Researchers at the University of Louisville and Northwestern University report they have been successful in using specially processed stem cells from the kidney transplant recipient’s live donor to eliminate the need for taking immunosuppressive drugs, the Louisville Courier Journal reported.  Robert Waddell, who got a kidney transplant two years ago, stopped taking anti-rejection drugs last [Sign in to read the full article...]

The world’s first tissue-engineered urethras using the patient’s own cells grown in a lab have been hailed as a success.  The patients were five Mexican boys between the age of 10 and 14 who suffered terrible damage to their urinary tracts from auto accidents and were unable to urinate normally. “When they first came in, [Sign in to read the full article...]

Despite the overall growth in the number of kidney transplants, racial and ethic groups in the US do not have equal access to getting a transplant, according to a new study appearing in the recent Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).  Despite the increasing diversity of patients on dialysis who need kidney transplants, [Sign in to read the full article...]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it has approved a new donor tissue delivery device for use during endothelial keratoplasty.  During the past several years, selective endothelial keratoplasty has gained in popularity when patients need to have a thin layer of enthothelial cells replaced but do not require a full corneal transplant. The [Sign in to read the full article...]

Thirty-one Republicans joined by several Democrats introduced a bill on March 9 in the Minnesota legislature that would ban human embryonic stem cell research in the state under the guise of banning “human cloning.”  The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2011 would make somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) illegal and would impose a felony charge [Sign in to read the full article...]