Stem Cell Clinic

Cancer Stem Cell Research Drives Growth in RBCC’s Target Market

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Stem Cell Medical Center

NOKOMIS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research into Cancer Stem Cells (CSC) is on the rise, fueling industry growth that Rainbow Coral Corp. (OTCBB: RBCC.OB - News) expects to translate into demand for n3D cell growth technologies.

RBCC is finalizing an equity funding agreement with n3D Biosciences, the maker of a revolutionary new system that allows scientists to grow three-dimensional cell cultures more easily than ever before. The device, called the Bio-Assembler, could have an extraordinary impact on cell research worldwide, and RBCC expects to find a strong market for the device once its funding agreement with n3D is finalized.

Many cancers, including breast, prostate, pancreatic, colon, brain, and lung cancers, contain a subset of stem-like cells understood to play a critical role in the development and progression of the disease. Research suggests that these cells, called Cancer Stem Cells, are able to “seed” new tumor formation and drive metastasis.

Because these cells are believed to be at the root of the development and spread of cancer, they’re quickly becoming the center of cancer diagnostics and biomarkers. CSCs are resistant to a number of chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy, and approximately 20 different strategies are currently being pursued in the hope of selectively targeting CSCs. This creates a huge opening for new companies and technologies dedicated to streamlining cellular research.

RBCC believes that the Bio-Assembler could allow researchers to dramatically shorten the development timeline for new CSC drugs and treatments, potentially proving very lucrative to the company.

For more information on Rainbow BioSciences, please visit http://www.rainbowbiosciences.com/investors.

Rainbow BioSciences will develop new medical and research technology innovations to compete alongside companies such as Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG), Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and Affymax, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY).

About Rainbow BioSciences

Rainbow BioSciences is a division of Rainbow Coral Corp. (OTCBB: RBCC). The company continually seeks out new partnerships with biotechnology developers to deliver profitable new medical technologies and innovations. For more information on our growth-oriented business initiatives, please visit our website at [www.rainbowbiosciences.com]. For investment information and performance data on the company, please visit www.RainbowBioSciences.com/investors.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipate" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition, description of anyone's past success, either financial or strategic, is no guarantee of future success. This news release speaks as of the date first set forth above and the company assumes no responsibility to update the information included herein for events occurring after the date hereof.

Stem cell implants boost monkeys with Parkinson's

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

Monkeys suffering from Parkinson's disease show a marked improvement when human embryonic stem cells are implanted in their brains, in what a Japanese researcher said Wednesday was a world first.

A team of scientists transplanted the stem cells into four primates that were suffering from the debilitating disease.

The monkeys all had violent shaking in their limbs -- a classic symptom of Parkinson's disease -- and were unable to control their bodies, but began to show improvements in their motor control after about three months, Kyoto University associate professor Jun Takahashi told AFP.

About six months after the transplant, the creatures were able to walk around their cages, he said.

"Clear improvements were confirmed in their movement," he said.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological illness linked to a decrease in dopamine production in the brain. There is currently no medical solution to this drop off in a key neurotransmitter.

The condition, which generally affects older people, gained wider public recognition when Hollywood actor Michael J. Fox revealed he was a sufferer.

Takahashi said at the time of the implant about 35 percent of the stem cells had already grown into dopamine neuron cells, with around 10 percent still alive after a year.

He said he wants to improve the effectiveness of the treatment by increasing the survival rate of dopamine neuron cells to 70 percent.

"The challenge before applying it to a clinical study is to raise the number of dopamine neuron cells and to prevent the development of tumours," he said.

"I would like to make this operation more effective and safe" before clinical trials, Takahashi said.

Takahashi said so far he had used embryonic stem cells, which are harvested from foetuses, but would likely switch to so-called Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells, which are created from human skin, for the clinical trial.

His team, which has also transplanted iPS cells into monkeys, are now looking to see if the primates with Parkinson's disease show similar improvements in their motor control.

Scientists say the use of human embryonic stem cells as a treatment for cancer and other diseases holds great promise, but the process has drawn fire from religious conservatives, among others.

Opponents say harvesting the cells, which have the potential to become any cell in the human body, is unethical because it involves the destruction of an embryo.

The Japanese government currently has no guidelines on the use of human stem cells in clinical research.

In October last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union banned the patenting of stem cells when their extraction causes the destruction of a human embryo, a ruling that could have repercussions on medical research.

Scientists warned that the ruling would damage stem cell research in Europe, while the Catholic church hailed it as a victory for the protection of human life.

Excerpt from:
Stem cell implants boost monkeys with Parkinson's

Editor’s move sparks backlash

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Stem Cell Medical Center

Bioethicist Glenn McGee’s new job raised questions of conflict of interest at the journal he founded.

J. WILSON/KRT/NEWSCOM

The field of bioethics is embroiled in a period of soul-searching, sparked by a startling career move by one of its biggest names.

Glenn McGee is the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the most cited bioethics journal, which he founded in 1999. Since December 2011, he has also been president for ethics and strategic initiatives at CellTex Therapeutics in Houston, Texas, a controversial company involved in providing customers with unproven stem-cell therapies. A CellTex press release says that “Dr McGee’s responsibilities will include ensuring that all of the firm’s work, centered on adult stem cells, will meet the highest ethical standards of the medical and scientific communities.”

Although McGee has said he will leave the journal on 1 March, many bioethicists have criticized him, the journal’s editorial board and its publisher, London-based Taylor and Francis. They argue that in holding both posts, McGee has a conflict of interest between his responsibilities to the journal and his new employer’s desire to promote the clinical application of stem-cell treatments that are not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

“Imagine if the Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine took a job as Vice President at Merck, and the Mass Medical Society asked him to stay on as Editor, opining that the conflicts of interest would be manageable. One might rightly wonder, ‘What are these people smoking?’,” says John Lantos, director of the Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

More broadly, bioethicists are questioning whether it can ever be acceptable to work for companies, which, they argue, may be using the appointment to present a veneer of ethical probity. The episode brings to a head concerns that have emerged among bioethicists over the past decade, says Insoo Hyun, a stem-cell bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. “It’s a perfect storm,” he says.

McGee is a leading voice on one side of the debate, arguing that bioethics must have practical relevance. For the past three years he has been chair of bioethics at the non-profit Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, where he ran a course for those who might go on to chair hospital ethics committees or serve as ethical advisers to corporations.

But during McGee’s tenure as editor-in-chief of the AJOB, four editors are known to have resigned from the editorial board because of differences in opinion over how the journal handles conflicts of interest. Two left this month, including Lantos, who wrote on his blog that he will no longer work with the journal because of McGee’s simultaneous employment at the AJOB and CellTex, and frustration over the lack of a clear conflict-of-interest policy at the AJOB. In response to Nature’s questions about the situation, Taylor and Francis responded that it “is grateful for Dr McGee’s editorship of AJOB” and “supportive of Glenn’s decision to step down”.

On 17 February, McGee announced that he is merely acting in an advisory capacity at the journal until 1 March, when its new editors-in-chief take over. They are David Magnus, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University, California, and Summer Johnson McGee, director of graduate studies at the Center for Practical Bioethics and the journal’s current executive editor. She is also Glenn McGee’s wife.

“Mainstream bioethics is no longer speaking truth to power.”

Responding to questions from Nature, Summer Johnson McGee says that the journal has a conflict-of-interest policy that requires editors to withdraw from reviewing a manuscript if they perceive a conflict. She calls allegations that her appointment results from her relationship with her husband “baseless and sexist”. “David Magnus and I were hired by our publisher, not by my husband.” Magnus says that at least a dozen editorial board members have supported his and Summer Johnson McGee’s appointments. Two even indicated that Glenn McGee should have been able to retain an advisory or editorial role.

Other bioethicists’ blogs and Twitter feeds about the episode have expressed concerns, however. Leigh Turner of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, called on the entire editorial board of the AJOB to resign for allowing the situation to persist. And many say that McGee’s move illustrates a broader problem. “Mainstream bioethics is no longer speaking truth to power,” complains Jan Helge Solbakk at the University of Oslo. “Instead it has become the handmaiden of the medico-industrial complex, and of bioscience and technology.”

So how should companies get their advice on bioethics? Magnus never takes cash from industry for advising or speaking — “I’m a hardass about that” — but he believes that bioethicists can work for industry as long as they give up their academic positions, including posts on journal editorial boards.

Working for a respected company may be acceptable to some bioethicists, but McGee’s new employer comes with a great deal of baggage. CellTex, which was founded last year and as yet has no website, licenses stem-cell technology from Seoul-based RNL Bio. The South Korean company has made a business out of taking fat cells from people, processing them in a way that they say increases the number of mesenchymal stem cells, and then reinjecting them in an effort to treat conditions such as spinal cord injury.

McGee already had a connection with RNL Bio. In 2010, two patients died following injections of RNL’s cells. McGee, working for stem-cell lobby group the International Cellular Medicine Society, based in Salem, Oregon, helped to conduct an investigation into the company. This concluded that only one of the two cases was likely to be related to the injections, and because the patient understood the risk the company was not culpable.

Jin Han Hong, the then president of RNL’s US subsidiary, admitted in 2010 that there was no clinical-trial evidence proving that these treatments are effective (Nature 468, 485; 2010). As treatment with RNL’s stem cells is not approved in the United States or South Korea, for the procedures the company sends patients to China or Japan, where regulations are less strictly enforced. Using RNL’s methods, CellTex is banking stem cells that have gone on to be used in a number of patients, including Rick Perry, governor of Texas (Nature 477, 377–378; 2011). CellTex says that it does not conduct medical procedures itself.

When Nature contacted McGee to put the criticisms to him, he directed us to previous statements indicating that he wants to put CellTex on firmer ethical ground by having it conduct clinical trials that meet standards set by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, based in Deerfield, Illinois, which represents most mainstream stem-cell researchers around the world.

Hyun warns that working directly for business can be fraught with danger, however good a bioethicist’s intentions. In 2005, he helped to craft the informed consent procedure for egg donations used in a cloning procedure by disgraced Korean stem-cell scientist Woo Suk Hwang. Following Hwang’s claim, later proved fraudulent, that he had cloned human embryos and harvested stem cells from them, it emerged that he had ignored the consent procedure for egg donations (Nature 438, 536–537; 2005), leading to embarrassment for Hyun.

“I know first hand how difficult it is to separate conflict of interest — to maintain the role of bioethicist,” says Hyun. “I know you need to not be too chummy with enterprises trying to speed ahead in stem cells.”

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Editor’s move sparks backlash

Energy network within cells may be new target for cancer therapy

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Uncategorized

Within each cell, mitochondria are constantly splitting in two, a process called fission, and merging back into one, called fusion. Before a cell can divide, the mitochondria must increase their numbers through fission and separate into two piles, one for each cell.

By reversing an imbalance of the signals that regulate fusion and fission in rapidly dividing cancer cells, researchers were able to dramatically reduce cell division, thus preventing the rapid cell proliferation that is a hallmark of cancer growth. Increasing production of the signal that promotes mitochondrial fusion caused tumors to shrink to one-third of their original size. Treatment with a molecule that inhibits fission reduced tumor size by more than half.

"We found that human lung cancer cell lines have an imbalance of signals that tilts them towards mitochondrial fission," said Stephen L. Archer, MD, the Harold Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine and senior author of the study. "By boosting the fusion signal or blocking the fission signal we were able to tip the balance the other way, reducing cancer cell growth and increasing cell death. We believe this provides a promising new approach to cancer treatment."

"This could be a potential new Achilles' heel for cancer cells," said the study's lead author, Jalees Rehman, MD, an associate professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Many anticancer drugs target cell division. Our work shifts the focus to a distinct but necessary step: mitochondrial division. The cell division cycle comes to a halt if the mitochondria are prevented from dividing. This new therapy may be especially useful in cancers which become resistant to conventional chemotherapy that directly targets the cycle."

The researchers found that the mitochondrial networks within several different lung cancer cell lines were highly fragmented, compared to normal lung cells. Cancer cells had low levels of mitofusin-2 (Mfn-2), a protein that promotes fusion by tethering adjacent mitochondria, and high levels of dynamin-related protein (Drp-1), which initiates fission by encircling the organelle and squeezing it into two discrete fragments. The Drp-1 in cancer cells also tended to be in its most active form.

The researchers tested several ways to enhance fusion and restore the mitochondrial network, both in cell culture and in animal models. They used gene therapy to increase the expression of Mfn-2, injected a small molecule (mdivi-1) that inhibits Drp-1, and used genetic techniques to block the production of Drp-1. All three interventions markedly reduced mitochondrial fragmentation, increased networking and reduced cancer cell growth.

Although the authors identify mitochondrial fission and Drp-1 activation as a potential therapeutic target in lung cancer, "this is not a cure," Archer emphasized. The treatment drastically reduced tumor size but the tumors did not completely disappear. They continued to use high levels of glucose as fuel, a hallmark of cancer metabolism that can be seen on PET scans. "This remnant could be either a central cluster of cancer stem cells," Archer said, "or an inflammatory response, the immune system infiltrating the tumor."

"Inhibiting mitochondrial fission", Archer said, "did not show any significant toxicity in mice or rats, so we are quite optimistic that our findings can lead to the development of novel, clinically feasible therapies."

The substances used to block fusion are commercially available for research purposes, but they have not been tested in humans. Mdivi-1 has been used in animals to prevent kidney injury.

Although the focus on mitochondria is fairly new to cancer biologists—despite a flurry of interest in the 1920s stimulated by the German Nobel Prize laureate Otto Warburg—this organelle has long been a central focus for physicians and scientists interested in muscle biology, especially cardiac muscle.

Archer, a cardiologist, specializes in pulmonary hypertension. In this disorder, as in cancer, excessive cellular growth causes disease. The death of his cousin and close friend from lung cancer made him start thinking about the connections. Rehman is a German scientist and became interested in studying mitochondria after reading some of the historical Warburg papers in German.

The fact that two cardiologists, Archer and Rehman, decided to study cancer and collaborated with a team of basic scientists, a cancer physician and a pathologist is "an indicator of how interconnected modern biomedical research has become," Rehman said.

Provided by University of Chicago Medical Center

VistaGen Therapeutics Engages MissionIR as Its Investor Relations Advisor

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Uncategorized

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwire -02/21/12)- VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC.BB: VSTA.OB - News) (OTCQB: VSTA.OB - News), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy, has retained MissionIR, a national investor relations consulting firm, to develop and implement a strategic investor relations campaign. Through a network of investor-oriented online websites and full suite of investor awareness services, MissionIR broadens the influence of publicly traded companies and enhances their ability to attract growth capital and improve shareholder value.

"VistaGen's work with human stem cell technology is groundbreaking," said Sherri Snyder, Director of Marketing at MissionIR. "The company's versatile platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, provides clinically relevant predictions of potential heart toxicity of new drug candidates long before they are ever tested on humans. Guided by a management team with decades of experience, VistaGen's stem cell technology can potentially save billions of dollars in the healthcare industry while recapturing prior R&D investment in once-promising new drug candidates."

"We are pleased to bring MissionIR on board as our external investor relations partner," said Shawn Singh, VistaGen's Chief Executive Officer. "The crucial work our company is doing can fundamentally change the way medicine is developed. Paired with MissionIR's global presence and sound investor relations programs, we can further grow our shareholder base and accelerate internal initiatives already in place to bring our stem cell technology platform to the forefront of drug development."

About MissionIR

MissionIR is committed to connecting the investment community with companies that have great potential and a strong dedication to building shareholder value. Through a full suite of investor relations and consultancy services, we help public companies develop and execute a strategic investor awareness plan as we've done for hundreds of others. Whether it's capital raising, increasing awareness among the financial community, or enhancing corporate communications, we offer a variety of solutions to meet the objectives of our clients.

For more information, visit http://www.MissionIR.com

About VistaGen Therapeutics

VistaGen is a biotechnology company applying human pluripotent stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy. VistaGen's drug rescue activities combine its human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants of once-promising small-molecule drug candidates. These are once-promising drug candidates discontinued by pharmaceutical companies during development due to heart toxicity, despite positive efficacy data demonstrating their potential therapeutic and commercial benefits. VistaGen uses its pluripotent stem cell technology to generate early indications, or predictions, of how humans will ultimately respond to new drug candidates before they are ever tested in humans.

Additionally, VistaGen's small molecule drug candidate, AV-101, is in Phase 1b development for treatment of neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain, a serious and chronic condition causing pain after an injury or disease of the peripheral or central nervous system, affects approximately 1.8 million people in the U.S. alone. VistaGen plans to initiate Phase 2 clinical development of AV-101 in the fourth quarter of 2012. VistaGen is also exploring opportunities to leverage its current Phase 1 clinical program to enable additional Phase 2 clinical studies of AV-101 for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and depression. To date, VistaGen has been awarded over $8.5 million from the NIH for development of AV-101.

Visit VistaGen at http://www.VistaGen.com, follow VistaGen at http://www.twitter.com/VistaGen or view VistaGen's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/VistaGen.

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VistaGen Therapeutics Engages MissionIR as Its Investor Relations Advisor

Man 'stole dying son's care cash'

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

21 February 2012 Last updated at 16:32 ET

A businessman is accused of stealing £16,500 from a trust fund set up to pay for his son to have stem cell treatment in China for motor neurone disease.

Cardiff Crown Court heard people raised £55,000 in sponsored runs after Julian Emms, 46, of Caerwent, Monmouthshire, established a charity for son Michael.

A blank cheque he obtained to take him on a £3,000 trip to New York was cashed for the larger amount, the jury heard.

Mr Emms denies fraud. The trial continues.

The jury was told on Tuesday that Michael Emms was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a degenerative neurological condition, while in his teens.

Continue reading the main story

Emms went to their home and burned the cheques in front of them in a way which was deliberately theatrical”

End Quote Meirion Davies Prosecuting

The fundraising allowed him to go abroad for stem cell treatment but this failed.

After this, the jury was told, Mr Emms told his family he wanted £3,000 to fulfil Michael's dream of visiting New York.

He approached Michael's grandmother, Anne Brandon, one of the four people authorised to sign the charity's cheques, the court heard.

Meirion Davies, prosecuting, said: "Emms said he was booking a holiday to the USA for Michael and needed two cheques.

"One was for £3,000 for the holiday and the other was £300 for insurance.

"Mrs Brandon wrote the cheques out to a travel agency called Travelcare and signed them - but left them blank because Emms didn't know the exact amounts."

Bio diesel processor

But Mrs Brandon and her husband David changed their minds and asked Mr Emms to return the cheques, Mr Davies said.

He said: "Emms went to their home and burned the cheques in front of them in a way which was deliberately theatrical.

"But one of them was in fact a blank piece of paper."

The court was told the defendant already cashed the other cheque for £16,500 after changing the payee to "cash".

Mr Emms was buying a £30,000 bio diesel processor at the time the cheque was cashed, the court was told.

The trial continues. Mr Emms denies fraud.

Michael Emms died in 2011, aged in his mid 20s.

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Man 'stole dying son's care cash'

Celling Biosciences Sponsors 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit

By adminFebruary 22, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Celling Biosciences announces a sponsorship of the 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit being held on February 21st at Bridgewaters New York in New York City. The Stem Cell Summit is consistently the premiere venue for the world's leaders in regenerative medicine to network and promote next generation technologies and cell therapies.

The meeting will feature more than 30 thought leaders in stem cell therapy including Dr. Kenneth Pettine of the Orthopedic Stem Cell Institute in Loveland, Colorado. Dr. Pettine has teamed up with Celling Biosciences' SpineSmith Division to present "Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Orthopedic and Spine Conditions Resulting from Injury or Aging." Dr. Pettine has become an innovator in the regenerative cell therapy market and believes "regenerative therapies will become the next standard of care in treating many orthopedic conditions."

Following the Stem Cell Summit, Dr. Pettine will be presenting a discussion on regenerative therapies to the trainers and medical staff attending this year's NFL combine. The NFL has recently gained attention from Peyton Manning going oversees to receive a cell therapy treatment for his cervical spine condition. Dr. Pettine envisions a day when these professional athletes stop going to foreign countries to receive medical treatment.

The Orthopedic Stem Cell Institute provides state-of-the-art regenerative cell therapy using Celling Biosciences' ART 21 system. The ART 21 system processes bone marrow from the patient at the point of care to consistently produce a concentrate of regenerative cells with high yields of mononuclear stem cells in less than 15 minutes. Celling Biosciences provides the cell separation systems along with the biomaterials and devices necessary to recreate the environment to promote healing.

Kevin Dunworth, founder of Celling Biosciences, believes regenerative cell therapy has more to do with creating the optimal environment then just providing cells. "We believe autologous cell therapy is a viable solution but physicians need to understand that these cells require the necessary substrate for delivery and the proper techniques for retrieval. Our focus has been on providing not only cell separation technologies, medical devices and biomaterials but also the registered nurses to deliver the service so physicians can have the most consistent, reliable and predictable regenerative cell therapy for their patients."

Contact:
Tracy Gladden
Communications Manager
Tgladden@spinesmithusa.com
512-637-2050

About Celling Biosciences
Celling Biosciences, works closely with surgeons, scientists and engineers to research and develop innovative technologies in the field of regenerative medicine. http://www.cellingbiosciences.com and http://www.spinesmithusa.com

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Celling Biosciences Sponsors 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit

Russian Press – Behind the Headlines, February 20

By adminFebruary 21, 2012Stem Cell Medical Center

Moskovskiye Novosti

Church Calls for Ban on Stem Cell Research

The Russian Orthodox Church has called for recognizing fetuses as human life and for banning medical research that involves biological material procured from abortion procedures.

The church has sent a series of amendments to the cell technology bill, which iscurrently in the works, to Healthcare Minister Tatyana Golikova in the hope that “the ministry will heed its opinion.” “We, in turn, are ready for dialogue and discussion on each proposal,” said Bishop Panteleimon, head of the the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry.

Incidentally, the clerics cite “enlightened” European policies on this issue. In October 2011, the European Court of Justice outlawed the patenting of stem cell research that destroys a human embryo as immoral. Russia’s Healthcare Ministry supported that decision and said the cell technology bill they were working on embraced similar ethical principles. Deputy Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the new bill would ban the use of a human fetus, embryo or gamete in preparing cell lines.

According to Bishop Panteleimon, this means that the government is ready to agree that a fertilized ovum constitutes a person. Therefore, it would only remain to legalize this statement. That would make it possible to refer to an embryo as a “child,” which in turn would make the 1959 Children’s Rights declaration applicable to the embryo, thus guaranteeing the “child” legal protection “before and after birth.”

One proposal would include church officials on the ministry’s expert council on biomedical ethics. The church has had a similar council since 1998.

“The ministry’s bill cites advanced cell technology that is not widely used in Russia,” a church official said. “At the same time, there are simpler technologies which also use fetal cells as biological material, and these are quite widespread.”

The letter sent to Minister Golikova mentions valid patents for using fetal cells in anti-aging treatments, mesotherapy and fetal tissue implants.

The bill, drafted by the Ministry of Healthcare, is currently in the public discussion stage, and could be submitted to the lower house this spring. Given current legislative trends, the church may well expect that its proposals will be heeded. However, Russian scientists involved in stem cell research fear that the bill would entirely halt research in this area.

According to Sergei Kiselyov from the Human Stem Cells Institute, very few cell technologies are actually used in medicine. The bill would drastically limit the current research and could affect projects that are already underway. This would lead to Russia’s lagging even further behind Western biotechnology, he said.

Kommersant

Russia Joins OECD Convention Against Bribery

The Russian Foreign Ministry notified the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Friday that Russia has joined the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Experts believe that joining the convention will stimulate the fight against corruption. Russia will be the 39th state party to the convention as of April 17.

The State Duma ratified the convention on January 13, 2012, and President Dmitry Medvedev signed it into law on February 1. Medvedev said at a judiciary meeting, “Accession will harmonize our legal system with international standards in the fight against corruption.”

“We have not joined this convention to please anybody,” First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov clarified. “Joining is important in terms of our internal anti-corruption policy.”

Denisov added that ratifying the convention, a three-year process, is a condition for OECD accession. Russia, he said, will seek to join the organization in 2013, but the country will have to ratify 160 other conventions and instruments in 22 categories, including the introduction of international standards for economic statistics. Joining the anti-bribery convention requires Russia to pay annual dues of about 100,000 euros per year to the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business.

The convention was signed in 1997 and entered into force in February 1999. Most European countries are members, as are some Latin American countries and the United States. The main obligation for the states parties is to track and prosecute their citizens for bribery or attempted bribery of foreign officials and to track foreign officials on their territories who take bribes. The convention recommends not only criminalizing these acts, but also blacklisting the companies found guilty of bribing foreign public officials from tenders for government contracts. The convention discourages the practice of allowing income tax deductions for bribes to officials of foreign states: some companies in developing countries having been implicated in this practice. The convention aims to prevent parties from adding to corruption not only within their borders, but also beyond. However, fewer than 20% of participating countries actively apply the convention's provisions, according to a 2011 Transparency International report.

Even before ratifying the convention, Russia adopted a series of measures to fulfill it. In April 2011, Dmitry Medvedev's anti-corruption package introduced amendments to the Criminal Code, including multiple penalties for giving and receiving bribes, as well as mediation. Foreign officials as well as companies that give bribes to foreign officials or officials of international public organizations will be held liable.

Vladimir Yuzhakov, director of the Department for Administrative Reform at the Center for Strategic Studies, said that the practice of applying the convention will provide additional incentives to fight corruption in the country in general. Yuzhakov expects that the convention will require further steps in developing anti-corruption legislation – in particular, the introduction of more stringent procedures for investigating cases of bribery of foreign public officials.

RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.

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

By adminFebruary 21, 2012Uncategorized

To: HEALTH AND NATIONAL EDITORS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOURCE LifeNet Health

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

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

By adminFebruary 21, 2012Uncategorized

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maugh is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer.

news.obits@latimes.com

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