A group known as The Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine (CSCRM), which is comprised of Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve university, University Hospitals, and Athersys Inc., has been awarded a $5 million grant from Ohio's Third Frontier Commission under the Research Commercialization program. This funding will help to support new and innovative stem cell technologies, and will include two commercial, for emerging, and three pilot projects. Each of the projects will match the funding, creating a $10 million grant to benefit stem cell and regenerative medicine within the state of Ohio.

These research efforts will result in efficient clinical applications, as well as the commercialization of stem cells to benefit patients located throughout Ohio. Thus far, these kinds of efforts have brought in $170 million in new commercial development and investment in the state.

Current healthcare is limited to using drugs or devices to treat disease and injury. Stem cell research such as that which is being done by CSCRM could change the way disease and injury are treated, as they are uniquely positioned to rapidly implement new stem cell technologies in both the commercial and therapeutic areas.

Japanese researchers have identified a gene that may be responsible for hair loss in humans, giving hope the millions of balding men and women around the world. In genetic experiements on mice, researchers were able to create mutant rodents that lacked the Sox21 "master regulator" gene - a gene also found in humans - whose function they said is to ensure hair retention.

Scientists found that when they blocked the gene in rodents, it led to hair loss. Mice began to shed their fur "from postnatal day 11 beginning at the head and progressing toward the tail region of the back." Eventually the genetically altered mice became bald, losing all their body hair, including whiskers.

Researchers concluded: "The lack of this gene results in a loss of the interlocking structures required for anchoring the hair shaft in the hair follicle." Lead research Yumiko Saga said that the findings could lead to the development of a treatment against thinning hair in humans.

Meet Ruby Puppy, one of four cloned pups that glow because they have genetic information from sea anemones, a breakthrough that scientists are hoping will aid in the study of human diseases. According to New Scientist Magazine, the dogs produce a protein that glows under ultraviolet light.

The first transgenic dog - called this because it has genes transferred from another speciies - was created by cloning and inserting cells expressing a red flourescent gene which is produced by sea anemones. They hope that it will eventually lead to transgenic dog models of human diseases.

One of the researchers involved with this project, CheMyong Ko of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said:

"The next step for us is to generate a true disease model."

The team was lead by Byeong-Chun Lee of Seoul National University in South Korea. He was also a part of the 2005 scientific effort with stem cell researcher Woo Suk Hwang that created the first cloned dog.

One scientist says 'Yes'.

Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, an Oxford University neuroscientist, says that social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter are said to shorten attention spans, make young people more self-centered, and encourage instant gratification.

Facebook claims more than 150 million users, while Twitter has around 6 million. While these sites are considered extremely popular, as well as profitable, a number of psychologists and neuroscientists believe that they may be doing more harm than good.

Greenfield believes that repeated exposure could effectively "rewire" the brain. Other factors include computer games and fast-paced television shows.

"We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist. My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment," said Greenfield.

President Barack Obama is soon expected to issue an executive order that would lift an eight-year ban on embryonic stem-cell research that was enacted during the Bush administration.

Adviser David Axelrod said on Sunday, "We're going to be doing something on that soon . . . The president is considering that right now."

President George W. Bush limited federal funding for stem cell research in 2001 to only human embryonic stem cell lines that already existed. It was a nod to conservative Christian supporters that regard this kind of research as destroying human life. During his presidential campaign, Obama vowed to reverse Bush's ban.

Scientists, however, believe that embryonic stem cell research could eventually produce cures for such devastating diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and even spinal cord injuries.

Last month the FDA cleared the way for the first trial to see if these stem cells could safely treat people. The trial will use stem cells from existing lines to regrow nerve tissue in patients with crushed spinal cords.

Photo: The University College Hospital in London where the child was born.

The first known child to have been screened as an embryo for the BRCA-1 gene, the gene which often causes breast and ovarian cancer, was born this week in Great Britain. A spokesman for the University College London told media that the girl was screened through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, a process that tests a group of embryos created through in vitro fertilization when each contains eight cells.

The cells are tested, and only those which are free of the BRCA-1 gene are returned to the mother's womb.

Around the world, doctors already test for genes causing an array of diseases including Huntington's Disease and Cystic Fibrosis, but this is the first time that a child has been known to have been tested for a gene that is only likely to cause disease.

Those with the BRCA-1 Gene have a 50 to 80 percent chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer in their lifetime. The UK media is calling the child the "cancer-free" girl, which is inaccurate. The girl could still develop a non-genetic form of either breast or ovarian cancer.

Discovery could help combat future pandemics.

What made the 1918 flu pandemic, also know as the "Spanish Flu", so deadly? Researchers may have finally answered that question, having found a group of three genes that let the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia.

Resarchers mixed samples of the 1918 strain of influenza with modern seasonal flu viruses to find the three genes, and published their results Tuesday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They said that their study may help in the development of new flu drugs, and could also point to mutations that might turn ordinary flu into a dangerous pandemic strain.

Flu typically causes upper respiratory infection that affects the nose and throat, and systemic illness which causes fever, muscle aches, and weakness. However some people become seriously ill and eventually develop pneumonia. Bacteria sometimes causes the pneumonia, while other times the flu causes it directly.

During pandemics, such as the 1918 one, a new and more dangerous flu strain emerges. The 1918 pandemic caused 50 million deaths worldwide, and is considered to be the most devasting outbreak of infectious disease in human history. Health officials in recent years have been warning us that we are due for another flu pandemic of similar proportions.

The 1918 flu killed 2.5 percent of victims, versus the 1 percent killed during most annual flu epidemics. Autopsies of the victims showed that many had died of severe pneumonia.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, along with colleagues at the Universities of Kobe and Tokyo in Japan wanted to know why the 1918 flu caused severe pneumonia. So they set out on the painstaking process of substituting single genes from the 1918 virus into modern flu viruses, and tested them out on ferrets, which develop the flu in much the same way as humans. One after another, they acted like the average flu, infecting just the upper respiratory tract. However, they found a complex of three genes helped make the virus live and reproduce deep in the lungs.

After thirteen long years of research, the Japanese Suntory company have finally perfected the mythical blue rose. For a long time, blue roses were merely the stuff of legends, signifying mystery and were believed to be able to grant the owner youth. Breeders have long attempted to create a blue rose through cross-breeding and genetic engineering, but rose petals lacked the enzyme needed to create a blue pigment and so they consistently failed.

But now, the myth has become a reality. The very first real blue roses are now on display in Japan, and will go on sale to the public next year. Of course you can expect these roses to cost you much more than your average rose, simply because they're new, they're rare, and a lot of people will want them.

So how were they created? Japanese Suntory worked with the Australian company Florigene, who took the delphinidin gene (which creates the blue color) from a petunia. They took that gene and inserted it into a mauve roses known as the Cardinal de Richelieu, and the resulting flower was a dark burgundy color due to an excess of the blue pigment cyanidin. They then used RNAi technology to reduce the cyandin pigment, which eventually resulted in the final blue roses which was unveiled today at the annual Flower Expo in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

Many of us are not great spellers, and the thought of a world without spell check or Google's handy "Did you mean..." feature is enough to send some into a panic. In the past bad spelling was attributed to poor schooling and even a lack of moral fiber, but now science is offering up a new explanation. Difficulties with spelling may be rooted in your DNA, and in the way that your brain is actually wired.

These new scientific findings stem from research into the language disorder of dyslexia, but are beginning to prove important for the general population as well. Genes not only influence those with dyslexia, but also those without the syndrome. So if you're a bad speller, you can now blame in on your genes, or your parents since they gave you your DNA.

According to John Stein, Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University Medical School, both reading and spelling require a phenomenal amount of brain power. Deciphering a sentence and all forms of the written word is the most complex tasks your brain faces. The reason behind this is that the written word is a pretty recent invention.

Stein says, "It was invented only 5,000 years ago. It is piggybacked on to our linguistic ability, which was invented 30,000-40,000 years ago. The consequence is that many people fail to read or spell.”

A new study shows that individuals who are overconfident about their abilities are most likely to step in as leaders. Narcissists like to be in charge, but their initiative doesn't mean that they are the best leaders. One of the other things that the study found is that narcissists don't outperform others in leadership roles.

The study claims that narcissists tend to be egotistical and exaggerate their talents and abilities. They also lack empathy for others. Lead research Amy Brunell, a psychologist at Ohio State University in Newark was careful to warn not to confuse narcissism with high self-esteem:

"A person with high self-esteem is confident and charming, but they also have a caring component and they want to develop intimacy with others," said lead researcher Amy Brunell, a psychologist at Ohio State University at Newark. "Narcissists have an inflated view of their talents and abilities and are all about themselves. They don't care as much about others."

It's not surprising that narcissists become leaders. They like power, they are egotistical, and they are usually charming and extraverted. But the problem is, they don't necessarily make better leaders."

Results of the study come from three studies - two with students and one with business managers.