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Stem Cell Treatment of Spine Disease [F-13-49]

Stem cells and regenerative medicine are “hot topics.” In this presentation we will cover biological and medical perspectives of stem cells, from their fundamental basic biology and mechanisms of organ regeneration through the use of induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for therapeutic benefit, such as in spine repair. We will look at both mammalian and human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and focus on how iPSCs generate distinct fates during human development, and then see how this outcome can be used for regenerative therapy of common human diseases such as spine degeneration and back pain.

Thomas Lufkin is Professor and Bayard & Virginia Clarkson Endowed Chair in Biology at Clarkson, where he directs the program in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. Going back in time, his extensive background in stem cell research and related fields has taken him to Singapore; Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in NYC; the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Eucaryotes, Strasbourg, France; Cornell University; and the University of California, Berkeley where he worked in Cell Biology with Nobel Laureate Donald Glaser.

LINK:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_medicine
  
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ - National Center for Biotechnology Information.  Check the latest research (search words: "IPS + review"): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gquery/?term=IPS+%2B+review [Due to the current lapse in government funding, the information may not be up to date...come back later). Choose "PubMed" to get a search tool to find excerpts from journals, online books and info from MEDLINE.