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After beating cancer, Ottawa hockey player Chris Kushneriuk looks to resume his career

By Stem Cell Doctors

The last time we spoke with Chris Kushneriuk he was at the Indiana University Cancer Center awaiting stem cell treatments and chemotherapy.

It was early December, 2012, and Kushneriuk, a pro hockey player from Gloucester, had just been told by Canadian doctors he had about six months to live. Some Christmas present.

Kushneriuks supreme hockey conditioning, though it would ultimately prove a weapon, was no defence against the initial cancer, his body ravaged by what began as testicular cancer but which had spread to his liver, kidney and lymph nodes. Your basic nightmare scenario.

As he spoke by phone from Indianapolis, in the care of Lance Armstrongs cancer doctor, Lawrence Einhorn, Chris was a few weeks away from his 26th birthday, still talking positively, convinced this was a battle he could win.

Happily, 14 months later we can report that Kushneriuk is not only alive and well, hes been cleared to play hockey again and is looking to sign with an ECHL team in the near future. If we were to take out a classified ad on Chris behalf, it might read like this: Wanted, a roster spot for a player of unparalleled heart and will. Team-first type, leader, survivor. Ready to report immediately.

Small wonder that when Kushneriuk resumes his hockey career, he has a gift in mind for Dr. Einhorn.

Im definitely going to give him my next jersey, for whichever team I play, Kushneriuk says. He saved my life, he deserves a jersey.

And then Chris laughs at the tradeoff. A jersey for a life.

The journey Kushneriuk took to arrive at this point is a story of personal triumph and modern medicine, but also a tale of friendship and community hockey support that made it possible for Chris to afford the type of bold surgical treatment that defied the initial doomsday prognosis.

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After beating cancer, Ottawa hockey player Chris Kushneriuk looks to resume his career

Chef Kerry Simon undergoes stem-cell transplants at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota

By Stem Cell Clinic

Erik Kabik/Retna/ErikKabik.com

Kerry Simon and Barry Dakake at Chefs to the Max, a fundraising dinner for food critic Max Jacobson, at Rx Boiler Room on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, in MandalayPlace.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014 | 2:08 p.m.

Celebrity Iron Chef champion Kerry Simon underwent the first of two days of initial stem-cell transplants at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on Wednesday. After todays second set of spinal injections, Kerry will return to Las Vegas on Friday.

Before he returns to Rochester in early March for more intensive sessions of stem-cell transplants, he will preside over his Feb. 27 celebrity chef and rocker showcase at the Keep Memory Alive event center in the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health downtown.

Word from Kerry, a 2013 Silver State Award recipient, on Wednesday night was that he was in good spirits, although very tired, resting comfortably and optimistic with the medical procedure. There is no known cure or treatment for Multiple Systems Atrophy (a stronger, more-aggressive form of Parkinsons) hes fighting that we reported in December.

On Friday, he meets here with 20 volunteers who formed a committee to organize the Feb. 27 events. His good pal comedy actor Bill Murray will serve as MC, and Christian Kohlberg will join him as auctioneer.

Before he underwent surgery, Kerry told me this week: I cannot believe the support we are getting for our Fight MSA campaign. It is unbelievable. I am deeply touched by all these wonderful people helping out at the drop of a hat with nothing more in mind than to conquer this terrible disease.

Im not going to let it stop me doing what I must do.

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Chef Kerry Simon undergoes stem-cell transplants at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota

Harvard scientists find cell fate switch that decides liver, or pancreas?

By Uncategorized

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

13-Feb-2014

Contact: Joseph Caputo joseph_caputo@harvard.edu 617-496-1491 Harvard University

Harvard stem cell scientists have a new theory for how stem cells decide whether to become liver or pancreatic cells during development. A cell's fate, the researchers found, is determined by the nearby presence of prostaglandin E2, a messenger molecule best known for its role in inflammation and pain. The discovery, published in the journal Developmental Cell, could potentially make liver and pancreas cells easier to generate both in the lab and for future cell therapies.

Wolfram Goessling, MD, PhD, and Trista North, PhD, both principal faculty members of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), identified a gradient of prostaglandin E2 in the region of zebrafish embryos where stem cells differentiate into the internal organs. Experiments conducted by postdoctoral fellow Sahar Nissim, MD, PhD, in the Goessling lab showed how liver-or-pancreas-fated stem cells have specific receptors on their membranes to detect the amount of prostaglandin E2 hormone present and coerce the cell into differentiating into a specific organ type.

"Cells that see more prostaglandin become liver and the cells that see less prostaglandin become pancreas," said Goessling, a Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "This is the first time that prostaglandin is being reported as a factor that can lead this fate switch and essentially instruct what kind of identity a cell is going to be."

The researchers next collaborated with the laboratory of HSCI Affiliated Faculty member Richard Maas, MD, PhD, Director of the Genetics Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital, to see whether prostaglandin E2 has a similar function in mammals. Richard Sherwood, PhD, a former graduate student of HSCI Co-director Doug Melton, was successfully able to instruct mouse stem cells to become either liver or pancreas cells by exposing them to different amounts of the hormone. Other experiments showed that prostaglandin E2 could also enhance liver growth and regeneration of liver cells.

Goessling and his research partner North, a Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, first became intrigued by prostaglandin E2 in 2005, as postdoctoral fellows in the lab of HSCI Executive Committee Chair Leonard Zon, MD. It caught their attention during a chemical screen exposing 2,500 known drugs to zebrafish embryos to find any that could amplify blood stem cell populations. Prostaglandin E2 was the most successful hit the first molecule discovered in any system to have such an effectand recently successfully completed Phase 1b clinical trials as a therapeutic to improve cord blood transplants.

"Prostaglandin might be a master regulator of cell growth in different organs," Goessling said. "It's used in cord blood, as we have shown, it works in the liver, and who knows what other organs might be affected by it."

With evidence of how prostaglandin E2 works in the liver, the researchers next want to calibrate how it can be used in the laboratory to instruct induced pluripotent stem cellsmature cells that have been reprogrammed into a stem-like stateto become liver or pancreas cells. The scientists predict that such a protocol could benefit patients who need liver cells for transplantation or who have had organ injury.

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Harvard scientists find cell fate switch that decides liver, or pancreas?

Salk, Stanford equal partners in stem cell genomics program

By Uncategorized

Instead of being shut out of a $40 million stem cell grant awarded to Stanford University, San Diego researchers will be major partners, say the scientists who lead the project.

Joseph Ecker of the Salk Institute and Michael Snyder of Stanford say that under an informal arrangement, they will jointly allocate money granted from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine for a new center on stem cell genomics. CIRM is responsible for distributing $3 billion in state bond money to turn stem cell research into disease treatments.

Joseph Ecker, a Salk Institute researcher and co-principal investigator of the new center for stem cell genomics created with a $40 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. / Salk Institute

Genomics, the study of the complete set of genes and DNA in an organism, is necessary to help understand how stem cells function. Stem cells contain virtually the same genes as adult cells but differ in which genes are turned on and off. The signals that cause stem cells to differentiate are not well understood.

By analyzing the genomes of stem cells, researchers expect to better understand how stem cells can produce more stem cells, and which genes are involved in directing stem cells down the path to becoming adult cells of interest, such as islet cells that make insulin, bone or retinal cells.

Last months decision had been characterized as a big win for Stanford, because the university had been awarded the grant over competing applications, including one from The Scripps Research Institute and San Diego DNA sequencing giant Illumina.

Ecker and Snyder said that belief is a misunderstanding, because their proposal is a cooperative venture involving extensive participation from San Diego biomedical scientists.

Michael Snyder, a Stanford University researcher and co-principal investigator of the new center for stem cell genomics created with a $40 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. / Stanford University

The leadership issue is confusing, because CIRM requires a single institute to be listed as the lead on funding proposals, even if the institutions are sharing leadership, Ecker said by email. In fact, Mike Snyder and I, by proxy Stanford and Salk, are equal partners. Responsibility for administration of the center will fall equally to Stanford and Salk researchers, as well as strategic steering and decision-making on what projects to pursue.

Besides Salk and Stanford, partners are UC San Diego, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the J. Craig Venter Institute, The Scripps Research Institute and UC Santa Cruz. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute also plays a role.

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Salk, Stanford equal partners in stem cell genomics program

Stem cell clinic for 4 year old

By Stem Cell Clinic

Cambridge Times

CAMBRIDGE The courageous fight of four-year-old Katie Herron is continuing at Torontos SickKids where she continues to undergo chemotherapy in hopes that a stem cell match can be found for a life-saving transplant.

Here in Cambridge, friends and family members are spreading the message for Katies Kure, in preparation for a stem cell donor clinic next Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Cambridge Sports Park.

There are now over 1,000 people going on our Facebook page (Katies Kure) with a great number of people registering online with onematch.ca that are unable to attend the actual donor drive, said her mother, Anne Hodgkinson, in an email.

We are absolutely overwhelmed with the support we are receiving from the community. Support not just for Katie and our family, but support in helping us get the information on stem cell donation out there.

Parents at Coronation Public School where Katie started junior kindergarten in September have distributed flyers across the city along with pink and green stars. Green represents stem cell donation and pink, Katies favourite colour, represents her journey.

Katie enjoys seeing pictures of all the stars put up around Cambridge, and it is a wonderful feeling for her to know that there are so many people thinking and praying for her back home, her mother says.

The youngsters mettle has been tested in recent weeks.

Last Thursday, she and her family were still in Hamilton at McMaster Childrens Hospital awaiting an MRI and other sedated testing for a critical bacterial infection shes fighting. Just after 11 a.m., they were given the news that SickKids had a bed available and Katie would be moved that day.

According to her mother, the whole ordeal has left Katie fragile, emotionally as well as physically. Shes still on a feeding tube, unable to walk, but is now undergoing physiotherapy, hoping to get her dancing feet back.

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Stem cell clinic for 4 year old

Missouri House approves conscience rights bill for third time

By Stem Cell Doctors

JEFFERSON CITY Medical workers would be protected if they refused to participate in procedures such as abortions, fertility treatments or stem-cell research under a bill given initial approval by the Missouri House.

House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said his bill protected the conscience rights of workers who did not want to provide specific, limited procedures that violated their religious beliefs. He said it also protected patients from having someone distracted while treating them.

This is good for workers in giving them more rights. This is good for patients, Jones said. Do you want that person taking care of you who is not 110 percent invested in what theyre doing and is sitting there wondering if theyre violating their religious beliefs?

The bill would prohibit retaliation from employers if an employee gave reasonable notice that they didnt want to participate in specific procedures. Jones said he had revised the bill from previous years to include exceptions for emergency situations.

The procedures listed in the bill include abortion, abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, reproductive assistance, human stem-cell research, human cloning, non-medically necessary sterilization and fetal tissue research.

Besides employees, the bill also protects institutions from being required to provide any procedure that violates its conscience, which would be determined from its guidelines and mission statement. The definitions in the bill include protections for refusing to refer patients for the specific procedures listed.

Opponents of the bill said it would interfere with womens access to medical services and was government intrusion into health care. Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis, said the bill specifically targeted procedures women have come to expect and rely on.

This is this body trying to put themselves in our gynecology offices telling our doctors exactly what they can and cant do, Newman said. "This is one more vagina-specific bill in an election year."

Jones said that the intent of the bill was solely to protect workers and their religious freedom under the First Amendment. He said Newman had brought political vitriol into the debate and said that if the other side really thought the government shouldnt be involved in health care, then they should help dismantle the presidents health care law.

This is simply codifying and giving greater freedom and more rights to institutions that do not want to provide certain services, Jones said.

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Missouri House approves conscience rights bill for third time

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