This week’s news in brief

Our regenerative medicine news picks from 3—7 November

Researchers have reconstructed early-stage mammalian development using ESCs, showing that a critical mass of cells is needed for the cells to being self-organizing into the correct structure for an embryo to form — video here.

UCLA researchers have developed a standard to assess how closely stem cell culture conditions in the laboratory resemble a developing embryo.

BMMC treatment, hoped to improve cardiac function in patients after an acute myocardial infarction, shown to be safe but not an improvement on standard therapy.

McLean Hospital and Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have published evidence that transplantation of human ESCs-derived neurons could be a worthwhile strategy to help epileptics who do not respond to anti-seizure drugs.

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University found that a fat molecule with a sugar attached is essential for maintaining our brain stem cells.

Whitehead Institute scientists have created iNSCs that remain in the multipotent state without ongoing expression of reprogramming factors, allowing them to divide repeatedly to generate cells in quantities sufficient for therapy.

Orthocell Limited announced success in growing human tendons in a laboratory using the product Ortho-ATIâ„¢.

ViaCyte Inc., developing a stem cell-derived islet replacement therapy for the treatment of diabetes, were granted a US patent describing the methods for manufacture of human pancreatic progenitor cells from definitive endoderm cells.

Are any key news stories missing? Tell us in the comments below.