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The article focuses on the research made by several scientists and medical research institutes on the significance of using human progenitor cells to generate heart tissues for treating heart ailments in 2009. It states that Kenneth Chien and his colleagues of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts found out that the progenitor cells called Isl1 found in mice, is also present in humans. The group also found out that the Isl1, when produced from human embryonic stem cell, can generate more progenitors and heart cell types, which can be used in producing heart-muscle and blood-vessel cells.

The article reports on research which discovered alternative techniques for developing mouse embryonic stem cell lines that could limit the ethics controversy surrounding stem cell research. The two studies are published in the October 16, 2005 online issue of "Nature" and claim to generate the embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. The team led by Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology used a genetic-testing biopsy technique. Alexander Meissner and Rudolf Jaenisch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute used an altered nuclear transfer technique. Both techniques are described. The outlook for these methods to be used in developing human stem cell lines is discussed.

Discusses the differentiation and self-renewal of stem cells, tissue stem cells and its genomics during a conference held in Boston, Massachusetts. Studies made on the improvement of the methods of directed differentiation of the human embryonic stem cells in the corresponding cell types; Utilization of site-specific recombinases in changing the properties of stem cells without any modification of stem cells by fluorescent proteins; Presentation of evidence on the possible differentiation of neuronal precursors into endotheliocytes.

This article presents news briefs related to various biological projects. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts has announced plans for a multimillion-dollar centre for the study of human embryonic stem cells. Harvard's planned centre is the latest in a growing list of U.S. research facilities that seek to bypass the U.S. federal ban on funding embryonic stem-cell research. Washington Aquarius, the world's only habitable undersea laboratory, is facing possible closure following budget cuts aimed at the Undersea Research Program, a branch of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Examines the role of embryonic stem cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease in Boston, Massachusetts. Observations of cell growth in rat brains; Influence of embryonic stem cells in the formation of teratomas; Expression of protein marker; Development of dopamine-producing cells from injected embrynic stem cells.

A conference paper about the characterization of haploid embryonic stem cells ((ESCs) in mammals is presented. It mentions that the paper was discussed at the "Epigenetics and Chromatin: Interactions and processes" conference which was held in Boston, Massachusetts from March 11-13, 2013. The paper also discusses various topics including genomic imprinting and chromosome inactivation for identification of ESCs.

In 2008, the method of taking skin cells from people suffering from disease and transforming them into embryonic-like stem cells was heralded as the 'breakthrough of the year' by publications such as Time magazine. Two years on, so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are just beginning to shed new light on disease biology. From day one of this burgeoning area of study, stem cell pioneer George Daley of Children's Hospital in Boston, who developed the first library of disease-specific iPS cells lines, has remained involved in this fast-paced field. Ahead of the June annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in San Francisco, Elie Dolgin spoke to Daley about when and how reprogrammed stem cells will deliver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the declaration of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on the state's intention to crank up its status as a life sciences powerhouse in Massachusetts. Patrick proposes to spend $1 billion over 10 years to create a stem cell bank and promote therapies based on ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) technology to turn off genes. This initiative is based from the 2006 Nobel Prize research of researcher Craig Mello from the University of Massachusetts (UM) in Worcester. Further details and plans concerning the proposed initiative are considered.

The article reports on the availability of HEScGRO, a new animal component-free medium for human embryonic stem (hES) cells, announced by Millipore Corp. based in Billerica, Massachusetts. The medium is produced and marketed following an agreement between Millipore and Stem Cell Sciences, a global biotechnology company in Melbourne, Victoria.

The article reports that a method has been developed by scientists for deriving human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines without destroying an embryo. The technique which has been reported online in Nature in the August 2006, could in theory allow scientists to derive new hES cell lines, eligible for federal funding under current rules. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, and his colleagues who reported in 2005 that they had found a way to culture a single cell from an early mouse embryo, have now refined their technique to apply it to human cells.

The article reports on the permission given to Harvard University to use cloning to create disease-specific lines of human embryonic stem cells in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Plans to use somatic cell nuclear transfer to study diabetes and blood and neurogenerative diseases are described by scientists. Douglas Melton and Kevin Eggan of Harvard Stem Cell Institute is planning to create stem cell lines and that will enable them to study diabetes in a dish. To customized cell lines using skin biopsies from patients with sickle cell anemia and other blood disease is the aim of George Daley of Children's Hospital Boston.

Harvard University intends to raise on the order of $100 million in the next few years to create a stem cell research institute. Harvard's foray into the field was underscored by a report this week that Douglas Melton, a co-director of the new effort, and colleagues have created 17 new human embryonic stem cell lines. The initiative will focus on bringing work on such cells out of the lab and into the clinic, and it will operate without federal funding to avoid government restrictions. Harvard's new institute and cell lines are the latest signs that restrictions on federal funding are doing little to dampen enthusiasm among scientists eager to work with stem cells.

This paper examines the contextual factors shaping legislative debates affecting stem cell research in two states, Kansas and Massachusetts, which both permit therapeutic cloning for stem cell research but markedly vary in their legislative approach to the issue. In Kansas, restrictive legislation was proposed but effectively blocked by research proponents, while in Massachusetts permissive legislation was successfully implemented under the auspices of an act to promote stem cell research. The importance of university and industry involvement is highlighted in each case, as are the roles of enterprising and persistent policy entrepreneurs. Providing a close examination of the policy process attending the cloning debate in these states is intended to contribute to an enhanced understanding of the cloning-policy process as it has played out at the state level, with an eye toward informing legislative debates over related biotechnical advances in the future.