Canadian Stem Cell Experts Gather For Till-McCulloch 2014

The Till & McCulloch 2014 Stem Cell conference gets underway today in Ottawa.

Every year the conference, sponsored by the Stem Cell Network and the Center for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, honors a leading Canadian researcher.

This years winner,Dr. Michael Rudnicki, is Senior Scientist and Director of the Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

Rudnickis lab focuses on the role that stem cells play in skeletal muscle regeneration and repair after injury.

To be chosen by your peers to receive the Till & McCulloch Award is a great honour, made finer by the fact that it will take place in my home city of Ottawa, said Dr. Rudnicki in the official press release of the conference released this morning.

Here is the full program of discussions and list of speakers.

One session will focus on current research in blood disorders and how these are making for better outcomes in the clinic. Dr. Guy Sauvageau of University of Montreal, who recently announced the discovery of a new drug to expand the number of usable stem cells in cord blood, will be presenting an overview of his findings.

Diseases and conditions where stem cell treatment is promising or emerging. (See Wikipedia:Stem cell#Treatments). Bone marrow transplantation is, as of 2009, the only established use of stem cells. Model: Mikael Hggstrm. To discuss image, please see Template talk:Hggstrm diagrams (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Also on the agenda for discussion and debate will be the societal impact of stem cell research, including approaches in moving research towards clinical treatments for patients and theinvestigation of cancer stem cells and their role in the formation of tumors and their recurrence after treatments.

On the education and outreach side, the Stem Cell Network also plans t0 highlight its recent foray into online video, with its Stem Cell Shorts program, which can be accessed on Vimeo. You can follow the conference on Twitter via#TMM2014.

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Canadian Stem Cell Experts Gather For Till-McCulloch 2014

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

MIAMI (PRWEB) October 24, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

About Global Stem Cell Group:

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

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

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

UCSD Gets $8 Million For Stem Cell Research

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UCSD Gets $8 Million For Stem Cell Research

Stem cells from human embryos prove safe, improve vision, study says

Published October 15, 2014

For the first time, researchers have created functioning human lung cells from stem cells.

The longest-running trial of stem cells derived from a human embryo found that the cells caused patients none of the problems scientists feared, such as forming tumors, and reversed partial blindness in about half the eyes receiving transplants, researchers reported on Tuesday.

The results, published in The Lancet, could help re-invigorate the controversial quest to harness stem cells, which have the ability to turn into any of the 200 kinds of human cells, to treat diseases.

In an accompanying commentary, Dr. Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine called the work "a major accomplishment."

After intense excitement among scientists and the public about the promise of stem cells and ethical debates about destroying human embryos to obtain them, the field stumbled when a high-profile trial for spinal cord injury was halted by Geron Corp in 2011 and the interest of other companies waned.

The small study's main goal was assessing the safety of the transplanted cells. Called retinal pigment epithelial cells, they were created by taking stem cells from a days-old embryo created in a fertility clinic and inducing them to differentiate into the specialized cells.

The study "provides the first evidence, in humans with any disease, of the long-term safety and possible biologic activity" of cells derived from embryos, said co-author Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which produced the cells and funded the study.

Nine patients with Stargardt's disease (which causes macular degeneration in childhood) and nine with dry age-related macular degeneration (a leading cause of adult blindness) received implants of the retinal cells in one eye. The other eye served as a control.

Four eyes developed cataracts and two became inflamed, probably due to the patients' age (median: 77) or the use of immune-supressing transplant drugs.

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Stem cells from human embryos prove safe, improve vision, study says

Cure for Type 1 diabetes imminent after Harvard stem-cell breakthrough

We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line, said Prof Melton.

Asked about his childrens reaction he said: "I think like all kids, they always assumed that if I said I'd do this, I'd do it,

"It was gratifying to know that we can do something that we always thought was possible.

The stem cell-derived beta cells are presently undergoing trials in animal models, including non-human primates, where they are still producing insulin after several months, Prof Melton said.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the pancreas to stop producing insulin - the hormone that regulates blood glucose levels.

If the amount of glucose in the blood is too high it can seriously damage the body's organs over time.

While diabetics can keep their glucose levels under general control by injecting insulin, that does not provide the fine tuning necessary to properly control metabolism, which can lead to devastating complications such as blindness or loss of limbs.

Around 10 per cent of all diabetes is Type 1, but it is the most common type of childhood diabetes. 29,000 youngsters suffer in Britain.

The team at Harvard used embryonic stem cells to produce human insulin-producing cells equivalent in almost every way to normally functioning cells in vast quantities.

Chris Mason, Professor of Regenerative Medicine, University College London, said it was potentially a major medical breakthrough.

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Cure for Type 1 diabetes imminent after Harvard stem-cell breakthrough

Rylan featured on Global TV

Gibsons' four-and-a-half year old Rylan Johnstone will be featured on the investigative news program 16:9 this Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. on Global.

The program will look into the use of stem cell therapy in other countries to treat various physical conditions.

Rylan's family is hopeful stem cell therapy will give him some sight and help improve his speech and mobility. Through Rylan's Fight For Sight they have been fundraising since September to secure $40,000 needed for the therapy, which will be done in China.

Coast man facing robbery charges

A 39-year-old Sunshine Coast man is facing charges of robbery and break in enter for his alleged connection to a robbery at the Eagle Ridge Veterinary Hospital in Sechelt.

Sunshine Coast RCMP responded to the robbery complaint at the vet hospital on Jan. 4 just after 7 p.m.

According to Sgt. Russ Howard, the suspect, who has been identified as Malcolm Strybos forced his way into the clinic just as a female employee was in the process of closing the clinic for the day.

"Strybos demanded money from the employee and grabbed the bag she was holding which contained her purse and other items," said Howard in a news release. "A struggle ensued resulting in Strybos punching the female employee once in the face. The employee suffered minor injuries from the punch. Strybos then fled the scene with the employee's purse and other belongings.

"Several police cars quickly responded and after a thorough search, Strybos was located in the vicinity of the B.C. Ambulance Station in Sechelt. A brief foot chase and struggle took place and he was taken into custody. All the employee's belongings were subsequently recovered and returned to her."

Howard said Strybos made a court appearance on Jan. 5 and has been charged with one count of break and enter, one count of robbery and one count of breach of undertaking. Strybos has been remanded in custody.

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Rylan featured on Global TV

NUI Galway in joint stem cell project with Mayo Clinic

Joint research projects by NUIG and the Mayo Clinic will focus on a number of key strategic areas, including adult stem-cell therapy, gene therapy, biomaterials and biomedical engineering, the two institutes have said. Illustration: Getty

NUI Galway and the Mayo Clinic in the US plan to collaborate on clinical trials using regenerative medicine, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutes.

The joint research projects will focus on a number of key strategic areas, including adult stem-cell therapy, gene therapy, biomaterials and biomedical engineering, the two institutes have said.

The Mayo Clinic and NUIGs Regenerative Medicine Institute have worked closely with each other for a number of years.

Both have licensed cell manufacturing facilities, and student and staff exchange programmes between Galway and the US will continue.

Welcoming the agreement, NUIG president Dr Jim Browne has noted that his university has Irelands only facility licensed to produce stem cells for human use.

A new clinical and translational research facility for conducting clinical trials with patients will be complete in early 2015, he said.

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NUI Galway in joint stem cell project with Mayo Clinic

Scientists create therapy-grade stem cells using new cocktail to reprogram adult cells

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Sep-2014

Contact: Dov Smith dovs@savion.huji.ac.il 972-258-82844 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem @HebrewU

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a new cocktail that is highly effective at coaxing adult cells to become quality pluripotent stem cells.

Regenerative medicine is a new and expanding area that aims to replace lost or damaged cells, tissues or organs through cellular transplantation. Because stem cells derived from human embryos can trigger ethical concerns, a good solution is reprogramming adult cells back to an embryo-like state using a combination of reprogramming factors.

The resulting cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), could be used to replace those lost to damage or disease. However, scientists have discovered that the process of reprogramming adult cells can introduce genetic abnormalities that limit the cells' usefulness in research and medicine.

To make iPSCs, scientists expose adult cells to a cocktail of genes that are active in embryonic stem cells. iPSCs can then be coaxed to differentiate into other cell types such as nerve or muscle. However, the standard combination of factors used to reprogram cells leads to a high percentage of serious genomic aberrations in the resulting cells. (The reprogramming factors are Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and Myc known collectively as OSKM).

Now researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a new cocktail of reprogramming factors that produce high-quality iPSCs. Dr. Yosef Buganim, at the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada in the Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine, worked with scientists at the lab of Whitehead Institute founding member Rudolf Jaenisch, a professor of biology at MIT.

The researchers reasoned that changing the reprogramming factors could reprogram the adult cells in a more controlled way and yield high-quality iPSCs. Working with mouse cells, Dr. Buganim and research scientist Styliani Markoulaki used bioinformatic analysis to design a new cocktail of reprogramming factors (Sall4, Nanog, Esrrb, and Lin28, known collectively as SNEL).

Their results showed that the interaction between reprogramming factors plays a crucial role in determining the quantity and quality of resulting iPSCs and that a different combination of reprogramming factors can in fact produce a much higher quality product.

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Scientists create therapy-grade stem cells using new cocktail to reprogram adult cells

Next-Generation Stem Cells Transplanted in Human for the First Time

Surgeons implanted retinal tissue created after reverting the patient's own cells to a "pluripotent" state

Researchers were able to grow sheets of retinal tissue from induced pluripotent stem cells, and have now implanted them for the first time in a patient. Credit: RIKEN/Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation

A Japanese woman in her 70s is the world's first recipient of cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, a technology that has created great expectations since it could offer the same advantages as embryo-derived cells but without some of the controversial aspects and safety concerns.

In a two-hour procedure starting at 14:20 local time today, a team of three eye specialists lead by Yasuo Kurimoto of the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, transplanted a 1.3 by 3.0 millimeter sheet of retinal pigment epithelium cells into an eye of the Hyogo prefecture resident, who suffers from age-related macular degeneration.

The procedure took place at the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital, next to the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) where ophthalmologist Masayo Takahashi had developed and tested the epithelium sheets. She derived them from the patient's skin cells, after producing induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and then getting them to differentiate into retinal cells.

Afterwards, the patient experienced no effusive bleeding or other serious problems, RIKEN has reported.

The patient took on all the risk that go with the treatment as well as the surgery, Kurimoto said in a statement released by RIKEN. I have deep respect for bravery she showed in resolving to go through with it.

He hit a somber note in thankingYoshiki Sasai, a CDB researcher who recenty committed suicide. This project could not have existed without the late Yoshiki Sasais research, which led the way to differentiating retinal tissue from stem cells.

Kurimoto also thanked Shinya Yamanaka, a stem-cell scientist at Kyoto University without whose discovery of iPS cells, this clinical research would not be possible. Yamanaka shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for that work.

Kurimoto performed the procedure a mere four days after a health-ministry committee gave Takahashi clearance for the human trials (see 'Next-generation stem cells cleared for human trial').

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Next-Generation Stem Cells Transplanted in Human for the First Time

The Aivee effect

Dr. Aivee Teos newest clinic combines multi-faceted skin typing with essential treatments to get The Aivee Glow

August 28, 2014The Aivee Clinic officially launches at the SM Mega Fashion Hall. After five years since opening her posh clinic at the Fort, Dr. Aivee Teo elevates her passion for advanced skin care technology and anti-aging treatments with the new clinic concept, The Aivee Clinic. The beauty hub couldnt have been in a better locationstationed alongside global fashion brands. Dr. Aivee Teo, one of the countrys most sought after dermatologists, after all, has as much passion for beauty as she has for fashion. Her success in the business of skin care is widely known, and as a fashion lover, she has constantly been on best-dressed lists. Beauty and fashion truly go hand in hand.

What started out as a practice in the pursuit of beauty, one that thrived purely on word of mouth, has inevitably made Dr. Aivee as one of the major players in the industry. Getting healthy, blemish-free, and luminous skin using non-invasive or minimally invasive methods has always been her technique. And she continues to push the standards with a full integration of beauty and wellness with The Aivee Group.

AIVEE LEAGUE

What is The Aivee Glow? Its a signature look defined as a luminous, radiant, and natural beauty that transcends external perfection. With the new clinic, Dr. Aivee strengthens the four pillars of The Aivee Group: The Aivee Institute (first class center for advanced dermatology, cosmetic surgery, hair restoration, and aesthetic stem cell therapy), Stemcare Institute (premiere center for pain and regenerative medicine using fat stem cells), Aivee Skin Science (research center for developing cosmeceutical and nutriceutical products) and now, The Aivee Clinic (skin-focused approach for no-downtime treatments). The Aivee Group is one well-oiled machine, with all its parts complementing each other toward a holistic beauty goal.

GRADE A

Its no secret that the husband and wife partnership of Dr. Z and Aivee Teo, their love and commitment for each other and their field, has brought them happiness and success. From surviving a long-distance relationship, shuffling back and forth Manila and Singapore to attend to their respective clinics, and always pursuing new ways to rejuvenate skin and provide a sense of well-being. All this while keeping their children close by and rarely being separate from each other. And if youve ever had the privilege of interviewing them together, they really finish each others sentences. Whether thats about their practice or about how they commit to make everything work for their family and business.

This dynamic duo established their anti-aging institute over a decade ago, utilizing maintenance procedures, non-invasive lasers, cutting edge technology such as stem cell therapy and liquid face lifts, and cosmetic surgery. The awareness of the growing needs of their patients and their recent travels to the US and Europe brought them to a new realization. With patients requesting for dramatic makeover programs, twice-a-year rejuvenation therapies and innovative treatments with the least amount or no downtime, SmartSkin became the clear answer as the way to move forward.

The SmartSkin Typing concept is a multi-faceted system with a digital tailor-made evaluation of the skin. By assessing and categorizing skin as oily or dry, sensitive or resistant, pigmented or non-pigmented, wrinkled or tight, you come up with a very specific skin type. From this, a highly customized skin treatment can easily be made. In keeping with the holistic approach, skin experts at The Aivee Clinic can then set the appropriate treatment programprocedures, health supplements, and skin careto achieve that healthy glow.

SKIN TECH

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The Aivee effect