Stem Cell Clinic

Researchers Turn Skin Cells into Motor Neurons Without Using Stem Cells – Futurism

Cellular Renovation

Why build something from the ground up when one can just renovate an already existing structure? Essentially, thats what researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis had in mind when they developed a method for transforming adult human skin cells into motor neurons in a lab. They published their work in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

In this study, we only used skin cells from healthy adults ranging in age from early 20s to late 60s, senior author Andrew S. Yoo said in a press release. Our research revealed how small RNA molecules can work with other cell signals called transcription factors to generate specific types of neurons, in this case motor neurons. In the future, we would like to study skin cells from patients with disorders of motor neurons. Our conversion process should model late-onset aspects of the disease using neurons derived from patients with the condition.

They did this by exposing skin cells in a lab to certain molecular signals usually found at high levels in the human brain. They focused on two short snippets of RNA: microRNAs (mRNAs) called miR-9 and miR-124, which are involved in repurposing the genetic instructions of the cell. These mRNAs, combined with certain transcription factors, successfully turned skin cells into spinal cord motor neurons within just 30 days. These new cells closely resembled normal mouse motor neurons in terms of which genes were turned on and off, and how they functioned.

Usually, when researchers find ways to replace damaged cells or organs, they resort to using stem cells. In particular, they use embryonic stem cells (a type of pluripotent stem cells) to grow the cells or organs needed.

While this type of stem cell has the potential to grow into whatever adult cell type is needed, the procedure carries some ethical concerns. In bypassing a stem cell phase, the new cell transformation technique doesnt have any of these ethical issues.

Keeping the original age of the converted cells can be crucial for studying neurodegenerative diseases that lead to paralysis, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy, the condition the new research focused on. In particular, researchers hope that it could enhance the understanding of these diseases in order to improve regenerative medicine.

Going back through a pluripotent stem cell phase is a bit like demolishing a house and building a new one from the ground up, Yoo explained. What were doing is more like renovation. We change the interior but leave the original structure, which retains the characteristics of the aging adult neurons that we want to study.

Like embryonic stem cells, the technique can also allow for converting human skin cells into other cell types by using different transcription factors. Before this technique can be applied to actual humans with neurodegenerative diseases, the researchers still need to find out how much the cells made in their lab match native human motor neurons. Still, its a promising start.

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Researchers Turn Skin Cells into Motor Neurons Without Using Stem Cells - Futurism

Transformative technology: Encapsulated human cells to … – Medical Xpress

September 7, 2017 Professor Che Connon and Dr Stephen Swioklo of Atelerix, a spin-out from Newcastle University, is offering the transformative hydrogel technology for the storage and transport of viable cells including stem cells and cell-based assays at ambient temperatures. Credit: Newcastle University

Atelerix, a spin-out from Newcastle University, UK is offering the transformative hydrogel technology for the storage and transport of viable cells including stem cells and cell-based assays at ambient temperatures. This overcomes the barriers presented by the current need for cryo-shipping as it is simple, cell-friendly and offers immediate access to stem cell therapy.

This opens up the market for the supply of cells and assays in a ready-to-use format, allowing suppliers to increase the range of assays available to consumers and to scale up their businesses.

The breakthrough, patented invention, provides dramatic improvements to an everyday process in a rapidly growing market.

Scientific founder, Professor Che Connon of Newcastle University, has been working on the underpinning technology for five years. He said: "Encapsulating cells in the alginate hydrogel is a simple, low cost system capable of preserving the viability and functionality of cells at temperatures between 4 and 21C for extended periods of time.

"Used as a method of cell storage and transport, it overcomes the acknowledged problems associated with cryo-shipping. Cells are encapsulated by in situ formation of the gel for shipping in plates or vials, and can be rapidly released from the gel by the addition of a simple buffer."

Atelerix is set to revolutionise the market with their use of encapsulated stem cells as Dr Mick McLean, CEO for Atelerix explained: "Understanding both the technology and its commercial potential is essential for the translation of great science into an exciting business opportunity.

"Putting these elements in place by working together with the expert scientific team means that Atelerix has a clear value proposition - we enable the transport and storage of human cells at room temperature."

The hydrogel technology allows immediate access to cells and can be used in a range of applications where high quality cells are essential.

Applications

The shipping of cells from one location to another for clinical and research use is a widespread and everyday practice, and consequently there are many potential commercial outlets for the hydrogel encapsulation technology.

Atelerix, the commercial spin-out from Newcastle University is targeting three key areas:

First Northern Accelerator spin-out company

Atelerix, is the first spin out company created under a new joint collaborative project between Newcastle and Durham Universities, UK.

The Northern Accelerator project, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is creating high technology spin-out companies by attracting talented business leaders to the innovative commercial opportunities both created and developed in the north east of England.

Through this, experienced life sciences business leader Mick McLean was brought in to work alongside the founder academics, Professor Che Connon and Dr Stephen Swioklo.

Dr McLean said: "Working alongside the University team on the strategy for the Intellectual Property and the corporate framework has really helped give the business a base from which to expand as it starts to move on from its academic roots."

David Huntley, Head of Company Creation at Newcastle University and overall Project Manager, said: "Atelerix is an excellent example of the clear benefits of the Northern Accelerator programme. By combining Mick's business skills with the technical excellence of the scientific team's world-leading background research, we have created a brand new technology business that we believe will make a real and significant commercial impact."

Explore further: Seaweed offers the solution to transporting stem cells and wound treatment

More information: Previous research: Stephen Swioklo et al. Alginate-Encapsulation for the Improved Hypothermic Preservation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells, STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (2016). DOI: 10.5966/sctm.2015-0131

A new review is the first to directly examine the role of various stem cells in the healing of wounded cornea, the outermost part of the eye. In contrast with most other reviews, it covers all major corneal cell types in ...

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Transformative technology: Encapsulated human cells to ... - Medical Xpress

Stem Cell Factor Tied to Reduced Risk of Cardiac Events, Death – Anti Aging News

407 0 Posted on Sep 07, 2017, 9 a.m.

High levels of stem cell factor (SCF) are associated with reduced risk of mortality and cardiovascular events, according to a study published online Aug. 26 in theJournal of Internal Medicine.

(HealthDay News) -- High levels of stem cell factor (SCF) are associated with reduced risk of mortality and cardiovascular events, according to a study published online Aug. 26 in theJournal of Internal Medicine.

Harry Bjrkbacka, Ph.D., from Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues examined the correlation between circulating levels of SCF and risk for development of cardiovascular events and death. SCF was analyzed from plasma from 4,742 participants in the Malm Diet and Cancer Study; participants were followed for a mean of 19.2 years.

The researchers found that participants with high baseline levels of SCF had lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality and reduced risk of heart failure, stroke, and myocardial infarction. There was a correlation for smoking, diabetes, and high alcohol consumption with lower levels of SCF. After adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, the highest versus the lowest SCF quartile remained independently associated with lower risk of cardiovascular (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.43 to 0.81) and all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.57 to 0.81) and with lower risk of heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.31 to 0.8) and stroke (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.92) but not myocardial infarction (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.72 to 1.27).

"The findings provide clinical support for a protective role of SCF in maintaining cardiovascular integrity," the authors write.

The possibilities that stem cell therapies present in the prevention, regeneration, and treatment of many health conditions seem to be still untouched. If course, stem cell research is still ongoing and no one is complete stem cell expert yet, but maybe thats a good approach to take. I am not so sure I would be comfortable in this modern area of easily accessible information with a physician that still doesnt consider his or her self a student. Whether your doctor is 65 or 38 I hope they are still open to learning, stated Dr. Ronald Klatz, President of the A4M.

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Stem Cell Factor Tied to Reduced Risk of Cardiac Events, Death - Anti Aging News

CReM Honored for Sharing Stem Cell Lines – BU Today

Darrell Kotton, Gustavo Mostoslavsky, and George Murphy began the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) in 2008 with a mission. It was not to win a Nobel Prize, launch more spin-offs than their peers, or make megabucks and retire at 35. Rather, their mantra was both humbler and grander: decrease the burden of human suffering on the planet, help patients, and advance new knowledge.

Since then, the lab has made a name for itself not only through its top-notch research on stem cells and lung disease but also because of its willingness to share the resources they createfor free, to anyone.

CReMs philosophy of openness challenges the cutthroat, hypersecret culture that dominates many other life science labs. And now the labs commitment to open-source biology, as it is known, has earned it the 2017 Sharing Research Resources Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), established to recognize successful models for sharing biomedical research resources.

There was a lot of skepticism at first that this plan could succeed, says Kotton, director of CReM, who says his team is humbled and honored to receive the award. But sharing reagents and expertise, without expectation of return, creates a culture of openness that has proven very successful for us.

We are very proud that CReM has been recognized both for the quality of their research and for setting a shining example of how science can advance through information-sharing, says Robert A. Brown, president of BU.

CReM scientists work with induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, which were discovered by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006. Yamanaka figured out how to take an adult human cell and reprogram it into a stem cell with the abilitytheoreticallyto grow into any organ. CReM researchers created an efficient technique for reprogramming adult human blood and skin cells into iPSCs, and in 2009 they began sharing their technology, and the resulting cell lines, free of charge with the research community. By 2010, the CReM investigators, whose work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and others, had published a large number of patient-specific iPSC lines, including the first 100 distinctive to lung disease.

CReMs sharing of unpublished stem cell lines has broadly impacted the lung research community, resulting in collaborations and publications with groups formerly considered CReM competitors, and CReM recently became sole iPSC repository for the 7,000 participants of the long-running Framingham Heart Study, the nations longest running epidemiological study, which began in 1948 and has been run by BU since 1971, with support from theNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Kotton says that the award acknowledges not only the work of CReM, but of all the other labs and institutions that have joined in this venture into scientific sharing. Just the fact that an award like this exists, he says, shows that this way of doing research has value.

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CReM Honored for Sharing Stem Cell Lines - BU Today

Italian scientists welcome surprise 400 million boost for basic research – Science Magazine

Italian Minister for Education, University, and Research Valeria Fedeli

AP Photo/Luca Bruno

By Marta PaterliniSep. 7, 2017 , 4:50 PM

Plagued by budget cuts and attacks on science, Italian scientists have had little to cheer about recently. But on Sunday, they received a welcome surprise when Valeria Fedeli, the minister for education, university, and research, announced that Italy will put an extra 400 million into its main basic science fund, the Research Projects of National Interest (PRIN). The money, to be spent over 3 years, will more than quadruple PRINs annual funding.

The biggest part of the increase, 250 million, will come out of unused reserves at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), a government-funded private foundation in Genoa that has recently come under criticism.

This is the largest investment in competitive funds for basic research of the last 20 years, says Elena Cattaneo, a stem cell biologist at the University of Milan and a senator for life in the Italian Parliament who had lobbied for the shift to basic science. PRIN funding has been going up and down since 2002, according to a group of academics calling itselfReturn On Academic ReSearch (ROARS), but overall has been modest. The latest funding round, in 2015, provided only 95 million for 3years.

Cattaneo had argued that IIT, founded in 2003 to foster innovation, could easily cough up the funds for a hike at PRIN. Scientists have criticized IIT for a lack of transparency in the way it allocates its fundingcurrently some 98 million annually from the Ministry of Economy and Financeand for its role in the creation of a new research hub at the site of the World Expo 2015 in Milan. Cattaneo has also been very vocal about the accumulation of hundreds of millions in public money in a private body.By reallocating the funds, the government has acknowledged the value of basic research, she says.

IITs scientific director, Roberto Cingolani, says the institutes large surplus is primarily the result of savings during its early years. Three years ago, we started to plan an expansion of the institute in Genoa, that would have cost about 200 million, he saysa plan that is now off the table. Cingolani says he is disappointed by the criticisms of IIT, but glad that the cut there will benefit basic research.

ROARS member Alberto Baccini, a professor of political economics at the University of Siena, applauds the decision as well and credits Cattaneo. We must acknowledge [her] crusade, he says.

A spokesperson for the research ministry could not provide details today about how the money will be spent. Its important that the process uses uniform assessment criteria and is transparent, Baccini says. (He notes that its impossible to find the projects awarded under the 2015 funding bolus for PRIN online.) The problem is not just the lack of money, but also that funding is handed out without a method, really, he says.

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Italian scientists welcome surprise 400 million boost for basic research - Science Magazine

Zika Virus Could One Day Help Treat A Deadly Form Of Brain Cancer – HuffPost

Glioblastoma, the aggressive and hard to treat brain cancer that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced he was diagnosed with in July, is the target of new research using a surprising treatment:Zika virus.

About 12,000 people are diagnosed with glioblastomas each year in the United States. Current treatment focuses on surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

But now, researchers think Zika virus which threatens the health of a fetus and can cause severe birth defects could be an appropriate treatment for glioblastoma because they see similar pathways in the way brain tumor cells and healthy stem cells in fetuses grow and divide.

Because Zika targets fetus stem cells, researchers hypothesized that it might also be able to target glioblastoma cells,according to findings published on Sept. 5 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

The abundance of neuroprogenitor stem cells in a human fetus partly explains why Zika virus can be so damaging to a fetal brain, while adults, who dont have many neuroprogenitor cells, typically only experience mild symptoms like fever and joint pain when theyre exposed to Zika.

We have guarded optimism about this treatment, said Dr. Michael Diamond, study author and professor of medicine, molecular microbiology, pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

To test their theory, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine injected either Zika virus or a saltwater placebo into the brain tumors of mice. After two weeks, the mice that were given the Zika injection had smaller tumors than those given the placebo.

The researchers also experimented with injecting a mutated form of Zika virus into mice, and found that the weaker mutant version still replicated and killed tumor stem cells. The weaker mutant virus should also be easier for the bodys healthy cells to defeat.

Despite the promising research findings, testing in humans, much less availability as a cancer treatment, remains a long way off. If all goes well, the researchers hope to begin human trials in 18 months.

We envision tests in humans, and eventually adding this to existing conventional therapy (surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy) to kill the otherwise resistant stem cell component of the tumor, Diamond said.

But we need to further test safety and we need to first prove this works in human glioblastomas when transplanted into mice.

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Zika Virus Could One Day Help Treat A Deadly Form Of Brain Cancer - HuffPost