Creating stem cells from skin. Researchers have converted human skin cells into embryonic stem cells using the same process involved in cloning, which have the capability to turn into any type of cell in the body. Stem cell researchers have reached a long-sought milestone in “regenerative” medicine that seeks to provide rejection-free replacement transplant tissues [...]

Scientists in Denmark found that 20% to 40% of chronic lower back pain was caused by bacterial infections. A course of antibiotics instead of surgery could cure up to 40% of patients with chronic back pain, in a medical breakthrough that one spinal surgeon says is worthy of a Nobel prize.    

We’re going to be able to put computers inside any living cell you want,” said lead researcher Drew Endy. A team of engineers at Stanford University have made a simple computer inside a living cell, where it could detect disease, warn of toxic threats and, where danger lurked, even self-destruct cells gone rogue.     [...]

The quest started with trying to make better yogurt. Bacteria that uses a tiny molecular machine to kill attacking viruses could change the way that scientists edit the DNA of plants, animals and fungi, revolutionizing genetic engineering. The protein, called Cas9, is quite simply a way to more accurately cut a piece of DNA.    

Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University presented the results at a conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. For the very first time, a baby born with HIV has reported to have been cured at age 2 1/2 through an aggressive drug treatment with antiretroviral drugs.      

The treatment involves electrodes implanted in the eyes of people whose retinas are damaged. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment that can restore (limited) eyesight to (some) blind people, last week.  It’s an exciting milestone, despite the caveats.    

Scientists have developed a 3-D printer that prints human embryonic stem cells. What if you could take living cells, load them into a printer, and squirt out a 3D tissue that could develop into a kidney or a heart? Researchers are one step closer to that reality, now that they have developed the first printer [...]

Tuberculosis most commonly affects the lungs, is transmitted via the air and caused by strains of mycobacteria. Worldwide, more than 2 billion people are struck down with tuberculosis (TB).  Scientists in the U.S. have made a medical breakthrough that could save hundreds of thousands of lives.      

3D bio-printer In the growing field of desktop 3-D printers  they can already pump out a little trinket, a gear set or even parts to make another printer. Researchers in the medical field are also taking advantage of this accelerating technology to expand their options for regenerative medicine.    

Did you know that every year there are approximately 60,000 trampoline injuries in the United States, and on average, women blink twice as often as men, and smokers lose an average of two teeth every ten years. I didn’t think so.