SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14 -- Chemists are developing new insights and techniques in an effort to expand the therapeutic potential of stem cells, which includes possible treatments for Parkinson's disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and other devastating conditions. The American Chemical Society will explore some of these latest developments, including new findings on the transformation potential of adult stem cells, during a special symposium, "Emerging Technologies: Stem Cells," on Thursday, Sept. 14, in San Francisco during the Society's 232nd national meeting. All papers in this symposium, which begins at 1:30 p.m., will be presented at the Hilton San Francisco, Yosemite B.

Shown below are selected papers from this symposium:

Adult stem cells show wider potential than previously thought -- Embryonic stem cells are the most versatile stem cells, capable of being transformed into any other cell type, depending on their desired therapeutic use. Now, researchers at Northwestern University have found new evidence that hematopoietic stem cells, a type of adult stem cell derived from the bone marrow that gives rise to blood cells, is capable of undergoing more diverse transformations than previously thought and could be transformed into a wide variety of tissue types, not just blood cells. In recent laboratory tests, human megakaryocytes (bone marrow cells that produce blood platelets that are responsible for blood clotting) derived from adult hematopoietic stem cells were, for the first time, reprogrammed into neutrophil-like cells similar to the white blood cells that are responsible for fighting infections, according to study leader E. Terry Papoutsakis, Ph.D., a chemical engineer at the University. Insights from this study could help guide similar adult stem cell transformations in other cell types in the future, he says. (BIOT 459, Thursday, Sept. 14, 1:30 p.m.)

Elasticity of tissue environment plays role in determining stem cell gr
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13-Sep-2006