extract the maximum out of this form of treatment. If the experiment is successful then these cells can be used to treat Alzheimer's, diabetes and other ailments.

Another experiment was carried out by Korean Scientists who announced that they have made stem cells tailored to match the individual for the first time. They have produced 11 new stem cell lines that are a perfect match for the individual with which diseases like diabetes, heart diseases can be easily treated without problems of rejection.

Wow!!! just reading this kinda stuff inspires me. Lets hope that one day we can increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the stem cell treatments so that even the common man can benefit from it.

Taking "baby steps"

Hi Friends, sitting at home and doing nuthin can be quite frustrating. I was just browsing through net as usual when i came across an article where recently a research was carried out proving the existence of stem cells in Uterus. Suddenly it dawned upon me that an upcoming topic like stem cells presently has very little applications in India. Its like we are just beginning to tap the infinite potentials of stem cells. The research i was talking about was carried jointly by Dr. Ramesh Bhonde scientist at NCCS (National Centre for Cell Sciences) Pune and Dr. Satish Patki (Gynaecologist based in Kolhapur). The two desi researchers, who claim to have found a new source of adult stem cells have succeeded in converting cells procured from the female genital tract (uterus, fallopian tubes and endometrium) into cells of other organs such as pancreas, brain, liver, kidney, fat and even the heart in the laboratory. A researcher from Australia had in September 2007, shown the presence of stem cells in the endometrium, but Dr Patki says this is the first discovery of stem cells in the entire female genital tract. I was so excited by this that i had to meet him in person. An opportunity came knocking at my door itself, though i had to undergo a lot of pain to get his number and contact him but it was worth the effort. Dr Patki had come down for an interview in Mumbai and he was ready for a rendezvous. The experience was magnificent, Dr Patki the enthusiastic person that he is readily showed me his research work. It was amazing to see stem cells forming functional Cardiac and Neuronal cells. As i was looking at the videos it suddenly hit me, doesn't this make you feel like someone with great power and control over life? Gets a bit scary sometimes but realising the potential and utilising it for the betterment of mankind is the important thing and this drives me to get into this field.

Like i said the stem cell scene in India is just building up. Giants like Reliance have taken steps and started huge and fully functional projects like RIL(Reliance Life Science). An awesome institution worth visiting! Even various private institutes are coming up and even people are starting to realise the potential of the stem cells and the number of people donating stem cells and placenta has gone up.The only problem we are facing at this stage is lack of experienced and properly trained manpower. But i think 4-5 years down the line this will be solved and even we can compete with research giants like UK, US, Canada and other European countries.

Introduction

Hi friends this is Akshay Parchure. I still cant believe that a random discussions can have such good consequences. Well seems just yesterday that all of us friends were having a nice chat in the train, when suddenly the topic of blogging came up. To be honest i never expected myself to be a blogger since I am not much of a writer but i thought why not! I think its a good way of letting off the steam, especially when you find you are standing alone. Anyways getting back to the topic, after reading the title and you must be thinking "Resonating Matrix", sounds a bit weired for a title! But the whole purpose of giving such a title is that it reflects the two passions in my life music and science.
Music, the art form that touches the souls and bring about serenity. I think music is a part and parcel of each and everyones life, music is in no way different from breathing. Music theory is studied with the presupposition that music is orderly and often pleasant to hear but the presence of genres like Metal and Grindcore proves that even the even the harshest sounds can be considered music if the listener is so inclined. I love playing the guitar and after playing it for about 1 and 1/2 year i think i know about 10% of the instrument as far as melody and music is concerned i think life is too short for it.
Science and Music play different roles in society. For many people science is an enigma, which is concerned with theories, experiments and research but actually it is quiet intresting, magnifying and unlocking the various mysteries of life and trying to utilise it for the good. The filed of science interesting me in particular is biological sciences ("Stem Cells" to be exact). The mere concept of undifferentiated cells manipulated to grow and transform into various type of specialized cells gripped me. The practical applications of stem cells are limitless. Right from regenerating organs to curing diseases the possibilities are endless.
Whatever links between music and science exist, both of them are obviously still very
different disciplines, and one should not try to impose one on the other. But for me both are an important part of my life without which it's just impossible to survive.