mesenchymal stem cells tagged posts

Stem cells grown in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have unique qualities that could one day help accelerate new biotherapies and heal complex disease, two Mayo Clinic researchers say. The research analysis by Fay Abdul Ghani and Abba Zubair, M.D., Ph.D., published in NPJ Microgravity, finds microgravity can strengthen the regenerative potential of cells. Dr. Zubair is a laboratory medicine expert and medical director for the Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Abdul Ghani is a Mayo Clinic research technologist. Microgravity is weightlessness or near-zero gravity.

“Studying stem cells in space has uncovered cell mechanisms that would otherwise be undetected or unknown within the presence of normal gravity,” says Dr. Zubair...

This is a surface and cross-section analysis of lyophilized scaffolds (A) and rehydrated scaffolds (B). Credit: UPV/EHU

When one’s own body is no longer capable of regenerating the bone defects it suffers, fitting compatible, biodegradable structures that can be used as temporary scaffolding in the damaged tissues is, as a general rule, very helpful. The NanoBioCel group in the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Pharmacy has led the development of one of these scaffolds, which apart from physical support, also offers the chance to release growth factors, thus imitating the way in which the body does this.

The NanoBioCel group in the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Pharmacy has developed a scaffolds, or matrices, for cases of critical bone defects, like those that can generate themselves in situations such as burns...