We feature some of our conversations with attendees from the 2015 World Stem Cell Summit from Atlanta, GA.

Happy New Year!

4 New Elements Are Added to the Periodic Table – This article reports that the elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 will get permanent names soon, according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, with two of the four elements now known as ununseptium and ununtrium.

New Type of Moon Rock Discovered by China’s Yutu Lunar Rover – China’s Yutu lunar rover made the discovery on a long-dead lava flow in the giant Mare Imbrium dark spot and found the volcanic rock known as basalt which has intermediate levels of titanium.

CMV Vaccine Created at City of Hope Is Found Safe, Effective in Patients Receiving Stem Cell Transplants – City of Hope researchers report that an innovative vaccine known as CMVPepVax, that boosts cellular immunity against cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is safe and effective in stem cell transplant recipients.

Melting Sea Ice Increases Arctic Precipitation, Complicates Climate Predictions – This article reports that the melting of sea ice will significantly increase Arctic precipitation, creating a climate feedback comparable to doubling global carbon dioxide, according to the findings of Dartmouth College-led study.

Eating Poorly and Depressed? Yale Team Finds Connection — And Maybe a Solution – Yale researchers report that effects of a high-fat diet overlap with those of chronic stress and could also be a contributing factor in depression as well as metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes.

MERS Vaccine Protects Camels, Which Is Good for People – The vaccine, which was developed by German scientists, protects against the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and has been shown to be effective in camels.

Asperger’s and Autism Linked to Decreased Action of Neurotransmitter GABA: Study – A new study from Harvard and MIT links autism symptoms to reduced action of GABA, a neurotransmitter responsible for dampening cellular activity in the brain.

Is Extreme Longevity Genetic? Scientists Find Centenarians Lack Genes Underlying Certain Chronic Diseases – A group of U.S. and international researchers cited genetic studies have thus far identified a single gene, APOE, absent in centenarians, or the people who are one hundred or more years old.

Stem Cells May Save Northern White Rhinos – This article reveals how researchers plan to use stem cells to create fertilized rhino embryos, which will be carried by surrogate southern white rhino females.

Banking on Stem Cells at Cellular Dynamics International – Cellular Dynamics International is still one of the prominent companies at Unviersity Reasearch Park since it was purchased by Fujifilm, and plans to add staff in 2016.

Human-Mouse Chimerism Validates Human Stem Cell Pluripotency – Researchers show, using a stage-matching approach, that human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and human embryonic stem cells have the capacity to participate in normal mouse development when transplanted into gastrula-stage embryos, providing in vivo functional validation of hiPSC pluripotency.

Grafted Human iPS Cell-Derived Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells Contribute to Robust Remyelination of Demyelinated Axons after Spinal Cord Injury – This article describes how researchers took advantage of their recently developed protocol to obtain human-induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived oligodendrocyte precursor cell-enriched neural stem/progenitor cells and report the benefits of transplanting these cells in a spinal cord injury model.

Identification of Drugs that Regulate Dermal Stem Cells and Enhance Skin Repair – Researchers identified and validated five compounds that has the ability to enhance the self-renewal of human and rodent skin-derived precursors, and showed that two of them, alprostadil and trimebutine maleate, enhanced the repair of full thickness skin wounds in middle-aged mice.

3D Chromosome Regulatory Landscape of Human Pluripotent Cells – This article reveals that 3D regulatory maps of human pluripotent cells provide a foundation for future interrogation of the relationships between chromosome structure and gene control in development and disease.

Generation of Serotonin Neurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells – Researchers demonstrate efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to cells resembling central serotonin neurons, primarily those located in the rhombomeric segments 2-3 of the rostral raphe, which participate in high-order brain functions through manipulation of the WNT pathway.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of World Stem Cell Summit

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