Stem Cells Reprogrammed Using Chemicals Alone

July 21, 2013

By David Cyranoski and Nature magazine

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to reprogram adult tissue to become cells as versatile as embryonic stem cells—without the addition of extra genes that could increase the risk of dangerous mutations or cancer.

Researchers have been striving to achieve this since 2006, when the creation of so-called induced pluripotent (iPS) cells was first reported. Previously, they had managed to reduce the number of genes needed using small-molecule chemical compounds, but those attempts always required at least one gene, Oct4.

Now, writing in Science, researchers report success in creating iPS cells using chemical compounds only—what they call CiPS cells.

Hongkui Deng, a stem-cell biologist at Peking University in Beijing, and his team screened 10,000 small molecules to find chemical substitutes for the gene.

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Eye receptor transplant promises therapy for blindness

• 18:00 21 July 2013 by Andy Coghlan
• For similar stories, visit the Senses and Stem Cells Topic Guides

For the first time, the light-sensing cells found in the retina have been grown from scratch in the lab, and then successfully transplanted into the eyes of blind mice.

The transplanted cells successfully matured and connected with nerves that transmit visual signals to the brain.

The researchers say that if the procedure can be repeated with human stem cells, they believe they can cure most forms of blindness that result from degeneration of these photoreceptor cells, due to either the effects of ageing or diseases like diabetes.

“We can treat a really broad range of patients,” says Robin Ali of University College London, head of the team that performed the transplant.

Another experimental stem-cell treatment, one involving a transplant of cells that support and nourish photoreceptors in the eye, has restored the sight of a man blinded by the degeneration of his retinal cells. But Ali says that this treatment will only work in people with some surviving photoreceptor cells, whereas the new therapy would work even where these cells have completely degenerated.

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A phone charger that’s powered by urine

Engineers at Bristol University have developed a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that turns organic matter, in our case urine, into electricity. The fuel cell is equipped on a mobile charger, and its creators envision the device being implemented in various other applications that can recycle urine. Restaurants, bars and various other buildings that employ public toilets might collect the urine in special containers which could then be converted into useful energy. The MFCs work by breaking down the urine through the specially-grown bacteria’s metabolic process. The bacteria produce electrons as they consume the matter and it this natural process that creates a small electrical charge to be stored in the MFC. “No one has harnessed power from urine to do this so it’s an exciting discovery,” said Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos, an engineer at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory where the fuel cells were developed. “The beauty of this fuel source is that we are not relying on the erratic nature of the wind or the sun; we are actually reusing waste to create energy. One product that we can be sure of an unending supply is our own urine.”

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Electronic “Skin” Emits Light When Pressed

Researchers unveil one of the most complex electronic systems ever built on plastic.

MIT Technology review

• By Mike Orcutt on July 21, 2013

A sheet of thin plastic that emits lights with an intensity that precisely reflects the amount of pressure applied to its surface hints at a new breed of flexible computer interface. Its creators say future iterations of the interface could be used for robotics, car dashboards, mobile displays, or even “interactive wallpaper.”

Described today in Nature Materials, the new light-emitting “electronic skin,” as its inventors call it, is an extension of previous work from the lab of Ali Javey, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Javey’s group has developed processes that draw heavily on traditional silicon manufacturing techniques to uniformly and reliably integrate various organic and inorganic components on top of plastic.

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