Dr. Bhatia is one of the authors of one of the better tissue engineering textbooks. People have been able to reverse engineer adult stem cells since 2007. Being able to do that with blood cells makes the sample acquisition considerably easier, and more importantly, doesn't require separation from any virus killing white blood cells. Thus, one's immunities carry over to the new tissue. This has been a secondary, but not trivial issue, in recent years.

It's learning about stuff like this that makes me want to live forever. To observe the positive progress of man. If only humans could get rid of the political crap....
Oh well, I guess I'll stick around until I face the inevitable.

The implications are only frightening if such technology gets into the hands of ethically challenged individuals. The opportunities that this work presents will be plentiful.

So correct me if I am wrong, but it looked like the primary use of these was to develop testing mechanisms to deal with specific patients' neurological problems. It didn't look like they could be directly used as a treatment regimen quite yet. Still pretty cool, just wanted to make sure I didn't read the article incorrectly.

This is very cool stuff. The direct result of this kind of breakthrough is expanded testing of possible treatments for nerve problems. The big "however" is that the move to actual use of stem cells in the body, to regenerate nerves and/or neurons, is a huge step.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have a ready supply for all the different kinds of research that will follow. Think decades, and billions of dollars, to get to real-life therapy.

Cool. The CNS is unbelievably adaptable, but not where physical gaps or significant damage exists.

this is fascinating! . my wife spends 95 percent of
her life, these days, in bed. . pain in her lower spine
is the culprit. . she has tried lots of pain meds, from
morphine to fentanyl to ... well, this may help her!!!
Thank You, AJ!!! -- j
.

Yay! I have been watching (and studying) advances in stem cell engineering for nearly a decade. The two cell types it was most difficult to create from peripheral blood have been neural and hepatic. Now it seems that both of those are possible.

If you get autologous stem cell treatment (your own cells reconditioned) you do not need to be on immunosuppressants for the rest of your life.

Jan, (doing mycology CE this year; will have to do stem cells again 2 years from now)

When I read this, my first thought was this would make repairing severed nerved possible allowing those paralyzed by nerve damage the possibility of walking again.

Oh, that's all we need...more drugs; doing for the body or doing in spite of the body that which, if empowered, the body could very well do for itself. When will these creatures ever learn. Just say NO, to allopathic treatments.