Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem Retinal Pigment Cells Survive 22 months in a Human Recipient – MedicalResearch.com (blog)

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Won Kyung Song MD.PhD Assistant Professor, Vitreoretinal service, Department of Ophthalmology CHA Bundang Medical Center CHA University Republic of Korea

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The retina is a light-sensitive neural tissue lining the inner surface of the human eye. The center of this retina is calledthe macula, which is responsible for high quality vision and central visual field. Retinal pigment epithelium is a layer of cells in the outer layer of the retina which has a critical role in maintaining and supporting the retina, especially the macula.

Age-related macular degeneration(AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly in Western countries. There are two types of AMD, wet (neovascular or exudative) and dry (atrophic).The retinal pigment epithelium and choroid, are closely related with the pathophysiology of AMD. In dry AMD,age-relateddegeneration ofRPE cellsleads to the loss of photoreceptor cells and visual deficit. Currently, some therapies are available for amelioratingthe wet AMD. However, there are no effective therapy available for dry AMD.

Previous studies have shown that healthy RPE cells can be implanted to replace unhealthy RPE cells in lesion areas where RPE cells have been lost.Allogenic RPEs resulted in graft rejection and autologous RPEs are difficult to harvest leading to surgery related complications. Now, abundant RPEs with stable genotype and phenotyemay be generated from embryonic stem cells. Therefore, we have undergone subretinal transplantation of human embryonic stem cell derived RPE cells. (Clinicaltrials.govNCT 01674829)Among the patients enrolled for

this clinical trial, we noted epiretinal membrane(ERM) with pigmentations over the retina in a proportion of patients as an adverse event. One patientwithdry AMD and an epiretinal membrane after the hES-RPE transplantationundergoneremoval of this ERM. The histologic examination of this ERM with pigmentations showed that the pigmented cellsoriginatedfrom thetransplantedhES-RPE cells which survived in the recipient for 22 months without anaplasia.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: The main concerns of clinical application of hES derived cellsaretumorigenesisand immune rejection.

Thereare limitations of these trials lackingconfirmative measurements of engraftment of the transplanted cells. Because biopsy of the retina results in focal loss of nurosensory retina and labelling the cells may cause additional clinical harm.

This is the first report showing that hES derived cells has survived upto 22 months in human organwithout anaplasia and may form an ERM.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Objective measurement of engraftment is necessary, together with advancement of an objective visual function measurements.

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Response: The case reported in thisjournalis a finding froma patient enrolled in the clinical trial sponsored byCHAbiotech.Co,Ltd.

HI12C1794(A121941)

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Shim SH, Kim G, Lee DR, Lee JE, Kwon HJ, Song WK. Survival of Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem CellDerived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells in a Human Recipient for 22 Months. JAMA Ophthalmol. Published online February 09, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2016.5824

Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.

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Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem Retinal Pigment Cells Survive 22 months in a Human Recipient - MedicalResearch.com (blog)

How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? – Catholic Free Press

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk

By Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk

A number of years ago, I participated in a debate at Harvard on embryonic stem cell research which also included a Jewish rabbi, an Episcopalian clergyman, and a Muslim imam. The debate went smoothly and cordially, although I was the only voice in the group who defended the human rights of individuals who happen still to be embryos. After the debate, the Episcopalian clergyman pulled me aside and told me how he thought Catholics should consider themselves fortunate to have such an authoritative reference point in the Church and the Vatican, particularly when it comes to resolving new bioethical questions. With surprising candor, he shared how he had sat on various committees with others from his own faith tradition where they had tried to sort through the ethics of embryonic stem cells, and he lamented, we just ended up discussing feelings and opinions, without any good way to arrive at conclusions.

Many people, indeed, appreciate that the Catholic Church holds firm and well-defined positions on moral questions, even if they may remain unsure about how or why the Church actually arrives at those positions, especially when it comes to unpacking new scientific developments like embryonic stem cell research.

So how does the Church arrive at its positions on bioethics? For one thing, it takes its time, and doesnt jump to conclusions even in the face of media pressure for quick sound bites and rapid-fire news stories.

I once had a discussion with a journalist for a major newspaper about the ethics of human-animal chimeras. He mentioned that a leading researcher working on chimeras had met the pope and afterwards implied that the pope had given his blessing to the project. I reminded him that its quite common for the pope to offer general encouragement and blessings to those he meets, though that wouldnt be the same thing as sanctioning new and morally controversial techniques in the biosciences. As a rule, the Catholic Church does not address important bioethical questions that way, through chance encounters with the pope as you are strolling through the hallways of the Vatican.

Instead, the Church may reflect for months, years, or even decades, to identify important considerations and guiding principles when new moral dilemmas arise in the biosciences. Even with this slow and deliberative process, I think its fair to say that the Church generally stays ahead of the curve. By the time of the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996, for example, the Catholic Church had already been reflecting on the question of human cloning for many years, and concluded, nine years prior to Dolly, that human cloning would be morally unacceptable in an important document called Donum Vitae (On the Gift of Life).

This same document also identified key moral problems with doing human embryonic stem cell research 11 years before it was even possible to destructively obtain those cells from human embryos. When the first test tube baby was born in 1978, the serious moral concerns raised by the procedure had already been spelled out twenty-two years earlier, by Pope Pius XII, in his 1956 Allocution to the Second World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility wherein he concluded: As regards experiments of human artificial fecundation in vitro, let it be sufficient to observe that they must be rejected as immoral and absolutely unlawful.

Whenever definitive conclusions about medical ethics are reached or otherwise clarified by the Church, they are normally promulgated through official Church documents, like papal encyclicals and addresses, or, with the approval of the pope, documents and commentaries from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF the Vatican office responsible for preserving and interpreting Catholic doctrine), or other congregations, councils or dicasteries of the Church.

Even today, certain bioethical controversies remain under active discussion within the Church, such as the question of whether it would be allowable to adopt abandoned frozen embryos by implanting and gestating them in volunteer mothers. While a 2007 CDF document expressed some reservations and concerns about the proposal, debate continues inside and outside the Vatican.

New medical discoveries and technological developments challenge us to careful moral reflection and discernment. These scientific developments can either be an opportunity for genuine human advancement or can lead to activities and policies that undermine human dignity. The U.S. Bishops in a recent document summed it up this way: In consultation with medical professionals, church leaders review these developments, judge them according to the principles of right reason and the ultimate standard of revealed truth, and offer authoritative teaching and guidance about the moral and pastoral responsibilities entailed by the Christian faith. While the Church cannot furnish a ready answer to every moral dilemma, there are many questions about which she provides normative guidance and direction.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See http://www.ncbcenter.org

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How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? - Catholic Free Press

New Nanofiber Matrix Enhances Stem Cell Production – Drug Discovery & Development

A new nanofiber-on-microfiber matrix could lead to more and better quality stem cells for disease treatment and regenerative therapies.

The matrix, produced by researchers from Kyoto University in Japan, is made of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic polymer microfiber mesh and may provide a better way to culture large quantities of healthy human stem cells.

Researchers have been developing 3D culturing systems to allow human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) to grow and interact with their surroundings in all three dimensions, as they would inside the human body, rather than in two dimensions like they do in a petri dish.

Pluripotent stems cells can differentiate into any type of adult cell and have potential for tissue regeneration therapies, treating diseases and for research.

The majority of 3D culturing systems have limitations and result in low quantities and quality of cultured cells.

The research team was able to fabricate gelatin nanofibers onto a microfiber sheet made of synthetic, biodegradable polyglycolic acid. They then seeded human embryonic stem cells onto the matrix in a cell culture medium.

The matrix allowed for an easy exchange of growth factors and supplements from the culture medium to the cells.

The stem cells also adhered well to the matrix, resulting in robust cell growth. After four days of culture more than 95 percent of the cells grew and formed colonies.

The research team also scaled up the process by designing a gas-permeable cell culture bag in which multiple cell-loaded, folded fiber-to-fiber matrices were placed.

The system was designed so that minimal changes were needed to the internal environment, which reduced the amount of stress placed on the cells. This also yielded a large number of cells compared to conventional 2D and 3D culture methods.

Our method offers an efficient way to expand hPSCs of high quality within a shorter term, the research team wrote in a statement. Additionally, as nanofiber matrices are advantageous for culturing other adherent cells, including hPSC-derived differentiated cells, FF matrix might be applicable to the large-scale production of differentiated functional cells for various applications.

According to the study, clinical-grade scaffolds and high-quality hPSCs are required for cell expansion as well as easy handling and manipulation of the products.

Current hPSC culture methods do not fulfill these requirements because of a lack of proper extracellular matrices (ECM) and cell culture wares.

The layered nano-on-micro fibrous cellular matrix mimicking ECM enables easy handling and manipulation of cultured cells.

The results show that the matrix supports effective hPSC culture with maintenance of their pluripotency and normal chromosomes over two months, as well as effective scaled-up expansion with fold increases of 54.115.6 and 40.48.4 in cell number per week for H1 human embryonic stem cells and 253G1 human induced pluripotent stem cells, respectively.

The study was published in Biomaterials.

See more here:
New Nanofiber Matrix Enhances Stem Cell Production - Drug Discovery & Development

Vitamins and aminoacids regulate stem cell biology – Phys.Org

February 16, 2017 Credit: National Research Council of Italy

An International Reserach Team coordinated by Igb-Cnr has discovered a key role of vitamins and amino acids in pluripotent stem cells. The research is published in Stem Cell Reports, and may provide new insights in cancer biology and regenerative medicine

Vitamins and amino acids play a key role in the regulation of epigenetic modifications involved in the progression of diseases such as cancer. The research may have future implications in cancer biology. The study was published in Stem Cell Reports.

"We found that two metabolites, vitamin C and the amino acid L-Proline, are important players in the control of stem cell behaviour. This study shows that pluripotent embryonic stem cells present in the earliest phases of development are pushed toward a more immature 'naive' state by vitamin C, while they are forced to acquire a 'primed' state in the presence of L-Proline. Thus, vitamin C and L-Proline exert opposite effects on embryonic stem cells, and this correlates with their ability to modify DNA (DNA methylation) without altering the sequence, but instead, the regulation of gene expression," explained researcher Gabriella Minchiotti.

Stem cells possess the unique ability to self-renew and differentiate into other cell types, which makes them extremely interesting in medical and biological research. "Embryonic stem cells are the most 'potent' (defined as pluripotent), meaning that they can give rise to all cell types of an organism, such as cardiomyocytes, neurons, bones, etc. Like normal stem cells, cancer stem cells can also self-renew and differentiate, and are believed to be responsible for tumor growth and therapy resistance."

This study provides an important contribution to the understanding of how metabolites regulate pluripotency and shape the epigenome in embryonic stem cells, which have been largely unexplored and recently gained great interest. This knowledge not only enhances our understanding of the biology of normal stem cells but may offer novel insights into cancer stem cell biology, identifying novel potential therapeutic targets.

Explore further: Gene "bookmarking" regulates the fate of stem cells

More information: Stem Cell Reports, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2016.11.011

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Vitamins and aminoacids regulate stem cell biology - Phys.Org

Nanofiber matrix sends stem cells sprawling in all directions – New Atlas

Human stem cells grown on Kyoto University's "fiber-on-fiber" culturing system(Credit: Kyoto University)

Mighty promising as they are, stem cells certainly aren't easy to come by. Recent scientific advances have however given their production a much-needed boost, with a Nobel-prize winning technology that turns skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells and another that promises salamander-like regenerative abilities being just a couple of examples. The latest breakthrough in the area comes from Japanese researchers who have developed a nanofiber matrix for culturing human stem cells, that they claim improves on current techniques.

The work focuses on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which have the ability to mature into any type of adult cell, be they those of the eyes, lungs or hair follicles. But that's assuming they can be taken up successfully by the host. Working to improve the odds on this front, scientists have been exploring ways of culturing pluripotent stem cells in a way that mimics the physiological conditions of the human body, allowing them to grow in three dimensions rather than in two dimensions, as they would in a petrie dish.

Among this group is a team from Japan's Kyoto University, which has developed a 3D culturing system it says outperforms the current technologies that can only produce low quantities of low-quality stem cells. The system consists of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic mesh made from biodegradable polyglycolic acid, resulting in what the researchers describe as a "fiber-on-fiber" (FF) matrix.

The team found that seeding human embryonic stem cells onto this type of matrix saw them adhere well, and enabled an easy exchange of growth factors and supplements. This led to what the researchers describe as robust growth, with more than 95 percent of the cells growing and forming colonies after just four days of culture.

And by designing a special gas-permeable cell culture bag, the team also demonstrated how they could scale up the approach. This is because several of the cell-loaded matrices can be folded up and placed inside the bag, with testing showing that this approach yielded larger again numbers of cells. What's more, the FF matrix could even prove useful in culturing other cell types.

"Our method offers an efficient way to expand hPSCs of high quality within a shorter term," the team writes in its research paper. "Additionally, as nanofiber matrices are advantageous for culturing other adherent cells, including hPSC-derived differentiated cells, FF matrix might be applicable to the large-scale production of differentiated functional cells for various applications."

The research was published in the journal Biomaterials.

See the rest here:
Nanofiber matrix sends stem cells sprawling in all directions - New Atlas

Your brain’s got rhythm: Synthetic brain mimics – Science Daily

Science Daily

Your brain's got rhythm: Synthetic brain mimics Science Daily To model these complex neural circuits, the Pfaff lab prompted embryonic stem cells from mice to grow into clusters of spinal cord neurons, which they named circuitoids. Each circuitoid typically contained 50,000 cells in clumps just large enough to ... and more »

Read the original here:
Your brain's got rhythm: Synthetic brain mimics - Science Daily

Novel Nanofiber Matrix Improves Stem Cell Production – R & D Magazine

A new nanofiber-on-microfiber matrix could lead to more and better quality stem cells for disease treatment and regenerative therapies.

The matrix, produced by researchers from Kyoto University in Japan, is made of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic polymer microfiber mesh and may provide a better way to culture large quantities of healthy human stem cells.

Researchers have been developing 3D culturing systems to allow human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) to grow and interact with their surroundings in all three dimensions, as they would inside the human body, rather than in two dimensions like they do in a petri dish.

Pluripotent stems cells can differentiate into any type of adult cell and have potential for tissue regeneration therapies, treating diseases and for research.

The majority of 3D culturing systems have limitations and result in low quantities and quality of cultured cells.

The research team was able to fabricate gelatin nanofibers onto a microfiber sheet made of synthetic, biodegradable polyglycolic acid. They then seeded human embryonic stem cells onto the matrix in a cell culture medium.

The matrix allowed for an easy exchange of growth factors and supplements from the culture medium to the cells.

The stem cells also adhered well to the matrix, resulting in robust cell growth. After four days of culture more than 95 percent of the cells grew and formed colonies.

The research team also scaled up the process by designing a gas-permeable cell culture bag in which multiple cell-loaded, folded fiber-to-fiber matrices were placed.

The system was designed so that minimal changes were needed to the internal environment, which reduced the amount of stress placed on the cells. This also yielded a large number of cells compared to conventional 2D and 3D culture methods.

Our method offers an efficient way to expand hPSCs of high quality within a shorter term, the research team wrote in a statement. Additionally, as nanofiber matrices are advantageous for culturing other adherent cells, including hPSC-derived differentiated cells, FF matrix might be applicable to the large-scale production of differentiated functional cells for various applications.

According to the study, clinical-grade scaffolds and high-quality hPSCs are required for cell expansion as well as easy handling and manipulation of the products.

Current hPSC culture methods do not fulfill these requirements because of a lack of proper extracellular matrices (ECM) and cell culture wares.

The layered nano-on-micro fibrous cellular matrix mimicking ECM enables easy handling and manipulation of cultured cells.

The results show that the matrix supports effective hPSC culture with maintenance of their pluripotency and normal chromosomes over two months, as well as effective scaled-up expansion with fold increases of 54.115.6 and 40.48.4 in cell number per week for H1 human embryonic stem cells and 253G1 human induced pluripotent stem cells, respectively.

The study was published in Biomaterials.

Continued here:
Novel Nanofiber Matrix Improves Stem Cell Production - R & D Magazine

Possible key to regeneration found in planaria’s origins – Phys.Org

February 13, 2017 Three-dimensional reconstruction of a Stage 3 S. mediterranea embryo, stained with a pan-embryonic cell marker (red) and a nuclear dye (green). Credit: Image courtesy of Erin Davies, Ph.D., Amanda Kroesen, and Sean McKinney, Ph.D.

A new report from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles the embryonic origins of planaria, providing new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities.

The work, published online in eLife, is the first to discover that adult stem cells called neoblasts, key to planaria regeneration, arise during a specific stage of embryonic development. Ordinarily, embryonic cells do not persist beyond embryogenesis. However, neoblasts made in early planarian embryos persist beyond embryonic development and are present throughout the animal's lifetime. Neoblasts seemingly retain the ability to access embryonic developmental programs during adulthood to drive the regeneration of body parts lost to traumatic injury.

"While a large body of research focuses on regeneration in adult planaria, much less is known about planarian embryogenesis - the process of growing from a single fertilized egg into a properly formed organism," says Erin Davies, Ph.D., the study's first author and a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stowers Institute Investigator Alejandro Snchez Alvarado, Ph.D.

Wanting to know more, Davies and colleagues generated a staging series, or a set of unique molecular fingerprints, for Schmidtea mediterranea embryos, as well as a gene expression atlas describing embryonic tissues and the formation of major organ systems during embryogenesis. These resources are available online at https://planosphere.stowers.org. Together, these tools lay the foundation for scientists to begin comparing the processes of embryogenesis and regeneration in planaria.

"In planaria, we have a really great system for studying regeneration during adulthood," Davies says. "It offers us the opportunity to start to compare and contrast what is similar and what is different about developmental processes during embryogenesis and regeneration in an adult animal."

Planaria have an ability to regenerate that is unparalleled among other organisms. If an adult worm is cut apart, nearly any piece can form a new, fully-functional animal complete with a brain and nervous system, eyes, kidneys, gut, muscle, and skin - within just two weeks. Adult stem cells called neoblasts power the planaria's extraordinary talent for regeneration. These cells both replace themselves and make every type of cell needed to create an adult worm. But their origin has been unclear.

"Because neoblasts have only been studied in adults, we did not know how they were made in the first place during embryonic development," says Snchez Alvarado. "Our work has uncovered both the precise embryonic time when neoblasts are formed, and the gene expression profile that precedes their formation."

The researchers observed a large-scale shift in the types of genes being expressed at about one week into development, explains Davies.

"The genes that we think of as being required to make different types of tissues in the body - brain, muscle, gut, kidneys - all these genes start to turn on during this time window," she says.

The researchers found that when planarian embryonic cells start to form major organ systems, adult neoblasts arise as well. When transplanted into adult planaria depleted of stem cells, these embryonic cells took hold and proliferated. The embryonic cells replenished the adult planarian stem cell population and extended its life. However, transplanted embryonic cells from earlier time periods did not take, and the adult planarian hosts died.

During embryogenesis, neoblast offspring help build the worm. Once established, neoblasts are maintained throughout the worm's life, allowing the animal continued access to embryonic development programs during adulthood. Understanding this unique planarian flatworm attribute may provide further insight into their incredible regenerative abilities.

"Planarian embryogenesis has remained obscure for many decades, and the embryogenesis of Schmidtea mediterranea particularly so. It is to Erin Davies' great credit that this is no longer the case and that we, as a community interested in regeneration and stem cell biology, can now peer into a world of biological activity we could not access previously," adds Snchez Alvarado.

The finding lays the foundation for future research on how stem cells are specified, maintained, and regulated, and will facilitate direct comparisons of gene function during embryogenesis and regeneration. Many of the genes required to build and maintain organs in planaria appear to work in both developmental contexts.

"I think that there are likely to be many similarities, but also critical differences," Davies adds. "We understand very little about how regeneration cues are transmitted to stem cells in the adult. In planaria, we'll have the opportunity to investigate embryonic and regenerative processes both at the level of single genes, and globally at the level of what happens to all genes expressed in a particular tissue over time."

Knowledge of the developmental pathways responsible for regeneration could also guide future therapeutic advances for patients suffering from degenerative diseases or traumatic injuries.

Other Stowers contributors include Kai Lei, Ph.D., Chris Seidel, Ph.D., Amanda Kroesen, Sean McKinney, Ph.D., Longhua Guo, Ph.D., Sofia Robb, Ph.D., Eric Ross and Kirsten Gotting.

The work was funded by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (R37GM057260-17). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Lay summary of findings

Planarian flatworms have an ability to regenerate that is unparalleled among other organisms. If an adult worm is cut apart, almost any piece can form a new, fully-functional animal complete with a brain and nervous system, eyes, kidneys, gut, muscle, and skin - within just two weeks. That's why scientists consider them an ideal organism in which to study regeneration. But this phenomenon is still poorly understood.

A new report from researchers in the Snchez Alvarado Lab at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles stage-by-stage how the planarian flatworm develops as an embryo and provides new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities. The work is the first to show that stem cells key to planarian regeneration, called neoblasts, form during a specific stage of embryonic development. Neoblasts are present throughout the worm's life, and can replenish themselves and make every type of cell in the body. This feature is unique to planarian flatworms, and may underlie their incredible regenerative abilities. The findings could guide future therapeutic advances for patients suffering from degenerative diseases or traumatic injuries.

Explore further: Key molecular signal that shapes regeneration in planarian stem cells discovered

Many living creatures possess exceptional abilities that set them apart from other species. Cheetahs can run up to 60 miles per hour; ants can lift 100 times their body weight; flatworms can regrow amputated body parts. Scientists ...

With its abundance of stem cells known as neoblasts, and remarkable abilities to restore body parts lost to injury, the humble flatworm, or planaria, has become an exciting model organism to study the processes of tissue ...

A single adult cell from one of the most impressive masters of regeneration in the animal kingdom the planarian is all it takes to build a completely functional new worm, researchers have learned. The study ...

A scientific study describes for the first time the function of a signalling pathway particularly, the pathway of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) - in the differentiation of the planarian digestive lineage. EGFR ...

When a salamander loses a tail, it grows a new one. What's the difference, MIT biologist Peter Reddien PhD '02 wondered, between a wound that severs a salamander's tail and one that severs a human spinal cord?

Researchers report in the journal Developmental Cell that they have identified genes that control growth and regeneration of the intestine in the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.

A new report from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles the embryonic origins of planaria, providing new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities.

How plant cells divide and how that contributes to plant growth has been one of the longstanding unsolved mysteries of cell biology. Two conflicting ideas have fueled the mystery.

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Originally posted here:
Possible key to regeneration found in planaria's origins - Phys.Org

How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? – The Tidings

A number of years ago, I participated in a debate at Harvard on embryonic stem cell research which also included a Jewish rabbi, an Episcopalian clergyman, and a Muslim imam. The debate went smoothly and cordially, although I was the only voice in the group who defended the human rights of individuals who happen still to be embryos. After the debate, the Episcopalian clergyman pulled me aside and told me how he thought Catholics should consider themselves fortunate to have such an authoritative reference point in the Church and the Vatican, particularly when it comes to resolving new bioethical questions. With surprising candor, he shared how he had sat on various committees with others from his own faith tradition where they had tried to sort through the ethics of embryonic stem cells, and he lamented, we just ended up discussing feelings and opinions, without any good way to arrive at conclusions.

Many people, indeed, appreciate that the Catholic Church holds firm and well-defined positions on moral questions, even if they may remain unsure about how or why the Church actually arrives at those positions, especially when it comes to unpacking new scientific developments like embryonic stem cell research.

So how does the Church arrive at its positions on bioethics? For one thing, it takes its time, and doesnt jump to conclusions even in the face of media pressure for quick sound bites and rapid-fire news stories.

I once had a discussion with a journalist for a major newspaper about the ethics of human-animal chimeras. He mentioned that a leading researcher working on chimeras had met the pope and afterwards implied that the pope had given his blessing to the project. I reminded him that its quite common for the pope to offer general encouragement and blessings to those he meets, though that wouldnt be the same thing as sanctioning new and morally controversial techniques in the biosciences. As a rule, the Catholic Church does not address important bioethical questions that way, through chance encounters with the pope as you are strolling through the hallways of the Vatican.

Instead, the Church may reflect for months, years, or even decades, to identify important considerations and guiding principles when new moral dilemmas arise in the biosciences. Even with this slow and deliberative process, I think its fair to say that the Church generally stays ahead of the curve. By the time of the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996, for example, the Catholic Church had already been reflecting on the question of human cloning for many years, and concluded, nine years prior to Dolly, that human cloning would be morally unacceptable in an important document called Donum Vitae (On the Gift of Life).

This same document also identified key moral problems with doing human embryonic stem cell research eleven years before it was even possible to destructively obtain those cells from human embryos. When the first test tube baby was born in 1978, the serious moral concerns raised by the procedure had already been spelled out twenty-two years earlier, by Pope Pius XII, in his 1956 Allocution to the Second World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility wherein he concluded: As regards experiments of human artificial fecundation 'in vitro,' let it be sufficient to observe that they must be rejected as immoral and absolutely unlawful.

Whenever definitive conclusions about medical ethics are reached or otherwise clarified by the Church, they are normally promulgated through official Church documents, like papal encyclicals and addresses, or, with the approval of the pope, documents and commentaries from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF the Vatican office responsible for preserving and interpreting Catholic doctrine), or other congregations, councils or dicasteries of the Church.

Even today, certain bioethical controversies remain under active discussion within the Church, such as the question of whether it would be allowable to adopt abandoned frozen embryos by implanting and gestating them in volunteer mothers.While a 2007 CDF document expressed some reservations and concerns about the proposal, debate continues inside and outside the Vatican.

New medical discoveries and technological developments challenge us to careful moral reflection and discernment. These scientific developments can either be an opportunity for genuine human advancement or can lead to activities and policies that undermine human dignity. The U.S. Bishops in a recent document summed it up this way: In consultation with medical professionals, church leaders review these developments, judge them according to the principles of right reason and the ultimate standard of revealed truth, and offer authoritative teaching and guidance about the moral and pastoral responsibilities entailed by the Christian faith. While the Church cannot furnish a ready answer to every moral dilemma, there are many questions about which she provides normative guidance and direction.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See http://www.ncbcenter.org

Read the original:
How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? - The Tidings

SEQUEIRA: Stem cell research must remain in foreground – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

OPINION Where will studies fall in the Trump administrations line of immediacy? by Sean Sequeira | Feb 09 2017 | 02/09/17 12:00am | Updated 02/08/17 11:17pm

As President Trumps cabinet ossifies into its final form, several Americans predict that many policy consistencies of the past are now at risk. One place of consistency is the landscape of stem cell research. The impacts Trumps administration might have on biomedical science are still uncertain. Indeed, some cabinet appointments have incited fear in Americans who rely on stem cell therapy or perform research or work at institutions where stem cell research is a vital component of grants and general revenue. While uniformly and staunchly conservative, the Trump administration must ensure continuity within stem cell research not only to protect jobs and research institutions from bankruptcy, but to also preserve a therapy that might actually be a panacea for a range of maladies.

Stem cells, while controversial and ethically precarious to the public, should be researched and ultimately implemented as a therapeutic solution for patients that simply have no alternative. Specifically, stem cells opponents are against embryonic stem cells, which no longer account for the majority of stem cell research. Currently, the majority of stem cell research is made up of induced pluripotent stem cells, somatic cells which can regress to an embryonic state through regenerative and genetic engineering. With the seminal work of Drs. Takahash and Yamanaka, the ethical rigors associated with embryonic stem cells need not be dealt with.

However, the question arises as to why embryonic stem cells are so insatiably invaluable and why they have immense potential to solve the worlds most enigmatic medical maladies. Indeed, after a zygote forms, the subsequent cells follow a pathway based upon environmental and biological cues similar to how a student follows a pathway to become a doctor, lawyer or businessman. Stem cells are categorized according to the broadness of cell they can become embryonic stem cells are the most versatile whereas adult stem cells, like those found in your bone marrow, are comparatively discrete in their differentiation scope. So, with embryonic stem cells, appropriate cues, and research, we could theoretically program these stem cells to become a pancreas, heart, brain or liver cells. On a macroscale, stem cells provide a conduit through which to build full pancreases for diabetic patients or hearts for heart failure patients, from the ground up. Essentially, with stem cells, we can turn the tide in a seemingly perennial battle with virulent pathologies.

Induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, are actually adult somatic cells like those found on your skin which revert back to their embryonic state through transcription factors or proteins necessary to develop or progress the fate or state of a cell to a new state. In this case, the Yamanaka factors are four transcription factors are those necessary to combine with adult somatic cells in order to revert the cells back into embryonic stem cells.

Granted, while the discovery of iPSC was a phenomenal one, there is a long road ahead in order to make them a mainstream therapy and to ensure that they are morphologically, molecularly, and functionally identical to their embryonic counterparts. During the Obama administration, research institutions like the National Institute of Health were not only provided the opportunity to research using stem cells, but were also less impeded than they were during the George W. Bush administration in the quantity and quality of research they were able to undertake.

With the new administration, it has become necessary that they scrap their conservative agenda against stem cells and biomedical research by demonstrating to the public they care and see their constituents as people in need of stem cell research. The administration must recognize the ultimate way to defeat unscrupulous stem cell utilization is to fund research to find novel ways to circumvent such controversy.

Sean Sequeira is an Opinion columnist for the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at s.sequeira@cavalierdaily.com

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SEQUEIRA: Stem cell research must remain in foreground - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily