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Toyobo to market RNA Analysis Kit based on RIKEN technology to help develop genomic medicine – BioSpace

OSAKA, Japan, Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyobo Co., Ltd. has productized a ribonucleic acid (RNA) analysis kit based on a novel system titled RamDA-seq*1,that allows full-length sequencing of the total RNA of a single cell. The Laboratory for Bioinformatics Research at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research developed this method last year.

As national health insurance programs in Japan have covered genomic medicine since June 2019, medical care is progressing to be tailored to individual patients by selecting suitable treatment and drugs after analyzing a patient's genes. In recent years, genetic information in a single cell has proven to be effective in treating diseases such as cancer caused by gene mutations, because each cell has different genetic properties. However, conventional methods have been unable to reliably detect disease-causing mutations from an extremely small amount of RNA*2 derived from a single cell.

RIKEN, which is based in Wako City, Saitama Prefecture, is one of Japan's largest scientific research institutes. RIKEN has developed a novel method, RamDA-seq, which enables the amplification of RNA in low bias and the detection of an expression level of genes in a single cell. This method allows the comprehensive identification of RNA varieties and their amounts in a single cell. It drastically improved the analytical precision of a disease-causing gene expression level and mutations in various RNAs, including non-polyadenylated RNAs whose functions remain unclear due to the difficulty in their detection.

RNA Analysis Kit, which Toyobo productized under RIKEN's technological guidance, consists of reagents and a user manual necessary to conduct RamDA-seq. The kit makes it possible to prepare samples more smoothly and stably, as described in articles published by RIKEN.

The kit is expected to expand the use of RamDA-seq, to accelerate the development of various medical fields ranging from basic research to regenerative and genomic medicine. Toyobo will launch the product for research institutes including pharmaceutical companies developing drugs for cancer and other diseases on September 30, 2019. The company aims to achieve annual sales of JPY 1 billion in fiscal 2022.

RNA Analysis Kit to be marketed

Genome includes a complete set of genetic information of the cell, which is recorded as sequences of four types of nucleotide in a biological polymer called DNA. Genes are regions that record genetic information in genome. Genetic information is read out by synthesizing RNA using DNA as a template.The cells that constitute our bodies control its gene expression to perform various functions, while having almost the same genetic information. Since this gene expression is mediated by molecules called RNA, a comprehensive analysis of RNA is effective in understanding the individual characters of individual cells.

About Toyobo Co., Ltd.: Toyobo Co., Ltd (Toyobo) is a worldwide specialty chemical company, headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Since its foundation in 1882 as a textile company, Toyobo has expanded the boundaries of its business beyond textiles to specialty business segments such as industrial and packaging films, functional polymers, industrial materials and healthcare with its unique core technologies originated in textiles and chemical fibers.

For more information, contact: https://www.toyobo-global.com/

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SOURCE Toyobo Co., Ltd.

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Toyobo to market RNA Analysis Kit based on RIKEN technology to help develop genomic medicine - BioSpace

Cancer Cells Devise Way To Survive Chemotherapy – Medical Daily

Cannibalism among cancer cells is one of the major causes of chemotherapy resistance.

Resistance, which occurs when cancers that have been responding to chemo suddenly begin to grow, is normally associated with the massive production by cancer cells of p-glycoprotein pumps, gene amplification and the repair of DNA breaks caused by some anti-cancer drugs such as doxorubicin, among others.

But cannibalism does exist and while uncommon, adds to the burden of curing or mitigating cancer via chemotherapy.

A new study from Tulane University suggests some cancer cells survive chemotherapy by devouring their neighboring tumor cells in a ruthless bid to withstand chemotherapy. This cellular cannibalism is thought to give predatory cancer cells the energy they need to stay alive. It also allows them to begin tumor relapse after the chemotherapy treatment is completed.

Chemotherapy drugs, among them doxorubicin, kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA. Unfortunately, cancer cells that survive the initial treatment give rise to relapsed tumors.

This is an especially thorny problem in breast cancers that retain a normal copy of a gene called TP53. This protein acts as a tumor suppressor. This means it regulates cell division by keeping cells from growing and proliferating too fast or in an uncontrolled way.

Some cancer cells generally stop proliferating and enter a dormant but metabolically active state known as senescence, instead of dying due to chemotherapy-induced DNA damage. Senescent cancer cells also produce large amounts of inflammatory molecules and other factors that can promote the tumors regrowth.

Chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients with normal TP53 genes become prone to relapse and have poor survival rates.

Understanding the properties of these senescent cancer cells that allow their survival after chemotherapy treatment is extremely important, Crystal A. Tonnessen-Murray, a postdoctoral research fellow at James G. Jacksons laboratory at the Tulane University School of Medicine, who led the research team, said.

Her team also discovered that senescent breast cancer cells frequently engulf neighboring cancer cells following exposure to doxorubicin or other chemotherapy drugs. Researchers observed this surprising behavior in cancer cells grown in the lab and also in tumors growing in mice.

They also found that lung and bone cancer cells are also capable of engulfing their neighbors after becoming senescent.

Tonnessen-Murray and her colleagues found that senescent cancer cells activate a group of genes, which are normally active in white blood cells, that engulf invading microbes or cellular debris. They saw that after eating their neighboring cancer cells, senescent cancer cells digested them by delivering them to lysosomes, which are acidic cellular structures highly active in senescent cells.

But the most important finding was that this process helps senescent cancer cells stay alive. Senescent cancer cells that engulfed neighboring cells survived in culture for longer than senescent cancer cells that didnt.

The blood test could rapidly confirm whether breast cancer is responding to the drug palbociclib. Miguel . Padrin/Pexels

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Cancer Cells Devise Way To Survive Chemotherapy - Medical Daily

Plant used in traditional Chinese medicine is effective against malignant skin cancer – Innovation Origins

Malignant skin cancer is one of the most dangerous types of cancer. 5000 people are diagnosed with it every year in Austria. The number of cases has risen sharply in recent decades. Thirty years ago, there were only five hundred people suffering from malignant melanomas.

In contrast, mortality rates have risen by only a slight margin. If detected early, the chances for recovery are good. But as soon as metastases start to form, the chances for a cure drop rapidly. This is also due to the fact that there are hardly any long-term effective treatment options (source: Austrian Society for Dermatology (GDV).

The Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Graz has been conducting research for many years into natural substances that can be used for the treatment of cancer. The team has now achieved a breakthrough which might also make it possible to cure advanced stages of malignant skin cancer. An active substance from the roots of theOnosma paniculata plant, a subspecies of the borage plant (also known as forget-me-not), has been successfully tested on cancer cells and on mice. The researchers also succeeded in modifying the active ingredient and further improving its effect.

The project was carried out in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Institute Munich (the German Research Center for Environmental Health). The group was led by Rudolf Bauer from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacognosy) at the University of Graz. He has been researching medicinal plants that are used in traditional medicine for fifteen years with the aim of identifying bioactive ingredients and discovering new key substances.

The main purpose of the research was to identify the plants that are used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as cures for cancer-related diseases. Cancer-related, because the definition of cancer in TCM differs from that in Western medicine, Nadine Kretschmer explains. She has worked with the project and is a biologist at the Heidelberg University of Medicine. Another goal was to test their suitability as an active substance for a particular medicine. Approximately eighty percent of all Chemotherapeutic drugs are derived from nature, especially from plants. This figure is as high as seventy percent just for cancer therapies. The active substances on the market are usually synthetically modified even more so that they have an optimal effect. The active substances are then usually produced synthetically or biotechnologically for commercial purposes, Kretschmer says.

The contribution made by the University of Graz to the project was based on a database of several hundred medicinal plants used in traditional medicine which have been accumulated over several years. This project focused on plants from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Part of the contribution made by the German partners was the implementation of RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequencing and preliminary evaluations. RNA sequencing serves as a means of determining the nucleotide sequence in the RNA and provides information on how the genetic information of a gene is expressed.

The project included seventy-six of the most promising specimens from the database. These were dried, processed into 253 extracts and tested on various cancer cells. In the end, it was the Onosma Paniculata Bureau & Franch, a type of borage shrub, that offered prospects for further studies. The potent substance --Dimethylacrylshikonin (DMAS) is found in the root of the plant.

During the experiments, the substance was tested on cells of malignant melanomas. The substance destroyed the cells thereby confirming their efficacy. In order to test the substance for side effects, the initial in vivo tests were carried out on mice that were afflicted with skin cancer. - dimethylacrylshikonin was injected directly into the tumor which caused it to change and die off. Two types of cell death were observed:

There were no side effects.

Subsequent trials were conducted expressly with the aim of modifying the substance in order to improve its efficacy. A specific shikonin derivative proved to be especially effective. This demonstrated that the substance is well suited for the development of pharmaceuticals. In the meantime, two more follow-up projects have been planned. More extensive studies are required and the method of application is still an open question, Kretschmer states.

Kretschmer emphasizes that TCM was purely an inspiration for the active substance. It is still not clear how this works within TCM. Normally no singular plants are used in TCM, instead plant mixtures are used. These are prepared like tea. In an attempt to unravel the effect of TCM, the team cooked up the dried plant according to the TCM method and used it in cell cultivation experiments. However, no anti-tumor effect was observed. Kretschmer sees more potential in an oil-based preparation method that is applied to the affected areas of the skin. This is because shikonins are found in higher concentrations in the oil.

Over the course of the project, the identity of the borage plant species sold as TCM remedies was also tested. There are roots that look very similar to the plant we are studying and we have found that the species is often sold under fake names in China. This is problematic because some of the plants that are marketed contain substances that are potentially harmful.

Kretschmer and the research team found a technical solution to the problem: a method which uses thin-layer chromatography for the identification of plants. This innovation is based on a CAMAG system and is simple enough for use in pharmacies.

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a physicochemical separation process that is used to examine the composition of specimens.

The core project was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF and was completed in early 2019.

Publications:

Kretschmer, N.; Deutsch, A.; Durchschein, C.; Rinner, B.; Stallinger, A.; Higareda-Almaraz, J.C.; Scheideler, M.; Lohberger, B.; Bauer, R.: Comparative Gene Expression Analysis in WM164 Melanoma Cells Revealed That --Dimethylacrylshikonin Leads to ROS Generation, Loss of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential, and Autophagy Induction, in: Molecules 2018, 23

Durchschein, C.; Hufner, A.; Rinner, B.; Stallinger, A.; Deutsch, A.; Lohberger, B.; Bauer, R.; Kretschmer, N.: Synthesis of Novel Shikonin Derivatives and Pharmacological Effects of Cyclopropylacetylshikonin on Melanoma Cells, in: Molecules 2018, 23

Jahanafrooz, Z; Stallinger, A; Anders, I; Kleinegger, F; Lohberger, B; Durchschein, C; Bauer, R; Deutsch, A; Rinner, B; Kretschmer, N.: Influence of silibinin and --dimethylacrylshikonin on chordoma cells, in: Phytomedicine 2018, 49

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Plant used in traditional Chinese medicine is effective against malignant skin cancer - Innovation Origins

The end of aging: Are you ready to live to 150? – Mashable

Once weve conquered our diets, instituted a regimen of exercise and saunas and cold plunges, doused ourselves in NMN and resveratrol and Metformin and benign viruses, quit smoking and cut down our drinking and remembered to wear our seatbelts, theres one main obstacle remaining in the way of an extra-long and healthy life: our guilt.

Whether its hard-wired or a result of societal expectations, we tend to feel that old farts should not outstay their welcome. Leave some room for future generations, we grumble under our breath, out of earshot of elderly relatives. Youre already taking up too much of the housing stock, making it near-impossible for millennials to buy homes. You want to bankrupt Social Security and Medicare too?

Just last month, Ezekiel Emanuel, the chair of the University of Pennsylvanias department of medical ethics (and a chief architect of Obamacare) confirmed that he stood by his controversial 2014 essay: Why I hope to die at 75. Despite the onslaught of anti-aging research, Emmannuel (now 62) said his main arguments still held water: That people in their 80s who were still vigorous were not doing meaningful work; that authors above 75 were not producing brand-new books but simply re-ploughing old furrows.

Let's leave aside the fact that's a pretty weird metric to judge the worth of a life -- sorry, grandma, time to go, you're not doing meaningful work or writing new books! Emanuel's argument ignores what biologists like Sinclair are telling us. The more we age in good health, the more useful we will be.

Sinclair, as you might expect, could not disagree with Emanuel more. First of all, he says, lets assume everyone stopped dying of age-related causes tomorrow and they wont, even under the most extreme anti-aging regimen. But if they do, thats only 100,000 extra people per day sticking around. (Around 150,000 people die every day, roughly two-thirds of them from age-related causes.)

Compare that to the worlds current growth rate. More than 350,000 babies arrive every 24 hours. Earth's population is growing because of the size of the average family in the developing world, not because more people are living longer. The main way to bring it down is to educate more women and move more families into cities where, by the way, we shouldnt blame Baby Boomers for the lack of housing. We simply need to build more.

Total human population should level off at around 11 billion around the time your century dawns, whether or not the aged continue to die. And as for the threat of climate change well, perhaps the older generation will start to pay more attention when theyre actually going to live with the effects themselves. Or when they have to look their great-great-grandchildren in the eyes and explain their inaction.

Secondly, a healthy longevity boom would actually take an enormous burden off the healthcare system. Reducing just one of the major killers like heart disease, even by 10 percent, could savetrillions of dollars, money that can then be reinvested in medical research or just returned to patients in the form of lower costs. And thats the whole point of treating aging as the ultimate disease, the one that effectively produces all the others. (For example, Sinclair writes, smoking makes lung cancer five times more likely, but just living from 20 to 70 increases your chances of getting the disease a thousandfold, even if youve never sucked on a cancer stick.)

Aging is by far the biggest risk factor in any disease, by an order of magnitude, Sinclair says; having volunteered in nursing homes with his wife, he knows whereof he speaks. Dont delude yourself: Getting old and getting sick is not fun, for you or for your family. So I believe we have an obligation to preserve our health for as long as possible.

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The end of aging: Are you ready to live to 150? - Mashable

Research suggests new approach for treating inflammation – ScienceBlog.com

Medications that mitigate inflammation caused by a variety of diseases including rheumatic arthritis may also compromise a persons immune system, but a new approach points to a possible solution to this problem.

Researchers have discovered a mechanism that might alleviate inflammation by suppressing the migration of a type of white blood cells called neutrophils. The cells migrate within tissues in order to kill pathogens but may also cause excessive inflammation, resulting in tissue injury and other adverse effects.

The scientists identified a genetic molecule calledmiR-199, a type of microRNA, which reduces the migration of neutrophils, therefore potentially relieving inflammation without compromising the immune system.

This is important because various challenges lie in the balance of dampening detrimental inflammation while preserving immunity, said Qing Deng, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University.

The researchers used a genetic-screening method to identify eight microRNAs that suppress neutrophilic migration, including miR-199. They found that miR-199 directly suppresses the action of an enzyme called cyclin-dependent kinase 2, or CDK2, in turn dampening the migration of neutrophils.

Although CDK2 is well known for its role in regulating a cells life cycle the process of a cell replicating its DNA and dividing to generate two cellsits link to neutrophil migration was previously unknown.

This work suggests miR-199 and CDK2 as new targets for treating inflammatory ailments and introduces an avenue of the function for CDK2 outside the cell cycle regulation, Deng said.

Findings are detailed in a paper appeared online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Alan Y. Hsu, a doctoral student in Purdues Department of Biological Sciences, was the papers lead author. A complete listing of co-authors is available in the abstract.

Recently, microRNAs have been used in clinical trials to treat cancer and infection. They also are used as screening tools to identify the underlying mechanisms of diseases and cell behavior. However, the role of microRNAs in regulating neutrophil migration is largely unknown.

The absence of this knowledge potentially leads to missed opportunities in harnessing microRNAs and their targets in restraining neutrophilic inflammation, Deng said. Our research results expand the current understanding of neutrophil migration and suggest a novel strategy to manage neutrophilic inflammation.

The research was performed in zebrafish and also in human neutrophil-like cells.

Our results reveal previously unknown functions of miR-199 and CDK2 in regulating neutrophil migration and provide a new direction in alleviating systemic inflammation, Deng said.

The research has implications for diseases including rheumatic arthritis, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

Findings showed miR-199 hinders neutrophil motility and directly targets CDK2. Although no previous studies have investigated the role of miR-199 in neutrophils, its role in suppressing inflammation and cell migration has been reported in cancer cells.

Here, we provide evidence that miR-199 is a suppressor of cell migration in white blood cells, expanding its role beyond cancer biology, Deng said.

Surprisingly, she said, miR-199 predominantly regulates the cell cycle-dependent kinase CDK2 in terminally differentiated neutrophils.

When we say a cell is terminally differentiated that means the cell will not divide anymore, she said. The cell cycle is active in stem cells and cancer cells. But when cells change their gene expression to become neutrophils with immune-defense functions, they fight infections and die. So, it is unexpected that genes promoting cell cycle and cell division, such as CDK2, would regulate neutrophil function.

The work is ongoing, and the next step is to understand the detailed molecular mechanisms for how CDK2 suppresses neutrophil migration and lethal inflammation.

The work aligns withPurdues Giant Leapscelebration, acknowledging the universitys global advancements made in health, longevity and quality of life as part of Purdues 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebrationsIdeas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.

The paper was co-authored by researchers affiliated with the Institute of Infection and Inflammation, Medical College of China Three Gorges University; Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics and Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Indiana University School of Medicine; Collaborative Core for Cancer Bioinformatics, Indiana University Simon Cancer Center; Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Pediatrics, University of WisconsinMadison; and Purdues Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Institute for Inflammation, Immunology, and Infectious Disease, and Center for Cancer Research.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (Grant R35GM119787 to Q.D., Grant R35GM118027 to A.H., Grant R01HD073156 to D.M.U., and Grant P30CA023168 to the Purdue Center for Cancer Research) for shared resources. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted by the Collaborative Core for Cancer Bioinformatics, shared by the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center (Grant P30CA082709) and the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research, with support from the Walther Cancer Foundation. Hsu is supported by the Purdue Research Foundation.

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Research suggests new approach for treating inflammation - ScienceBlog.com

MS BioSci grad awarded research grant for stem cell therapy for brain injuries – News at Louisiana Tech

Sean Berman, who earned his MS in Biological Sciences in 2015 from Louisiana Tech, has recently received a grant from the United States Air Force based on his MS research that focuses on traumatic brain injuries and the potential of stem cell therapy in remediating the associated loss in memory and motor coordination.

Berman is hopeful the research will actually aid in repairing the sort of damage to the brain that combat veterans might have experienced as the results of blasts and that football players might have experienced as the result of blows to the head.

His argument is a logical one.

When veterans are coming home from war, theyre being diagnosed with PTSD and treated as though they have a purely psychological problem, said Berman. Zero attention is being paid to the fact theyve had exposure to blasts, both in training and in combat, resulting in many traumatic brain injuries. The structural integrity of their brain is totally disrupted. To not attempt to repair the structural tissue damage and treat it only as a psychological case is like putting a fresh paint job on a high rise thats on the verge of collapse.

Based on work hes been involved with at Tech, along with some clinical work hes done since, we can see that stem cells can help repair this damaged tissue, he said. The goal of this SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant project is to take military personnel diagnosed with severe PTSD, provide stem cell therapy via an IV infusion, and then follow up with typical PSTD verbal tests that are issued at the VA, but also use an advanced assay (test) to measure discrete amounts of neuro-inflammatory markers that can be found in the peripheral blood.

We are partnering with the company, Quanterix, that has equipment that can measure these proteins at a very precise level, so much so that we can correlate it to the severity of the brain injury and hopefully show improvement in that injury over time, Berman said. If successful, we can extend the impact of this research to the public and other groups prone to concussive injury, such as NSF football players.

Earning the grant an Air Force AFWERX SIBR grant is no small accomplishment. The SIBR program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in both Federal Research and Research and Development that has commercialization potential. AFWERX allows the Air Force to engage across industry, academia, and non-traditional contributors to create transformative opportunities and foster an Air Force culture of innovation. The ultimate aim is to solve problems and enhance the effectiveness of the Air Force.

Berman went to Amherst College undergrad and played football there, so he has some experience with head trauma. When he came to Tech with a year of eligibility left, he was given the opportunity to walk on at Tech as a graduate student.

A couple days after I showed up at Tech for Fall Camp, the NFL settled its concussion lawsuit with the NFLPA (National Football League Players Association) for $765 million, a number thats since been upwardly revised to nearly $1 billion, he said. Definitely a hot topic that was all over the news. Everyones initial reaction was, We need to change the game. Make it safer. End football. Take away tackling.

Berman was perplexed, he said, that no one was saying, We need to find a treatment for concussions.

If you roll your ankle in soccer, there are a handful of different treatment options and protocols, Berman said. If you concuss your brain in football, you simply rest until you get better. It didnt make sense to me that the players, trainers, and a medical team would actively work to treat an ankle sprain, but when it came to your brain, the answer was sleep and rest. So I thought itd be a good idea to study concussions while at Tech and hopefully find a solution and viable treatment option. I think we did that.

Bermans research at Tech was conducted under the guidance of Dr. David K. Mills, professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at Tech. Today, he is back in his hometown of Santa Monica, California working with a team of more than 500 doctors across the United States and internationally who are doing stem cell research.

The majority of the work is being done clinically, looking at restoring all kinds of damaged tissue naturally with stem cells, Berman said. We collect and analyze data on thousands of patients, trying to optimize the therapies to figure out which patients are the best candidates, which routes of stem cell administration are most effective, and what complimentary therapies are required, if any.

Its been a lot of fun, he said, and were seeing some life-changing results.

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MS BioSci grad awarded research grant for stem cell therapy for brain injuries - News at Louisiana Tech

Column: A stem cell clinic under fire by the FDA and ex-patients files for bankruptcy – Los Angeles Times

StemGenex, the operator of a La Jolla clinic that drew a warning from the Food and Drug Administration that its purported stem cell treatments were illegal, has filed for bankruptcy.

The clinic also is facing a class-action lawsuit in San Diego federal court brought by several former customers who say they were misled by its advertising and marketing.

The firms bankruptcy filing, made on Sept. 5, lists more than $1 million in liabilities and $155,788 in assets including a Tesla Model X electric car on which it still owes $54,000.

The filing opens a window into the scale of StemGenexs business. It discloses revenues of more than $8.2 million dating back to Jan. 2, 2017. Based on the firms standard fee of about $14,900 per treatment, the revenue figure suggests StemGenex may have had as many as 550 customers over that period; some have said they had more than one treatment, for which they were charged separate fees.

Neither StemGenex nor its founder and president, Rita Alexander, could be reached Thursday. The firms bankruptcy attorney did not respond to a request for comment. The StemGenex website, through which prospective customers could arrange treatment or appointments, no longer lists a telephone number and now identifies the firm as an educational stem cell resource.

Weve reported previously that StemGenex operated one of the hundreds of clinics sprawled across the U.S. offering treatments for a host of medical conditions purportedly by using stem cells. Its procedure involved extracting fat from a customers body by liposuction, processing the tissue ostensibly to concentrate its stem cells, and injecting the resulting fluid into the same customer.

As the FDA asserted in a warning letter it issued to StemGenex in November, the firm said it could treat a variety of serious diseases and life-threatening conditions, including Alzheimers disease, Crohns disease, Type I and Type II diabetes, fibromyalgia, spinal cord injury, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinsons disease, peripheral neuropathy and rheumatoid arthritis.

No scientific evidence exists validating the claim that the treatment StemGenex offered has proven medical utility in humans. Patients treated at other unrelated clinics offering similar procedures have suffered serious medical consequences, including blindness. The FDA informed StemGenex that its marketing of the purported stem cell treatment was illegal and could be putting patients at risk.

The procedure has come under attack by the FDA, which has mounted a campaign to warn prospective patients and has brought legal action against several such firms. In June, a federal judge in Miami issued an injunction effectively shutting down Florida-based U.S. Stem Cell clinic. A similar FDA lawsuit against Rancho Mirage-based Cell Surgical Network is pending in federal court in Riverside.

The class-action lawsuit against StemGenex was brought by former patients who say they were induced by the firms false and misleading advertisements to pay for treatments that have no basis in scientific fact. StemGenex has denied that it made any misrepresentations to customers or that it offers patients any promises or guarantees of results.

Customers said in depositions filed in the lawsuit that they were told the clinic had a 90% success rate in treating its patients. Indeed, as they could tell from the StemGenex website or from promotional material sent to them, the clinic had a 100% patient satisfaction rating.

As it turned out, however, the success rate the firms agents cited was inaccurate, according to former executives. The patient satisfaction rating had nothing to do with whether the treatments worked medically, Alexander acknowledged in a deposition, but referred only to features such as the hotel accommodations the patients received. The rating was the product of a questionnaire filled out by patients the day after their procedures, typically while they were still recovering from surgery and while a clinic employee stood by.

In fact, a former StemGenex executive, asked by a plaintiffs lawyer if there was any scientific basis to make the claim, answered: There is none.

The firms bankruptcy filing automatically places the class-action case on hold. But Timothy Williams, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said they intend to pursue the case, whether in bankruptcy court or district court. He said that even if StemGenex is found to have few assets, the plaintiffs will proceed against the firms insurers and other named defendants, including Alexander and former physicians associated with StemGenex.

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Column: A stem cell clinic under fire by the FDA and ex-patients files for bankruptcy - Los Angeles Times

Dangerous results from unproven medical treatments led to Google ban – The Verge

Acting to prevent clinics from misleading patients, Google announced on Friday that it will ban ads for unproven or experimental medical procedures.

For several years, the Food and Drug Administration has inched toward cracking down on clinics that offer unproven and unsafe stem cell therapy. Scientists have long condemned these clinics for attracting patients with promises not backed by science. The FDA wants these clinics to test their procedures like any new treatment, in rigorous clinical trials, and federal courts have agreed. But these clinics continue to market the unsafe procedures. Experts say this has put vulnerable patients in a bind, exposing them to sketchy salespeople who are peddling hope for thousands of dollars. Now that Google has weighed in, courting patients with dubious claims just got a lot harder.

Normally, before a new treatment can be widely available, it must go through clinical trials to test whether it is effective. These scientific studies establish how safe and effective the treatment is so that duds and dangerous treatments can be left behind. Results are closely monitored by outside researchers and regulators to maintain scientific integrity. The only stem cell procedures that have gone through the clinical trials process and are currently approved by the FDA involve using specific cells from bone marrow or cord blood to treat bone marrow and blood cancers. Google does still allow ads that recruit patients for sanctioned clinical trials in the US.

Rogue stem cell clinics, which bypass the regulatory process, are not new. Hundreds of doctors across the country gladly accept payment for what other doctors and scientists say is just modern snake oil, seeing patients with chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons, and other hard-to-treat diseases. They tell patients that injecting stem cells into problem areas whether thats a joint, vein, or eye is their safest or best option. But often, they offer no scientific evidence to back up those claims and very rarely accept insurance. Unlike most FDA-sanctioned clinical trials, patients pay out of pocket and upfront, often spending between $10,000 and $20,000 on treatments.

Its heartbreaking. Its infuriating, says Jeremy Snyder, a professor at Simon Fraser University who studies the medical exploitation of vulnerable patients.

Leigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota, recalls writing his first letter to the FDA over seven years ago, encouraging it to investigate what he describes as a marketplace in expansion-mode.

Turner was shocked by how doctors were endangering patients with clinically unproven uses of patients cells, citing clear conflicts with FDA regulations. Stories later surfaced of patients being harmed by stem cell procedures. Patients suffered serious infections, benign tumors, and blindness after their treatments. The FDA ramped up its focus on rogue clinics: first writing new regulations, then harshly worded letters, before moving on to legal action. Going to court to assert that these procedures must pass through clinical trials. But slow-moving legal battles, though many of them are ultimately successful, still havent shuttered these expanding businesses. And tech companies have boosted that expansion from the start.

According to Gayathri Sivakumar, a health communication researcher at Colorado State University who previously worked for Googles ad and policy teams in India, chronically ill patients often depend on the internet for health information. Advertisers get what they want and for Google its a good way of making money, she says.

Google and Bing ads let clinics market directly to patients seeking help. Even searching phrases like best alternative treatment for paralysis returns ads for unproven and potentially dangerous stem cell therapies. Marketing agencies routinely use Google and Facebook to funnel patients into unregulated clinics that are operating without robust evidence. Desperate and sick patients follow these ads hoping for answers and end up making clinics and Google richer in the process.

On September 6th, The Washington Post reported that Google plans to pull and prevent ads from stem cell clinics.

According to Google, direct-to-consumer stem cell and cell-based treatments and gene therapies can lead to dangerous health outcomes and we feel they have no place on our platforms. The policy will go live in October.

Google is no stranger to banning ads for predatory businesses. Last year, Google banned ads for addiction treatment centers after a Verge report revealed the ads took advantage of people with deceptive marketing. In May, Google announced it would eliminate misleading ads for anti-abortion clinics.

Experts say this latest move is important given how massive Google is in the online ad space. This is fantastic news, says Snyder. While he says Google should be applauded, he adds that it is heavily responsible for propping up these clinics in the first place.

Asked about Googles ban, Turner says that it seems pretty comprehensive. He was especially pleased that its policy did not attempt to distinguish between clinics based on the potential risk of treating the conditions they claim to heal. Some conditions, such as joint issues, are less risky to treat than things like neurological disorders. If Google were to try to distinguish between the two, Turner believes it would riddle its policy with loopholes. Google confirmed the policy will not distinguish between different types of unproven uses.

I was pleasantly surprised when I first heard about it, says Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell biologist at the University of California at Davis. Knoepfler has tracked this industry for years in academic journals and on his blog. I also expect the stem cell clinics to fight back. They will try to adapt.

These experts agree that Googles move sets a good example. They also agree that vulnerable patients arent yet in the clear. Snyder wants to see other tech companies follow suit, and Turner thinks state medical boards should consider disciplinary action against doctors putting patients at risk.

Sivakumar echoed this mix of approval and caution. Is it a full solution? Not really, she says. But it can reduce the negative effects for a short time until they find another way to exploit people.

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Dangerous results from unproven medical treatments led to Google ban - The Verge

Computer Science K-12 Education; Family of Stem Cell Donor Connects With Recipient 20 Years Later; Forecasting Volcanic Eruptions – WILL News -…

More school districts are introducing computer science education in their classrooms. But Illinois doesnt have any standards for teaching that subject and teachers say its time to come up with a clear plan. Plus,decades ago, a cutting edge stem cell treatment from umbilical cord blood saved one Illinois woman's life. And, earlier this month she met her donor and his parents for the first time. Also,well talk to a University of Illinois geology professor about her work how to better forecast volcanic eruptions.

Computer Science K-12 Education

Think back to when you were a kid in school. You might remember trying to learn the basics, in topics like writing or math. Maybe as you got older you started to learn basic history and science, too.

Well, for students and teachers alike, theres also been more and more demand for computer science education at all age levels.

And now, educators throughout the state say theres a huge need to come up with a clear plan for K-12 computer science in Illinois. Thats because even though many districts have added computer science, theres still a lot we dont know about it,including a lack of established standards for K-12 public schools that teach this subject.

Raya Hegeman-Davis is the Program Coordinator for the University of Illinois Secondary Teacher Education and Computer Science Initiative. Bertram Ludascher is a professor at the University of Illinoiss school of information sciences and faculty affiliate at NCSA and the computer science department. Nicole Rummel is the director of instruction at the Mahomet-Seymour School District.

They aresome of the participants at a summit thats happeningFriday at the University of Illinois.

Family of Stem Cell Donor Connects With Recipient 20 Years Later

In 1994, Dania Davey and her husband made an important decision. Although she didnt quite realize how important it was at the time, that decision would save a young womans life hundreds of miles away.

That woman is Holly Becker, who was 24 when she received a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Holly is an oncologist at Loyola Medicine in Maywood, Illinois decided to try a cutting edge treatment at the time in the 90's: a stem cell transplant from donated umbilical cord blood.

That cord blood came from Danias son Patrick. It was donated and frozen the day he was born in New York.

Holly is now cancer free. And she met the Daveysearlier this month in Illinois. Its thought to be one of the first times a stem cell donor from umbilical cord blood has met the recipient.

Dania Davey and Holly Becker joined us. Dr. Patrick Stiff also joinedus from Loyola University Medical Center. He was Hollys oncologist back in 1997. Duke University'sDr. Joanne Kurtzberg is an expert on cord blood and director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank.

Forecasting Volcano Eruptions

When it comes to forecasting severe weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes, accuracy is key. Knowing what to expect and when to expect it can mean the difference between life and death.

Now, researchers at the University of Illinois are part of a new study looking at ways we can better forecast volcanic eruptions. Theyve been studying one which happened in Alaska back in 2008,which traditional forecasting models missed.

Researchers are now using new computer models to paint a more accurate picture about if and when we can expect volcanic eruptions.

Trish Gregg, geology professor at the University of Illinois,joined us in theour Urbanastudio to tell us more about the work she and her team have been doing.

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Computer Science K-12 Education; Family of Stem Cell Donor Connects With Recipient 20 Years Later; Forecasting Volcanic Eruptions - WILL News -...

Google bans ads for ‘unproven’ treatments from stem cell clinics – BioNews

16 September 2019

Google has announced a new Healthcare and Medicines policy whereby clinics offering 'unproven or experimental medical techniques' will not be allowed to advertise on the platform.

The policy will covermost stem cell and gene therapies, and follows a recent campaign by the FDA to take action against clinics offering unapproved stem cell treatments (see BioNews 949 and 916), as well as reports of patients being harmed by unregulated treatments (see BioNews893).

'This new policy will prohibit ads selling treatments that have no established biomedical or scientific basis. The new policy also includes treatments that are rooted in basic scientific findings and preliminary clinical experience, but currently have insufficient formal clinical testing to justify widespread clinical use,' said a Google blog post.

According to the Washington Post, clinics have been advertising stem cell treatments for a wide range of conditions including multiple sclerosis and ALS (motor neurone disease) as well as more common conditions including macular degeneration and arthritis. The treatments often cost US$10,000-20,000 and there are concerns that vulnerable patients are being exploited.

Advertising for participants to take part in properly regulated clinical trials will still be permitted, as will advertising aimed at communicating scientific findings to the public.

Google worked with The International Society for Stem Cell Research to develop the new policy.

'While stem cells have great potential to help us understand and treat a wide range of diseases, most stem cell interventions remain experimental and should only be offered to patients through well-regulated clinical trials,' said the society's president, Professor Deepak Srivasteva.

'The premature marketing and commercialisation of unproven stem cell products threatens public health, their confidence in biomedical research, and undermines the development of legitimate new therapies.'

Excerpt from:
Google bans ads for 'unproven' treatments from stem cell clinics - BioNews