“A whole new vista”
November 21, 2008
SickKids stem cell researchers were featured in today’s Toronto Star
Last November, two teams of scientists announced they had found a way to coax human skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells, which are capable of becoming any tissue.
Scientists crowed after hearing the news, likening the discovery to the Wright brothers’ first flight.
Not only did it sidestep the ethical concerns dogging the field – the technique does not use human embryos or controversial cloning techniques – the finding brought scientists closer than ever to the long-awaited promise of personalized organ and tissue transplantation.
That excitement has continued unabated. Hundreds of scientists around the world have now adopted the "reprogramming" technique. Many hope to use the cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, to learn about – and learn to cure – diseases.
And Toronto, already a hub of stem-cell activity, is leading the way.
For the full article, please click here
The future of genomics
November 14, 2008
This week Craig Venter visited SickKids and gave the keynote address at the annual SickKids research symposium. Whereas the majority of scientists toil in relative obscurity, Dr. Venter is one of the rare scientists whose work and ideas are so highly cited in the popular media that if someone doesn’t recognize his name, they almost surely have heard about his work. In 1998, Dr. Venter founded Celera Genomics and used the tools and techniques that the company developed to successfully sequence and publish the human genome in February 2001. He and his team at Celera also sequenced the fruit fly, mouse and rat genomes.
As Dr. Venter detailed during his hour long lecture, the sequencing of the human genome was hardly the pinnacle of his work, but rather a springboard to rapidly expand further research. Dr. Venter now leads the Craig J. Venter Institute (http://www.jcvi.org), a multidisciplinary genomic-focused organization with more than 400 scientists and staff.
The work that the Venter Institute is doing, some of which is done through collaborations with genomics researchers here at SickKids, is providing an unprecedented level of understanding of how individual organisms and individual people differ at the molecular level. This is laying the groundwork for what many regard as the future of health care, personalized medicine, where an individual’s preventative measures or treatment options are tailored to their unique risk factors and biology.
Not all of their current work is human-centric though, one of the more fascinating projects that caught my attention was their interest in cataloguing the diversity of life in the oceans. To do this, Dr. Venter’s group covered over 32 000 nautical miles of ocean, obtaining water samples which were later used for harvesting and sequencing of microbial DNA. This work led to the discovery of over 6 million new genes, a biological resource that we haven’t even begun to utilize. Over the years, we will be moving rapidly towards understanding what each of these genes do, how they affect the metabolism of an organism, and how they can be utilized to improve our environment by optimizing biological processes such as chemical degradation or energy production.
The rapidly expanding field of genomics impacts on every aspect of the biological and medical sciences, and indeed impacts society as a whole. Similar to stem cell research, as our technical capabilities increase, there must be a coincidental increase in the level of discussion of how we as a society would like to pursue these technologies, regulate their use, and ultimately utilize their potential for the betterment of human health and the natural environment.
How to Reboot the Human Body: from Maclean’s Magazine
November 13, 2008
Ontario IPS Cell Facility highlighted in Maclean’s Magazine
The Ontario IPS Cell Facility at SickKids was profiled in the October 30 issue of Maclean’s magazine. Connecting for Kids blogger Aaron Cheung, SickKids Cheif of Research, Dr. Janet Rossant and other stem cell staff at SickKids were featured in the article.
UN bioethics committee to reconsider global cloning ban
October 28, 2008
The SickKids Research Institute Chief of Research, Dr Janet Rossant, was quoted today in the Toronto Star, as the UN bioethics committee is opening up a debate about using cloning technology for research, but upholding the ban on cloning technology used for reproduction.
From the Toronto Star
Experts set to revisit global cloning ban; Scientists on UN’s bioethics committee to consider differentiating between research, reproductive use
Stuart Laidlaw, Toronto StarMention clones, and scenes from movies like The Boys from Brazil, Jurassic Park and Star Wars come to mind.
And none of them are good - whether they’re little Hitler clones bred to build a "Fourth Reich," run-amok dinosaur clones, or disposable storm-trooper clones fighting to control the galaxy.
It’s an image the United Nations international bioethics committee hopes to begin dispelling this week when it meets in Paris to discuss allowing some human cloning in hopes of advancing stem cell research - a change scientists would welcome.
"From an ethical point of view it is possible to say reproductive cloning should be banned, but leave open the use of cloning technologies in research," says Dr. Janet Rossant, chief of research at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and deputy scientific director of the Stem Cell Network.
Scientists hope stem cells might one day help fight degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or ALS, and to alleviate the effects of stroke.
Why Adult Stem Cells are so tantalizing…
October 28, 2008
When people hear ‘stem cells’ they automatically think embryonic stem cells. However, most people forget or don’t even know that there are tissue-specific stem cells that reside in our bodies throughout our adult lifetime. These cells are known as adult stem cells and are responsible for maintaining the integrity of our tissue beyond initial development into old age.
Read more
Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research
October 27, 2008
As with many other controversial issues, debates on the appropriateness of human embryonic research is often clouded with misinformation that circulates widely until it becomes regarded as factual. One piece of misinformation that I have recently seen circulating is that stem cell research has little or no oversight or regulation. Opponents of stem cell research often utilize and promote this sentiment to stoke fears of research labs performing human cloning or other objectionable experiments. Read more
Canada’s own Nobel Prize
October 24, 2008
Did you know that Canada has its own version of the Nobel Prize? The Gairdner International Awards are one of the most prestigious prizes in the medical sciences, and one of this year’s winners is a neural stem cell biologist! Read more
Nobel Prize winning discovery impacts stem cell research
October 14, 2008
Did anyone foresee how understanding the fluorescent green glow of a jellyfish could impact virtually every aspect of biological research and drug development? Likely not even the researchers involved! In a striking example of the importance of basic research, and scientific curiosity, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded this week to a group of researchers that harnessed the unique ability of a jellyfish protein.
Induced pluripotent stem cells take small step away from viruses
October 6, 2008
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Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) are stem cells that are created by infecting adult skin cells with four different viruses that carry “pluripotency” factors. This means that the cells develop the characteristics of embryonic stem cells and have the ability to become any kind of cell.
iPS cells have significant advantages over embryonic stem cells as they bypass the ethical issues relating to the use of human embryos. However, one disadvantage of iPS is the use of retroviruses. These viruses do more than turn the adult skin cells into iPS cells. They also integrate themselves into the genome of these cells which makes them unsafe for therapy. Alterations in genes are the cause of many diseases, like cancer.
In a recent publication in Science Express, Scientists at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, built on their previous discovery to creating iPS cells from skin cells, and significantly improved the method generating iPS cells using another class of virus known as Adenovirus.
Adenoviruses are better than retroviruses as they do not integrate into the genome but still deliver high levels of the proteins needed to create iPS cells. Using adenoviruses, the group led by Dr. Konrad Hochedlinger, found a way to create the desired stem cells, without the potential disease-causing risk.
However, adeno-iPS are not a perfect solution and cells did had one drawback; the efficiency of generating adeno-iPS cells were much lower (0.001~0.0001%) than using conventional retroviruses (0.01~0.1%). While this is a significant step towards generating iPS cells without side-effects, much work needs to be done to improve efficiency in creating them. Fortunately, other methods of generating integration-free iPS cells, such as chemicals, are promising.
This is part of what makes research as exciting as it is. There are always more solutions on the horizon.
Shania: A sunflower of hope
October 2, 2008
In June 2006, our six-and-a-half year old Shania was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma, is a malignant tumour which mainly occurs in young childrenand is a cancer of the nervous system which typically begins in one of the adrenal glands. In Shania’s case, the primary site of her tumour was her right adrenal gland and was embedded into the side of her skull causing her to suffer frequent headaches and numbness. Read more
Rett Syndrome and induced Pluripotent Stem cells goes “Green”
June 17, 2009 by Aaron Cheung
Stem cell researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children have now devised a method, reported in the scientific journal Nature Methods, that will facilitate the generation of induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells. I have previously blogged about the promise of iPS cells (see related articles). iPS cells are cells which have been reprogrammed from a differentiated somatic cell (such as your skin cells) to a pluripotent stem cell (like an embryonic stem cell, only that you don’t need to use embryos!). The generation of iPS cells is inherently very rare which occurs at a frequency of about 0.01% meaning you can generate about one iPS cell line out of hundred thousand cells. Out of which, many lines fail to satisfy the different rigorous tests necessary to be given the prestigious name of “iPS cell”.
Continue reading Rett Syndrome and induced Pluripotent Stem cells goes “Green”
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