Parmin Sedigh | Stem Cells

Stem Cell Articles

Growing organs (almost) from scratch

Each year, hundreds of Canadians die waiting for an organ transplant. Organ recipients often have to wait several years to receive an organ. The problem is acute, and it’s not going anywhere.

One solution to this crisis is to create new organs and tissues. From coating pig kidneys with human cells to bioprinting new skin for burn patients, researchers at U of T are approaching the problem from a myriad of angles.

Published Mar. 3, 2024 in The Varsity (University of Toronto’s student newspaper)

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Synthetic Embryos: The Next Frontier in Studying Development

Recently, in August 2022, a mind-blowing (and somewhat ethically challenging) stem cell advancement occurred — stem cells were used to create synthetic mouse embryos in the lab until 8.5 days after fertilization. The crazy part? Scientists didn’t need to use egg cells, or sperm cells, and an artificial environment was used rather than a womb.

Published on the blog of the Ontario Youth Medical Society

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Modelling the Heart in a Dish

Heart disease is sadly ubiquitous — roughly 2.6 million Canadians over 20 have been diagnosed with heart disease and by the time you finish reading this post, one of these Canadians has passed away. Fortunately, recent advances in biomedical research have made studying and finding treatments for heart disease infinitely easier than before. So join me as we enter the fascinating world of organoids — a fairly new model being used to study heart disease.

Published on the blog of the Ontario Youth Medical Society

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Photo by Josh Riemer
on Unsplash — Photo by Josh Riemer on Unsplash

Good Memory or Bad Memory? How Your Brain Decides.

Associating memories with good and bad feelings is something we do daily without a second thought. However, scientists have been working hard to discern how the brain is able to assign positive or negative feelings to certain memories, and how this may play a role in disorders where this process is overactive such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

Published on the website of the New York Stem Cell Foundation

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Stem cells’ role in better understanding schizophrenia

Stem cells are often discussed in the context of regeneration and physical illnesses but how about their role in mental illness? That’s what I explore in this blog with a focus on schizophrenia.

Published in Signals (the blog of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine)

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Stem Cells Have a Public Image Problem

“Stem cells are illegal in Canada, right?” Despite my relatively short time as a science communicator in the stem cell field, I have heard that question and variations of it many times. Often, the questions come from a place of good intention. Nearly always, the questions are due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what stem cells are or where the field currently is.

Posted Feb. 25, 2024 in Predict (a large science and tech publication with 27k followers)

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How Parkinson’s & Alzheimer’s Affect Mental Health: And How Stem Cells Can Help

When you think of a neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease, your first thought will likely be about motor issues or dementia. But what if I told you that many neurodegenerative disease patients also, unfortunately, experience declines in their mental health? This can be due to the difficulties that come with living a life with such a disease and the outcomes of these diseases. Let’s explore why this occurs and some ways that stem cells are helping with neurodegenerative diseases.

Published on the blog of the Ontario Youth Medical Society

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Unpacking a 27-year-old Panel Report on Human Embryo Research

We’re going all the way back to 1994 when the National Institutes of Health Human Embryo Research Panel came out with the Report of the Human Embryo Research Panel, September 1994 and we’ll construct a puzzle of the ethics surrounding embryo research and how it’s changed over time.

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Here’s how your brain stem cells can turn back time.

We can make regular adult stem cells into cells that can turn into any cell type in the entire body. That’s great and all but we’ve only been able to do this in vitro, in a lab. Now, what if I told you that a process similar to this already exists in the body?

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Answering All Of Your Stem Cell Questions: Rapid Fire

I crowdsourced a bunch of questions around stem cells and then attempted to answer them as simply as possible. No jargon, no fluff, just explaining topics as simply as possible.

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Twins Separated At Birth: The Story of Asymmetric Cell Division

You’ve probably heard of mitosis and meiosis but what if I told you that a specific type of cell division has been hidden from you all this time? Cells DON’T always divide into two identical cells and it’s the reason why we’re still alive.

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Gene Editing x Stem Cells: The Future of Biology

Combine gene editing and stem cells and you’ve got a very controversial phrase on your hand. So let’s step back from that and take a look at the science of both.

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Created with BioRender.com — *Created with* *BioRender.com*

Combining Senolytics and Cell Therapy for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

Let’s explore combining senolytics, small molecules that target and induce apoptosis in senescent cells, and using a cell therapy such as MSK-DA01.

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