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After two stem cell transplants and several rounds of chemo, ‘now he’s just like a normal 2-year-old’ – GoDanRiver.com

By Stell Cell Research

When Shannon DeAndrea saw a knot on her 18-month-old sons head last July, she thought he had just fallen.

But more popped up and wouldnt go away. He also began feeling sick.

I finally decided he needed to see a pediatrician, said DeAndrea, who lives in Blairs.

She was told he had ear infections and her son, Nathan, was put on rounds of antibiotics. The knots were normal, she was told.

Another medical provider said he looked anemic. Blood work revealed his hemoglobin was dangerously low.

We ended up in the ER, DeAndrea said. They couldnt figure out why he was anemic.

Shannon and Nathan were sent to Roanoke, where he was diagnosed with a stage 4 neuroblastoma on Aug. 23. He had a tumor in his abdomen that spread to his bone marrow. He had spots on his skull, ribs and spine.

Neuroblastomas are cancers that begin in early nerve cells of the sympathetic nervous system, according to the American Cancer Society.

Since his diagnosis, her son now 2 has had several rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants and is doing well.

Now hes just like a normal 2-year-old, DeAndrea said. Hes running around with his sister. Hes eating well.

Dr. William Clark is associate professor of medicine and attending physician at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center Stem Cell Transplantation Program. Clark said the procedure is used for conditions including multiple myeloma, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and leukemia.

Stem cell transplants are used to replace bone marrow that has been destroyed by cancer or destroyed by the chemo and/or radiation used to treat the cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

High doses of chemo (sometimes along with radiation), work better than standard doses to kill cancer cells. However, high doses can also kill the stem cells and cause the bone marrow to stop making blood cells, which are needed for life. The transplanted stem cells replace the bodys stem cells after the bone marrow and its stem cells have been destroyed by treatment, according to the American Cancer Society.

Two types of stem cell transplants include autologous, which uses stem cells from the patients own body, and allogeneic using stem cells from another person, Clark said.

For leukemia patients, most of the time, we give them stem cells from someone else, Clark said. Chemotherapy helps lower the leukemia disease burden, but the new immune system provided by the new stem cells can fight against the cancer cells and get rid of them, he said.

Virginia Commonwealth Universitys cancer center performs an average of about 160-195 stem cell transplants per year, Clark said. Slightly more than half are autologous procedures, and the rest are allogeneic, he said.

Whitt Clement, former delegate who represented the Danville area in the General Assembly, underwent a stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia in September 2015.

The most important aspect for patients is being self-aware and their own best advocates, Clement said.

My experience was that the patient has to ask a lot of questions throughout the process, he said.

He suspected something was wrong when he noticed his platelet count declining over seven years. He went to a hematologist and had a bone marrow biopsy that revealed his condition.

If I had not taken the initiative myself and gone to see a hematologist, matters would have progressed to the point where I would have been symptomatic, Clement said.

Finding the perfect match in a donor is also important, Clement said. Fortunately, he had a sibling who met all the criteria and donated stem cells.

A person can get great matches from unrelated donors, but its preferable for a donor to be a sibling, said Clement, partner at Hunton & Williams law firm in Richmond.

Your body has an easier time tolerating the new stem cells, he said.

Clement served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1988-2002, and as Virginias secretary of transportation from 2002-2005 under Gov. Mark Warner.

For someone with multiple myeloma, the transplant does not cure the disease but delays the time it returns by up to seven and a half years, Clark said.

Lymphoma, leukemia and sickle cell anemia can be cured with the procedure, Clark said. Lymphoma can be cured in about 50 to 80 percent of cases, depending on the lymphoma, Clark said.

The first 30 days after the transplant are the most critical, Clement said. During that time, different organs can have varying reactions to the new cells. It can affect the kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and cause other side effects.

The idea is that the closer the match, the less likely youll have those adverse reactions, he said.

The process includes being put on an immunosuppressant to prevent the immune system from attacking the new cells, Clement said.

He credits the quality of his recovery to asking lots of questions and being his own advocate tape recording conversations with medical providers, coming in with written questions.

Ive been able to recover better because of that, he said.

Its a long journey and so a person confronted with the transplant situation has got to prepare himself for a long journey that requires a lot of questions along the way, Clement said.

There are about 20 million potential stem cell/bone marrow donors in the BeTheMatch Registry in the United States, Clark said.

Stem cell transplants began in the late 50s/early 60s with the first successful procedure done in an identical twin, Clark said. However, stem cell transplants were limited until medicines that prevent rejections became available.

The number of procedures increased in the 1980s, Clark said.

Danville resident Susan Mathena, cancer patient navigator at Danville Regional Medical Center, became a donor about 20 years ago because she wanted to help people. Mathena has also been an organ donor since she got her drivers license.

I see patients all the time that need stem cell transplants, Mathena said. We always need a source of bone marrow donation.

Though she will age out of the stem cell donor list soon, she could still be contacted if she is the only match for someone in need, she said.

Clark will speak next month on stem cell/bone marrow transplants at Ballou Recreation Center at an event held by the Cancer Research and Resource Center of Southern Virginia in Danville.

Thousands of patients with blood cancers like leukemia or other diseases like sickle cell anemia need a bone marrow/stem cell transplant to survive, including some of our own community members, said Kate Stokely Powell, coordinator at the center.

Clarks presentation offers an opportunity in Southside for people battling illness, medical students and professionals and the public to learn from an expert in the field of stem cell transplants, Powell said.

Doctors, hospitals and families affected by a blood cancer disease have done a great job of building a massive database of blood types for potential donor matches, Clement said.

For DeAndrea and her son, Nathan, the first transplant included four or five days of chemo. The new stem cells following the chemo that killed off his old stem cells from the transplant were like a rescue, she said.

Its wiping you out and then giving you your cells back to restart your immune system, DeAndrea said.

A second round of heavy chemo was to try to kill what was left of the cancer and replenish cells, she said.

It was rough, it was a nightmare, DeAndrea said. It was by far the worst phase of his treatment, but I believe, in the long run, its worth it.

She said the procedures should increase Nathans chances for survival and prevent a relapse.

Nathan just finished radiation Tuesday and will go in for a biopsy of his bone marrow this week, DeAndrea said.

Well find out next week where we stand as far as the cancer goes, she said.

Excerpt from:
After two stem cell transplants and several rounds of chemo, 'now he's just like a normal 2-year-old' - GoDanRiver.com

Scientists Take New Approach to Fighting Type 1 Diabetes – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

By Stell Cell Research

Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Scientists Take New Approach to Fighting Type 1 Diabetes
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Semma, meanwhile, formed in 2014 around research from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute that led to a means of generating billions of insulin-making beta cells in the lab. Similar to ViaCyte, the cells would be placed in a device that is implanted in the ...

and more »

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Scientists Take New Approach to Fighting Type 1 Diabetes - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Embryonic Stem Cells: 5 Misconceptions – livescience.com

By Embryonic Stem Cells

Fertility treatments could be a factor that will result in declining fecundity (potential for fertility, such as regular menstrual cycles) across the generations, some researchers say. Others point to the depression that can come with infertility as a reason to offer medicalized pregnanies. Image

Last week President Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and asked the National Institutes of Health to come up with a funding game plan within 120 days. Yet while the field of stem cell research holds great promise, hype and misconceptions cloud the picture. Here are a five such misconceptions.

1. George W. Bush killed research on embryonic stem cells.

Wrong. Bush actually was the first president to allow federal funding. Bill Clinton had chickened out. A very brief history follows.

In 1974, Congress banned federal funding on fetal tissue research and established the Ethics Advisory Board to study the nascent field of in vitro fertilization. In 1980 Ronald Reagan killed the Board, which was friendly to embryonic research, resulting in a de facto moratorium on funding. Congress tried to override the moratorium in 1992, but George H.W. Bush vetoed it. Bill Clinton lifted the moratorium in 1993 but reversed his decision in 1994 after public outcry. In 1995, Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, banning federal funding on any research that destroys human embryos.

In 2001 Bush enabled limited funding on embryonic stem cell lines already derived from discarded embryos; the life or death decision already had been made, he said. He thought more than 60 lines existed, but within months scientists realized that only about 20 were viable, not enough to do substantial research.

2. Bush spurred development of alternative sources of embryonic stem cells.

Sure, in the same way his disastrous invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq spurred the development of treatment for massive head trauma, or the way his economic policies have encouraged all of us to do more with less. One doesn't advance a scientific field by handicapping researchers.

Regardless, the biggest advance in recent years has come from Japan by a researcher not affected by U.S. research funding rules. U.S. federal funding could have led to even more advances of alternative sources, because funding stem cell research in general can have a synergetic effect across the various research specialties.

3. Embryonic stem cells are no longer needed.

Wrong. In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan announced a breakthrough in which adult skin cells could be coaxed back into an embryonic state and thus regain the ability to branch into any kind of human cell, such as heart, pancreas or spinal cord nerve cell. While a major advance, the work itself is in an embryonic state, years from practical application.

The work on these so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells complements embryonic stem cell research; it doesn't replace it. The iPS cells have a greater tendency to become cancerous. Work on "real" embryonic stem cells is needed, at a minimum, to understand what iPS cells lack. Many view Yamanaka's technique as brilliant yet worry that his four-gene manipulation of adult cells might be too simplistic.

Research on iPS cells is particularly exciting because it opens the possibility of using one's own cells say, from skin to produce pancreas cells to cure diabetes, whereas embryonic stem cells would introduce DNA from a stranger.

4. Cures are around the corner.

Wrong. Stem cell research is dominated by hype. Remember gene therapy, the insertion of genes into human cells to cure all types of diseases? Nearly two decades after the first gene therapy procedure, the technique remains highly experimental and problematic. Stem cell research faces a similar future.

5. Obama's executive order means "all systems go."

Unlikely. The new rule eliminates red tape, for now researchers can study any established embryonic stem cell line. Previously, stem cell researchers receiving private and public funding needed to keep detailed records of spending, down to which microscope is used for which kind of stem cell. That's history.

But the Dickey-Wicker Amendment (see No. 1 above) is the law of the land, meaning federally funded researchers cannot create new embryonic stem cells lines. They can work only on those new lines created with private funding, which aren't that plentiful. Also, some scientists worry that crucial private funding will dry up with the poor economy and false reassurances that federal funding is in place.

The furor over stem cells focuses on the definition of human life, which many believe begins when sperm meets eggs. Yet inevitably lines will be blurred in coming years when babies are born with the DNA of two sperms or ova transplanted into an egg. Just as humans evolved from non-humans with no precise generation in which a non-human gave birth to a human we may come to understand that all of nature is a continuum.

Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His column, Bad Medicine, appears each Tuesday on LiveScience.

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Embryonic Stem Cells: 5 Misconceptions - livescience.com

Munster woman fights aggressive leukemia – nwitimes.com

By Uncategorized

Kate Nierengarten would often get her hair cut and donate the locks to people who needed it because of a medical condition.

So when chemotherapy caused her to lose her hair, which she then donated, it wasn't out of the ordinary to her 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.

"That was common vocabulary in our house," said Nierengarten, 33, of Munster. "My kids were excited. They thought I would get a red wig like Ariel. My son thought I was going to get a wig like Captain Hook. They helped cut my hair and shave my head when we got to that point."

Nierengarten was diagnosed in February with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a disease that usually affects kids and accounts for less than 1 percent of cancer cases.

She has since been undergoing aggressive chemotherapy at a downtown Chicago hospital. Her disease is now in remission.

But a potential cure lies in a stem cell transplant. However, through her family and a national database, she hasn't been able to find a perfect donor match.

So her friends have planned a stem cell donor drive in her honor Monday in Munster. Only 2 percent of the U.S. population is on the donor registry.

When: Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Community Hospital cafeteria, 901 Macarthur Blvd. in Munster.

How: Donors fill out a form with personal information and take a cheek swab.

If you can't make it, register online at dkms.org/en/register.

"My greatest hope for this is we find a match for her. That would be amazing and a miracle," said Katie Huray, a friend of Nierengarten's who lives in St. John. "But hopefully we find a match for somebody. It would be pretty awesome if we could save a life out of this."

Huray described Nierengarten as a kind person, a loving mother, who would do the same thing for any of her friends if the situation was reversed.

"When her daughter started kindergarten, she put a necklace on her that said 'kindness' and told her to find a kid who isn't sitting by anybody," Huray said, stopping to cry before composing herself, "and make sure you sit next to them."

Nierengarten's friends raised money for her by making T-shirts that said "Kindness for Kate" on the front and on the back: "Have courage and be kind."

Dr. Olga Frankfurt, a hematologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said Nierengarten's medical team is still deciding whether a stem cell transplant is in her best interests, since her disease is in remission and the transplant comes with a risk of complications. Having a perfect donor match would make that decision a little easier, though, she noted.

"She has had a great response and tolerated therapy well. At the moment, she's great," Frankfurt said. "We're just trying to figure out the best way to transition her from remission to cure."

In January, Nierengarten started feeling fatigued. She could only handle about 20 minutes of her regular hour-long workout. Eventually, she could only walk for a few minutes before she had to sit down.

A doctor found she had an enlarged spleen. She was sent to the emergency room, where she got a biopsy because her lymph nodes were swollen. She got the diagnosis of leukemia.

She was initially at Northwestern for five weeks. Since then, she's been traveling back and forth to the hospital, sometimes staying there for days while the medical staff monitors her condition.

"During that five-week stretch, my daughter got sad. My son got sad and acted out," she said. "They would stand in front of the door and not let my husband go to work. If I was leaving for treatment, they would try to keep me at home."

Nierengarten and her husband, Michael, say the support of their friends and family have gotten them through a challenging time.

"It's been tough for all of us because you never want to see loved ones go through this, especially at this point in our life, especially with little kids," he said.

"But as time has gone on and she's responded well to treatment, you feel like you're moving forward. We've had so much support and help from the community and both sets of family live nearby. Even though it's been an unfortunate situation, I think we're as situated as well as anyone could be."

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Munster woman fights aggressive leukemia - nwitimes.com

Big Lake woman seeks stem cell treatment for chronic Lyme disease – Monticello Times

By Stem Cell Treatment

By Vicki Ikeogu Monticello Times

Some days are better than others.

But lately, those days are rare and far between for Big Lake resident Kristi Hellen.

Ive never felt great, Hellen, 38, said. No, I never have great feeling days. Sometimes there would be a period 5 to 30 minutes a day that I would feel good. Now, thats down to just 5 to 10 minutes.

For the past 16 years the mystery surrounding Hellens crippling pain remained that, a mystery. Its been seven months since Big Lake resident Kristi Hellens chronic and crippling Lyme disease diagnosis. Hellen found two treatment options: One was taking a combination of medications, herbs and supplements for two years. The other was stem cell treatment at a clinic in California. Infusio Clinic in Beverly Hills, California, uses a patients own stem cells to help battle the disease. To cover the cost of the $35,350 for stem cell treatment, Hellen and her family have established a YouCaring site to thats raised just over $25,000 to date. Hellen will leave for her treatment Aug. 26. She will return to Big Lake on Sept. 11. (Submitted Photo)

Ive been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, Hellen said. Ive been on a few medications, but those would only make me feel like 20 percent better.

It wasnt until about a year ago and with the gentle persistence of a close friend that Hellen would get tested for a disease she feared: Lyme.

Those test results have since given Hellen something she hasnt had for almost two decades: hope.

Growing up in the Elk River and Zimmerman area, Hellen said she would spend a lot of time outdoors in her parents wooded yard.

We also would go to a cabin in Wisconsin, she said. And I would get bit by several ticks every year.

While none of those tick bites resulted in the trademark bullseye rash an early symptom of Lyme disease Hellen said during her teen years she would start getting severe migraine headaches. But it was nothing the avid dancer couldnt handle.

Until college. It was the summer after my freshman year in college, she said. My hands began hurting so much that I couldnt hold a pencil.

Hellen said she began feeling increasingly fatigued. Her back and neck began hurting to the point that she became immobile.

In my early 20s I had to move back home with my parents, she said. I physically was unable to take care of myself.

At that time, Hellen said she could push herself, forcing her body to retain some of her independence.

I so badly wanted to live a normal life, she said.

With the help and encouragement of her parents she started an in-home tutoring business. She even felt she had the strength to start dating.

Thats when I met my husband (Matt), Hellen said.

But dating while in crippling pain had its limitations.

After about five or seven dates I just didnt have enough energy to go out, Hellen said. So, a lot of our dates were him watching me rest.

But even still, Hellen said her then boyfriend stuck by her, eventually marrying her three years ago.

Our relationship is different than most, she said. My husband is a caregiver. And that can be hard at times for both of us. During this time, Hellen began questioning if her original diagnosis was accurate.

Hellen said she had been tested for Lyme disease at one point, but it came back negative. Dr. Glenn Nemec, a family medical practitioner with Stellis Health in Monticello, said that is a common issue with Lyme disease testing.

The tests that are currently out there, the tests that physicians use arent very good, he said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention those inaccuracies have to do with the length of time between the tick bite and when the testing is done.

The CDC finds that within the first few weeks of contracting Lyme disease, there is a higher likelihood of receiving a false negative on a blood test.

However, a second test, that can be administered approximately four to six weeks after contracting the disease, is likely to produce to clearer answer.

But that negative result Hellen had received wasnt enough to convince a good friend of hers who happens to suffer from chronic Lyme disease to encourage Hellen to get a second opinion.

With the assistance of a Lyme-Literate physician (a doctor who is specifically trained in identifying and treating Lyme disease) Hellens test results came back in November.

She had chronic Lyme disease.

Medicine as a body is not entirely convinced that Lyme disease is a chronic condition, Nemec said. There is some concern that the symptoms patients experience might not entirely be from the Lyme germ. There just isnt enough research out there.

Nemec did say there is a difference from acute Lyme disease and chronic Lyme disease (officially known as Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome).

Nemec said there are three stages for acute Lyme disease.

The first stage, he said, can include the bullseye rash, but also presents symptoms like the flu. Most people will typically get the aches and pains, he said.

Acute Lyme disease can also progress into stage two which Nemec said can last for days or months.

During this stage people again have a lot of aches and pains and very sore muscles, he said. Stage three is when neurological problems can result.

On an average year, Nemec said he treats about a handful of people who test positive for Lyme disease. This year, with the warmer spring and ticks moving around a lot earlier, he anticipates seeing about 10 patients

However, with chronic Lyme disease, the CDC indicates those aches, pains and fatigue will last longer than six months.

Again, we are not entirely sure if that connection is genuine, Nemec said. The CDC indicates the medical communitys uncertainty with the link, adding that persistent symptoms might be a residual effect from the germ, not necessarily caused by Lyme.

But for Hellen, the symptoms aligned with the diagnosis.

When I was diagnosed I felt sad, she said. And then angry. Angry about the fact there isnt more knowledge about Lyme disease so I could have been diagnosed earlier. And now, feeling blessed that this has come to light. Now I finally have some direction as to where to seek treatment.

Its been seven months since Hellens chronic Lyme disease diagnosis.

Seven months of research. Seven months of searching for a treatment program that could give her back her life.

I basically found two options, Hellen said. One would be taking a combination of medications, herbs and supplements for two years. The other was stem cell treatment at a clinic in California.

Infusio Clinic in Beverly Hills, California, uses a patients own stem cells to help battle the disease.

Hellen said the two-week program would first help prepare her body for the treatment through IVs and other therapy methods.

Her stem cells would be harvested from her fat cells and then returned to her body at the end of the two weeks.

After about 100 days, Hellen would return to the clinic for a full assessment.

Ive talked with about 15 to 20 people who have done this type of treatment, Hellen said. Its a shorter recovery time and seems promising.

To cover the cost of the $35,350 for the treatment, Hellen and her family have established a YouCaring site to thats raised just over $25,000 to date.

Hellen will leave for her treatment on Aug. 26. She will return to Big Lake on Sept. 11. Yeah, Im nervous about how I will feel during the treatment, she said. They say the recovery will be tough. But to feel a little worse for a while to get my life back is so worth it.

Hellen has big plans for herself once she can fully walk again she has been bedridden and confined to a wheelchair for several years.

My parents have health issues, she said. My mom has fibromyalgia and my dad was just diagnosed with Stage-4 cancer, she said. So, I want to help them. But the very first thing I want to be able to do is go out on a date with my husband.

With tick season in full swing in Wright and Sherburne counties (considered to be a hot spot for Lyme disease according to Nemec) Hellen cautions all outdoor enthusiasts to be vigilant, especially when it comes to ticks.

If you have any symptoms at all get tested right away, she said. Educate yourself about Lyme disease and protect yourself.

Vicki Ikeogu is a freelance feature and business writer for the Monticello Times.

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Big Lake woman seeks stem cell treatment for chronic Lyme disease - Monticello Times

Texas gives green-light for experimental stem-cell therapies – BioEdge

By Stem Cell Treatment

The government of Texas will allow clinics across the state to market unapproved stem-cell therapies, in a move that has met with criticism from bioethicists.

Last week Governor Greg Abbott signed off on the new legislation that allows clinics to by-pass FDA approval for investigational stem cell treatments for patients with certain severe chronic diseases or terminal illnesses. Like right to try laws in other States, the Texas legislation will give desperate patients access to therapies that provide hope after traditional medical treatments have failed.

Currently, most patients wishing to have stem-cell therapy have to travel out of the country to receive it. The new law will allow people with severe chronic or terminal illness to be treated at a clinic that purports to isolate therapeutic stem cells from adult tissuesuch as a patients own fatif their doctor recommends it after considering all other options, and if its administered by a physician at a hospital or medical school with oversight from an institutional review board (IRB). It also requires that the same intervention already be tested on humans in a clinical trial.

The law sanctions a much broader set of therapies than federal rules, which already exempt certain stem cell interventions from FDAs lengthy approval process, provided the cells are only minimally manipulated and perform the same function they normally have in the body.

Bioethicists have expressed their concern at the move, which they say puts patients at risk of the effects of dangerous, untested therapies.

University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner said he was sceptical about whether the clinics would be adequately monitored, while NYU Langone Medical Center bioethicist Beth Roxland said it was insufficient to have the therapies tested in clinical trials while by-passing FDA approval. You could gain access to something [as long as its] being studied in a human somewhere on the planet, Roxland told Science, which in the stem cell area makes it really very scary.

MORE ON THESE TOPICS |

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Texas gives green-light for experimental stem-cell therapies - BioEdge

Stem cells: the future of medicine – Medical Xpress

By Stell Cell Research

June 23, 2017

Imagine being able to take cells from your skin, transform them into other types of cells, such as lung, brain, heart or muscle cells, and use those to cure your ailments, from diabetes to heart disease or macular degeneration. To realise this, however, challenges still remain, Professor Janet Rossant, a pioneer in the field, says.

All across the world, scientists have begun clinical trials to try and do just that, by making use of the incredible power and versatility of stem cells, which are special cells that can make endless copies of themselves and transform into every other type of cell.

While human embryos contain embryonic stem cells, which help them to develop, the use of those cells has been controversial. The scientists are using induced pluripotent stem cells instead, which are other cells that have been reprogrammed to behave like stem cells.

"There are still significant challenges that we need to overcome, but in the long run we might even be able to create organs from stem cells taken from patients. That would enable rejection-free transplants," said Professor Janet Rossant, a pioneer in the field.

The mouse that changed everything

A speaker at the recent Commonwealth Science Conference 2017 held in Singapore and organised by Britain's Royal Society and Singapore's National Research Foundation, Prof Rossant gave an overview of stem cells' origins, history, uses and potential.

Now a senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (also known as Sick Kids) in Toronto, Canada, after a decade as its chief of research, she was the first scientist to demonstrate the full power of stem cells in mice.

In the early 1990s, scientists believed that stem cells could only become certain types of cells and carry out limited functions. Based on her own research and that of others, however, Prof Rossant believed that they were capable of far more.

Working with other scientists, she created an entire mouse out of stem cells in 1992, upending the conventional wisdom. "We went on to create many baby mice that were completely normal, and completely derived from stem cells grown in a petri dish," she said.

"That was an amazing experiment, and it was instrumental in making people believe that human embryonic stem cells could have the full potential to make every cell type in the body," she added.

When scientists learned how to remove stem cells from human embryos in 1998, however, controversy ensued. Many lobbied against the cells' use in medical research and treatment due to the moral implications of destroying even unwanted embryos to gain the cells.

In Canada, Prof Rossant chaired the working group of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research on Stem Cell Research, establishing guidelines for the field. These guidelines helped to keep the field alive in Canada, and were influential well beyond the country's borders.

In 2006, Japanese researchers succeeded in taking skin cells from adult mice and reprogramming them to behave like embryonic stem cells. These revolutionary, induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells allowed scientists to sidestep the ongoing controversy.

The challenges in the way

While stem cells have been used for medical treatment in some cases bone marrow transplants, for example, are a form of stem cell therapy there are several challenges that need to be overcome before they can be used more widely to treat diseases and injuries.

"We need to get better at turning stem cells into the fully mature cells that you need for therapy. That's going to take more work. Another issue is that of scale-up. If you're going to treat a patient, you need to be able to grow millions of cells," said Prof Rossant.

She added: "Safety is another concern. One of the most exciting things about pluripotent stem cells is that they can divide indefinitely in the culture dish. But that's also one of the most scary things about them, because that's also how cancer works.

"Furthermore, because we need to genetically manipulate cells to get IPS cells, it's very hard to know whether we've got completely normal cells at the end of the day. These are all issues that need to be resolved."

She noted that some scientists are working on making "failsafe" IPS cells, which have a built-in self-destruct option if they become dangerous. "Bringing stem cells into regenerative medicine is going to require interdisciplinary, international collaboration," she said.

In the meantime, stem cells have been a boon to medical research, as scientists can use them to create an endless supply of different cells to study diseases and injuries, and test drugs. "That's the biggest use of IPS cells right now," Prof Rossant said.

Sick kids and how to help them

At SickKids, which is Canada's largest paediatric research hospital, she has been using stem cells to study cystic fibrosis, a frequently fatal genetic disorder that causes mucus to build up and clog some organs such as the lungs. It affects primarily children and young adults.

SickKids discovered the CFTR gene that, when mutated, causes the disease. It was also the first to produce mature lung cells, from stem cells, that can be used to study the disease and test drugs against it.

Even better, Prof Rossant and her team were able to turn skin cells from cystic fibrosis patients into IPS cells and then into lung cells with the genetic mutation specific to each of them. This is critical to personalising treatment for each patient.

"Drugs for cystic fibrosis are extraordinarily expensive, and patients can have the same mutation and yet respond differently to the same drug," Prof Rossant explained. "With our work, we can make sure that each patient gets the right drug at the right time."

In 1998, Prof Rossant also discovered a new type of stem cell in mice, now called the trophoblast stem cell. These surround an embryo and attach it to the uterine wall, eventually becoming the placenta. She is using such cells to study placenta defects and pregnancy problems.

By using IPS cells to create heart cells and other cells, pharmaceutical companies can also test their new drugs' effectiveness and uncover potential side effects, as well as develop personalised medicines.

"There are still huge amounts of opportunities in pluripotent stem cells," said Prof Rossant, who has won numerous awards for her research, including the Companion of the Order of Canada and the 2016 Friesen International Prize in Health Research.

She is also president and scientific director of the Toronto-based Gairdner Foundation, which recognises outstanding biomedical research worldwide, and a professor at the University of Toronto's molecular genetics, obstetrics and gynaecology departments.

"Meetings like the Commonwealth Science Conference are a fantastic opportunity for scientists to come together, learn about each other's work and establish new relationships, which will help to push science forward, including in stem cell research," she said.

She noted: "The world of science is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, so this kind of meeting of minds across nations, cultures and scientific fields is really the way of the future."

Explore further: Cardiac stem cells from heart disease patients may be harmful

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New research overturns long-held views on a basic messaging system within living cells. Key cellular communication machinery is more regionally constrained within the cell than previously thought. The findings suggest new ...

The leading cause of acute gastroenteritis linked to eating raw seafood disarms a key host defense system in a novel way: It paralyzes a cell's skeleton, or cytoskeleton.

Scientists used human pluripotent stem cells to generate human embryonic colons in a laboratory that function much like natural human tissues when transplanted into mice, according to research published June 22 in Cell Stem ...

It's a tiny marine invertebrate, no more than 3 millimeters in size. But closely related to humans, Botryllus schlosseri might hold the key to new treatments for cancer and a host of vascular diseases.

Paracetamol is popular for relieving pain. But if you are pregnant, you should think twice before popping these pills according to the researchers in a new study. In an animal model, Paracetamol, which is the pain-relieving ...

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Stem cells: the future of medicine - Medical Xpress

Clear View on Stem Cell Development – Technology Networks

By Stell Cell Research

Today, tracking the development of individual cells and spotting the associated factors under the microscope is nothing unusual. However, impairments like shadows or changes in the background complicate the interpretation of data. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen have developed a software that corrects images to make hidden development steps visible.

When stem cells develop into specialized cells, this happens in multiple steps. But which regulatory proteins are active during the decisive branching on the development path? Using so-called time-lapse microscopy, researchers can observe individual cells at very high time resolutions and, using fluorescent labelling, they can recognize precisely which of these proteins appear when in the cell.

Once a stem cell has been identified, it can be closely observed over several days using cell-tracking software. Yet, this surveillance work often turns out to be difficult. The imaging data is frequently marred by irregular brightness and faded backgrounds in the time-lapse, explains Dr. Carsten Marr, heading the workgroup Quantitative Single Cell Dynamics at the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) of the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen. This makes it difficult or impossible to detect proteins that are decisive when a cell opts for a specific development direction, so-called transcription factors.

Algorithms that filter out these kinds of artefacts exist, but they require either specifically prepared reference images, many images per dataset or complex manual adjustments. Furthermore, none of the existing methods correct alterations in the background over time, which hamper the quantification of individual cells.

Algorithm eliminates background changes Now, Dr. Tingying Peng, member of Dr. Carsten Marrs group at the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen and Professor Nassir Navab, head of the Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures and Augmented Reality at TU Munich, present an algorithm that corrects these artefacts using only a few images per dataset.

The software is called BaSiC and is freely available. It is compatible with many image formats commonly used in bioimaging, including mosaics pieced together from numerous smaller images and used, for example, to render large tissue regions. Contrary to other programs, however, explains Dr. Peng, BaSiC can correct changes in the background of time-lapse videos. This makes it a valuable tool for stem cell researchers who want to detect the appearance of specific transcription factors early on. Bringing significant details to light How well the new image correction program improves the analysis of individual stem cell development steps the scientists demonstrated with time-lapse videos of blood stem cells. They recorded the videos to observe cells over a six-day time span. At a certain point during this observation period undifferentiated precursor cells choose between two possible tacks of development that lead to the formation of different mature blood cells.

In images corrected using BaSiC, the researchers could identify a substantial increase in the intensity of a specific transcription factor in one of the two cell lines, while the amount of his protein in the other cell line remained unchanged. Without the image correction, the difference was not ascertainable.

Using BaSiC, we were able to make important decision factors visible that would otherwise have been drowned out by noise, says Nassir Navab. The long-term goal of this research is to facilitate influencing the development of stem cells in a targeted manner, for example to cultivate new heart muscle cells for heat-attack patients. The novel possibilities for observation are bringing us a step closer to this goal.

The BaSiC image correction program resulted from a close collaboration between the Chair of Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems and the Chair of Computer Aided Medical Procedures & Augmented Reality at the Technical University of Munich and the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) of the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen. Also involved were the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California in San Francisco (USA), as well as the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSSE) at ETH Zrich and the Chair of Computer Aided Medical Procedure at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA).

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided by the Technical University of Munich. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Reference:

Tingying Peng, Kurt Thorn, Timm Schroeder, Lichao Wang, Fabian J. Theis, Carsten Marr and Nassir Navab. BaSiC: A Tool for Background and Shading Correction of Optical Microscopy Images. Nature Communications 8, 14836 (2017) DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14836

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Clear View on Stem Cell Development - Technology Networks

Powerful boost for bad skin days – Inquirer.net

By Stem Cell Clinic

These drips dont only improve your appearance.

Aivee (IV) Drips are safe, injectable treatments that restore the skins energy, vitality and glow fast because they go directly into the vein. The rains are a welcome respite, even as the wet season still feels hot as summer. But it also means we are susceptible to colds and bad skin days.

Oral medicine and green smoothies can only do so much to our bodies. What busy bees really need is a rapid, powerful boost in our systems that can get us looking and feeling great again in no time.

Its good to know the Aivee Clinic (my trusted skin superhero) is offering Aivee (IV) Dripssafe, injectable treatments that help restore energy, vitality and glow faster because they go directly into the vein. Administered in clinics, these drips dont only improve your appearance. Youll be surprised, like I was, by how varied the infusions are.

Revive Drip (Immune Boost) is a great pick-me-up after a long, stressful day at work. Infused with vitamin B complex, vitamin C, glutathione and other minerals, this antioxidant solution restores balance in the body and promotes skin hydration as it eliminates traces of fatigue fast. It isnt nicknamed the ultimate hangover cure for nothing.

Platinum flaunts a mix of vitamins, antioxidants, coenzyme Q10, minerals and other antiaging extracts best for those who seek a renewed glow reminiscent of their youth. This drip is a powerful antiwrinkle solution that helps boost energy and speed up skin recovery.

Brighter skin

For those who want brighter, more luminous skin without avoiding the sun, Glow (Frosty White) detoxifies with its blend of vitamin C and glutathione. The antioxidants in this mix also aid the immune system, taking this a notch above the usual whitening solution.

Athletes can also get a dose of drips fit for their lifestyle. PowerBoost is best for restoring physical performance with a mixture of magnesium, B-complex vitamins and glutathione.

ReShape is a great blend for weight-watchers who hope to stay in perfect shape with a drip infused with vitamins, slimming L-carnitine, and other potent fat-burners and antioxidants. Its an effective way to complement your exercise, burn fat and help keep the body healthy.

Finding light

If youre looking to reduce inflammation, speed up wound healing, or simply improve your health and wellbeing, the state-of-the-art Aivee Light Therapy can do wonders for your physical state.

Its latest Intravenous Light Therapy treatment is best for inflammation abatement, pathogen deactivation, bloodstream cleansing and pain reduction. This is highly recommended for immune system modulation, cell regeneration and neuron repair.

It also increases stem cell proliferation, enhances stem cell survivability and stem cell differentiation.

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Powerful boost for bad skin days - Inquirer.net

Congressmen seek pro-life focus at NIH – OneNewsNow

By Embryonic Stem Cells

A move is afoot in Congress to change the direction of the National Institutes of Health to more valuable and humane research projects.

Under the direction of Dr. Francis Collins, NIH has directed millions of dollars toward research on human embryos.

David Prentice of the Charlotte Lozier Institute tells OneNewsNow that Congressmen Jim Banks and Dan Lipinski have introduced the Patients First Act to change the agency's course.

The whole point of the bill," says Prentice, "is to prioritize NIH funding for adult stem cells that are going to be able to help patients, first, in the near term, be able to get them into the clinic and help these people. And that, again, is adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells."

Dr. Collins is famous for leading the decade-long Human Genome Project, which mapped DNA sequences.

Once an atheist, Collins is also known for being an outspoken Christian in the scientific community, where faith is often mocked and dismissed. Yet the embryonic research at NIH has caused disappointment among pro-life activists, and some have called for his firing at NIH.

The proposed legislation could mean hundreds of millions of dollars would be directed toward adult stem cells, which are already being used to treat medical conditions for an estimated 1.5 million patients around the world.

Shifting research to stem cells is going to help patients, not just mean playing in the laboratory, which is what happens with embryonic stem cells as well as fetal tissue and fetal stem cells, Prentice adds. Embryonic and fetal stem cells have been failures.

Prentice says the latter forms of research are unethical, so instead the money could be spent to accelerate research on something of proven value.

Charlotte Lozier Institute would also like to see bills dealing with other ethical concerns at NIH including animal/human hybrids and research using aborted baby tissue.

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Congressmen seek pro-life focus at NIH - OneNewsNow

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