First US patient receives artificial windpipe
The first American patient has received a synthetic trachea to treat his throat cancer. The trachea scaffold is made of plastic and used the patient’s own adult stem cells to add living tissue. Other patients have received donated and synthetic windpipes in successful stem cell experiments. FULL STORY
Small study treats type-1 diabetes
By passing immune system cells from patients through donated umbilical cord blood to “retrain” them, researchers were able to lessen diabetes patients’ dependence on insulin injections. Type-1 diabetes is caused by a patient’s immune system continually attacking cells which produce insulin in their pancreas. FULL STORY
Stem cells treat progeria in mice
University of Pittsburgh researchers have increased the life span of mice suffering from progeria using adult stem cells taken from young mice. Progeria is a rare genetic condition that causes rapid aging. FULL STORY
TV special examines stem cell fraud
CBS recently aired a segment on 60 Minutes exposing stem cell medical fraud. While many legitimate clinical trials and treatments using adult stem cells are conducted by businesses, hospitals and universities, some individuals cash in on stem cell hype and promise cures to ill patients after expensive treatments. FULL STORY
iPS cells match embryonic stem cells in researching disease
A Stanford University study found that induced pluripotent stem cells are as effective as embryonic stem cells in studying Marfan syndrome and potentially other genetic diseases. Patients suffering from Marfan syndrome have trouble forming bone and cartilage. The study authors said using iPS cells for studying diseases could have several advantages over using cells taken from destroyed human embryos. FULL STORY
Show Me the Treatments
See a list of ailments in human patients that have been successfully treated with adult stem cells. To date, there are NO ailments treated with human embryonic stem cells. PDF
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Putting Women at Risk
Where will all the eggs come from? Using embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos to treat a single disease would require an impossible number of reproductive-aged women to go through the onerous and sometimes dangerous process of donating their eggs. PDF
Fact Sheet - Advances in Ethical Stem Cell Research
Proponents of human embryonic stem cell research often cite all of the potential treatments that may result from the research but fail to mention that human life is destroyed when removing these cells from a human embryo. Now researchers have pioneered a different kind of treatment that carries the same potential for treating disease... without destroying human lives. PDF
The Embryonic Stem Cell Research Money Trail
Some embryonic stem cell researchers are interested in more than curing patients. They're interested in obtaining patents. Learn how some embryonic stem cell researchers are fighting to make big profits off of embryonic stem cells. PDF
The Great Stem Cell Debate: Understanding the Basics
As the debate over stem cells rages on, Right to Life of Michigan has put together a fact sheet discussing basic information about the issue and the difference between adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. PDF