German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG and U.S. health care investor Versant Ventures plan to establish a stem-cell research company, marking the latest effort by a big pharmaceutical company to develop new and innovative drugs by joining with venture capital and biotechnology firms.

em cells can develop into many different types of cells, such as muscle cells, red blood cells, or neurons. Given their special regenerative ability, stem cells can be used to treat a wide range of diseases. A team of researchers uncovers new details involved in the process of turning stem cells into motor neurons.

Pausing embryonic stem cells can be induced directly in cultured ES cells and sustained for weeks without appreciable cell death or deviations from cell cycle distributions.

The device consists of sensors encased in a flexible silicone shell and flanked on either side by electrodes. It sticks to the skin like a plaster or temporary tattoo and measures just 20 millimetres across.

A modified virus can repair diseased livers by turning bad cells into good. The treatment could one day offer a lifeline to thousands of people with liver failure.

A French team claiming the achievement has moved a stage closer to convincing sceptics by having the work published in a peer-reviewed journal. But some researchers say the evidence offered still falls short of what?s required to make such a large and historic claim.

In a paper published today in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shared data from an early-phase study of patients with advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) who received JCAR014, a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell treatment, and chemotherapy. CAR T cells are made from a patient?s own immune cells that are then genetically engineered to better identify and kill cancer cells.

Researchers in California have created human-pig chimeric embryos as part of a project to grow human organs for transplantation; while it may make many people uncomfortable, we have been trying to use pigs for parts for nearly 200 years.

A handful of healthy mice made from sperm cells created in the lab have been hailed as a milestone in research that could ultimately provide new treatments for male infertility.

The underlying cause of male infertility is unknown for 30 percent of cases. In a pair of new studies, researchers have determined that the reproductive homeobox (RHOX) family of transcription factors -- regulatory proteins that activate some genes and inactivate others -- drive the development of stem cells in the testes in mice. The investigators also linked RHOX gene mutations to male infertility in humans.