(Editor’s note: This will have implications for Dejerine-Sottas research in the future:)
Using human embryonic stem cells, the Menlo Park company has developed a therapy that enables paralyzed rats to walk and that it claims shows no dangerous side effects in experiments with about 2,000 animals.
Others also are studying such cells for medical uses, including Stanford University scientists, who last week said they had used them to help stroke-disabled lab rats walk better. But none are as close to seeking permission for human tests as Geron, whose treatment is for spinal injuries.
For its application requesting regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the public company has gathered 25,000 pages of data – far more than normal for such requests, Geron Chief Executive Dr. Thomas Okarma said. He told analysts recently that Geron would submit it to the FDA during the first part of this year. But he declined to reveal the actual filing date, he said, “to minimize any kind of pressure on the agency.”
Yet Geron’s bid isn’t certain.
Although the FDA would not comment on Geron’s application, President Bush objects to most research with embryonic stem cells, which come from discarded embryos. Moreover, his administration has become intrigued with recent studies showing skin cells can be manipulated to have embryonic-like properties without harming an embryo.
Read the rest of One Big Step for Geron.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2007) — A study carried out by researchers at the Kyoto University School of Medicine has shown that when transplanted bone marrow cells (BMCs) containing adult stem cells are protected by a 15mm silicon tube and nourished with bio-engineered materials, they successfully help regenerate damaged nerves. The research may provide an important step in developing artificial nerves.
“We focused on the vascular and neurochemical environment within the tube,” said Tomoyuki Yamakawa, MD, the study’s lead author. “We thought that BMCs containing adult stem cells, with the potential to differentiate into bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, or neuronal cells, could survive by obtaining oxygen and nutrients, with the result that rates of cell differentiation and regeneration would improve.”
Nourished with bioengineered additives, such as growth factors and cell adhesion molecules, the BMCs after 24 weeks differentiated into cells with characteristics of Schwann cells — a variety of neural cell that provides the insulating myelin around the axons of peripheral nerve cells. The new cells successfully regenerated axons and extended their growth farther across nerve cell gaps toward damaged nerve stumps, with healthier vascularity.
“The differentiated cells, similar to Schwann cells, contributed significantly to the promotion of axon regeneration through the tube,” explained Yamakawa. “This success may be a further step in developing artificial nerves.”
Read more of Bone Marrow Cell Transplants Help Nerve Regeneration