Boston Scientist Join the Potential Tea Party

06/06/06 Clinical Trials, Treatment Options, Research, General

Cloning scares a lot of people. There are bans on the use of federal funds to research cloning and further the science. However, the potential for cloned stem cells to treat human frailties has excited enough investors that there are now private funds catalyzing research at major universities. This story out on the AP wires discusses Harvard's activities in the world of cloning.

Not only is this story interesting scientifically but also it has implications in the political world. Harvard and other schools may be up against legislation that could stop research in its tracks.

Pumps for Preschoolers If your young child suffers from diabetes, you will be happy to know that an insulin pump may help her or him. This story outlines some findings of scientists who monitored children with insulin pumps.

Basketball Player Overshadows #5 Draft Pick in Baseball The sports world is excited for the upcoming NBA draft. Adam Morrison will likely be one of the first players drafted this year. He lives with diabetes, and has to monitor it during his games.

This story points out that Brandon Morrow, a type 1 diabetic, was the fifth player to be drafted in Tuesday's Major League Baseball draft.

Mice Further Chinese Medicine Treatment Before you get too excited, please realize that this next story reports a scientific success in mice. We're still far proving it in humans. A Gardenia fruit extract traditionally used in Chinese medicine to treat the symptoms of type 2 diabetes does indeed contain a chemical that reverses some of the pancreatic dysfunctions that underlie the disease, researchers report in the June 7, 2006, Cell Metabolism. The chemical therefore represents a useful starting point for new diabetes therapies, they said.

“When I first saw the results, I was in disbelief,” said Bradford Lowell of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. “I didn’t think we could ever be that lucky.” However, blinded repetition of the initial experiments confirmed the results every time, he said.

Because Gardenia fruit extract is not a pharmaceutical, it may become widely available as a dietary supplement very soon.