Heart disease is the leading cause of death and increasingly common in a world where obesity is running rampant. When a heart attack occurs heart tissue is abruptly damaged and cells die.  Those cardiac muscle cells form into a scar which no longer contracts and no longer contributes to pumping the blood.  As people with cardiac disease have repeated heart attacks, the growing mass of scar tissue [...]

The results of stem cell injections into the the retinas of two patients with macular degeneration has generated a significant amount of enthusiasm. Macular degeneration is a common condition of the elderly in which vision is progressively lost to the point of blindness. In a preliminary trial, researchers from UCLA and the commercial company Advanced Cell Genetics injected about 50,000 stems [...]

Vitamin D has consistently recently been demonstrated to exhibit many health and longevity promoting benefits.  It is known to act via receptors on over 3000 human genes. In the latest research, scientists examined the effects of the vitamin on mesenchymal human stem cells. In the study human stem cells were exposed to solution of vitamin D3 and effects were analyzed. After 72 hours of vitamin D3 [...]

Scientists have just published the results of a fascinating new trial in which the lifespan of mice was increased. It was published in the January 3rd edition of Nature Communications. The scientists started with a genetically modified variety of mice that ages rapidly. They typically die after only 28 days. In the trial these mice were injected with stem cells taken from young mice. The cells [...]

A significant problem encountered in the elderly is the loss of muscle mass and strength.  Death of muscles cells underlies this condition known as sarcopenia, which contributes to weakness and disability in the aged. New research by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a company called CellThera has led to the creation of functional muscle tissue from human stem cells. The scientists were able [...]

A group of scientists in Japan have achieved a remarkable feat. They have succeeded in producing pluripotent stem cells derived from a group of people over age 110. The cells will be differentiated into multiple organ types in the lab and studied intensively . The researchers hope these cell lines will divulge vital clues as to what allows these individuals to live so long and to be so resident [...]

Stem cells may turn out to be an important tool in the armamentarium against aging.  These are cells that are capable of dividing and differentiating into any particular type of cell in the body. There is not a great amount of research proving the use of these cells as a therapy thus far, and every new positive result is an important step forward. Towards that end, a group of researchers have reported [...]

Stem cells are cells in the body which can be programmed to differentiate into any cell type. They would be useful for example in creating new tissue or organs in cases where a person’s original organ had been damaged beyond repair. Stem cells are found in abundance in embryos but are difficult to find in adults tissue.  As such, much work has focused on the ability to convert more developed [...]

Many diseases are caused by gene mutations which lead to proteins that are flawed in some way.  The flawed proteins in turn eventually lead the cells they are active in to malfunction or die. As we advance anti-aging medicine it will become important to repair flawed genes in a person’s stem cells, remove the defective cells and tissue, and repopulate the body with the fixed cells. Towards [...]