Meredith Wadman
07 January 2013
The US Supreme Court today (click here) ended an effort to shut down government support of human embryonic stem cell research, refusing to hear a case that challenged the legality of funding for the work by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The high court’s refusal to consider an appeal in the case of Sherley v. Sebelius ends a more than 3-year-old effort by the plaintiffs, two adult stem cell researchers, to stop NIH backing of the work, which holds the promise of treatments for a variety of diseases, but which depends upon the destruction of days-old human embryos. As is its typical practice, the court did not give its reasons for declining the case....
Feb. 20, 2008
Doctors may be one step closer to using stem cells to cure diabetes, (click here) according to a new study by researchers at the stem cell engineering company Novacell, Inc. in San Diego who report that they managed to convert human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing cells.
Insulin is the chemical produced in the pancreas that allows the body to regulate blood-sugar levels — and it is precisely the substance that many of those with diabetes lack.
The researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Nature Biotechnology, found that when they injected these human cells into diabetic mice, the treatment alleviated diabetes in the rodents....
