Kansas Regenerative Medicine Center | Your Stem Cells …

The Drs With Dr Mark Berman

President and CEO Patrick Farley said he was thril...

Regenerative Medicine is the process of creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissue or organ function lost due to damage, or congenital defects. This field holds the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body by stimulating previously irreparable organs to heal themselves. (Wikipedia).

These adult stem cells are known as progenitor cells. This means they remain dormant (do nothing) unless they witness some level of tissue injury. Its the tissue injury that turns them on. So, when a person has a degenerative type problem, the stem cells tend to go to that area of need and stimulate the healing process. Were still not sure if they simply change into the type of injured tissue needed for repair or if they send out signals that induces the repair by some other mechanism. Suffice it to say that there are multiple animal models and a plethora of human evidence that indicates these are significant reparative cells.

Stem cell therapy relies on the bodys own regenerative healing to occur. The regenerative process may take time, particularly with orthopedic patients, who may not see results for several months. In some diseases, more immediate responses are possible.

See more here:
Kansas Regenerative Medicine Center | Your Stem Cells ...

UCSF, UC Berkeley scientists join forces in new Glenn Center for Aging Research

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

8-Oct-2014

Contact: Pete Farley peter.farley@ucsf.edu 415-502-6397 University of California - San Francisco @ucsf

Researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley have teamed up to create an innovative, integrated center for research on neurodegenerative diseases. Supported by a $3 million grant from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, the new center aims to pave the way to developing novel treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease by investigating the many ways that proteins can malfunction within cells.

In particular, the center's work will focus on a type of protein called the prion, which displays characteristics of infectious agents and is responsible for "mad cow" disease and a related, devastating human brain disorder known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Stanley B. Prusiner, MD, UCSF professor of neurology, and Andrew Dillin, PhD, the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair of Stem Cell Research at UCB and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will codirect the new inter-campus program, known as the Paul F. Glenn Center for Aging Research. Ten additional researchers from UCSF and 13 from UCB will contribute to the center's work, with more recruitments to come.

"The Glenn Foundation is pleased to welcome UCSF and UC Berkeley to the Glenn Consortium for Research in Aging," said Mark R. Collins, president of the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, which is based in Santa Barbara, Calif. "I had the pleasure to work with Dr. Dillin previously, when he led the Glenn Center for Aging Research at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences prior to moving to UC Berkeley. I've known Dr. Prusiner and followed his work for many years and it is a propitious time for us to assist these two leaders in biological research to discover treatments for age-related neurodegenerative disease."

In 1997, Prusiner, director of UCSF's Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of prions, which he demonstrated were an abnormally folded form of normal proteins that set up a template for replication in the brain. According to Prusiner, recent work provides persuasive evidence that, in addition to mad cow disease and CJD, many common neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are caused by abnormally folded forms of normal proteins functioning as prions.

Dillin agrees that prions are ideal targets for research and novel therapeutic approaches. "The Glenn Foundation's confidence to support our hypothesis is greatly appreciated," he said, adding that the combination of UCSF's medical mission with the strong basic research traditions of both campuses will make the new Glenn Center's work uniquely powerful.

Proteins are crucial for many of a cell's normal functions, but as people age, cells' quality-control mechanisms become less efficient. Normally these systems ensure that proteins are properly formed, and target badly formed or "worn-out" proteins for destruction. But as the effectiveness of cellular quality control wanes over time, improperly formed proteins, including prions, can begin to accumulate.

See more here:
UCSF, UC Berkeley scientists join forces in new Glenn Center for Aging Research

Study Finds Link Between Neural Stem Cell Overgrowth and Autism-Like Behavior in Mice

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise People with autism spectrum disorder often experience a period of accelerated brain growth after birth. No one knows why, or whether the change is linked to any specific behavioral changes.

A new study by UCLA researchers demonstrates how, in pregnant mice, inflammation, a first line defense of the immune system, can trigger an excessive division of neural stem cells that can cause overgrowth in the offsprings brain.

The paper appears Oct. 9 in the online edition of the journal Stem Cell Reports.

We have now shown that one way maternal inflammation could result in larger brains and, ultimately, autistic behavior, is through the activation of the neural stem cells that reside in the brain of all developing and adult mammals, said Dr. Harley Kornblum, the papers senior author and a director of the Neural Stem Cell Research Center at UCLAs Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

In the study, the researchers mimicked environmental factors that could activate the immune system such as an infection or an autoimmune disorder by injecting a pregnant mouse with a very low dose of lipopolysaccharide, a toxin found in E. coli bacteria. The researchers discovered the toxin caused an excessive production of neural stem cells and enlarged the offsprings brains.

Neural stem cells become the major types of cells in the brain, including the neurons that process and transmit information and the glial cells that support and protect them.

Notably, the researchers found that mice with enlarged brains also displayed behaviors like those associated with autism in humans. For example, they were less likely to vocalize when they were separated from their mother as pups, were less likely to show interest in interacting with other mice, showed increased levels of anxiety and were more likely to engage in repetitive behaviors like excessive grooming.

Kornblum, who also is a professor of psychiatry, pharmacology and pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said there are many environmental factors that can activate a pregnant womans immune system.

Read more from the original source:
Study Finds Link Between Neural Stem Cell Overgrowth and Autism-Like Behavior in Mice

BioTimes Subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. Files an IND with the FDA for OpRegen Designed to Treat Patients …

The design of the proposed clinical trial, Phase I/IIa Dose Escalation Safety and Efficacy Study of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Transplanted Subretinally in Patients with Advanced Dry-Form Age-Related Macular Degeneration with Geographic Atrophy, is based on a pre-IND meeting with the FDA and a series of earlier interactions with the agency. Patients will undergo a single transplantation and the study will explore three different doses of OpRegen. Following transplantation, the patients will be followed over 12 months at specified intervals and then at longer time periods, to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the product. A secondary objective of the clinical trial will be to explore the ability of transplanted OpRegen to engraft, survive, and moderate the disease progression.

The filing of this IND is the culmination of 12 years of research and development starting at the Hadassah Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center at Hadassah University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, under the direction of Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, MD, PhD and continuing at Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd., said Charles S. Irving Ph.D., Cell Cures CEO. We look forward to initiating the clinical trial that will, for the first time, utilize xeno-free grade human embryonic stem cell derived RPE cells with high purity and potency, for the treatment of geographic atrophy, the severe stage of dry-AMD.

About Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the major diseases of aging and is the leading eye disease responsible for visual impairment of older persons in the US, Europe and Australia. AMD affects the macula, which is the part of the retina responsible for sharp, central vision that is important for facial recognition, reading and driving. There are two forms of AMD. The dry form (dry-AMD) advances slowly and painlessly until it progresses to the severe form called geographic atrophy (GA). Once the atrophy reaches the fovea (the center of the macula), patients lose their central vision and may develop legal blindness. There is currently no effective treatment for dry-AMD. There are about 1.6 million new cases of dry-AMD in the US annually. The yearly economic loss to the gross domestic product in the United States from dry-AMD has been estimated to be $24.4 billion. The market opportunity for a treatment for GA has been estimated at over $5 billion globally. About 10% of patients with dry-AMD develop wet-AMD, which is an acute disease and can lead to severe visual loss in a matter of weeks. Wet-AMD can be treated with currently-marketed VEGF inhibitors such as Lucentis or Eylea, however, such products typically require frequent repeated injections in the eye, and patients often continue to suffer from the continued progression of the underlying dry-AMD disease process. Current estimated annual sales of VEGF inhibitors for the treatment of the wet form of AMD are estimated to be about $7 billion worldwide. The root cause of the larger problem of dry-AMD is believed to be the dysfunction of RPE cells. One of the most exciting therapeutic approaches to dry-AMD is the transplantation of healthy, young RPE cells to support and replace the patients old degenerating RPE cells and to head off the advancing atrophy before it reaches the fovea. One of the most promising sources of healthy RPE cells is cells derived from pluripotent stem cells.

About OpRegen

Cell Cure's OpRegen consists of RPE cells that are produced using a proprietary process that drives the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into high purity RPE cells. OpRegen is also xeno-free," meaning that no animal products were used either in the derivation and expansion of the human embryonic stem cells or in the directed differentiation process. The avoidance of the use of animal products eliminates some safety concerns. OpRegen is formulated as a suspension of RPE cells. Preclinical studies in mice have shown that following a single subretinal injection of OpRegen as a suspension of cells, the cells can rapidly organize into their natural monolayer structure and survive throughout the lifetime of the animal. OpRegen will be an off-the-shelf allogeneic product provided to retinal surgeons in a final formulation ready for transplantation. Unlike treatments that require multiple injections into the eye, such as currently-marketed products like Lucentis and Eylea for wet-AMD, it is expected that OpRegen would be administered in a single procedure.

About Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd.

Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. was established in 2005 as a subsidiary of ES Cell International Pte. Ltd. (ESI), now a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BTX). Cell Cures second largest shareholder is HBL Hadasit Bio-Holdings, (TASE: HDST, OTC: HADSY). Cell Cure is located in Jerusalem, Israel on the campus of Hadassah Medical Center. Cell Cure's mission is to become a leading supplier of human cell-based therapies for the treatment of retinal and neural degenerative diseases. Its technology platform is based on the manufacture of diverse cell products sourced from clinical-grade (GMP-compatible) human embryonic stem cells. Its current focus is the development of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. Cell Cure's major shareholders include BioTime, Inc., HBL Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd., Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA), and Asterias Biotherapeutics (OTCBB: ASTY). Additional information about Cell Cure can be found on the web at http://www.cellcureneurosciences.com. A video of a presentation by Cell Cures CEO Dr. Charles Irving is available on BioTimes website.

About BioTime

BioTime is a biotechnology company engaged in research and product development in the field of regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine refers to therapies based on stem cell technology that are designed to rebuild cell and tissue function lost due to degenerative disease or injury. BioTimes focus is on pluripotent stem cell technology based on human embryonic stem (hES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. hES and iPS cells provide a means of manufacturing every cell type in the human body and therefore show considerable promise for the development of a number of new therapeutic products. BioTimes therapeutic and research products include a wide array of proprietary PureStem progenitors, HyStem hydrogels, culture media, and differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia (a HyStem product) as a biocompatible, implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based matrix for cell delivery in human clinical applications, and is planning to initiate a pivotal clinical trial around Renevia, in 2014. In addition, BioTime has developed Hextend, a blood plasma volume expander for use in surgery, emergency trauma treatment and other applications. Hextend is manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by Hospira, Inc. and in South Korea by CJ HealthCare Corporation, under exclusive licensing agreements.

Visit link:
BioTimes Subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. Files an IND with the FDA for OpRegen Designed to Treat Patients ...

New technique allows scientists to find rare stem cells within bone marrow

13 hours ago by Anne Trafton MIT and SMART researchers have developed a way to isolate mesenchymal stem cells based on physical traits such as stiffness. Credit: MIT

Deep within the bone marrow resides a type of cells known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). These immature cells can differentiate into cells that produce bone, cartilage, fat, or musclea trait that scientists have tried to exploit for tissue repair.

In a new study that should make it easier to develop such stem-cell-based therapies, a team of researchers from MIT and the Singapore-MIT Alliance in Research and Technology (SMART) has identified three physical characteristics of MSCs that can distinguish them from other immature cells found in the bone marrow. Based on this information, they plan to create devices that could rapidly isolate MSCs, making it easier to generate enough stem cells to treat patients.

Until now, there has been no good way to separate MSCs from bone marrow cells that have already begun to differentiate into other cell types, but share the same molecules on the cell surface. This may be one reason why research results vary among labs, and why stem-cell treatments now in clinical trials are not as effective as they could be, says Krystyn Van Vliet, an MIT associate professor of materials science and engineering and biological engineering and a senior author of the paper, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

"Some of the cells that you're putting in and calling stem cells are producing a beneficial therapeutic outcome, but many of the cells that you're putting in are not," Van Vliet says. "Our approach provides a way to purify or highly enrich for the stem cells in that population. You can now find the needles in the haystack and use them for human therapy."

Lead authors of the paper are W.C. Lee, a former graduate student at the National University of Singapore and SMART, and Hui Shi, a former SMART postdoc. Other authors are Jongyoon Han, an MIT professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering, SMART researchers Zhiyong Poon, L.M. Nyan, and Tanwi Kaushik, and National University of Singapore faculty members G.V. Shivashankar, J.K.Y. Chan, and C.T. Lim.

Physical markers

MSCs make up only a small percentage of cells in the bone marrow. Other immature cells found there include osteogenic cells, which have already begun the developmental path toward becoming cartilage- or bone-producing cells. Currently, researchers try to isolate MSCs based on protein markers found on the cell surfaces. However, these markers are not specific to MSCs and can also yield other types of immature cells that are more differentiated.

"Conventional cell-surface markers are frequently used to isolate different types of stem cells from the human bone marrow, but they lack sufficient 'resolution' to distinguish between subpopulations of mesenchymal stromal cells with distinct functions," Lee says.

The researchers set out to find biophysical markers for multipotencythe ability to become many different cell types. They first suspected that cell size might be a factor, because fetal bone marrow stem cells, which tend to have a higher percentage of MSCs, are usually small in diameter.

See the rest here:
New technique allows scientists to find rare stem cells within bone marrow

UCI stem cell scientist wins coveted NIH New Innovator Award

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

6-Oct-2014

Contact: Tom Vasich tmvasich@uci.edu 949-824-6455 University of California - Irvine @UCIrvine

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 6, 2014 UC Irvine scientist Weian Zhao will receive a prestigious National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award to further his efforts to create stem cell-based detection methods and treatments for cancer.

It's part of the highly selective High Risk-High Reward Research Award Program and supports projects by early-career biomedical researchers with the potential to transform scientific fields and accelerate the translation of research into new ways to improve human health.

Zhao, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, will get $1.5 million over five years. He's among 50 investigators selected for the 2014 award.

His project is to engineer smart stem cell systems to effectively detect and treat the spread of cancer in the body. Cancer metastases are responsible for more than 90 percent of cancer deaths; however, few current therapies directly target metastatic cancer.

Zhao's goal is to have stem cell messengers selectively migrate to cancer sites to deliver tumor-fighting drugs or probes for contrast-enhanced medical imaging. This could, potentially, enable the identification of cancer micro-metastases at their early stages and increase the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic treatments for metastatic cancer while mitigating the symptoms associated with systemic chemotherapy.

"It's a great honor to receive this prestigious award," he said. "In particular, its high-risk-high-reward spirit gives us the freedom to pursue out-of-the-box approaches to the biggest challenge in cancer."

Zhao is a member of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCI, with a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He has received numerous awards and was named to MIT Technology Review's 2012 TR35 list of the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.

Read the original:
UCI stem cell scientist wins coveted NIH New Innovator Award

Stem Cells, Malaria, and the Genetics of Drug Response at Translational Medicine Symposium

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

6-Oct-2014

Contact: Karen Kreeger karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu 215-349-5658 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine @PennMedNews

PHILADELPHIA The University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics' 9th Annual International Symposium (ITMAT), Progress in Translational Science: Emerging Therapeutic Modalities, will be held on October 13-14. The symposium will feature outstanding speakers from the United States and abroad to address topics at the core of translational science. Speakers will include experts researching advances in stem cell biology, single cell metabolomics, and infectious diseases.

Date: Monday and Tuesday, October 13 - 14, 2013, starting at 8:30 am.

Location: Smilow Center for Translational Research, Rubenstein Auditorium and Lobby, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Additional Details

The symposium will feature presentations in six major areas:

Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, Director of ITMAT, will host the event. Speakers and talks include:

Carl H. June, MD, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, Program Director of Translational Research, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Driving CARs for cancer: are we there yet?

More:
Stem Cells, Malaria, and the Genetics of Drug Response at Translational Medicine Symposium

Stem Cells, Malaria, and the Genetics of Drug Response Highlighted at Penn's 9th Annual Translational Medicine Symposium

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise PHILADELPHIA The University of Pennsylvanias Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics 9th Annual International Symposium (ITMAT), Progress in Translational Science: Emerging Therapeutic Modalities, will be held on October 13-14. The symposium will feature outstanding speakers from the United States and abroad to address topics at the core of translational science. Speakers will include experts researching advances in stem cell biology, single cell metabolomics, and infectious diseases.

Date: Monday and Tuesday, October 13 - 14, 2013, starting at 8:30 am.

Location: Smilow Center for Translational Research, Rubenstein Auditorium and Lobby, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Additional details:

The symposium will feature presentations in six major areas:

Challenges and Opportunities in Translational Research Stem Cell Therapeutics Movement in Malaria Focus on the Single Cell Variability in Drug Response Translational Immunology

Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, Director of ITMAT, will host the event. Speakers and talks include:

Kenneth S. Zaret, PhD, Joseph Leidy Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Discovering networks and diagnostics for pancreatic cancer progression

See the rest here:
Stem Cells, Malaria, and the Genetics of Drug Response Highlighted at Penn's 9th Annual Translational Medicine Symposium

Tucson Medical Center offering umbilical cord blood donation program

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Newborns at Tucson Medical Center now have a chance to save lives across the country.

TMC is the first hospital in Southern Arizona that collects donated umbilical cord blood intended for life-saving stem cell transplants starting this October.

The hospital partnered with the Arizona Public Cord Program in collecting and processing cord blood donated by a consenting mothers.

With Tucson's demographic, TMC is poised to make an impact on a "significant shortage" of cord blood for Hispanics, Native Americans and African Americans.

Cord blood contains blood-forming stem cells that could cure dozens of blood diseases and cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

"If you don't do anything, if you're not going to privately bank it, it will just be thrown away unless you decide to publicly donate it to us. I would say 95 percent of them say 'oh great, fantastic, I don't want it to go in the garbage if could save somebody's life," said TMC Cord Blood Coordinator, Kristen Wilt.

The average cost for a mother to bank her child's cord blood can be up to $1,500, plus an additional $150 annual fee to store the blood, according to Wilt.

But cord blood donated to the national registry is collected with no cost to the family through this program, due to funding from the Affordable Care Act. The Arizona Public Cord Program is part of the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission that works with the University of Colorado to store the blood.

"What we're trying to do is increase the registry so that patients, especially in these ethnic minorities, might be able to find a suitable match," OB/GYN and TMC Cord Blood Medical Director Dr. Manny Arreguin said.

Celina Martinez gave birth to her baby boy on Tuesday and upon hearing the donation could help children, decided to donate her son's umbilical cord blood to the national registry.

Read more from the original source:
Tucson Medical Center offering umbilical cord blood donation program

Scientists Identify Key Factor That Maintains Stem Cell Identity

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise A protein implicated in several cancers appears to play a pivotal role in keeping stem cells in an immature pluripotent state, according to a new study by NYU Langone Medical Center scientists. The study is published online today in Cell Reports.

Stem cells are the perpetual adolescents of the cellular world, uncommitted to any cell fate. In principle, they can be programmed to differentiate into any mature cell type, holding the promise of regenerating tissues and organs. A fuller understanding of their biology, however, is needed.

Our finding provides a better understanding of the complexity of how the stem cell state is regulated, says Eva M. Hernando-Monge, PhD, associate professor of pathology and a member of the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology at NYU Langone Medical Center.

The newly identified stem cell factor is BRD4, a protein associated with several cancers and the target of prospective therapies currently in clinical trials. In 2013, Dr. Hernando-Monge and colleagues found that BRD4 is overexpressed in melanoma cells and helps sustain their proliferation, whereas inhibiting BRD4 greatly slows their growth. The protein appeared to drive cancer in part by keeping cancer cells in a relatively immature, stem cell-like state. Intrigued, Dr. Hernand-Monge wanted to find out what role the protein played in actual stem cells.

In the new study, Dr. Hernando-Monges team inhibited BRD4s activity in mouse and human embryonic stem cells using BRD4-blocking compounds developed by collaborator Ming-Ming Zhou and colleagues at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. They also used special RNA molecules that block BRD4 gene transcripts, and observed the cells shift out of the stem cell state. As they divided, the cells began to show characteristics of young neurons. Stem cells are thought to maintain a state of quiescence until some signal forces them to divide, producing a differentiated, highly specialized cell.

BRD4 has been known to regulate gene activity by binding to the support structure of DNA, called chromatin, at special switch sites called super-enhancers distributed throughout the genome. These sites are believed to be top-level controllers, orchestrating the distinctive expression patterns of several genes that together determine specific cell types such as nerve or muscle.

We found that BRD4 occupies the super-enhancer sites of genes that are important for maintaining stem cell identity, says Raffaella Di Micco, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow who conceived the research project with Dr. Hernando-Monge and performed most of the experiments. These genes, including OCT4 and PRDM14, showed steep drops in expression when Dr. Di Micco applied BRD4 inhibitors to stem cells.

OCT4 also represses neuronal differentiation, so we think that the loss of that repression with BRD4 inhibition is the most likely reason for the induction of neuronal characteristics in the stem cells, says Dr. Di Micco.

View post:
Scientists Identify Key Factor That Maintains Stem Cell Identity