Fab News!

Did you catch the announcement out of the University of Louisville?
Researchers find adult cells that mimic embryonic stem cells

Here's what the news reported:

Researcher Mariusz Ratajczak and his team have found adult stem cells that behave like embryonic stem cells. In a discovery that has the potential to change the face of stem cell research, a University of Louisville scientist has identified cells in the adult body that seem to behave like embryonic stem cells.

The cells, drawn from adult bone marrow, look like embryonic stem cells and appear to mimic their ability to multiply and develop into other kinds of cells, said Mariusz Ratajczak, director of the stem cell biology program at U of L’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center, who led the
research project.

The finding, presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, was announced Dec. 12 at the society’s news conference.

Follow this link for more. http://php.louisville.edu/news/news.php?news=486
While there, check out the part about VSEL research.

Encouraging developments:
On December 17 Congress passed a bill to establish a national databank of umbilical cord blood and bone marrow that would allow doctors to quickly find a match for patients who need transplants. On December 22, Governor Doyle of Wisconsin signed into law a bill which requires prenatal health care providers to offer pregnant women the option to donate the umbilical cord blood of their newborn child to a blood bank. (Source: The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity)