News & Events: Embryonic Stem Cells

UCSF scientists have received two large grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to refine their human embryonic stem cell-based strategies for treating neurological diseases and liver failure. A team led by Mark Zern, MD, of the University of California, Davis, and including co-principal investigator Holger Willenbring, M.D., (pictured left) Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery at UCSF will use their $5 million grant to develop therapeutically effective liver cells, or hepatocytes, from human embryonic stem cells. According to [...]

"International Stem Cell Corporation  announced today that its human parthenogenetic stem cell lines will be used in studies aimed at creating liver cells to treat human liver disease. ......Holger Willenbring, MD, UCSF assistant professor of surgery, will direct the research. "The fact that Dr. Willenbring and the University of California at San Francisco are testing the ability of ISCO's human parthenogenetic stem cells to form liver cells is a strong validation of their potential value in creating therapeutic cells that have significant immune rejection advantages and significant ethical [...]

Dr. Nancy Ascher and Dr. Holger Willenbring were interviewed by PBS NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michaels about the transformation of embryonic stem cells into new liver cells as a treatment for patients.