Cell reprogramming calls The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to mind.

It's a new technology that uses molecular therapy to coax adult cells to revert to an embryonic stem cell-like state, allowing scientists to later [IN1] re-differentiate these cells into specific types with the potential to treat heart attacks or diseases such as Parkinson's. But at this point in the technology's development, only one percent of cells are successfully being reprogrammed.

Now, for the first time, scientists at Tel Aviv University in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University have succeeded in tracking the progression of these cells through live imaging to learn more about how they are reprogrammed, and how the new cells evolve over time.

Mont‐Saint‐Guibert, Belgium, June 29, 2010 ... Cardio3 BioSciences, a leading Belgian biotechnology company specialising in regenerative therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, today announces positive safety data and preliminary efficacy results from its clinical trial of C‐Cure®, a breakthrough stem cell therapy for heart failure.

BEIJING, 18 JUNE 2010. Scientists in China have successfully engineered myocardial tissue (heart muscle) that is likely to share structural and functional similarities with natural myocardium according to new data presented today at the World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) Scientific Sessions in Beijing, China.

Heart disease can lead to damage or death of heart muscle, which can cause a heart attack and/or eventually lead to heart failure. Pharmacologic and interventional treatment can decelerate but not stop the progression of heart failure and for many patients a heart transplant is their only hope. However, the lack of available donor organs significantly limits the number of heart transplantations that are carried out. Myocardial tissue engineering offers one promising strategy for the future.

SAN FRANCISCO Stem cell scientists from around the world gathered at the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in San Francisco to exchange information about the latest treatments with stem cells. An American company, TCA Cellular Therapy, LLC announced its FDA clinical trial results using adult stem cells in patients with history of a heart attack during open heart surgery.

"I anticipate that in the near future adult stem cells will be offered to patients with a history of heart attack who are going to have bypass surgery"

New technology developed by University of Virginia inventors involving adipose stem cells - adult stem cells found in fatty tissue - could one day be used to treat patients with severe wounds and other serious conditions.

The U.Va. Patent Foundation recently licensed a series of novel ways to identify, grow and use these cells to the GID Group, putting the U.Va. discoveries on the path to commercialization.

Over the past few years, researchers have determined that adipose stem cells have therapeutic potential in a variety of areas, including tissue engineering and treatment of chronic wounds, like those caused by diabetic ulcers; diseases characterized by poor blood flow, such as cardiac ischemia, which leads to heart attacks; and severe burns.