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Stem Cell Researchers Share Nobel Medicine Prize

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British researcher John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan have shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology.

The two pioneers of stem cell research were awarded the prize for transforming specialised cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body.

John Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the specialisation of cells is reversible. In a classic experiment, he replaced the immature cell nucleus in an egg cell of a frog with the nucleus from a mature intestinal cell. This modified egg cell developed into a normal tadpole. The DNA of the mature cell still had all the information needed to develop all cells in the frog.

Shinya Yamanaka discovered more than 40 years later, in 2006, how intact mature cells in mice could be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells. Surprisingly, by introducing only a few genes, he could reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells, i.e. immature cells that are able to develop into all types of cells in the body.

These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and cellular specialisation.

By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy.

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Stem Cell Researchers Share Nobel Medicine Prize

Stem cell experts win Nobel prize

By Uncategorized

8 October 2012 Last updated at 09:58 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

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British scientist John Gurdon told a news conference he still keeps a bad report given to him by his school science teacher

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".

"I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him."

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.

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Stem cell experts win Nobel prize

Stem Cell Discoveries Snag Nobel Prize in Medicine

By Uncategorized

Two scientists who discovered the developmental clock could be turned back in mature cells, transforming them into immature cells with the ability to become any tissue in the body pluripotent stem cells are being honored with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The Nobel Prize honoring Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka was announced today (Oct. 8) by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Th duo's work revealed what scientists had thought impossible. Just after conception, an embryo contains immature cells that can give rise to any cell type such as nerve, muscle and liver cells in the adult organism; these are called pluripotent stem cells, and scientists believed once these stem cells become specialized to carry out a specific body task there was no turning back.

Gurdon, now at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, England, found this wasn't the case when in 1962 he replaced the nucleus of a frog's egg cell with the nucleus taken from a mature intestinal cell from a tadpole. And voila, the altered frog egg developed into a tadpole, suggesting the mature nucleus held the instructions needed to become all cells in the frog, as if it were a young unspecialized cell. In fact, later experiments using nuclear transfer have produced cloned mammals. [5 Amazing Stem Cell Discoveries]

Then in 2006, Yamanaka, who was born in 1962 when Gurdon reported his discovery and is now at Kyoto University, genetically reprogrammed mature skin cells in mice to become immature cells able to become any cell in the adult mice, which he named induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Scientists can now derive such induced pluripotent stem cells from adult nerve, heart and liver cells, allowing new ways to study diseases.

When Yamanaka received the call from Stockholm about his award, he was doing housework, according to an interview with the Nobel Prize website. "It is a tremendous honor to me," Yamanaka said during that interview.

As for his hopes for mankind with regard to stem cells, he said, "My goal, all my life, is to bring this technology, stem cell technology, to the bedside, to patients, to clinics." He added that the first clinical trials of iPS cells will begin next year.

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Stem Cell Discoveries Snag Nobel Prize in Medicine

NeoStem Announces Very Small Embryonic-Like Cells (VSEL(TM)) Publication in Stem Cells and Development

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NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeoStem, Inc. (NYSE MKT:NBS), an emerging leader in the fast growing cell therapy market, announced today that data from its collaborative studies with the University of Michigan School of Dentistry further expands the therapeutic potential of its proprietary regenerative cell therapy product, "VSELSTM" (very small embryonic-like stem cells), by demonstrating bone regeneration capabilities in a study published online ahead of print1 in the journal Stem Cells and Development (DOI: 10.1089/scd.2012.0327). The paper highlights that human VSEL stem cells form human bone when implanted in the bone tissue of SCID mice.

VSELs are a population of stem cells found in adult bone marrow with potential regenerative properties similar to those of embryonic stem cells. NeoStem has shown that these cells can be mobilized into the peripheral blood, enabling a minimally invasive means for collecting what NeoStem believes to be a population of stem cells that have the potential to achieve the positive benefits associated with embryonic stem cells without the ethical or moral dilemmas or the potential negative effects known to be associated with embryonic stem cells.

This published controlled study, funded by NIH and led by Dr. Russell Taichman, Major Ash Collegiate Professor and Co-Director of the Scholars Program in Dental Leadership Department of Periodontics & Oral Medicine, University of Michigan and Dr. Aaron Havens, Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at University of Michigan, involved isolating G-CSF mobilized VSEL stem cells from the blood of healthy donors and transplanting them into burr holes made in the cranial bones of SCID mice. After three months, it was observed that the implanted VSEL stem cells had differentiated into human bone tissue in the crania of the mice. Dr. Taichman stated, "I believe this work represents a true partnership between Industry and Academic Institutions. Our findings that VSEL cells can generate human bone in animals would not have been feasible without the help and vision that Dr. Denis Rodgerson and his team at NeoStem brought to the table. It was my privilege to have been a part of this collaborative effort, and I see the resulting data as a significant milestone in stem cell therapy development. It is truly inspiring."

Dr. Robin Smith, Chairman and CEO of NeoStem, added, "This is very exciting data that we believe will be the foundation for future VSEL stem cell studies of bone regeneration in humans. We look forward to moving the development work from the laboratory into the clinic to develop a therapeutic stem cell product to enhance bone formation in humans."

About NeoStem, Inc.

NeoStem, Inc. continues to develop and build on its core capabilities in cell therapy, capitalizing on the paradigm shift that we see occurring in medicine. In particular, we anticipate that cell therapy will have a significant role in the fight against chronic disease and in lessening the economic burden that these diseases pose to modern society. We are emerging as a technology and market leading company in this fast developing cell therapy market. Our multi-faceted business strategy combines a state-of-the-art contract development and manufacturing subsidiary, Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC ("PCT"), with a medically important cell therapy product development program, enabling near and long-term revenue growth opportunities. We believe this expertise and existing research capabilities and collaborations will enable us to achieve our mission of becoming a premier cell therapy company.

Our contract development and manufacturing service business supports the development of proprietary cell therapy products. NeoStem's most clinically advanced therapeutic, AMR-001, is being developed at Amorcyte, LLC ("Amorcyte"), which we acquired in October 2011. Amorcyte is developing a cell therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and is enrolling patients in a Phase 2 trial to investigate AMR-001's efficacy in preserving heart function after a heart attack. Athelos Corporation ("Athelos"), which is approximately 80%-owned by our subsidiary, PCT, is collaborating with Becton-Dickinson in the early clinical exploration of a T-cell therapy for autoimmune conditions. In addition, pre-clinical assets include our VSELTM Technology platform as well as our mesenchymal stem cell product candidate for regenerative medicine. Our service business and pipeline of proprietary cell therapy products work in concert, giving us a competitive advantage that we believe is unique to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Supported by an experienced scientific and business management team and a substantial intellectual property estate, we believe we are well positioned to succeed.

Forward-Looking Statements for NeoStem, Inc.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements herein with respect to the successful execution of the Company's business strategy, including with respect to the Company's or its partners' successful development of AMR-001 and other cell therapeutics, the size of the market for such products, its competitive position in such markets, the Company's ability to successfully penetrate such markets and the market for its CDMO business, and the efficacy of protection from its patent portfolio, as well as the future of the cell therapeutics industry in general, including the rate at which such industry may grow. Forward looking statements also include statements with respect to satisfying all conditions to closing the disposition of Erye, including receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals in the PRC. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward- looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to (i) the Company's ability to manage its business despite operating losses and cash outflows, (ii) its ability to obtain sufficient capital or strategic business arrangement to fund its operations, including the clinical trials for AMR-001, (iii) successful results of the Company's clinical trials of AMR-001 and other cellular therapeutic products that may be pursued, (iv) demand for and market acceptance of AMR-001 or other cell therapies if clinical trials are successful and the Company is permitted to market such products, (v) establishment of a large global market for cellular-based products, (vi) the impact of competitive products and pricing, (vii) the impact of future scientific and medical developments, (viii) the Company's ability to obtain appropriate governmental licenses and approvals and, in general, future actions of regulatory bodies, including the FDA and foreign counterparts, (ix) reimbursement and rebate policies of government agencies and private payers, (x) the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property, (xi) the company's ability to successfully divest its interest in Erye, and (xii) matters described under the "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 20, 2012 and in the Company's other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available on its website. The Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. The Company's further development is highly dependent on future medical and research developments and market acceptance, which is outside its control.

(1) Human Very Small Embryonic-Like Cells Generate Skeletal Structures, In Vivo. Havens A., et al., Stem Cells and Development.

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NeoStem Announces Very Small Embryonic-Like Cells (VSEL(TM)) Publication in Stem Cells and Development

Nobel Prize goes to pioneers of induced stem cell research

By Stem Cell Treatment

John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their research on resetting cells to their earliest developmental stages.The work has yet to yield a clear breakthrough in medical treatment, but it has revolutionized scientists ability to study both normal and diseased development.

Gurdon, 79, performed his seminal work in the late 1950s and early 1960sa good deal of it before Yamanaka was born. In his most famous study, Gurdon showed that replacing the nucleus of an adult cell with the nucleus of an embryonic cell reset the adult cell to an embryonic state: Many of the cells became tadpoles. This strongly suggested that embryonic-state DNA and the molecules that controlled gene expression in the nucleus were sufficient to make a cell "pluripotent" againor capable of turning into any type of tissue in the body.

Some40 years later, Yamanaka took this further by showing that adult mouse skin cells could be reset to their embryonic state just by adding a set of genes into the cells nuclei, and he later reduced this number to just four genes. The cells are now referred to as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, and are a common tool in the study of development and disease.

With Yamanakas discovery, researchers suddenly had a way of studying pluripotent stem cells without destroying embryosa limitation that had caused countless headaches at the time of Yamanakas breakthrough, as President George W. Bush had instituted severe limitations on such research.

Since Yamanakas seminal finding, researchers have used the approach to demonstrate some stunning feats: They have turned the skin cells of people who have Parkinsons disease into disease in a dish models that allow them to watch the development of the disease over time and to observe what genes go wrong when and why, and, just last week, a team of scientists published research that used the approach to turn mouse skin cells back into mouse eggs, which then produced baby mice.

The technique has not been without complications: Because one of the four genes is also highly implicated in cancer, the iPS cells are more likely to become cancerous than true embryonic stem cells. The issue has slowed research in the field.

Today, Gurdon works at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, England, which he founded, and Yamanaka has appointments at UC San Franciscos Gladstone Institute and at Kyoto University.

You can read all about the winners here.

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Nobel Prize goes to pioneers of induced stem cell research

Stem cell pioneers take first prize in Nobel week

By Stem Cell Treatment

This year's Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to...

The 2012 Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded to stem cell researchers John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka of Britain and Japan. They take the first Nobel prize of the year, with a flurry to follow over the next week.

Judges in Stockholm said on Monday that the medicine prize had been awarded to the researchers "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent," saying that this discovery had "revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop."

Gurdon and Yamanaka are stem cell researchers who are seeking ways to obtain embryonic stem cells - a kind of genetic blank slate, cells that can be 'programmed' to take on many different forms and perform different functions - from the cells of an adult. Embryos themselves are another more controversial source of stem cells.

"We are trying to find ways of obtaining embryo cells from the cells of an adult," Gurdon writes on his Gurdon Institute website. "The eventual aim is to provide replacement cells of all kinds starting from usually obtainable cells of an adult individual."

A Nobel Prize medal on display in Stockholm

The British scientist also said such a system was advantageous because the stem cells could be obtained from the patient themselves, reducing the risk of rejection when they were employed as a treatment.

The medals will be doled out in December, the winners named in the next few days

Stem cells appear to have potential to treat a wide range of illnesses, with a major barrier to the research the ethical implications of obtaining the cells from unborn foetuses.

A busy week in the Swedish capital

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Stem cell pioneers take first prize in Nobel week

Nobel winner Yamanaka a stem cell pioneer

By Stem Cell Treatment

SHINYA Yamanaka could have made bits of sewing machines for a living. Instead, his tinkering with the building blocks of life has made him a Nobel prize winner.

Born in 1962 in a Japan beginning a decades-long manufacturing boom, Yamanaka was the only son of a factory owner who produced parts for sewing machines.

But even as the country's industries exploded in the 1970s, his father told him he should not follow the traditional Japanese path and take over the family business, but become a doctor.

Half a century later and after a stint as an orthopaedic surgeon, he is a leading authority on how cells work.

Kyoto University-based Yamanaka was being celebrated on Monday for his work, alongside Briton John Gurdon, on how cells can be reprogrammed.

So-called "nuclear reprogramming" uses a fully-developed adult cell to create a stem cell - a kind of blank slate that has the potential to become any other kind of cell in the body.

Scientists say in this way they can generate materials either to experiment on, or to use within the body - perhaps as a means of repairing or even replacing damaged or diseased organs.

Gurdon's work proved that mature cells maintain the "memory" of what they could have been; a brain cell that specialises in transmitting messages retains its ability to absorb nutrients like a cell in the wall of the intestine.

To do this, he took the nucleus from a specialised cell and implanted it into an egg without a nucleus. Allowed to develop naturally, this becomes an early-stage embryo containing stem cells.

Harvesting those cells necessitates the destruction of that embryo.

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Nobel winner Yamanaka a stem cell pioneer

Stem cell pioneers win Nobel for medicine

By Stem Cell Treatment

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Shinya Yamanaka of Japan and John Gurdon of Britain won the Nobel Prize on Monday for work in cell programming, a frontier that has raised dreams of replacement tissue for people crippled by disease.

The two scientists found that adult cells can be transformed back to an infant state called stem cells, the the key ingredient in the vision of regenerative medicine.

"Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop," the Nobel jury declared. "By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy."

Among those who acclaimed the award were Britain's Royal Society, Ian Wilmut, "father" of Dolly the cloned sheep, and a leading ethicist, who said it eased a storm about the use of embryonic cells.

Stem cells are precursor cells which differentiate into the various organs of the body.

They have stirred huge excitement, with hopes that they can be coaxed into growing into replacement tissue for victims of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases.

Gurdon, 79, said he was grateful but also surprised by the honour, since his main research was done more than 40 years ago.

In 1962, he discovered that the DNA code in the nucleus of an adult frog cell held all the information to develop into every kind of cell.

This meant that an adult cell could in essence be reprogrammed.

His landmark discovery was initially met with scepticism, as the journey from immature to specialised cell was previously deemed irreversible.

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Stem cell pioneers win Nobel for medicine

Stem cell pioneers win Nobel medicine honors

By Stem Cell Treatment

The 2012 Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded to stem cell researchers John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka of Britain and Japan. They take the first Nobel prize of the year, with a flurry to follow over the next week.

Judges in Stockholm said on Monday that the medicine prize had been awarded to the researchers "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent," saying that this discovery had "revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop."

Gurdon and Yamanaka are stem cell researchers who are seeking ways to obtain embryonic stem cells - a kind of genetic blank slate, cells that can be 'programmed' to take on many different forms and perform different functions - from the cells of an adult. Embryos themselves are another more controversial source of stem cells.

"We are trying to find ways of obtaining embryo cells from the cells of an adult," Gurdon writes on his Gurdon Institute website. "The eventual aim is to provide replacement cells of all kinds starting from usually obtainable cells of an adult individual."

The British scientist also said such a system was advantageous because the stem cells could be obtained from the patient themselves, reducing the risk of rejection when they were employed as a treatment.

The medals will be doled out in December, the winners named in the next few days

Stem cells appear to have potential to treat a wide range of illnesses, with a major barrier to the research the ethical implications of obtaining the cells from unborn foetuses.

A busy week in the Swedish capital

This year's laureates in the field of physics will be named on Tuesday, with chemistry following on Wednesday and perhaps the most famous Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded on Friday. As is tradition, there is no set date for the Nobel Prize for Literature - but that will almost certainly fill the gap in the schedule on Thursday. The economics prize winner or winners will be named on October 15.

All the prizes will be awarded in Stockholm simultaneously at a December 10 ceremony.

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Stem cell pioneers win Nobel medicine honors

Milestones in Stem Cell Science

By Stem Cell Treatment

Gail Martin, PhD

Since 1981, when UCSFs Gail Martin, PhD, co-discovered embryonic stem cells in mice and coined the term embryonic stem cell, UCSF has been a key player in the stem cell field.

The success in 1998 by the University of Wisconsins James Thomson in deriving human embryonic stem cells from embryos propelled the stem cell research field forward.

Beginning in the late 1990s, UCSFs Roger Pedersen, PhD, was one of two University scientists nationwide the other being James Thomson, DVM, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin to pioneer the human embryonic stem cell field. Following Thomsons 1998 discovery of a technique for deriving human embryonic stem cells from donated embryos left over following in vitro fertilization efforts, Pedersens lab derived two of its own lines of cells using the same technique.

In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, a senior investigator and the L.K. Whittier Foundation Investigator in Stem Cell Biology at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and a professor of anatomy at UCSF, developed the method for inducing skin cells from mice into becoming like pluripotent stem cells and called them iPS cells. In 2007, Yamanaka did the same with adult human skin cells.

Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD

Yamanakas experiments revealed that adult skin cells, when treated with four pieces of DNA (now called the Yamanaka factors), can induce skin cells to revert back to their pluripotent state. His discovery has since led to a variety of methods for reprogramming adult cells into stem cells that can become virtually any cell type such as a beating heart cell or a neuron that can transmit chemical signals in the brain. This allows researchers to create patient-specific cell lines that can be studied and used in everything from drug therapies to regenerative medicine.In between and since, there has been major progress in scientists understanding of stem cells.

Today, fueled in part by the robust research enterprise at UCSF, the field is burgeoning. Yamanaka now commutes between Japan and San Francisco, where he is a professor of anatomy at UCSF and a senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated J. David Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease.

At UCSF, Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, leads one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the United States.

In about 125 labs, basic science researchers carry out studies in cell culture and animals aimed at understanding healthy cell function and disease progression and developing treatment strategies for a broad spectrum of disorders, including heart disease, diabetes, neurological diseases such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons disease and spinal cord injury and cancer. Clinical research teams have begun one of the first early-stage stem cell clinical trials in the United States, and other potential trials are on the horizon.

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Milestones in Stem Cell Science

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