Stem Cell Breakthrough 2007

2007 stem cell breakthrough is like turning lead into gold

Dec 26 02:35 PM US/Eastern
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It was the kind of breakthrough scientists had dreamed of for decades and its promise to help cure disease appears to be fast on the way to being realized.
Researchers in November announced they were able to turn the clock back on skin cells and transform them into stem cells, the mutable building blocks of organs and tissues.

Then just earlier this month a different team announced it had cured sickle cell anemia in mice using stem cells derived from adult mouse skin.

"This is truly the Holy Grail: To be able to take a few cells from a patient -- say a cheek swab or few skin cells -- and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory," said Robert Lanza, a stem cell pioneer at Advanced Cell Technology.

"This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone - the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," he told AFP.

"It's bit like learning how to turn lead into gold."

Stem cells offer enormous potential for curing and treating disease because they can be transformed into any cell in the body and then hopefully used to replace damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.

But stem cell research has been highly controversial because -- until now -- viable embryos had to be destroyed to extract the stem cells.

US President George W. Bush has banned all federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells and access to stem cells in other countries has also been restricted because of the difficulty in finding women willing to donate their eggs.

The new technique, while far from perfected, is so promising that the man who managed to clone the world's first sheep, Dolly, is giving up his work cloning embryos to focus on studying stem cells derived from skin cells.

"The fact that (the) introduction of a small number of proteins into adult human cells could produce cells that are equivalent to embryo stem cells takes us into an entirely new era of stem cell biology," said Ian Wilmut, the Scottish researcher who first created a viable clone by transferring a cell nucleus into a new embryo.

One of the greatest advantages of the new technique is its simplicity: it takes just four genes to turn the skin cell back into a stem cell.

This, unlike the complex and expensive process developed by Wilmut, can be done in a standard biological lab. And skin cells are much easier to harvest than embryos.

"It's an explosion of resources," said Konrad Hochedlinger, of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Prior to this discovery, researchers who wanted to look at how diseases developed would usually have to study animals or organs harvested from cadavers because embryonic stem cells were so hard to use and access.

But with stem cells derived from skin, tissues and organs can be grown in a petri dish, making it easier for researchers to map the genetic structure of diseased cells, a process which could unlock a cure.

They could also allow researchers to do chemical screens to identify drugs which may cure or treat a disease, a process which could significantly speed up the process of bringing life-saving drugs to the market.

The use of skin cells will eventually allow doctors to create stem cells with a specific patient's genetic code, eliminating the risk that the body would reject transplanted tissues or organs.

Researchers have already shown this is possible when they cured sickle cell anemia in mice.

They used skin cells taken from the tails of sick mice, transformed them into stem cells, manipulated those stem cells into healthy bone marrow cells and then transplanted them into the sick mice.

And since the new cells came from the sick mice, there was also no need for dangerous immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection.

But leading stem cell researchers warned that the skin cells are not yet -- and might never be -- a substitute for embryonic stem cells.

"This new research is just the beginning -- we hardly understand how these cells work," said James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who led one of the two teams which made the simultaneous discoveries.

"It is not the time to abandon stem cell research," Thomson said, adding that embryonic stem cells will remain the "gold standard" by which other research is measured.

Further research is also needed to find a safer way to transform the skin cells and to make sure that the cells do not deteriorate over time.


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British Government - Release of UFO Files

Britain set to release secret UFO files


Published: Dec. 23, 2007 at 4:24 PM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:LONDON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The British government will soon release previously classified details regarding hundreds of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects.

The Sunday Telegraph said Sunday that this coming spring, the Defense Ministry will release to the general public 160 files about alleged UFO sightings.

Since the British government department began keeping records about the unusual reports in 1950, more than 10,000 sightings have been recorded.

With officials failing to explain 5 percent of those sightings, a growing number of Freedom of Information requests prompted the release of the classified information.

A former head of the Defense Ministry UFO project told the newspaper that no matter what an individual believes regarding UFOs, the released files should prove to be interesting reading.

"Whatever people think about UFOs, these documents are fascinating and show how the MoD has researched and investigated this mystery for nearly 60 years, without an answer," former department official Nick Pope said.


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UFO Encounter

Today 11-29-07, I had a meeting with a housing consultant who brought along her friend who is the wife of an engineer I know. During lunch we were talking about the book and when I got to the part about the extraterrestrials her friend Beth said that she could validate what I was saying. Of course that was a bit of a surprise. She then explained that 4 years ago, she and 16 year old her daughter were traveling in South Carolina on I-95 near State Rd. 301 near Shaw AFB. They were returning from a horse show. The trainer along with another woman and two children were in a truck towing 6 horses in trailer ahead of them. It was dark when Beth's daughter told her mother to look up. In front of them was a strange large cloud. As they continued closer, there were two very bright flashes of light. They noticed that cars were pulling off of the road on both sides. Once under the cloud there was an enormous triangular UFO craft with fuselages under the wings. It was so large that it spanned the Interstate and part of the woods. It was totally silent with no lights. She kept looking away from it, trying to grasp what she was viewing. She remembered curved windows spanning the second story which looked to be the control center and having the feeling that they were being watched. Then a loud buzzing sound started in their car and she was yelling to her daughter that she didn't break her cell phone because it wouldn't work. After several minutes, the UFO craft glided over the car and she saw a box shaped area on the underside. It then went west and disappeared into the woods. They all got off at the next exit and pulled into a convenient store parking lot. As they exited their vehicles, there was a woman standing alone and screaming hysterically. They simply couldn't believe what they had just seen. She got $10 worth of gas and got home as quickly as possible. It was witnessed by a number of individuals.

Book is Available! Amazing Contact

The book is now available on the net. My friend Gerry Kurth found another book by another Tom Crawford but along similar lines. I checked it out and it's new and will be available soon. The most amazing thing is that this Tom Crawford is a scientist and his book The Conscious Universe is about physics and our universal connection. I made contact with him yesterday through his publisher and he's absolutely amazed about our connection through our books. None of us understand how the inspirational/mental/spiritual nexus works but it does! We both also like flying. Anyone buying my book should also get his.

First Paperback Copy

The first paperback copy (print galley) was received at the house on November 10th, the Marine Corps Birthday. I guess that's fitting since I was up in Washington DC at the 25 anniversary of the Vietnam War Memorial. I have reviewed what I received for any obvious errors and given my OK for them to print the book. So now the marketing needs to start on my part so we can get the message out that there's one race, the Human Race. It's important for readers to remember that this is a reference book on the Human Being, referencing the works of many in an effort to utilize scientific and archaeological research to establish a logical train of thought about our history, our God and our Human Spirits.

Book is at the Printer!

It's November 2nd and The Human Handbook is at the printer. This blog will be an ongoing history of the book and comments be they good or bad. As you post comments, remember that the book was done by a human being. Humans are not perfect. The goal is to make you think and lead you in a positive direction for our human race.