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Doctors Use Adult (Not Embryonic) Stem Cells To Grow And Implant Petri-Dish Retina

By Stem Cell Medical Center

The clones are coming! The clones are coming! (Maybe.) Doctors have grown a retina in a petri dish using stem cells from a 70-year-old patients skin and successfully transplanted the retina to her eye at Japan's Riken Center for Developmental Biology.

This marks the first time a transplanted organ was grown from skin cells from the recipient and not an embryo, The Globe and Mail reports. Until now, scientists have been mired in a debate regarding the use of embryonic stem cells to create transplant tissue. Using a patients own adult stem cells avoids that controversy and also reduces the chance the patient could reject the transplant.

Stem cells hold the promise of curing many diseases, including macular degeneration and Parkinsons.

However, there are risks associated with using adult stem cells. Scientists must turn regular adult cells into dividing cells, and there is concern that cells could turn cancerous after transplant. You only need one stem cell left in the graft that could lead to cancer, Dr. Janet Rossant told the The Globe and Mail. Rossant is chief of research at Torontos Hospital for Sick Children and past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

The Riken Center for Developmental Biology has also been in the news lately because its deputy director committed suicide following accusations of scientific misconduct and the retraction of two papers (unrelated to this stem-cell procedure) that were published in the journal Nature.

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Doctors Use Adult (Not Embryonic) Stem Cells To Grow And Implant Petri-Dish Retina

UCSD Gets $8 Million For Stem Cell Research

By Stem Cell Clinic

UC San Diego has been named an "alpha clinic" for the clinical study of stem cells, and the distinction comes with $8 million in research grants.

Stem cell therapies represent a new way of treating disease by regenerating damaged tissues and organs. Spokesmen for the UCSD school of medicine say the alpha clinic will focus on clinical trials in humans, not just basic research based on animals.

The decision to make UCSD an alpha clinic was announced Friday by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was created by California voters after they approved $3 billion for stem cell funding in 2004.

Everything we do has one simple goal, to accelerate the development of successful treatments for people in need, said C. Randal Mills, CIRM president and CEO.

Catriona Jamieson, professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, is the alpha clinic grants principal investigator. She said the clinic will provide needed infrastructure for first-in-human stem cell-related clinical trials.

"It will attract patients, funding agencies and study sponsors to participate in, support and accelerate novel stem cell clinical trials and ancillary studies for a range of arduous diseases, Jamieson said.

The university has already announced human stem cell trials, aimed at treating spinal chord injuries, leukemia and type-1 diabetes.

UCSD spokesmen said researchers are conducting those trials using fetal and embryonic stems cells, as well as stem cells made from reprogramming skin cells.

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UCSD Gets $8 Million For Stem Cell Research

Global Stem Cells Group Names BIOMEN S.A as exclusive Representative in Costa Rica

By Stem Cell Clinic

MIAMI (PRWEB) October 24, 2014

Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. has signed BIOMEN S.A and its founder, anti-aging and regenerative medicine specialist Dra. Mariella Tanzi, to represent the Miami-based stem cell company as an exclusive representative for the Costa Rican territory. Tanzi will also open a new Regenestem clinic in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose.

The arrangement is part of the Global Stem Cells Groups global expansion program, which requires affiliate representatives to have more than five years experience in the health care industry with at least some experience in regenerative medicine.

Tanzi will be instrumental in helping to manage the companys growth in Costa Rica. Her responsibilities will include arranging a number of stem cell training courses at the Regenestem facility in Costa Rica over a one-year period, certification of physicians, and willingness to organize an annual stem cell and regenerative medicine symposium in their territory.

Our main focus is to organize Costa Ricas first annual symposium on stem cells and regenerative medicine in 2015, says Global Stem Cells Group Founder Benito Novas. This new alliance will allow us to establish Regenestem as a leader in regenerative medicine therapies in Costa Rica.

To learn more about the Global Stem Cells Group alliance program, visit the website at http://www.stemcellsgroup.com, email bnovas(at)stemcellsgroup(dot)com, or call 305.224.1858.

About Global Stem Cell Group:

Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. is the parent company of six wholly owned operating companies dedicated entirely to stem cell research, training, products and solutions. Founded in 2012, the company combines dedicated researchers, physician and patient educators and solution providers with the shared goal of meeting the growing worldwide need for leading edge stem cell treatments and solutions. With a singular focus on this exciting new area of medical research, Global Stem Cells Group and its subsidiaries are uniquely positioned to become global leaders in cellular medicine.

Global Stem Cells Groups corporate mission is to make the promise of stem cell medicine a reality for patients around the world. With each of GSCGs six operating companies focused on a separate research-based mission, the result is a global network of state-of-the-art stem cell treatments.

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Global Stem Cells Group Names BIOMEN S.A as exclusive Representative in Costa Rica

UCLA Scientists Propose Benchmark to Better Replicate Natural Stem Cell Development in the Laboratory Environment

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Newswise In a study that will provide the foundation for scientists to better replicate natural stem cell development in an artificial environment, UCLA researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research led by Dr. Guoping Fan, professor of human genetics, have established a benchmarking standard to assess how culture conditions used to procure stem cells in the lab compare to those found in the human embryo.

The study was published online ahead of print in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are cells that can transform into almost any cell in the human body. Scientists have long cultured PSCs in the laboratory (in vitro) using many different methods and under a variety of conditions. Though it has been known that culture techniques can affect what kind of cells PSCs eventually become, no "gold standard" has yet been established to help scientists determine how the artificial environment can better replicate that found in a natural state (in vivo).

Dr. Kevin Huang, postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Fan and a lead author of the study, analyzed data from multiple existing research studies conducted over the past year. These previously published studies used different culture methods newly developed in vitro in the hopes of coaxing human stem cells into a type of pluripotency that is in a primitive or ground-zero state.

Utilizing recently-published gene expression profiles of human preimplantation embryos as the benchmark to analyze the data, Dr. Huang and colleagues found that culture conditions do affect how genes are expressed in PSCs, and that the newer generation culture methods appear to better resemble those found in the natural environment of developing embryos. This work lays the foundation on the adoption of standardized protocol amongst the scientific community.

"By making an objective assessment of these different laboratory techniques, we found that some may have more of an edge over others in better replicating a natural state," said Dr. Huang. "When you have culture conditions that more consistently match a non-artificial environment, you have the potential for a much better reflection of what is going on in actual human development."

With these findings, Dr. Fan's lab hopes to encourage further investigation into other cell characteristics and molecular markers that determine the effectiveness of culture conditions on the proliferation and self-renewal of PSCs.

"We hope this work will help the research community to reach a consensus to quality-control human pluripotent stem cells," said Dr. Fan.

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UCLA Scientists Propose Benchmark to Better Replicate Natural Stem Cell Development in the Laboratory Environment

Scientists Create Toxin Secreting Stem Cells To Fight Brain Tumors

By Stem Cell Treatment

A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital has successfully engineered stem cells to produce toxins that can kill cancerous cells, turning them into lethal weapons to in the war against brain tumors. Their study was published online in the journal Stem Cells Friday.

For years, scientists have attempted to create cells that would not only kill cancerous cells but also do it without harming themselves or surrounding healthy cells. The genetically engineered stem cells created by the researchers in Boston were reportedly able to do so, making the development a potential milestone in the field of cancer treatment.

Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs, Khalid Shah, a co-author of the study and the director of the molecular neurotherapy and imaging lab at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in a statement. Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they dont work as well in solid tumors because the cancers arent as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life.

Based on experiments conducted on mice, the results were very positive, Shah said. After doing all of the molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis within brain tumors, we do see the toxins kill the cancer cells, he said.

Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College London who was not involved in the research, hailed the findings as representative of the future of cancer treatment. This is a clever study, which signals the beginning of the next wave of therapies, Mason told BBC News. It shows you can attack solid tumors by putting minipharmacies inside the patient which deliver the toxic payload direct to the tumor.

However, Nell Barrie, the senior science information manager for Cancer Research UK, told BBC News that much more work is needed to see whether the treatment works on humans. Nonetheless, she said, We urgently need better treatments for brain tumors, and this could help direct treatment to exactly where its needed.

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Scientists Create Toxin Secreting Stem Cells To Fight Brain Tumors

UC San Diego named stem cell 'alpha clinic'

By Stem Cell Treatment

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

23-Oct-2014

Contact: Scott LaFee slafee@ucsd.edu 619-543-6163 University of California - San Diego @UCSanDiego

In a push to further speed clinical development of emerging stem cell therapies, Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at UC San Diego Health System was named today one of three new "alpha clinics" by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state's stem cell agency.

The announcement, made at a public meeting in Los Angeles of the CIRM Governing Board, includes an award of $8 million for each of three sites. The other alpha grant recipients are the City of Hope hospital near Los Angeles and University of California, Los Angeles.

"A UC San Diego alpha clinic will provide vital infrastructure for establishing a comprehensive regenerative medicine clinical hub that can support the unusual complexity of first-in-human stem cell-related clinical trials," said Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, deputy director of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center, director of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center stem cell program and the alpha clinic grant's principal investigator.

"The designation is essential in much the same manner that comprehensive cancer center status is an assurance of scientific rigor and clinical quality. It will attract patients, funding agencies and study sponsors to participate in, support and accelerate novel stem cell clinical trials and ancillary studies for a range of arduous diseases."

The alpha clinics are intended to create the long-term, networked infrastructure needed to launch and conduct numerous, extensive clinical trials of stem cell-based drugs and therapies in humans, including some developed by independent California-based investigators and companies. These trials are requisite before any new drug or treatment can be approved for clinical use.

The clinics will also emphasize public education to raise awareness and understanding of stem cell science in part to combat "stem cell tourism" and the marketing of unproven, unregulated and potentially dangerous therapies and help establish sustainable business models for future, approved stem cell treatments.

"Everything we do has one simple goal, to accelerate the development of successful treatments for people in need," said C. Randal Mills, PhD, CIRM president and CEO. "Stem cell therapies are a new way of treating disease; instead of managing symptoms, cellular medicine has the power to replace or regenerate damaged tissues and organs. And so we need to explore new and innovative ways of accelerating clinical research with stem cells. That is what we hope these alpha stem cell clinics will accomplish."

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UC San Diego named stem cell 'alpha clinic'

Dana-Farber and other researchers find that silencing the speech gene FOXP2 causes breast cancer cells to metastasize

By Stem Cell Medical Center

NCI Cancer Center News

A research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has identified an unexpected link between a transcription factor known to regulate speech and language development and metastatic colonization of breast cancer. Currently described online in Cell Stem Cell, the new findings demonstrate that, when silenced, the FOXP2 transcription factor, otherwise known as the speech gene, endows breast cancer cells with a number of malignant traits and properties that enable them to survive and thrive.

Click here to read the full press release.

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Among the research institutions NCI funds across the United States, it currently designates 68 as Cancer Centers. Largely based in research universities, these facilities are home to many of the NCI-supported scientists who conduct a wide range of intense, laboratory research into cancers origins and development. The Cancer Centers Program also focuses on trans-disciplinary research, including population science and clinical research. The centers research results are often at the forefront of studies in the cancer field.

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Dana-Farber and other researchers find that silencing the speech gene FOXP2 causes breast cancer cells to metastasize

UCLA and UCI Awarded $8M Grant to Launch Collaborative Stem Cell Clinic "Center of Excellence"

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Newswise In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the University of California, Los Angeles, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and University of California, Irvine Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center received a five year $8M grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the states stem cell agency, to establish a CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic center of excellence to conduct clinical trials for investigational stem cell therapies and provide critical resources and expertise in clinical research.

The $8M grant was one of three awarded today by CIRM as part of the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics (CASC) Network Initiative. The joint UCLA/UCI award under the direction of Dr. John Adams, a member of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center and professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery, will accelerate the implementation of clinical trials and delivery of stem cell therapies by providing world-class, state-of-the-art infrastructure to support clinical research.

CIRM grant reviewers lauded the UCLA/UCI Consortiums impressive and multidimensional team of experienced personnel that will expand access to patients, attracting national and international clinical trials and accelerating future trials in the pipeline.

The initial stem cell trials supported by the UCLA/UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic will be two UCLA projects using blood forming stem cells. The first trial will test a stem cell-based gene therapy for patients with bubble baby disease, also called severe combined immune deficiency (SCID), in which babies are born without an immune system. Under the direction of Dr. Donald Kohn, the clinical trial will use the babys own stem cells with an inserted gene modification to correct the defect and promote the creation of an immune system. The second clinical trial, under the direction of Dr. Antoni Ribas, will use patients own genetically modified blood-forming stem cells to engineer and promote an immune response to melanoma and sarcomas.

This CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic grant is an important acknowledgement of our cutting-edge research and will help us to advance the design, testing and delivery of effective and safe stem cell-based therapies, said Dr. Owen Witte, professor and director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center. The implementation of a standard of excellence in clinical research will improve healthcare and the lives of patients far beyond the longevity of individual trials.

Operating as part of the larger state-wide CIRM supported network, Alpha Stem Cell Clinics provide critical operational support to conduct clinical trials, with focused resources and expertise in stem cell-based clinical research including clinical operations support and patient care coordination personnel.

UCI has established a strong preclinical stem cell research program, and its vital to move ahead to the clinical testing phase, said Sidney Golub, director of UCIs Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. To advance treatments in this field, we all have to work together, and thats what the UCLA-UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic program represents.

About the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research

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UCLA and UCI Awarded $8M Grant to Launch Collaborative Stem Cell Clinic "Center of Excellence"

UCSD, other stem cell clinics get millions

By Stem Cell Treatment

UCSD oncologist/researcher Catriona Jamieson is principal investigator for the university's $8 million stem cell grant.

To speed up the quest to bring stem cell therapies to patients, a state agency on Thursday granted $8 million each to three academic medical centers pursuing "translational" work -- UC San Diego, UC Los Angeles and City of Hope in Duarte.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine voted 10-1 to fund the "alpha" stem cell clinics, which are intended to bring stem cell treatments to the public.

UC San Diego's proposal supports two stem cell-based clinical trials, both already underway. Catriona Jamieson, an oncologist at the university, is the principal investigator for the grant.

One, a treatment for Type 1 diabetes, was developed by San Diego's ViaCyte. The other, for spinal cord injuries, was developed by Geron of Menlo Park. Geron dropped the trial, but it was picked up by Neuralstem of Germantown, Md. In October, UCSD treated the first patient in the revived trial at the university's Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center.

The stem cell agency, commonly called CIRM, has focused heavily on basic research since its founding by California voters in 2004. But in recent years, the public has become more anxious to see the fruits of $3 billion in bond money given to the agency reach patients. The "alpha" clinics funded Thursday are part of that effort.

Early optimism that treatments would be quickly available was disappointed, mainly because issues of safety had to be resolved first. Therapies that actually place cells in the body posed new risks, because as living things, cells grow and can migrate. Embryonic stem cells can form tumors. Viacyte and Neuralstem grow replacement tissues from embryonic stem cells, so they needed to show that no unconverted cells would accidentally be introduced into the patient.

Skepticism has also grown over the ethics of CIRM officials, mainly regarding conflicts of interests. Many CIRM board members are chosen from institutions that get funded -- a feature written into the agency by Prop. 71. CIRM has adopted reforms to limit board members from voting in matters where they have conflicts. But CIRM's previous president, Alan Trounson, caused more controversy when he joined the board of CIRM-funded Stemcells Inc, just one week after departing the agency.

CIRM President Randy Mills, who replaced Trounson earlier this year, has tried to quell the controversy with new standards to prevent officials like Trounson from appearing to cash in on their agency role. And he has worked with the governing board to rethink how the agency's remaining funds can be best spent.

CIRM has invested heavily in San Diego stem cell programs, most notably contributing $43 million to a $127 million "collaboratory" building across from the Salk Institute in La Jolla. The Sanford Consortium, as it's called, brings together researchers from five institutions: UCSD, the Salk Institute, The Scripps Research Institute, the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology.

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UCSD, other stem cell clinics get millions

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