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International Stem Cell Corp Discusses Its New Cellular Reprogramming Technology in View of the Recent Award of the …

By Stem Cell Medicine

CARLSBAD, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 9, 2012) - International Stem Cell Corporation ( OTCQB : ISCO ) (www.internationalstemcell.com) ("ISCO" or "the Company"), a California-based biotechnology company focused on therapeutic and research products, congratulates Sir John Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka on the recently announced Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering cellular reprogramming to create pluripotent stem cells.These discoveries lead to the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) which is now a major area of research.However, currently cellular reprogramming is accomplished by inserting genetic material, via a virus or otherwise, which raises serious safety concerns when developing treatments.ISCO has developed a technology that potentially allows for the creation of a new generation of iPS cells without these safety concerns.Unlike methods requiring the use of viruses or DNA constructs that may integrate into the genome, ISCO's new method utilizes only proteins which are naturally eliminated once they have served their purpose.

Dr. Ruslan Semechkin, Vice President and head of ISCO's Research and Development comments, "Overall, our new technology represents a level of control that is much finer than the multiple infections necessary for viral-based systems which cannot be turned off and where the dosage level cannot be modulated.Moreover, ISCO's method can be used not only to reprogram somatic cells to become stem cells, but also transform stem cells into somatic cells.This technology provides an alternative to the existing cellular reprogramming methods and represents an enormous opportunity for ISCO to become a leader in the iPS field."

About International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products.ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs) hence avoiding ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos.ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenetic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. hpSCs offer the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology (www.lifelinecelltech.com), and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care (www.lifelineskincare.com). More information is available at http://www.internationalstemcell.com.

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Statements pertaining to anticipated developments, the potential uses of our technologies and other opportunities for the company and its subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects" or "estimates") should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products and the management of collaborations, regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, application of capital resources among competing uses, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the company's business, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements.

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International Stem Cell Corp Discusses Its New Cellular Reprogramming Technology in View of the Recent Award of the ...

Pioneering iPS Cell Scientist Kazutoshi Takahashi Receives NYSCF – Robertson Prize in Stem Cell Research

By Stem Cell Medical Center

NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Today, The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) will award a Japanese scientist with the NYSCF Robertson Prize for his extraordinary achievements in translational stem cell research.

This award will go to Kazutoshi Takahashi, PhD, Lecturer, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, for his vital contribution to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell derivation.

Dr. Takahashi was lead author on a series of landmark papers that described reprogramming adult cells into iPS cells, which were published while he was a postdoctoral researcher in Shinya Yamanaka's, MD, PhD, laboratory at Kyoto University.

Yesterday, judges in Stockholm announced that Dr. Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon, DPhil, the Gurdon Institute, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their stem cell research breakthroughs. Both scientists demonstrated that adult cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent cells, cells that can become any cell type in the body.

The NYSCF Robertson prize will be presented at a ceremony in New York City by Susan L. Solomon, CEO of The New York Stem Cell Foundation, and Professor Peter J. Coffey, DPhil, the inaugural recipient of the NYSCF Robertson Prize in 2011, Executive Director of Translation at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, and Director of the London Project to Cure Blindness, University College London.

"Dr. Takahashi's path-breaking work truly has opened up the entire field of stem cell research," said Ms. Solomon. "In addition to his derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells, he focuses on improving this technique and other critical translational studies."

Dr. Takahashi's research group at Kyoto University was established in 2010 to focus on two areas of cellular reprogramming. Their first area of investigation is in the process of cellular reprogramming and the second area is evaluating iPS cell quality and differentiation potential.

"I congratulate Dr. Takahashi for his groundbreaking work, opening new avenues in the search for cures," said Julian H. Robertson, Jr. "The NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Prize was created to recognize and support the work of young scientists like Dr. Takahashi, whose research offers enormous potential."

The jury that selected Dr. Takahashi in September consisted of Christine Mummery, PhD, Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands; Lorenz Studer, MD, Director of the Sloan-Kettering Center for Stem Cell Biology; Irving Weissman, MD, Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine; and, Peter J. Coffey, DPhil.

The NYSCF Robertson prize is awarded annually to a young scientist in recognition of innovative and groundbreaking achievement, or body of work, that has significantly advanced human stem cell research toward clinical application. The terms of the prize require that the $200,000 stipend be used, at the recipients' discretion, to further support their research.

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Pioneering iPS Cell Scientist Kazutoshi Takahashi Receives NYSCF - Robertson Prize in Stem Cell Research

Charter Medical Launches New EXP-Pak(TM) Cell Expansion Containers for Cellular Therapy Applications

By Uncategorized

MANCHESTER, Conn., Oct. 9, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Charter Medical, Ltd., a division of Lydall, Inc., (LDL) announced today that it has recently launched the new EXP-Pak(TM) cell expansion containers intended for the expansion and culture of non-adherent cells. The launch of this exciting new product family allows Charter Medical to provide enabling technology critical to the rapidly growing cellular therapy market. The family of closed-system cell expansion containers offers a broad size range from 500mL to 5L and end-user validated cell expansion rates and recovery.

Joe Petrosky, Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales for Charter Medical, stated, "We are excited with the launch of the EXP-Pak(TM) cell expansion product family. The EXP-Pak(TM) containers complement our closed-system solution approach and play a key role in supporting the development of new cellular therapies."

Dale Barnhart, President and CEO of Lydall, stated, "I am pleased with the launch of this product family for cellular therapy which represents a strategic growth opportunity. It further demonstrates our commitment to being the global supplier of choice as we grow our presence in this emerging segment."

About Lydall, Inc.

Lydall, Inc. is a New York Stock Exchange listed company, headquartered in Manchester, Connecticut. The Company, with operations in the U.S., France, and Germany and offices in Europe and Asia, focuses on specialty engineered products for the thermal/acoustical and filtration/separation markets. Charter Medical, Ltd., a Lydall subsidiary, is a vital fluids management company focused on providing products to separate, contain and transport vital fluids in the blood and cell therapy market and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Lydall(R) is a registered trademark of Lydall, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All product names are trademarks of Lydall, Inc. or Charter Medical, Ltd.

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Charter Medical Launches New EXP-Pak(TM) Cell Expansion Containers for Cellular Therapy Applications

Nobel Prize Winner Yamanaka Remains at Forefront of Fast-Moving Stem Cell Field He Galvanized

By Stem Cell Treatment

Mariselle Lancero, a research associate II, and research scientist Kiichiro Tomoda, PhD, work in the Yamanaka Lab at the Gladstone Institutes on the day Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, reached in Kyoto shortly after being named winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, said he was doing some housecleaning when the call came in, and was very surprised.

But at UCSF, where Yamanaka joined the faculty in 2007, splitting his time between Kyoto University and the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institutes, his winning the Nobel Prize was considered virtually inevitable. The only surprise, colleagues say, was that the honor came so quickly.

Often the Nobel Committee waits decades before awarding the prize to make sure the discovery stands the test of time. Its rare for a scientists influence on scientific thought and experimentation to spread as fast as it did in this case.

Yamanaka discovered keys to the developmental destiny of cells, and how these keys can be used to manipulate cell fate in ways that offer hope to scientists who seek new methods of providing tissues for organ transplantation and for other medical applications. His seminal paper was published in 2006, and there is an expectation that the techniques he developed will lead to clinical trials for macular degeneration as early as next year.

Its a great day for the Gladstone, and a great day for UCSF, said Deepak Srivastava, MD, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and a UCSF professor in the departments of pediatrics and biochemistry and biophysics.

Im a little surprised it happened this year, Srivastava said. I thought it would happen in the next five to 10 years.

Even without considering the clinical potential, the implications of Yamanakas work for understanding basic biology are deserving of recognition, Srivastava said.

The award is carefully worded, he noted. The fundamental, basic discovery that we can alter cell fates is really what this prize is about; its not so much about stem cells, or even about regenerative medicine. Its about the discovery that we can control the fate of the cell by manipulating DNA without changing the genetic code.

The ability to control cell fate, we hope, will allow us in the future to use the technology for regenerative medicine and disease modeling to drive discovery, he said.

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Nobel Prize Winner Yamanaka Remains at Forefront of Fast-Moving Stem Cell Field He Galvanized

Gurdon And Yamanaka Share Nobel Prize For Stem Cell Work

By Stem Cell Medicine

Two pioneers of stem cell research have shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology.

John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan were awarded the prize for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body.

Prof Gurdon used a gut sample to clone frogs and Prof Yamanaka altered genes to reprogramme cells.

The Nobel committee said they had "revolutionised" science.

The prize is in stark contrast to Prof Gurdon's first foray into science when his biology teacher described his scientific ambitions as "a waste of time".

Cloned frog When a sperm fertilises an egg there is just one type of cell. It multiplies and some of the resulting cells become specialised to create all the tissues of the body including nerve and bone and skin.

It had been though to be a one-way process - once a cell had become specialised it could not change its fate.

In 1962, John Gurdon showed that the genetic information inside a cell taken from the intestines of a frog contained all the information need to create a whole new frog. He took the genetic information and placed it inside a frog egg. The resulting clone developed into a normal tadpole.

The technique would eventually give rise to Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal.

Reset button Forty years later Shinya Yamanaka used a different approach. Rather than transferring the genetic information into an egg, he reset it.

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Gurdon And Yamanaka Share Nobel Prize For Stem Cell Work

Stem Cell Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

By Stem Cell Medicine

Kyodo / Reuters

Kyoto University Professor Shinya Yamanaka (left) and John Gurdon of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, England, at a symposium on induced pluripotent stem cells in Tokyo in April 2008

In a testament to the revolutionary potential of the field of regenerative medicine, in which scientists are able to create and replace any cells that are at fault in disease, the Nobel Prize committee on Monday awarded the 2012 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine to two researchers whose discoveries have made such cellular alchemy possible.

The prize went to John B. Gurdon of the University of Cambridge in England, who was the first to clone an animal, a frog, in 1962, and to Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan who in 2006 discovered the four genes necessary to reprogram an adult cell back to an embryonic state.

Sir John Gurdon, who is now a professor at an institute that bears his name, earned the ridicule of many colleagues back in the 1960s when he set out on a series of experiments to show that the development of cells could be reversed. At the time, biologists knew that all cells in an embryo had the potential to become any cell in the body, but they believed that once a developmental path was set for each cell toward becoming part of the brain, or a nerve or muscle it could not be returned to its embryonic state. The thinking was that as a cell developed, it would either shed or silence the genes it no longer used, so that it would be impossible for a cell from an adult animal, for example, to return to its embryonic state and make other cells.

(MORE: Stem Cell Miracle? New Therapies May Cure Chronic Conditions Like Alzheimers)

Working with frogs, Gurdon proved his critics wrong, showing that some reprogramming could occur. Gurdon took the DNA from a mature frogs gut cell and inserted it into an egg cell. The resulting egg, when fertilized, developed into a normal tadpole, a strong indication that the genes of the gut cell were amenable to reprogramming; they had the ability to function as more than just an intestinal cell, and could give rise to any of the cells needed to create an entirely new frog.

Just as Gurdon was facing his critics in England, a young boy was born in Osaka, Japan, who would eventually take Gurdons finding to unthinkable extremes. Initially, Shinya Yamanaka would follow his fathers wishes and become an orthopedic surgeon, but he found himself ill-suited to the surgeons life. Intrigued more by the behind-the-scenes biological processes that make the body work, he found himself drawn to basic research, and began his career by trying to find a way to lower cholesterol production. That work also wasnt successful, but it drew him to the challenge of understanding what makes cells divide, proliferate and develop in specific ways.

In 2006, while at Kyoto University, Yamanaka stunned scientists by announcing he had successfully achieved what Gurdon had with the frog cells, but without using eggs at all. Yamanaka mixed four genes in with skin cells from adult mice and turned those cells back to an embryo-like state, essentially erasing their development and turning back their clock. The four genes reactivated other genes that are prolific in the early embryo, and turned off those that directed the cells to behave like skin.

(MORE: Ovary Stem Cells Can Produce New Human Eggs)

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Stem Cell Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

Cellectis: the Award of Nobel Prize in Medicine to Professor Yamanaka Confirms the Relevance of the Group's Stem Cell …

By Stem Cell Medicine

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Regulatory News:

Cellectis (ALCLS.PA) (ALCLS.PA), the French genome engineering specialist, considers the award of the Nobel Prize fin Medicine to Professor Shinya Yamanaka as the validation of its stem cell strategy and is a major growth driver for this activity.

Since 2010 Cellectis started collaborating with Professor Shinya Yamanaka at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto, Japan, working together on genome engineering of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

Since then, Cellectis has successively:

Cellectis already sells cellular models for research and drug development within pharmaceutical industry, implementing technologies developed by CiRA. In addition, Cellectis is currently working on a number of develops large-scale projects based on iPS cell technology with two aims:

Andr Choulika, CEO of Cellectis, declares: "the quality of relations between the teams of CiRA and Cellectis Group - based on mutual respect of their scientific expertise on the one hand, the recognition of the strong complementarity of their knowledge on the other - involved the establishment of a real alliance able to compete with the American presence in the area."

Cellectis plans to expand and deepen this collaboration with Prof. Yamanaka in order to strengthen its position as an industry leader, increase its activity remaining at the forefront of iPS cell technology, and develop industry standards in regenerative medicine.

About Cellectis

Founded in France in 1999, the Cellectis Group is based on a highly specific DNA engineering technology. Its application sectors are human health, agriculture and bio-energies. Co-created by Andr Choulika, its Chief Executive Officer, Cellectis is today one of the world leading companies in the field of genome engineering. The Group has a workforce of 230 employees working on 5 sites worldwide: Paris & Evry in France, Gothenburg in Sweden, St Paul (Minnesota) & Cambridge (Massachusetts) in the United States. Cellectis achieved in 2011 16M revenues and has signed more than 80 industrial agreements with pharmaceutical laboratories, agrochemical and biotechnology companies since its inception. AFM, Dupont, BASF, Bayer, Total, Limagrain, Novo Nordisk are some of the Groups clients and partners.

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Cellectis: the Award of Nobel Prize in Medicine to Professor Yamanaka Confirms the Relevance of the Group's Stem Cell ...

British, Japanese scientists share Nobel Prize for stem cell work

By Stem Cell Medical Center

Two scientists who upended fundamental beliefs about biology by demonstrating that every cell in the body has the potential to grow into every other type of cell have won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

Sir John Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka were honored Monday for "the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed" to return to a very early state of development, the Nobel committee said in its citation.

Their research is still years away from yielding a clear breakthrough in medical treatment. But the work has upended the study of intractable conditions including heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's by allowing scientists to grow disease-specific and even patient-specific cells for experimentation in the laboratory, experts said.

"It's nothing short of a revolution in how we think of a cell," said Dr. Deepak Srivastava, director of the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, where Yamanaka works one week each month.

Gurdon, 79, performed his seminal work at Oxford University in the late 1950s and early 1960s a good deal of it before Yamanaka was born.

Working with frogs, he showed in 1962 that replacing the nucleus of an egg cell with the nucleus from a cell taken from a tadpole's intestine allowed the egg to develop into a fully functional clone of that tadpole.

The discovery shocked his colleagues in the field. At the time, it wasn't clear whether different types of body cells had different DNA or shared the same genetic instructions and just read them differently, Srivastava said. Gurdon's experiments indicated that cells did contain the same genetic code and that individual cells were capable of creating an entire animal and thus any of its component parts if properly manipulated.

It would take 34 years for Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut to clone Dolly the sheep, replicating the feat in a mammal and capturing the public's imagination.

Yamanaka's achievement was to give scientists an idea of how that cellular reprogramming gets done. When he began this line of work, he was highly criticized in Japan for undertaking such a difficult project.

The Japanese scientist who trained as an orthopedic surgeon before becoming a full-time researcher figured out that activating simple combinations of genes in a mouse skin cell could rewind that cell to an embryo-like state, allowing it to develop anew as any other type of cell in the body.

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British, Japanese scientists share Nobel Prize for stem cell work

Stem Cell Scientists Gurdon and Yamanaka Win Nobel Prize in Medicine

By Uncategorized

JUDY WOODRUFF: Next, to the 2012 Nobel Prizes. The first was awarded today for groundbreaking work in reprogramming cells in the body.

Ray Suarez looks at those achievements.

MAN: The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has today decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,2012 jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka.

RAY SUAREZ: The two scientists are from two different generations and celebrated today's announcement half-a-world apart.

But today they were celebrated together for their research that led to a groundbreaking understanding of how cells work.

Sir John Gurdon of CambridgeUniversity was awarded for his work in 1962. He was able to use specialized cells of frogs, like skin or intestinal cells, to generate new tadpoles and show DNA could drive the formation of all cells in the body.

Forty years later, Dr. Yamanaka built on that and went further. He was able to turn mature cells back into their earliest form as primitive cells. Those cells are in many ways the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, because they have the potential to develop into specialized cells for heart, liver and other organs.

Dr. Shinya Yamanaka is currently working at KyotoUniversity. Embryonic stem cells have had to be harvested from human embryos, a source of debate and considerable controversy.

For Gurdon, the prize had special meaning. At a news conference in London, he recalled one schoolteacher's reaction to his desire to study science.

JOHN GURDON, co-winner, Nobel Prize For Medicine or Physiology: It was a completely ridiculous idea because there was no hope whatever of my doing science, and any time spent on it would be a total waste of time, both on my part and the part of the person having to teach him. So that terminated my completely -- completely terminated my science at school.

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Stem Cell Scientists Gurdon and Yamanaka Win Nobel Prize in Medicine

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