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Epigenetic drug improves stem-cell therapy for blood vessel repair


May 7, 2014

In a new study, published this week in the prestigious journal Cell Stem Cell, the teams of Drs. Marjorie Brand and David Allan show that it is possible to dramatically enhance the therapeutic potential of blood vessel stem cells by pre-treating them with a drug that removes chromosomal markers that silence specific genes (i.e. epigenetic control). This approach holds great promise to improve stem cell therapies for vascular diseases, including heart attack and stroke. Read the article.

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The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. OHRI includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

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Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
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