Osiris

Twenty years after stem cell research seemed poised to change the world with the possibility of curing a wide range of diseases, and then struggled in fits and starts amid scientific and political obstacles, it is clearly morphing into new areas.

Twenty years after stem cell research seemed poised to change the world with the possibility of curing a wide range of diseases, and then struggled in fits and starts amid scientific and political obstacles, it is clearly morphing into new areas.

Scientists in the U.K. have used stem cells harvested from bone marrow to create heart valve tissue. And they're pushing their work into animal studies this year in the hope that human clinical trials on valve transplants can begin in three years. The researchers grew the three-centimeter wide valves by exposing stem cells to chemicals, which spurred their differentiation into heart valve cells. The tissue was grown on a …

An early-stage trial of a groundbreaking adult stem cell therapy for heart disease has garnered data that suggests it helps patients recover from heart surgery. The procedure relies on stem cells gathered from a donor's bone marrow and delivered to the heart by IV line. Experts say that the procedure is so simple that even community hospitals could adopt the procedure. Two third of the 53 patients in the Phase I study got the stem cell therapy, and the results were dramatic. Patients who …