UC Davis Biotechnology Program
Last year, the UC Davis Stem Cell researchers have been awarded with fifty-three million dollars by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), for use as research grants in study in use of stem cells to cure diseases such as osteoporosis and Huntington’s disease. Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration, has given the approval to human clinical trials, utilizing stem cells and regenerative treatments.
The UC Davis Stem Cell Program focuses on insuring that the information gathered from various sources is available for other scientists and researchers to be used and accessed in their search for the cure. Additionally, they strive to translate work performed in laboratories into clinical trials. By collaborating “disease specific’ teams, they each focus on applying the use of stem cells into the cure for the specific disease. From teams focusing on providing an antidote for illnesses varying from the peripheral vascular disease to blood disorders and immune system disorders, such as the lethal HIV.
The directors of the Stem Cell Program, Professors Jan Nolta, Ph.D. and Gerhard Bauer, head and organize teams of researchers of stem cell research to work, ensuring that the information on stem cells gathered are available to researchers worldwide, working together to discover the cure. Some of their awaited clinical trials involving adult stem cells address the retinal occlusion disease, heart attacks, and peripheral vascular disease. After proving that adult stem cells are capable of quickly and effectively repair inflammation tissues, moderate blood flow, and even replace mitochondria, clinical trials involving injection of autonomous adult stem cells, derived from the patient’s bone marrow, have been put into action. Through the extraction of adult stem cells from the bone marrow of healthy donors, the UC Davis scientists hope that via infusion, the programmed cells with arrive into areas of low oxygen level, balancing the oxygen out in the limb, curing peripheral vascular diseases, which affect millions of people every day. Another promising cure set into clinical trial is the first FDA-approved cellular therapy for patients afflicted with Huntington’s Disease. Jan Nolta, Ph.D. has organized a team of leading scientists to begin work upon this project. The treatment created involves the injection of stem cells, altered for reinstate the damaged brain cells of the patient. Furthermore, the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures, has developed a treatment for people distressed by osteoporosis. One of the most widespread bone diseases, osteoporosis, causes loss of bone density, which results in an increased susceptibility to bone fractures in patients. The innovative therapy involves using a minute molecule, pre-programmed to instigate bone tissue regeneration and production, and infecting it into the patient’s stem cells. This will allow the bones to recover their density, obliterating possible fracturing. To learn more about Jan Nolta and Gerhard Bauer, click the buttons below!