Abstract: Therapeutic stem cells and methods for their use and manufacture. Stem cells are produced under conditions in which the stem cells are exposed to at least one environmental factor, including decreased oxygen tension. The environmental factors and culture conditions of the invention produce stem cells having an enhanced therapeutic ability and enhanced proliferation in culture. Stem cells of the invention retain their plasticity through a higher number of cell passages relative to know methods of stem cell culture. The invention also contemplates the use of such stem cells in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease and stroke.

Abstract: Method of treating retinal disease by intravitreally injecting defined cytokine-transfected stem cell population; adipose-derived stem cell comprising transient wound-healing trangenes; defined homogeneous and heterogeneous populations of cytokine-transfected adipose-derived stem cells; method of treating retinal disease involves step of laser-inducing retinal injury followed by intravitreally injecting a population of stem cells comprising transiently transfected stem cells into the eye of the mammal in a number sufficient for repopulation, intraretinal integration and differentiation into normal photoreceptor cells.