PEARLS: STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS CAN REPAIR HEART DAMAGE

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A $115 million dollar stem cell research center is being built in San Diego

 

By Charlavan Hart
 

January 4, 2010 (San Diego--A heart patient's own skin cells soon could be used to repair damaged cardiac tissue thanks to pioneering stem cell research of the University of Houston's newest biomedical scientist, Robert Schwartz.

 

His new technique for reprogramming human skin cells puts him at the forefront of a revolution in medicine that could one day lead to treatments for Alzheimer's, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and many other diseases, including cancer.
 

U.S. Pentagon-funded technology that uses a patents’ own skin cells to generate living, tissue-engineered skin in December 2010.
 

Stem cell transplants are the most exciting news of the century.
 

Normally, stem cells are harvested from the patient's own body. They are found in the bone marrow as well as umbilical cords. It is then used to repair damaged cells in the blood. Ideally, the healthy cells are harvested from the patients own body, and frozen until needed, removing any issues related to rejection. This is referred to as autologous transplants. (You are your own donor.)

 

Allogeneic transplants are from another person. (Of course, with matching markers.) The third source (and even more rare, would be from a twin. (Synergeneic)
 

This type of treating and healing the body has to have a huge impact on the medical community in the next few years.
 


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