Innovative Creators
3 What happened in 2007?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080211172631.htm Katherin Plath. UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells without using embryos or eggs. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Los Angeles)
Plath was one of the first scientists to reprogram mouse and human adult cells into an embryonic stem cell-like state known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, a discovery that has broad implications for regenerative medicine. In collaboration with Bill Lowry and other UCLA stem cell researchers, she is using human iPS cells as a tool for disease studies.
A member of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center, Plath is an assistant professor of biological chemistry.
Her work is funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Department of Defense, the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center and the National Institutes of Health. 10
 9 pic http://stemcells.ucmerced.edu/userfiles/stemcells/Image/cirm_logo2010.jpg The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (“The Institute” or “CIRM”) is a state agency that was established through the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The CIRM will use bond proceeds to fund basic and applied biomedical research focused on developing diagnostics and therapies and on other vital research opportunities that will lead to life-saving medical treatments. All proposals are peer-reviewed to support the most promising scientific research. Research grants are made only to California based research institutions.12 http://www.cirm.ca.gov/AboutCIRM_FAQ The mission of CIRM is to support and advance stem cell research and regenerative medicine under the highest ethical and medical standards for the discovery and development of cures, therapies, diagnostics and research technologies to relieve human suffering from chronic disease and injury. 13 |
http://singularityhub.com/2010/08/05/exercise-boosts-your-brain-–-here’s-how/ Until Fred Gage came along, brain scientists accepted as a matter of faith that the neurons, or brain cells, you were born with were all the brain cells you would ever have. Then, two years ago, this 49-year-old neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., showed in a groundbreaking experiment that neurons are constantly being born, particularly in the learning and memory centers. Gage's discovery forced scientists to rethink some of their most basic ideas about how the brain works. Even more exciting was the fact that the source of these new cells was neural-stem cells, master cells with the ability to morph into any type of brain cell, depending on the chemical signals they receive as they grow. Early studies hint that they may even belong to a more primitive population of stem cells that can form anything from skin to blood to liver. Gage showed that a part of the hippocampus contains actively developing neural-stem cells; he further speculated that this regeneration may eventually be controlled by the timely addition or subtraction of a few key growth factors in the brain's chemical soup. 11
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