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LifeNet Health is Presenting at the 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit in New York on February 21, 2012

By Uncategorized

To: HEALTH AND NATIONAL EDITORS

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rony Thomas, President and CEO of LifeNet Health, is presenting at the 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit in New York City on February 21, 2012. Mr. Thomas will be presenting on LifeNet Health's broad offerings of current and future regenerative biologic-based products. Mr. Thomas will also focus on the multiple new capabilities and technology platforms of the LifeNet Health Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120220/DC55479)

"The use of a variety of forms of donated tissues has worked for decades to save lives and restore health in many surgical disciplines. Now we are on the cusp of developing cellular therapies, tissue engineering and new medical applications for allografts to treat disease and assist in the development of lifesaving drugs. The opening of the LifeNet Health Institute of Regenerative Medicine this year will signal our commitment to future development in the cellular therapies arena," stated Mr. Thomas. Thomas will further focus on two new areas of development; Human Basement Membranes in zeno-free culture of consented Human mRNA Reprogrammed Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSc) derived using non-integrating mRNA reprogramming technology from fully consented queryable human donor banked system.

Mr. Thomas was also recently invited to and attended a White House Summit to discuss ways in which technology and innovation can drive employment opportunities for Virginia, where LifeNet Health and the Institute are located. The meeting of key CEOs with the Obama Administration was to gain insight and input on the job market and technology as a driver to local, state, and national economies. Thomas stated, "Our foray into regenerative medicine should not only impact our state and local economy, but provide medical benefits to patients and drug companies across the globe."

The annual Stem Cell Summit brings key leaders in the medical, scientific and business innovators in this growing space of technology and regenerative medicine. LifeNet Health is pleased to be joining the Summit for the first time in 2012 as they look for key partnerships and collaboration in the discovery of cell-based therapies for a broad spectrum of medical applications in orthopedics, trauma, dental, craniomaxillofacial (CMF), plastics, and cardiovascular surgery.

LifeNet Health helps to save lives and restore health for thousands of patients each year. We are the world's most trusted provider of transplant solutions, from organ procurement to new innovations in bio-implant technologies and cellular therapies--a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, while always honoring the donors and healthcare professionals that allow the healing process.

The LifeNet Health Institute of Regenerative Medicine is a division of LifeNet Health located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Institute's labs will be expanding as new facilities are under construction and planned to be completed in the fall of 2012. Once completed and fully functional, the Institute will house over 50 medical, scientific, and research staff members. The focus will be on the science of developing regenerative medicine products for patients all over the world, and will serve as a global center of excellence for research and development focused on cellular therapies, tissue engineering, and new medical applications for allografts to maximize the gift of donation.

SOURCE LifeNet Health

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LifeNet Health is Presenting at the 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit in New York on February 21, 2012

Renato Dulbecco dies at 97; 1975 Nobel Prize winner in medicine

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Dr. Renato Dulbecco, an Italian American virologist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for demonstrating how certain types of viruses invade mammalian cells to cause cancer, died of natural causes Sunday at his home in La Jolla. He was 97.

Dulbecco developed a method for measuring the quantity of virus in animal cells in tissue culture, a finding that greatly facilitated the study of such viruses and paved the way for the development of the Sabin polio vaccine. He was a faculty member at Caltech from 1949 to 1963 before moving to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla. He later served as president of the institute.

Dulbecco was also one of the first proponents of the human genome project, which many researchers initially thought would be both excessively expensive and relatively useless but which has since proved invaluable in biological research.

"Renato was one of the most brilliant scientific minds of our generation," current Salk Institute President William R. Brody said in a statement. "His contributions have truly made this a better world for all of us."

It has been known since the early 1900s that certain viruses can cause tumors in animals. The best-known example was the Rous sarcoma virus, which causes cancer in chickens. But it was not clear how the viruses produced this effect and what proportion of human cancers might be attributed to them.

In experiments carried out at Caltech in the 1950s, Dulbecco showed that a viral infection can have two outcomes: the virus can multiply inside the cell, killing the cell and releasing thousands of new viruses into the host animal; or it could alter the cell so that the cell would continue to divide and grow indefinitely, a process called transformation.

In the latter case, no new virus particles appear and the infecting virus seemingly disappears.

Through an elegant series of experiments, Dulbecco showed that the DNA from the polyoma virus became integrated into the DNA of the host cell, where it was replicated intact every time the cell replicated. Moreover, the viral DNA served as the blueprint for a small number of proteins that subverted cellular machinery, causing the cells to reproduce repeatedly — the hallmark of tumor formation.

Additionally, this feat was achieved before it was possible to sequence the DNA of either viruses or animal cells.

For his achievement, Dulbecco shared the 1975 Nobel Prize with Howard Temin and David Baltimore, who demonstrated the existence of an enzyme — reverse transcriptase — that allowed RNA viruses to integrate their genes into a host cell in the same fashion as the DNA viruses studied by Dulbecco. Both were former students of his.

In his Nobel address, Dulbecco called for increased restrictions on tobacco use because of its carcinogenic potential and urged governments to make greater efforts to limit the introduction of dangerous chemicals.

"While we spend our life asking questions about the nature of cancer and ways to prevent or cure it," he said, "society merrily produces oncogenic substances and permeates the environment with them."

Renato Dulbecco was born Feb. 22, 1914, in Catanzaro, Italy, the son of a civil engineer. He enrolled at the University of Turin, where he had meant to study physics and chemistry but soon became interested in biology instead.

He received his medical degree in 1936 and during World War II served in France and Russia, where he was injured in 1942 during a major Russian offensive along the Don River.

After several months of hospitalization, he returned home, hiding out in a small village near Turin when German forces occupied Italy after Mussolini's fall. He served as a medical officer for partisan forces resisting the occupation.

In medical school, Dulbecco had worked in the laboratory of noted anatomist Giuseppi Levi, along with fellow students Salvador Luria and Rita Levi-Montalcini, both of whom also became Nobel laureates. In 1946, Luria invited Dulbecco to join his small laboratory at the Indiana University and Dulbecco immigrated the following year, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1953. At IU, he shared bench space with James Watson, another eventual Nobel laureate.

Dulbecco was working with bacteriophage, small viruses that invade only bacteria cells. He showed that bacteriophage that had been disabled by exposure to ultraviolet light could be reactivated by exposing them to bursts of white light.

That work attracted the attention of microbiologist Max Delbruck, who invited Dulbecco to join him at Caltech. In the summer of 1949, Dulbecco and his then-wife, the former Giuseppina Salvo, drove an old car cross-country. He wrote in his Nobel autobiography that he was struck by "the beauty and immensity of the U.S.A. and the kindness of its people" and vowed to continue to live here forever.

While at Caltech, Dulbecco adapted a technique he had used with bacteriophage to count the number of virus particles that are present in a tissue sample. Dubbed the plaque assay technique, the assay relies on the fact that viruses added to a culture of cells kill small areas of cells, producing clear circles that can be counted.

This technique enabled researchers for the first time to measure the concentrations of virus in a sample and was crucial to Albert Sabin's work in inventing an attenuated virus polio vaccine. Dulbecco, in fact, originally isolated the mutant polio virus used by Sabin in his vaccine.

In 1962, Dulbecco became a founding member of the Salk Institute, where he remained for the rest of his career. He also spent time at the Imperial Cancer Fund Research Laboratories in London, where he worked on human cancer viruses, although he remained on the staff at Salk. In his later years, he researched breast cancer and concluded that breast cancer stem cells gone awry might be responsible for certain types of breast tumors.

In 1988, he became interim president at Salk, a position that soon became permanent. He held the post until he returned to his laboratory research in 1992.

During the 1980s, Dulbecco had argued passionately in favor of a human genome project. After his retirement as Salk president he was asked by the Italian National Research Council to develop an Italian human genome project, and he spent about half his time each year in that country. The project was abandoned after five years, however, because of lack of funding and facilities.

Dulbecco was a classically trained pianist who was passionate about music and performed opera. He was also a dedicated do-it-yourself handyman and once told The Times, "If I can get a week off to work on the house, that's the best vacation I can get." He remodeled his kitchen and added about 1,000 square feet of space to his home in La Jolla, performing all the work — including plumbing and electrical — himself.

Dulbecco is survived by his second wife, Maureen, whom he married in 1962; a brother, two daughters and four grandchildren. A son predeceased him.

Maugh is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer.

news.obits@latimes.com

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Renato Dulbecco dies at 97; 1975 Nobel Prize winner in medicine

Panamanian-US Scientific Research Supports Using Fat Stem Cells to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

By Stem Cell Treatment

A Panamanian-led, multidisciplinary research team has published the first description of non-expanded fat stem cells in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis patients. "Autologous Stromal Vascular Fraction Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Rationale and Clinical Safety," which appears in the January publication of the International Archives of Medicine, followed 13 rheumatoid arthritis patients who were treated with their own fat-derived stem cells.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) February 21, 2012

A Panamanian-led, multidisciplinary research team has published the first description of non-expanded fat stem cells in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis patients. "Autologous Stromal Vascular Fraction Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Rationale and Clinical Safety," which appears in the January publication of the International Archives of Medicine, followed 13 rheumatoid arthritis patients who were treated with their own fat-derived stem cells.

Treating arthritis with fat-derived stem cells has become commonplace in veterinary medicine over the past five years with over 7,000 horses and dogs treated by publication contributor Vet-Stem, a San Diego-based company. The objective of the joint Panamanian-US study was to determine feasibility of translating Vet-Stem's successful animal results into human patients.

Observing no treatment associated adverse reactions after one year, the team concluded that its protocol should be studied further to determine efficacy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Their publication details the rationale for the use of fat derived stem cells in treatment of autoimmune conditions and is freely available at: http://www.intarchmed.com/content/pdf/1755-7682-5-5.pdf

“Key to advancement of any medical protocol is transparent disclosure of rationale, treatment procedures and outcomes to the research community in a peer-reviewed and IRB-compliant manner,” said Dr. Jorge Paz Rodriguez, Medical Director of the Stem Cell Institute and research team leader. “While we have previously published case studies on the use of fat stem cells in multiple sclerosis patients, and one rheumatoid arthritis patient, this is the first time that comprehensive follow-up has been completed for a larger cohort of patients,” he added.

An important distinction that separates this particular approach from those which are being explored by several international investigators is that the fat stem cells were not grown in a laboratory, affording a substantially higher level of safety and protocol practicality.

“This work signifies Panama's emergence into the burgeoning field of translational medicine,” commented Dr. Ruben Berrocal Timmons, the Panamanian Secretary of Science and publication co-author. “We are proud to have attracted and collaborated with internationally-renowned stem cell clinical researchers such as Dr. Michael Murphy and Dr. Keith March from the Indiana University School of Medicine Center for Vascular Biology and Medicine, Dr. Boris Minev from the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Chien Shing Chen from Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center and Dr. Bob Harman from Vet-Stem. By leveraging their vast, collective clinical experience with Panamanian scientific infrastructure and know-how, we are striving to develop effective, internationally recognized stem cell procedures that will be accepted the world over.”

The treatment procedure involves a mini-liposuction, collection of the fat's cellular component, processing to obtain a population of cells that includes stem cells, freezing the cells in preparation for quality control, and subsequent re-administration of the cells into patients.

The Panamanian-US group has previously shown that there is a specific type of T cell, called the T regulatory cell, associated with fat stem cells, which is capable of suppressing pathological immunity. Their current theory, which is described in detail in the publication: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20537320, is that the T regulatory component of the fat is capable of slowing down or suppressing the “autoimmune” reaction, while the stem cell component causes formation of new tissue to replace the damaged joints.

About the Stem Cell Institute

Founded in 2006 on the principles of providing unbiased, scientifically-sound treatment options, the Stem Cell Institute has matured into the world’s leading adult stem cell therapy and research center. In close collaboration with universities and physicians world-wide, the institute’s doctors treat carefully selected patients with spinal cord injury, osteoarthritis, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Doctors at The Stem Cell Institute have treated over 1000 patients to-date.

For more information on stem cell therapy:

Stem Cell Institute Web Site: http://www.cellmedicine.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stemcellinstitute

Blogger: http://www.adult-stem-cell-therapy.blogspot.com

Stem Cell Institute

Via Israel & Calle 66

Pacifica Plaza Office #2A

San Francisco, Panama

Republic of Panama

Phone: +1 800 980-STEM (7836) (USA Toll-free) +1 954 636-3390 (from outside USA)

Fax: +1 866 775-3951 (USA Toll-free) +1 775 887-1194 (from outside USA)

###

Jay Lenner
jdlenner@cellmedicine.com
1-800-980-7836
Email Information

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Panamanian-US Scientific Research Supports Using Fat Stem Cells to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pathfinder Presents Preliminary Data on New Regenerative Approach to Diabetes Treatment

By Stem Cell Treatment

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 21, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pathfinder Cell Therapy, Inc. ("Pathfinder," or "the Company") (OTCQB:PFND.PK - News), a biotechnology company focused on the treatment of diabetes and other diseases characterized by organ-specific cell damage, today presented preliminary data highlighting the potential of the Company's unique cell-based therapy for treating diabetes at the 7th Annual New York Stem Cell Summit. Richard L. Franklin, M.D., Ph.D., Founder, CEO and President of Pathfinder, provided an overview of the Company's Pathfinder Cell ("PC") technology, and presented preclinical evidence demonstrating how treatment with PCs was able to reverse the symptoms of diabetes in two different mouse models.

Pathfinder Cells are a newly identified non-stem cell mammalian cell type that has the ability to stimulate regeneration of damaged tissue without being incorporated into the new tissue. In today's presentation, Dr. Franklin showed how recent experiments performed using a non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse strain were supportive of earlier data that demonstrated complete reversal of diabetes in mice. The earlier results, which used a drug-induced diabetic mouse model, were published in Rejuvenation Research1. Though preliminary, the recent results are encouraging because the NOD mouse model is widely used and highly regarded as being predictive of human type-1 diabetes.

In three separate experiments using this model, 30-50% of the mice treated with PCs at the onset of diabetes returned to normal blood glucose levels. Of the mice that responded well to treatment, the effects tended to be long lasting, up to two months in some cases after just two doses. These results, which were generated by intravenous injection of PC's derived from rat pancreatic tissue, further demonstrate the remarkable ability of Pathfinder Cells to elicit their positive effect regardless of the organ, or even species, of origin.

"We are very encouraged by these preclinical results using NOD mice. This model is the gold standard for type-1 diabetes and the fact that recent experiments mirror what we've seen in previous models may be highly significant," stated Dr. Franklin. "We have many questions to answer about how PCs act in the body, but we believe, based on previous experiments, that PCs may stimulate regeneration of damaged islet cells that produce insulin. The current NOD mouse data also suggest that PCs may have an effect in modulating the auto-immune process in type 1 diabetes. We continue to conduct experiments aimed at elucidating the optimal dosing and other factors that may be responsible for producing a robust and long-lasting response, as this will be critical as we start to think about how PCs may be used in treating human diabetes."

In his presentation today, Dr. Franklin also provided further insight into the mechanism of action of PCs, based on recent animal experiments. It was observed previously that PCs produce microvesicles, which are known to play a role in intercellular communication, but through mechanisms that are poorly understood. In a recent experiment, Pathfinder was able to isolate these microvesicles from the PCs and treat animals directly with an injection containing microvesicles only. Remarkably, both PC- and microvesicle-treated mice exhibited similar reductions in blood glucose compared to controls using the same drug-induced diabetes mouse model. This suggests, not only that the microvesicles produced by PCs are central to the mechanism of action, but that the microvesicles alone appear to be sufficient to produce the full effect.

Dr. Franklin commented, "If confirmed, this finding could have a significant positive impact on the future of PC-based therapy. Due to the relatively small amount of material contained within the microvesicles, determining the specific factor(s) that are responsible for regenerating damaged tissue could be more straightforward than we first anticipated, bringing us closer to understanding the mechanism of action. There may also be a number of potential manufacturing and storage benefits to using microvesicles versus PCs that will be interesting to explore in parallel as we work to advance this innovative new therapeutic approach closer to human clinical development."

The New York Stem Cell Summit brings together cell therapy company executives, researchers, investors and physicians to explore investment opportunities in cell therapy research and innovation. More information can be found at http://www.stemcellsummit.com.

Presentation details Event: 7th Annual New York Stem Cell Summit Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Place: Bridgewaters New York, 11 Fulton Street, New York, NY Time: 3:35 pm ET

About Pathfinder

Pathfinder is developing a novel cell-based therapy and has generated encouraging preclinical data in models of diabetes, renal disease, myocardial infarction, and critical limb ischemia, a severe form of peripheral vascular disease. Leveraging its internal discovery of Pathfinder Cells ("PCs") Pathfinder is pioneering a new field in regenerative medicine.

PCs are a newly identified mammalian cell type present in very low quantities in a variety of organs, including the kidney, liver, pancreas, lymph nodes, myometrium, bone marrow and blood. Early studies indicate that PCs stimulate regeneration of damaged tissues without the cells themselves being incorporated into the newly generated tissue. Based on testing to date, the cells appear to be "immune privileged," and their effects appear to be independent of the tissue source of PCs. For more information please visit: http://www.pathfindercelltherapy.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. You should be aware that our actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our inability to obtain additional required financing; costs and delays in the development and/or FDA approval, or the failure to obtain such approval, of our product candidates; uncertainties or differences in interpretation in clinical trial results, if any; our inability to maintain or enter into, and the risks resulting from our dependence upon, collaboration or contractual arrangements necessary for the development, manufacture, commercialization, marketing, sales and distribution of any products; competitive factors; our inability to protect our patents or proprietary rights and obtain necessary rights to third party patents and intellectual property to operate our business; our inability to operate our business without infringing the patents and proprietary rights of others; general economic conditions; the failure of any products to gain market acceptance; technological changes; and government regulation. We do not intend to update any of these factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.

1Karen Stevenson, Daxin Chen, Alan MacIntyre, Liane M McGlynn, Paul Montague, Rawiya Charif, Murali Subramaniam, W.D. George, Anthony P. Payne, R. Wayne Davies, Anthony Dorling, and Paul G. Shiels. Rejuvenation Research. April 2011, 14(2): 163-171. doi:10.1089/rej.2010.1099

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Pathfinder Presents Preliminary Data on New Regenerative Approach to Diabetes Treatment

Deaf Babies need your HELP stop FDA + Stem Cells – Video

By Stem Cell Doctors

19-01-2012 04:13 Deaf Babies need your help with this online petition: signon.org Congrats AFA in world public news released on January 16, 2012 : http://www.prweb.com Please do go read the transcript on AFA's blog: audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com Thank you for signing on petition for Deaf Babies. We: 1. Deaf community 2. FDA 3. Doctors 4. Audism 5. Pimp of Prostitute rings 5. Stem Cells 6. Teachers 7. Parents with wrong choice 8. Gov't 9. Church 10. Etc...,...,+... We don't own Deaf babies but we owe Deaf babies BIG time for many many many years. Deaf babies need our help. Thank you + bless your heart for signing petition online.

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Deaf Babies need your HELP stop FDA + Stem Cells - Video

Reverse Aging Discovery thru Stem Cell Research – Video

By Stem Cell Doctors

27-01-2012 10:07 http://www.insidershealth.com Reverse Aging Fountain of Youth Reversed Aging Stem Cell Research Has the Fountain of Youth been discovered? Is reversed aging really in our future? University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine may just have found the answer through a study involving lab mice with a rapid-aging disease. Once the mice received a muscle stem cell injection, the doctors were pleased to find that it reversed the effects of aging in the sick mice! Reverse Aging Fountain of Youth Reversed Aging Stem Cell Research http://www.insidershealth.com

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Reverse Aging Discovery thru Stem Cell Research - Video

Stem Cell Treatment for T-6 Spinal Cord Injury – Video

By Stem Cell Medicine

20-09-2011 17:12 After suffering a T-6 spinal cord injury, Tim Bishop underwent two stem cell treatments at the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panama. Watch him demonstrate the remarkable gains he's made thus far. He also discusses his transformation from the despair of being bedridden and just "arms and a head" to the hope of one day walking again. "This is reality!"

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Stem Cell Treatment for T-6 Spinal Cord Injury - Video

Adult Stem Cell Success Stories – Barry Goudy – Video

By Stem Cell Medicine

03-02-2012 15:53 When Barry Goudy found out he had multiple sclerosis he feared the worst. Doctors told him he might lose his eye sight and the ability to walk. As a very active husband, father and hockey coach, Barry couldn't think of anything worse than losing his ability to get around. But then he learned of a new way to treat MS with a stem cell transplant. The transplant worked and today he's living proof of the miracles that can come from Adult Stem Cell Research.

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Adult Stem Cell Success Stories - Barry Goudy - Video

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