Stem cells are a soft touch for nano-engineered biomaterials

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have shown that stem cell behaviour can be modified by manipulating the nanoscale properties of the material they are grown on - improving the potential of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering as a result.

Stem cells are special because they are essential to the normal function of our organs and tissues. Previous research shows stem cells grown on hard substrates go on to multiply but do not differentiate: a process by which the cells specialise to perform specific functions in the body. In contrast, stem cells grown on softer surfaces do go on to differentiate.

In this new study, published in the journal Nano Letters, the researchers used tiny material patches known as nanopatches to alter the surface of the substrate and mimic the properties of a softer material.

"By changing the surface properties like the shape of the substrate at the nanoscale level, we tricked the stem cells to behave differently," explains co-author Dr Julien Gautrot, from QMUL's School of Engineering and Materials Science and the Institute of Bioengineering.

The team tested different sizes of nanopatches - from 3 microns to 100 nanometres (about one thousandth of the diameter of a hair). The stem cells behaved as if they were on a soft surface when in contact with the smallest patches because they can't firmly grip them.

Dr Gautrot added: "This development will be useful when there's a need to create a rigid implant to be inserted into the body. Potentially, such nanopatches could provide a soft touch to the surface of the implant so that cells from the neighbouring tissues are not perturbed by such a hard material."

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Eye in a Dish: Researchers Make Retina From Stem Cells

NBC News -- Researchers have grown part of an eye in a lab dish, using a type of stem cell made from a piece of skin.

They said the little retina started growing and developing on its own an important step towards creating custom-tailored organs in the lab.

We have basically created a miniature human retina in a dish that not only has the architectural organization of the retina but also has the ability to sense light," said M. Valeria Canto-Soler, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The team used cells called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, which are immature stem cells whose powers resemble those of embryonic stem cells they can morph into any cell type in the body.

Theyre made by tricking an ordinary cell, like a skin cell, into reverting back into embryonic mode. Then the researchers activate genes to get the cell to redirect itself into forming the desired cells in this case cells of the retina.

To the surprise of the researchers, the cells started developing as if they were in a growing human embryo.

"We knew that a 3-D cellular structure was necessary if we wanted to reproduce functional characteristics of the retina, but when we began this work, we didn't think stem cells would be able to build up a retina almost on their own. In our system, somehow the cells knew what to do, Canto-Soler said in a statement.

The experiment may ultimately lead to technologies that restore vision in people with retinal diseases, she added.

Tests showed the cells responded to light, the team reported in the journal Nature Communications. "Is our lab retina capable of producing a visual signal that the brain can interpret into an image? Probably not, but this is a good start," Canto-Soler said.

Other teams have used iPS cells to make a piece of human liver and are using them to study a range of human diseases.

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Eye in a Dish: Researchers Make Retina From Stem Cells

Light-sensitive 3D retina created in lab

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New York, June 11 : Using a type of human stem cell, researchers have now created a three-dimensional (3D) functional human retinal tissue in the laboratory for the first time.

"We have basically created a miniature human retina in a dish that not only has the architectural organisation of the retina but also has the ability to sense light," claimed M. Valeria Canto-Soler, an assistant professor at John Hopkins University's school of medicine.

The retinal tissue created in the laboratory - using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) - includes functioning photoreceptor cells capable of responding to light, the first step in the process of converting it into visual images.

"The work advances opportunities for vision-saving research and may ultimately lead to technologies that restore vision in people with retinal diseases," she noted.

Using a simple, straightforward technique they developed to foster the growth of the retinal progenitors, the researchers saw retinal cells and then tissues growing in petri dishes.

The growth corresponded in timing and duration to retinal development in a human foetus in the womb.

Moreover, the photoreceptors were mature enough to develop outer segments - a structure essential for photoreceptors to function.

However, Canto-Soler cautioned that photoreceptors are only part of the story in the complex eye-brain process of vision, and her lab has not yet recreated all of the functions of the human eye and its links to the visual cortex of the brain.

The achievement could eventually enable genetically engineered retinal cell transplants that halt or even reverse a patient's march toward blindness.

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Light-sensitive 3D retina created in lab

New Method Reveals Single Protein Interaction Key to Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation

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Newswise Proteins are responsible for the vast majority of the cellular functions that shape life, but like guests at a crowded dinner party, they interact transiently and in complex networks, making it difficult to determine which specific interactions are most important.

Now, researchers from the University of Chicago have pioneered a new technique to simplify the study of protein networks and identify the importance of individual protein interactions. By designing synthetic proteins that can only interact with a pre-determined partner, and introducing them into cells, the team revealed a key interaction that regulates the ability of embryonic stem cells to change into other cell types. They describe their findings June 5 in Molecular Cell.

Our work suggests that the apparent complexity of protein networks is deceiving, and that a circuit involving a small number of proteins might control each cellular function, said senior author Shohei Koide, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics at the University of Chicago.

For a cell to perform biological functions and respond to the environment, proteins must interact with one another in immensely complex networks, which when diagrammed can resemble a subway map out of a nightmare. These networks have traditionally been studied by removing a protein of interest through genetic engineering and observing whether the removal destroys the function of interest or not. However, this does not provide information on the importance of specific protein-to-protein interactions.

To approach this challenge, Koide and his team pioneered a new technique that they dub directed network wiring. Studying mouse embryonic stem cells, they removed Grb2, a protein essential to the ability of the stem cell to transform into other cell types, from the cells. The researchers then designed synthetic versions of Grb2 that could only interact with one protein from a pool of dozens that normal Grb2 is known to network with. The team then introduced these synthetic proteins back into the cell to see which specific interactions would restore the stem cells transformative abilities.

The name, directed network wiring, comes from the fact that we create minimalist networks, Koide said. We first remove all communication lines associated with a protein of interest and add back a single line. It is analysis by addition.

Despite the complexity of the protein network associated with stem cell development, the team discovered that restoring only one interactionbetween Grb2 and a protein known as Ptpn11/Shp2 phosphatasewas enough to allow stem cells to again change into other cell types.

We were really surprised to find that consolidating many interactions down to a single particular connection for the protein was sufficient to support development of the cells to the next stage, which involves many complicated processes, Koide said. Our results show that signals travel discrete and simple routes in the cell.

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New Method Reveals Single Protein Interaction Key to Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation

Stem cells hold keys to body's plan

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5-Jun-2014

Contact: Jeannette Spalding jeannette.spalding@case.edu 216-368-3004 Case Western Reserve University

Cleveland June 5, 2014 Case Western Reserve researchers have discovered landmarks within pluripotent stem cells that guide how they develop to serve different purposes within the body. This breakthrough offers promise that scientists eventually will be able to direct stem cells in ways that prevent disease or repair damage from injury or illness. The study and its results appear in the June 5 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Pluripotent stem cells are so named because they can evolve into any of the cell types that exist within the body. Their immense potential captured the attention of two accomplished faculty with complementary areas of expertise.

We had a unique opportunity to bring together two interdisciplinary groups, said co-senior author Paul Tesar, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genome Sciences at CWRU School of Medicine and the Dr. Donald and Ruth Weber Goodman Professor.

"We have exploited the Tesar labs expertise in stem cell biology and my labs expertise in genomics to uncover a new class of genetic switches, which we call seed enhancers, said co-senior author Peter Scacheri, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Genome Sciences at CWRU School of Medicine. Seed enhancers give us new clues to how cells morph from one cell type to another during development."

The breakthrough came from studying two closely related stem cell types that represent the earliest phases of development embryonic stem cells and epiblast stem cells, first described in research by Tesar in 2007. These two stem cell types give us unprecedented access to the earliest stages of mammalian development, said Daniel Factor, graduate student in the Tesar lab and co-first author of the study.

Olivia Corradin, graduate student in the Scacheri lab and co-first author, agrees. Stem cells are touted for their promise to make replacement tissues for regenerative medicine, she said. But first, we have to understand precisely how these cells function to create diverse tissues.

Enhancers are sections of DNA that control the expression of nearby genes. By comparing these two closely related types of pluripotent stem cells (embryonic and epiblast), Corradin and Factor identified a new class of enhancers, which they refer to as seed enhancers. Unlike most enhancers, which are only active in specific times or places in the body, seed enhancers play roles from before birth to adulthood.

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Worldwide Leaders at DIA Annual Meeting to Discuss Hot Topics Facing Industry

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hot topics facing drug development and accessevolving regulatory guidelines for novel therapies, a shifting pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) landscape, and U.S. regulatory challenges at home and overseaswill be discussed by global innovators at the DIA 2014 50th Annual Meeting, to be held at the San Diego Convention Center from June 15 to 19.

Todays thought leaders dedicated to accelerating health care delivery will have a unique opportunity to address these urgent issues with the brightest minds in medicine and regulation, said Barbara Lopez Kunz, DIAs global chief executive.

Research resulting in the first stem cells that are pluripotentmeaning they have the potential to transform into almost any cell in the bodywill be the backdrop for an examination of trends in regulation at the Pioneering Regenerative Medicine: Trends in Regulations for New Therapy session on June 16 at 8:30 a.m. Led by Shinji Miyake, professor of clinical research at Keio University School of Medicine in Japan, the discussion will review updated guidance to bring regenerative medicine to patients who need healthy tissue or organs.

The science of human stem cell research spans many regulatory jurisdictions of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and poses unique challenges for companies seeking to develop products safely. The forum on FDA Regulation of Therapeutic Products Derived From Human Stem Cells: Successfully Navigating the Regulatory Hurdles, to be held June 16 at 11 a.m., will feature leaders in research discussing the regulatory framework to govern stem cell products and how to improve interactions with FDA to bring the therapeutics to market.

Regulatory guidelines do not yet exist for 3-D printing, despite breakthroughs in producing new tissue and bones in this science-fiction-like arena. Steven Pollack, director of the FDAs Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, will discuss the hurdles in approving 3-D printing products at the Health Cares Revolutionary Printing Press? 3-D Printing Blue Sky and Regulatory Path session, to be held June 17 at 10:30 a.m.

Domestic and international regulators are pushing for increased regulatory guidance of biosimilars, but the debate continues on how to tackle this emerging market of therapeutic products. On June 19 at 10:45 a.m., leaders in biosimilar innovation will provide a comparative analysis of the current global discussion about regulatory guidance at the Trends in Biosimilars Regulation Within Developed and Emerging Markets session, facilitated by Andrew Robertson, director of global regulatory policy at Merck & Co., Inc.

The industry is evolving from one dominated by large pharmaceutical companies and markets to an industry focused on smaller specialty companies and targeted medicines. Parts one and two of The Changing Landscape for Bioinnovation: The Emergence of Small Pharma, Strategic Alliances, and Precision Medicine will discuss navigating the new environment and the potential impact on R&D. The first session will be held June 17 at 8 a.m., and the second will follow at 10:30 a.m.

Christopher Hickey, director of the FDAs office in China, will discuss efforts to increase the number of inspectors in China in a rapidly expanding global drug market during the Challenges and Opportunities Facing FDAs International Posts session, to be held June 18 at 1:30 p.m. Topics will include increasing FDAs regulatory staff in 11 locations worldwide, implementing quality manufacturing systems, dealing with inconsistencies in regulatory oversight among nations and obtaining visa approvals.

ABOUT DIA:DIA is the global connector in the life sciences product development process. Our association of more than 18,000 members builds productive relationships by bringing together regulators, innovators, and influencers to exchange knowledge and collaborate in a neutral setting. DIAs network creates unparalleled opportunities for the exchange of knowledge and has the interdisciplinary experience to prepare for future developments. DIA is an independent, nonprofit organization with its global center in Washington, D.C., USA, and regional offices covering North and South America (Horsham, Pa., USA); Europe, North Africa and the Middle East (Basel, Switzerland); and Japan (Tokyo), India (Mumbai) and China (Beijing). For more information, visitwww.diahome.org.

ABOUT DIAs 2014 50th ANNUAL MEETING:Celebrate the Past Invent the Future is the largest multidisciplinary event that brings together a community of life sciences professionals at all levels and across all disciplines involved in the discovery, development and life cycle management of medical products. The meeting aims to foster innovation that will lead to the development of safe and effective medical products and therapies for patients.For more information, visitwww.diahome.org/dia2014.

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Worldwide Leaders at DIA Annual Meeting to Discuss Hot Topics Facing Industry

Japanese scientist to retract stem cell papers

1 hour ago Haruko Obokata (L), a researcher at Japan's Riken Institute, bows as she apologises at a press conference in Osaka on April 9, 2014

A Japanese stem cell scientist accused of fabricating research has agreed to retract papers published in the respected journal Nature, an official said Wednesday.

Haruko Obokata, 30, would withdraw two papers at the centre of the controversy, according to a spokeswoman for Riken, the respected research institute that sponsored the study, marking a steep fall from grace for the young researcher.

"We confirmed that she agreed to retract both articles," the spokeswoman said.

She added that Riken was "still discussing" a retraction with co-author Charles Vacanti of Harvard University.

Obokata was feted after unveiling findings that appeared to show a straightforward way to re-programme adult cells to become stem cellsprecursors that are capable of developing into any other cell in the human body.

Identifying a readily manufacturable supply of stem cells could one day help meet a need for transplant tissues, or even whole organs, meaning that any advance in the field is usually met with excitement in the scientific community.

The study was front-page news in Japan, but within weeks of Obokata's paper on so-called Stimulus-Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency (STAP) cells being published, questions began to emerge, with fellow scientists saying they could not replicate her results.

Riken had urged the scientist to withdraw her two papers, after concluding that she fabricated at least some of the data.

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Rare stem cell transplant saves life of 59-year-old

A haploidentical or half-matched stem cell transplantation has succeeded in saving the life of a 59-year-old patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) that was resistant to all other treatments. The donor was his 25-year-old son.

The procedure was done over a month ago at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences here and the patient has now been stepped down from the intensive care unit.

The patient from Thiruvananthapuram had a relapse of myelodysplastic syndrome transformed into AML.

As the search for a complete match of stem cell did not yield any results, the patient was ready for the half-match procedure.

The haploidentical procedure is more complex and expensive. The procedure is not hi-tech but more care-oriented, said Dr. Neeraj Sidharthan, who led a team of experts from haematology, medical oncology, transfusion medicine and other allied departments.

The haploidentical stem cell transplantation is much more expensive and the survival rates are said to be 25-30 per cent compared to the identical stem cell transplantation that has a survival rate of 60-70 per cent.

However, the haploidentical cases were likely to grow as the chances of getting an identical match of stem cell were extremely limited, said Dr. Neeraj.

China, which has a one-child system, had started early in this process, because most of the matches were found among siblings, said Dr. Sidharthan.

Our country has just begun exploring the possibilities, he added.

There are also different methods of going about the haploidentical transplant. We chose a method that was less expensive, he added. The cost of the procedure that included importing medicines was limited to Rs.20 lakh, he said.

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Rare stem cell transplant saves life of 59-year-old

Human stem cell treatment gets mice with MS-like condition …

Disabled mice regained the ability to walk less than two weeks after receiving human neural stem cells (Photo: Shutterstock)

When scientists at the University of Utah injected human stem cells into mice disabled by a condition similar to multiple sclerosis, they expected the cells to be rejected by the animals' bodies. It turned out that the cells were indeed rejected, but not before they got the mice walking again. The unexpected finding could have major implications for human MS sufferers.

In multiple sclerosis, the body's immune system attacks the myelin sheath that covers and insulates nerve fibers in the spinal cord, brain and optic nerve. With that insulation gone, the nerves short-circuit and malfunction, often compromising the patient's ability to walk among other things.

In the U Utah study (which was begun at the University of California, Irvine) human neural stem cells were grown in a Petri dish, then injected into the afflicted mice. The cells were grown under less crowded conditions than is usual, which reportedly resulted in their being "extremely potent."

As early as one week after being injected, there was no sign of the cells in the animals' bodies evidence that they had been rejected, as was assumed would happen. Within 10 to 14 days, however, the mice were walking and running. After six months, they still hadn't regressed.

This was reportedly due to the fact that the stem cells emitted chemical signals that instructed the rodents' own cells to repair the damaged myelin. Stem cells grown under the same conditions have since been shown to produce similar results, in tests performed by different laboratories.

Additional mouse trials are now planned to assess the safety and durability of the treatment, with hopes for human clinical trials down the road. "We want to try to move as quickly and carefully as possible," said Dr. Tom Lane, who led the study along with Dr. Jeanne Loring from the Center for Regenerative Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute. "I would love to see something that could promote repair and ease the burden that patients with MS have."

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

Source: University of Utah

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Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Offering Stem Cell Procedures for Meniscal Tears and Ligament Injuries of the …

Beverly Hills, California (PRWEB) May 29, 2014

The Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute is now providing several types of stem cell procedures for healing ligament injuries and meniscal tears of the knee. The stem cell therapies are often able to repair the injuries, provide pain relief and help patients avoid the need for surgery. For more information and scheduling, call (310) 438-5343.

Injuries to the knee may occur from sports injuries, auto accidents or result from degenerative arthritis. Conventional treatments typically work well for pain relief, however, they do not repair the damaged soft tissue. Therefore, conventional treatments result in healing that is incomplete and may still lead to the need for the surgery.

At Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute, Double Board Certified Los Angeles Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Raj has been a pioneer in stem cell procedures for the knee. He is an expert in several types of stem cell therapies for knee injuries including amniotic derived or bone marrow derived stem cell injections.

The regenerative medicine procedures are performed as an outpatient and maintain exceptionally low risk. The amniotic-derived stem cell material is processed at an FDA regulated lab, while the bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy involves a short harvesting procedure from the patient himself. Both types of procedures have been shown in small studies to have excellent clinical results for knee conditions.

Along with treating all types of knee injuries with stem cell therapy, Beverly Hills orthopedic surgeon Dr. Raj also treats shoulder, hip ankle and spinal conditions with regenerative medicine as well. Treatments are provided for amateur and professional athletes, weekend warriors, executives, grandparents, students and more.

For those who desire to explore stem cell procedures for helping repair knee injuries and avoiding surgery, call the Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute at (310) 438-5343.

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Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Offering Stem Cell Procedures for Meniscal Tears and Ligament Injuries of the ...