StemCell Therapy

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2012) A substance in human mesenchymal stem cells that promotes growth appears to spur restoration of nerves and their function in rodent models of multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found.

In animals injected with hepatocyte growth factor, inflammation declined and neural cells grew. Perhaps most important, the myelin sheath, which protects nerves and their ability to gather and send information, regrew, covering lesions caused by the disease.

"The importance of this work is we think we've identified the driver of the recovery," said Robert H. Miller, professor of neurosciences at the School of Medicine and vice president for research at Case Western Reserve University.

Miller, neurosciences instructor Lianhua Bai and biology professor Arnold I. Caplan, designed the study. They worked with Project Manager Anne DeChant, and research assistants Jordan Hecker, Janet Kranso and Anita Zaremba, from the School of Medicine; and Donald P. Lennon, a research assistant from the university's Skeletal Research Center.

In MS, the immune system attacks myelin, risking injury to exposed nerves' intricate wiring. When damaged, nerve signals can be interrupted, causing loss of balance and coordination, cognitive ability and other functions. Over time, intermittent losses may become permanent.

Miller and Caplan reported in 2009 that when they injected human mesenchymal stem cells into rodent models of MS, the animals recovered from the damage wrought by the disease. Based on their work, a clinical trial is underway in which MS patients are injected with their own stem cells.

In this study, the researchers first wanted to test whether the presence of stem cells or something cells produce promotes recovery. They injected mice with the medium in which mesenchymal stem cells, culled from bone marrow, grew.

All 11 animals, which have a version of MS, showed a rapid reduction in functional deficits.

Analysis showed that the disease remained on course unless the molecules injected were of a certain size; that is, the molecular weight ranged between 50 and 100 kiloDaltons. Research by others and results of their own work indicated hepatocyte growth factor, which is secreted by mesenchymal stem cells, was a likely instigator.

The scientists injected animals with 50 or 100 nanograms of the growth factor every other day for five days. The level of signaling molecules that promote inflammation decreased while the level of signaling molecules that counter inflammation increased. Neural cells grew and nerves laid bare by MS were rewrapped with myelin. The 100-nanogram injections appeared to provide slightly better recovery.

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Growth factor in stem cells may spur recovery from multiple sclerosis

By Jenny Hope

PUBLISHED: 18:09 EST, 22 May 2012 | UPDATED: 01:35 EST, 23 May 2012

Scientists claim they can rejuvenate broken hearts using skin cells that have been turned into heart muscle cells.

New research opens up the prospect of reprogramming cells taken from heart failure patients that would not be rejected by their bodies.

It is the first time that stem cells taken from the skin of elderly and diseased patients - who are most likely to need such treatment - have been transformed into heart cells.

New developments: The research opens up the prospect of reprogramming cells taken from heart failure patients that would not be rejected by their bodies

Previously skin cells taken from young and healthy people have been transformed into heart muscle cells.

But researchers from Israel warn that clinical trials could be a decade away, as more work in the laboratory and major investment are needed.

The research is the latest advance in stem cell therapy where the intention is to infused repair cells directly into the scarred heart muscle of patients suffering debilitating symptoms such as breathlessness and fatigue.

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How damaged hearts could be healed by growing stem cells

ATLANTA and ROYAL OAK, Mich., May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Findings from a multi-center trial led by researchers at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. may give urologists another minimally invasive treatment option for women with stress urinary incontinence. The study showed that treating a woman with her own muscle-derived stem cells was both safe and effective. Unlike surgical treatments, this procedure takes place in a physician's office.

According to the National Institutes of Health, millions of women experience urinary incontinence, a medical condition that causes involuntary loss of urine. There are several types of incontinence. This study focused on women with stress urinary incontinence, the most common type, affecting women of all ages. It causes leakage of urine when sneezing, coughing, lifting, laughing or physical exertion.

The study's principal investigator, Kenneth Peters, M.D., medical director, Women's Urology Center, Beaumont Health System; and professor and chairman of Urology, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine presented the results at the American Urological Association's Annual Meeting on May 22 in Atlanta.

Along with Beaumont, Royal Oak; Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.; and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada served as study sites.

The three sites enrolled 64 participants. Cells were taken from a biopsy of the patient's thigh muscle, which was then sent to a laboratory where stem cells were isolated from the muscle. The isolated cells were cultured to grow more of the patient's stem cells. After six to eight weeks, the stem cells were available for treatment. The cells were injected into the sphincter. Four different doses were studied over one year: 10 million cells; 50 million cells; 100 million cells; and 200 million cells.

"This was an incredibly safe method of treatment. There were no significant side effects," explains Dr. Peters. "Also noteworthy, is the majority of patients treated had a significant improvement in their urinary leakage and up to 60 percent of the women became dry, leading to an improved quality of life. Because of the positive results, our research team is considering a larger phase III trial."

The women who participated in the study were age 18 and older with symptoms of stress urinary incontinence. They failed prior treatment for their condition and showed no improvement in their symptoms over the previous six months.

"It's a very practical study that applies stem cell technology, specifically muscle-derived cells. We're treating patients with their own tissue - their own building blocks," adds Dr. Peters. "And we're moving from a surgical to an office-based treatment."

The study was funded by Cook MyoSite Inc. in Pittsburgh, a Cook Group company.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Kenneth Peters, M.D. https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=48407

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Beaumont Researchers: Patient's Stem Cells Show Promise In Treating Female Stress Urinary Incontinence

ScienceDaily (May 22, 2012) Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have achieved, for the first time, the generation of neuronal cells from stem cells of Fragile X patients. The discovery paves the way for research that will examine restoration of normal gene expression in Fragile X patients.

Absence of expression of the FMR1 gene is caused by a mutation in the regulatory elements that govern its expression. The abnormal addition of chemical methyl groups to the regulatory elements causes gene silencing in patients, culminating in severe mental retardation.

A potential way to help patients is to find compounds that will clear the abnormal methyl groups from the regulatory elements and reactivate normal gene expression. In their work, the Hebrew University researchers have identified a chemical compound that restored normal gene expression specifically in neuronal cells, the cell type most affected in patients.

The research was conducted in the laboratory of Nissim Benvenisty, the Herbert Cohn Professor of Cancer Research at the Hebrew University, by PhD student Ori Bar-Nur and undergraduate student Inbal Caspi. They demonstrated, for the first time, the generation of brain neuronal cells from patients of Fragile X syndrome in a dish culture. In doing so, they were able to find a substance that restored normal gene expression in patients' cells.

In a previous study conducted in the Benvenisty laboratory, a novel technology was used to induce pluripotent stem cells from skin cells of Fragile X patients. Pluripotent stem cells have the amazing ability to differentiate into any human cell type in a dish culture.

In their latest study (published in the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology), the researchers harnessed this ability to turn the stem cells into neuronal brain cells. After generating the cells, they screened several chemical substances with the aim of finding one that would restore FMR1 normal gene expression. They showed that the substance 5-azaC was able to clear the methyl groups from the regulatory elements of the gene, allowing for the efficient restoration of FMR1 expression in both stem and neuronal brain cells.

The substance 5-azaC has been known for many years to clear methyl groups from regulatory elements of genes, and is also an already established drug for other diseases. However, this is the first time that it has been shown to successfully clear the methylation in neurons or stem cells of Fragile X patients.

In addition, the researchers were able to show that gene expression is maintained even after 5-azaC withdrawal, so there is no need to administer it continuously. This raises hopes for the use of the compound as a potential drug for the benefit of Fragile X patients.

According to Bar-Nur, "There is still a substantial gap between the restoration of gene expression in cultured patients' cells and restoring it in patients; however, the finding that it is possible to restore gene expression in neuronal cells paves the way for further study of its restoration in patients." He concludes: "New technologies developed in recent years in the stem cell field allow us to conduct research that was not possible until recently."

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Stem cell research paves way for progress on dealing with Fragile X

People who suffer from heart failure could someday be able to use their own skin stem cells to regenerate their damaged heart tissue, according to a new Israeli study.

Researchers took stem cells from the skin of two patients with heart failure and genetically programmed them to become new heart muscle cells. They then transplanted the new cells into healthy rats and found that the cells integrated with cardiac tissue that already existed.

The study, published in European Heart Journal, marks the first time ever that scientists could use skin cells from people with heart failure and transform damaged heart tissue this way.

The newly generated cells turned out to be similar to embryonic stem cells, which can potentially be programmed to grow into any type of cell.

"What is new and exciting about our research is that we have shown that it's possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells when he was just born," Dr. Lior Gepstein, lead researcher and a senior clinical electrophysiologist at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, said in a news release.

The findings open up the possibility, the authors wrote, that people can use their own skin cells to repair their damaged hearts, which could prevent the problems associated with using embryonic stem cells.

"This approach has a number of attractive features," said Dr. Tom Povsic, an interventional cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center. "We can get the cells that you start with from the patient himself or herself. It avoids the ethical dilemma associated with embryonic stem cells and it removes the possibility of rejection of foreign stem cells by the immune system." Povsic was not involved with the Israeli study.

Another advantage of using skin cells is that other types of cells taken from patients themselves, such as bone marrow cells, could potentially lead to the development of unhealthy tissue.

"If a patient is already sick with heart disease, one of the reasons it may develop is that stem cells weren't able to repair the heart the way they should," Povsic added. Skin cells, he explained, are generally healthy.

"It is very exciting and very interesting, but we are far away from taking this to patients," said Dr. Marrick Kukin, director of the Heart Failure Program at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital who was also not involved in the Israeli study.

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Can Stem Cells Repair Heart Tissue?

Omani scientists collect semen of Arabian tahr for future research

(Our Correspondent) / 22 May 2012

MUSCAT - Scientists in Oman have reported a significant breakthrough in research in the offsite conservation of rare wild animals.

Biotechnologists in the Department of Biology at the College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, said they had successfully collected semen of the Arabian tahr or ibex (locally called Waal Al Arabi or Arabitragus jayakari), an endangered species indigenous to Oman and the UAE, and successfully frozen it for later use in reproductive biology.

Dr Senan Baqir, who is leading the research, underlined that this was the first ever project to investigate the fertility of the male ibex. He added that the high viability of the collected and frozen semen could be used in reproductive biotechnologies such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer.

This, in turn, could lead to a rapid increase in the numbers of the Arabian Waal and to eventually remove it from the red list of endangered animals prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), he added.

Baqir said that the project could be expanded to other endangered wild animal species of Oman such as the Nimir Al Arabi, Caracal, sand fox and the Arabian wolf, also expressing hope that the frozen samples could be the beginning of the establishment of a gamete bank or cell bank in future.

The proposed cell bank, if coupled with other innovative technological approaches such as assisted reproductive biotechnologies, interspecies transplantation, reproductive cloning, semen sexing, stem cell lines, ovum pick-up (OPU) and in vitro fertilisation, would be appropriate tools to combat the continued population decline of endangered species in Oman, he added.

Dr Khalid Al Rasbi, from the Veterinary Services Division of the Royal Court Affairs, noted that the number of endangered animals in Oman was on a declining path despite the huge effort and investment made by the government.

He attributed this to conditions that go beyond government control such as cyclones, pollution, extreme hot weather, drought, smuggling and illegal trade, growth of wild life tourism, rapid urbanisation and construction and pollution and diseases.

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Omani scientists collect semen of Arabian tahr for future research

A pink butterfly, fluorescent mountains and glowing green orbs surrounded by bubbles are some of the imagery that appears in the winning entries in a "bio-art" competition, which sought to highlight the most artistic portrayals of biomedical research.

This year, 10 images out of about 100 entries were honored in the first Bio-Art Competition, created by the Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). The winning entries weren't ranked and all were generated by scientists as a byproduct of of biomedical research.

Art wasn't the purpose of research to create artificial stem cell factories, explore the biological basis for psychiatric disease or look at the production of new neurons in the adult brain. Even so, the winning entries included brightly colored and sometimes abstract images.

The winners include one image depicting a scaffold, which resembles the weave of a fabric, upon which cells can grow to form new tissue. Glowing green orbs surrounded by bubbles reveal systems intended to produce muscle stem cells; and images of species of electric fish are trailed by recordings of the discharges.

"Electric fish recognize other members of their own species using the species-specific waveforms of these heartbeatlike discharges," writes the team lead by Matthew Arnegard of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who created the image. (Under the contest guidelines, the image and the statement accompanying it should be visually arresting and clearly communicate a cutting-edge concept in biomedical science.)

Another winning entry depicts what looks like a fluorescent three-dimensional map, but is actually genetically labeled cells covering the walls of capillaries in a mouse kidney. [ See Photos of the Winning BioArt ]

University of Iowa's Li-Hsien Lin captured an image that appears to be a pink butterfly, but is actually a rat spinal cord showing the distribution of different types of enzymes. Understanding how these enzymes work and interact in the nervous system, Lin writes, could lead to better treatments for cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and heart failure.

Other honorees included: abstract art created from tissue from a colon biopsy stained for a particular receptor; converging fibers that form the optic nerve in a mouse retina and their attendant immune cells; a 3-D image of the limb from a transgenic, embryonic mouse, with bright colors differentiating the muscles, tendons, bones and nerves; and the growth of new neurons in the adult brain.

FASEB is a coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. For this competition, the organization sought original, laboratory-based images produced by current or former National Institutes of Health-funded investigators, contractors, trainees or members of FASEB constituent societies, according to a news release.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

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Rat spinal cord, mouse kidney glow for science

ROCKVILLE, Md., May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced that Richard Garr, CEO and President, will present at the World Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine Congress in London (http://www.terrapinn.com/2012/stemcells/index.stm) on Tuesday, May 22nd at 12:30 PM. Mr. Garr's presentation, "Stem Cell Applications for Neurodegenerative Disorders," will review Neuralstem's cellular therapy trial in ALS, its neurogenic small molecule trial in major depressive disorder (MDD), and provide an overview on plans to expand the cellular therapy program.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061221/DCTH007LOGO )

About Neuralstem

Neuralstem's patented technology enables the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells constitutively into mature, physiologically relevant human neurons and glia. Neuralstem is in an FDA-approved Phase I safety clinical trial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, and has been awarded orphan status designation by the FDA.

In addition to ALS, the company is also targeting major central nervous system conditions with its cell therapy platform, including spinal cord injury, ischemic spastic paraplegia and chronic stroke. The company has submitted an IND (Investigational New Drug) application to the FDA for a Phase I safety trial in chronic spinal cord injury.

Neuralstem also has the ability to generate stable human neural stem cell lines suitable for the systematic screening of large chemical libraries. Through this proprietary screening technology, Neuralstem has discovered and patented compounds that may stimulate the brain's capacity to generate new neurons, possibly reversing the pathologies of some central nervous system conditions. The company has received approval from the FDA to conduct a Phase Ib safety trial evaluating NSI-189, its first neurogenic small molecule compound, for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). Additional indications could include CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, and memory disorders.

For more information, please visit http://www.neuralstem.com or connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements in this press release regarding potential applications of Neuralstem's technologies constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, uncertainty of clinical trial results or regulatory approvals or clearances, need for future capital, dependence upon collaborators and maintenance of our intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in Neuralstem's periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and the Form 10-Q for the period ended March 30, 2012.

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Neuralstem CEO to Present at the World Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Congress in London

NEW YORK, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --IntelliCell BioSciences, Inc.("Company") (SVFC.PK) announced today that it has entered a sponsored research agreement with the Institute for Cell Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (ICERM) at the University of Florida. A portion of the collaborative work will be to explore the physiological characteristics of the adult autologous vascular cells that are also referred to as stromal vascular fraction cells which form the basis of the IntelliCell product. The company also intends to explore combination therapies with patent pending bio-engineered products under development. The Company believes that the IntelliCell product is an efficient cellular delivery platform for a variety of therapeutic applications and will look to partner with technology developers.

Said Jon Dobson, Ph.D., Professor of biomedical engineering and biomaterials at the University of Florida, "We are pleased to be working with IntelliCell. Their technology is innovative and appears to hold promise for future regenerative medicine applications. The use of adult autologous (your own) stem cells to repair and regenerate tissues are of great interest to personalized medicine researchers." Professor Dobson is a leading researcher in bionanotechnology and nanomedicine applications and apart from regenerative medicine, his work also spans across fields as diverse as gene therapy, stem cell therapy and tumor targeting. He is also the Director of the newly formed Institute for Cell Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Florida.

Dr. Steven Victor, CEO of IntelliCell, added "This is a very exciting time for regenerative medicine companies. We are looking forward to long and productive research collaboration with the University of Florida and Professor Dobson. IntelliCell believes that important contributions for better medicine will result from research collaborations with our university research colleagues." Robert Sexauer, Executive Vice President, ICBS Research, stated that "we would like to take a thought leadership position by working closely with those at the vanguard of regenerative medicine development."

About IntelliCell BioSciences

IntelliCell is a pioneering regenerative medicine company focused on the expanding regenerative medical markets using adult autologous vascular cells (SVC's) derived from the blood vessels in the adult adipose tissue. IntelliCell Biosciences has developed its own patent pending protocol to separate adult autologous vascular cells from adipose tissue without the use of enzymes. IntelliCell will also be seeking to develop technology licensing agreements with technology developers, universities, and international business entities.

About University of Florida

The University of Florida is one of the nation's largest public universities. A member of the Association of American Universities, UF receives more than $619 million annually in sponsored research funding. Through its research and other activities, UF contributes more than $8.76 billion a year to Florida's economy and has a total employment impact of more than 100,000 jobs statewide. http://www.ufl.edu.University of Florida Research: Working for Florida.

Forward-LookingStatements

Certain statements set forth in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate, or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain the words "estimate," "project," "intend," "forecast," "anticipate," "plan," "planning," "expect," "believe," "will likely," "should," "could," "would," "may" or words or expressions of similar meaning. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results and financial position to differ materially from those included within the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the Company's ability to grow its business. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the Company's limited operating history, the limited financial resources, domestic or global economic conditions, activities of competitors and the presence of new or additional competition, and changes in Federal or State laws. More information about the potential factors that could affect the Company's business and financial results is included in the Company's filings, available via the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

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IntelliCell BioSciences Announces Collaborative Agreement with the University of Florida on Stem Cell and Tissue ...

Newswise About 3 percent of the babies born in the United States have a birth defect. Children without a birth defect are also susceptible to injury or disease. At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), regenerative medicine researchers are exploring innovative ways to treat these conditions.

The Department of Pediatric Surgery at the UTHealth Medical School operates a research program devoted to childhood conditions that is seeking to harness the bodys regenerative powers to repair malformed organs and to mitigate injury from illness or trauma. It is called the Childrens Regenerative Medicine Program.

Kevin Lally, M.D., chairman of the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the UTHealth Medical School and surgeon-in-chief at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, announced the recruitment of four stem cell scientists to the program. The researchers are associate professor Yong Li, M.D., Ph.D., and assistant professors Scott Olson, Ph.D., Fabio Triolo, M.Phil., D.d.R., Ph.D., and Pamela Wenzel, Ph.D.

We were able to recruit outstanding investigators thanks in part to the generous support of Mrs. Clare Glassell and Mrs. Evelyn Griffin, said Lally, who is the A.G. McNeese Chair in Pediatric Surgery and the Richard Andrassy, M.D., Endowed Distinguished Professor at UTHealth. Our program in regenerative medicine is committed to a collaborative environment in which clinicians work with basic researchers.

Lally has a special interest in the treatment of a potentially life-threatening condition known as congenital diaphragmatic hernia that occurs in as many as one in every 2,500 live births and is often treated surgically. The diaphragm is a muscle separating the chest cavity and belly and is important for breathing.

The core fundamental problem is infants born with structural problems that need to be repaired, said Lally, who believes doctors may be able to use stem cells to replace the diaphragm or repair defects in the abdominal wall.

Stem cells may also help children with traumatic brain injuries. Charles Cox Jr., M.D., professor of pediatric surgery, director of the Pediatric Trauma Program at the UTHealth Medical School/Childrens Memorial Hermann Hospital and The Childrens Fund Inc. Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Surgery, is leading clinical research on the use of these versatile cells to address this leading cause of death and lifelong disability among children.

Yong Li, M.D., Ph.D.

Li previously served as a tenure track assistant professor in the Stem Cell Research Center at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, where his laboratory studied the regenerative power of newts and salamanders in the hope of applying this information to the care of people.

Newts are able to regenerate missing body parts including limbs, spine and heart. Li has studied growth factors that facilitate this regeneration process in some amphibians and how they could be used for stem cell population and tissue engineering.

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UTHealth Pediatric Surgery Expands Regenerative Medicine Program

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Posted May 21, 2012

Noted Pathologist PhD in Human Genetics Added to Existing Member Expertise in Stem Cell Maternal Fetal Medicine and Stem Cell Cardiology

CLEARWATER, FL -- Biostem U.S., Corporation, (OTCQB: HAIR) (PINKSHEETS: HAIR) (Biostem, the Company), a fully reporting public company in the stem cell regenerative medicine sciences sector, today announced that Jeanne Ann Lumadue, MD, PhD, MBA, has been appointed to its Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors (SAMBA).

Dr. Lumadue currently is Medical Director at the Mount Nittany Physician Group Laboratory in State College, PA. She also serves as Medical Director of the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank and is a member of the medical staff of the Mount Nittany Medical Center, all in State College.

Dr. Lumadue stated, "Biostem's international technology development and licensing approach is well planned. Stem cell regenerative medicine is a rapidly expanding field that has the potential to affect every human being in a positive way. I am delighted to be part of this highly promising company."

Biostem CEO Dwight Brunoehler said, "I am thrilled for the opportunity to work with Jeanne again. She is an innovative thinker, a tireless contributor, and a great team player."

Dr. Lumadue received her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from the Pennsylvania State University and her PhD in Genetics from Yale University. She received an MD degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, where she also did residency and fellowship training in anatomic and clinical pathology. She has served as Pathologist and Assistant Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Medical Director of Laboratory Hematology and Stem Cell Processing at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and the Medical Director of Transfusion Services and Stem Cell Processing at the Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.

She is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and the AABB, for which she serves as a facility assessor.

About Biostem U.S., Corporation

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Biostem U.S., Corporation Adds Jeanne Ann Lumadue, MD, PhD, MBA to Its Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2012) Tissue engineers can use mesenchymal stem cells derived from fat to make cartilage, bone, or more fat. The best cells to use are ones that are already likely to become the desired tissue. Brown University researchers have discovered that the mechanical properties of the stem cells can foretell what they will become, leading to a potential method of concentrating them for use in healing.

To become better healers, tissue engineers need a timely and reliable way to obtain enough raw materials: cells that either already are or can become the tissue they need to build. In a new study, Brown University biomedical engineers show that the stiffness, viscosity, and other mechanical properties of adult stem cells derived from fat, such as liposuction waste, can predict whether they will turn into bone, cartilage, or fat.

That insight could lead to a filter capable of extracting the needed cells from a larger and more diverse tissue sample, said Eric Darling, senior author of the paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Imagine a surgeon using such a filter to first extract fat from a patient with a bone injury and then to inject a high concentration of bone-making stem cells into the wound site during the same operation.

If mechanical properties of stem cells -- viscosity, stiffness, size -- predict what they will become, the next step is to develop a high-throughput testing and sorting device.In the paper, the researchers report that the stiffest adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells tended to become bone, the ones that were biggest and softest tended to become fat, and those that were particularly viscous were most likely to end up as cartilage.

"The results are exciting because not only do the mechanical properties indicate what lineage these cells could potentially go along but also the extent of their differentiation," said Darling, assistant professor of medical science in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology. and Biotechnology and the University's Center for Biomedical Engineering. "It tells us how good they are going to be if we differentiated them for a given tissue type."

So when tissue engineers go looking through extracted fat for cells to create bone, for instance, they can sort through the cells looking for ones with a certain level of stiffness or greater. Whether the cells are "undifferentiated" stem cells that have made no move toward becoming a specific cell type, or ones that are already bone cells, only the ones with the requisite stiffness would make the cut. That process would yield a higher population of cells for making new bone tissue.

"Can we enrich the cell populations for cells that we want to use, whether they are totally undifferentiated cell types, partially differentiated, or completely differentiated?" Darling said. "It doesn't matter as long as it's targeted for the specific tissue application."

Darling's study, led by research assistants Rafael Gonzaelz-Cruz and Vera Fonseca, involved cloning adipose-derived adult human stem cells into 32 stem cell populations. They then poked, prodded, and measured the cells with an atomic force microscope, gaining measurements of how big they were, how sturdy they were under pressure, and how the force between them and the scope's cantilevered probe changed over time. The team found the cells exhibited a wide range of stiffness, viscosity and size.

Once they had the measurements, the researchers chemically induced the cells to differentiate and analyzed the levels of key metabolites produced by the cells as they matured a few weeks later. For each population, the metabolites indicated the relative proportion that differentiated into one tissue or another. Population 28, for example, apparently responded productively to chemical cues for producing cartilage, only somewhat well for producing bone and poorly to cues for making fat.

The key moment was when the researchers correlated each cell population's mechanical measurements with its metabolite data. Did the mechanical properties predict which populations would be the most successful in turning into bone cells or cartilage cells or fat cells? Sure enough, they did. The stiffest cell populations produced more bone. The squishiest cells were the ones that produced the most fat. The ones with the highest viscosity were the ones seemingly headed toward becoming cartilage.

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Physical properties predict stem cell outcome

Stem cells have the potential for becoming different kinds of tissue, but certain characteristics -- stiffness, viscosity, size -- are telltale signs of what they're optimized to become. Credit: Darling Lab/Brown University

To become better healers, tissue engineering need a timely and reliable way to obtain enough raw materials: cells that either already are or can become the tissue they need to build. In a new study, Brown University biomedical engineers show that the stiffness, viscosity, and other mechanical properties of adult stem cells derived from fat, such as liposuction waste, can predict whether they will turn into bone, cartilage, or fat.

That insight could lead to a filter capable of extracting the needed cells from a larger and more diverse tissue sample, said Eric Darling, senior author of the paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Imagine a surgeon using such a filter to first extract fat from a patient with a bone injury and then to inject a high concentration of bone-making stem cells into the wound site during the same operation.

In the paper, the researchers report that the stiffest adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells tended to become bone, the ones that were biggest and softest tended to become fat, and those that were particularly viscous were most likely to end up as cartilage.

"The results are exciting because not only do the mechanical properties indicate what lineage these cells could potentially go along but also the extent of their differentiation," said Darling, assistant professor of medical science in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology. and Biotechnology and the University's Center for Biomedical Engineering. "It tells us how good they are going to be if we differentiated them for a given tissue type."

So when tissue engineers go looking through extracted fat for cells to create bone, for instance, they can sort through the cells looking for ones with a certain level of stiffness or greater. Whether the cells are "undifferentiated" stem cells that have made no move toward becoming a specific cell type, or ones that are already bone cells, only the ones with the requisite stiffness would make the cut. That process would yield a higher population of cells for making new bone tissue.

"Can we enrich the cell populations for cells that we want to use, whether they are totally undifferentiated cell types, partially differentiated, or completely differentiated?" Darling said. "It doesn't matter as long as it's targeted for the specific tissue application."

Darling's study, led by research assistants Rafael Gonzaelz-Cruz and Vera Fonseca, involved cloning adipose-derived adult human stem cells into 32 stem cell populations. They then poked, prodded, and measured the cells with an atomic force microscope, gaining measurements of how big they were, how sturdy they were under pressure, and how the force between them and the scope's cantilevered probe changed over time. The team found the cells exhibited a wide range of stiffness, viscosity and size.

Once they had the measurements, the researchers chemically induced the cells to differentiate and analyzed the levels of key metabolites produced by the cells as they matured a few weeks later. For each population, the metabolites indicated the relative proportion that differentiated into one tissue or another. Population 28, for example, apparently responded productively to chemical cues for producing cartilage, only somewhat well for producing bone and poorly to cues for making fat.

The key moment was when the researchers correlated each cell population's mechanical measurements with its metabolite data. Did the mechanical properties predict which populations would be the most successful in turning into bone cells or cartilage cells or fat cells? Sure enough, they did. The stiffest cell populations produced more bone. The squishiest cells were the ones that produced the most fat. The ones with the highest viscosity were the ones seemingly headed toward becoming cartilage.

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Mechanical properties of stem cells can foretell what they will become

May 22 2012 By Jack Mathieson

sylvia paton Image 3

A BRAVE Scots mum agreed to be a guinea pig for a pioneering stem cell eye operation which could help millions of people see.

Sylvia Paton, 50, who has just a tenth of normal vision, had stem cells transplanted into her eye in the first op of its kind in the UK.

And she hopes the pioneering technique being developed by Scots scientists will help other sufferers of her condition, known as corneal blindness.

She said yesterday: If we dont have guinea pigs we cant learn anything, and Im quite happy for them to learn from me.

Im so excited about the possibilities of this procedure. It has the potential to save vision, protect and give back vision to people like me.

Even if only a little of my vision is restored, it would be better than nothing.

Sylvia, of Corstorphine, Edinburgh, a PA for the Scottish Government, was born without an iris in her left eye. As a result, the cornea in the eye became damaged, badly affecting her vision.

She also has a cataract in the eye and her sight is getting worse as she ages. Her son Michael, 23, has the same condition, which made her even more determined to have the op.

Link:
Mum tells of delight at pioneering eye operation which has helped restore her sight

Editor's Choice Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 22 May 2012 - 12:00 PDT

Current ratings for: 'Prochymal - First Stem Cell Drug Approved'

4.5 (2 votes)

Prochymal (remestemcel-L) is also the first drug to be approved for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children, a devastating complication of bone marrow transplantation that kills almost 80% of all affected children, many of which just weeks after they have been diagnosed.

GvHD is the leading cause of transplant-related mortality, caused by an immunologic attack. Severe GvHD can cause blistering of the skin, intestinal hemorrhage and liver failure and is extremely painful with a death rate of up to 80%. At present, the first-line standard therapies for GvHD are steroids. Given that the success rate of steroids is only 30 to 50%, the only other therapy if steroids fail is limited to immunosuppressive agents that are used off-label with little benefit and significant toxicities. Until the approval of Prochymal, there has not been any other therapy for GvHD.

Osiris Therapeutics Inc. was awarded authorization for Prochymal under Health Canada's Notice of Compliance with conditions (NOC/c). A NOC/c is an authorization to market a drug with the condition that the manufacturer undertakes additional studies to verify the clinical benefit. This pathway provides access to treatments for unmet medical conditions and has demonstrated its benefits outweigh its risks in clinical trials.

Andrew Daly, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor from the Department of Medicine and Oncology at the University of Calgary, Canada and leading researcher of Prochymal's phase 3 clinical program declared:

C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Osiris announced:

Prochymal is an intravenous formulation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are derived from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors aged between 18 and 30 years. The MSCs are selected from the bone marrow and grown in culture, producing up to 10,000 doses of Prochymal from a single donor. The drug is a true off-the-shelf stem cell product, which is stored frozen until it is needed. Prochymal is infused through a simple intravenous line without the need to type or immunosuppress the recipient. The drug is currently undergoing Phase 3 trials for refractory Crohn's disease, as well as undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of heart attacks and type-1 diabetes.

Health Canada granted the Prochymal's authorization for the management of acute GvHD in children who are unresponsive to steroids, based on the drug's results of clinical trials. Prochymal was recommended by an independent expert advisory panel, which was commissioned to assess the drugs safety and efficacy.

Continue reading here:
Prochymal - First Stem Cell Drug Approved

By Kristen Hallam - 2012-05-22T23:05:00Z

Israeli scientists for the first time succeeded in transforming the skin cells of heart-failure patients into healthy heart-muscle cells, suggesting that it may be possible to repair the organ with a persons own tissue.

The cells from two men with the disease, once genetically reprogrammed, were able to blend in with healthy heart tissue in rats, scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, wrote today in the European Heart Journal, a publication of the European Society of Cardiology. Testing the cells in human hearts may be as long as a decade away, as scientists hone the technique in animal studies, they said.

The finding points to a novel potential source of stem cells, the building blocks of life which can grow into any type of tissue in the body. Using skin cells from the patient would avoid the difficulty of obtaining stem cells from embryos and may limit the risk that the patients immune system would reject the transplant, which can occur with cells taken from healthy people and given to the sick, the researchers said.

We have shown that its possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young, the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells when he was just born, said Lior Gepstein, a professor of medicine and physiology who led the research, in a statement.

Heart failure is a weakening of the heart muscle that can cause fatigue and ultimately death. About 5.8 million people in the U.S. have the condition, according to the National Institutes of Health. More people are surviving heart attacks and, as a result, the number of people living with a damaged heart is increasing, said Nicholas Mills, an intermediate clinical research fellow at the British Heart Foundation and a cardiologist at the University of Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, the body has only very limited capacity to repair the heart following a heart attack, Mills said in a statement. There is therefore an urgent need to develop effective and safe treatments to regenerate the heart.

The study published today was funded by the Israel Science Foundation, the European Research Council, the Nancy and Stephen Grand philanthropic fund, and the J&J-Technion research grant.

More research is needed to determine whether the cells can be produced in enough quantity for effective treatment and to develop transplantation strategies that reduce the risk of the body rejecting the cells, the scientists said. Refining the procedure will probably require funding from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, said Gepstein, whose team is conducting additional experiments in animals.

I assume it will take at least five to 10 years to clinical trials if one can overcome these problems, Gepstein said.

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Heart-Failure Patients’ Cells May Be Used for Repair

May 22, 2012

Connie K. Ho for RedOrbit.com

Scottish specialists were recently able to transplant stem cells into the eyes of two corneal blindness patients in an attempt to restore their sight. Doctors will be able to know the effects of the procedure within a few months. It is thought to be the first treatment of its kind in the United Kingdom.

The operation, corneal epithelial stem cell transplantation, is part of a new group of regenerative therapies. Stem cells are grown from deceased donors and transplanted to the patients cornea. Before the transplant occurs, scarred and damaged parts of the cornea are taken out.

If proves to be successful, we could see many more people benefit as a result, stated Scotlands Health Secretary Nicola in a BBC article.

The first person to receive the surgery was Sylvia Paton, a 50-year-old short-sighted female from Edinburgh.

My vision is deteriorating as I get older, much the same as other peoples. However, I already only have around 10% of the vision of sighted people. Until now theres really nothing that could be done to combat the effects of this type of blindness, stated Paton in an article by the Independent.

Paton suffers from aniridia, which causes incomplete formation of the iris and affects both eyes. Environmental settings, space, colors, time of day, among other factors can affect her vision. On a daily basis, she has to wear dark glasses to protect her eyes. She decided to complete the three-hour operation in hopes that it could improve her quality of life and contribute to medical research.

It has the potential to save vision, protect and give back vision to people like me, Paton told the Independents Christine Lavelle. Even if only a little of my vision is restored, it would be better than nothing. Plus, it means that the team has gained valuable experience.

Paton spoke to Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon about the procedure following the operation.

View original post here:
Stem Cell Operation Attempts To Heal Corneal Blindness

Editor's Choice Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 21 May 2012 - 0:00 PDT

Current ratings for: 'World's First Stem Cell Drug From Osiris: Approved'

5 (1 votes)

The decision is a historic one, as it's both the first stem cell drug going into formal use, as well as the first treatment for GvHD. The disease is a devastating breakdown occurring after a bone marrow transplant and kills around 80% of children affected, often within a matter of weeks.

Andrew Daly, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Oncology at the University of Calgary, Canada and Principal Investigator in the phase 3 clinical program for Prochymal confirmed :

The approval process for Prochymal was implemented under Health Canada's Notice of Compliance with conditions (NOC/c) pathway. The basis of the procedure allows a new drug to come onto the market where there are unmet medical needs. The approval is granted with the provision that the drug has demonstrated risk / reward benefits in previous clinical trials and that the manufacturer agrees to undertake additional confirmatory clinical testing.

C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Osiris confirmed his' companies happiness at being able to help conquer the disease :

Where children with GvHD are not responding to treatment with steroids, which is presumably most of them, the use of Prochymal will now be authorized. Health Canada based it's approval on previous clinical studies of the drug, in which 64% of patients showed results; the survival rate compared to historical data was drastically improved, even in patients with severe cases. Additional clinical evaluation of Prochymal now will be undertaken, including enrolling patients in a registry to discover any long term effects.

Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Head of the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Duke University and Lead Investigator for Prochymal

Osiris has 48 patents protecting Prochymal, and Health Canada's have agreed to provide Prochymal with regulatory exclusivity within their territory. Canada affords eight years of exclusivity to Innovative Drugs, such as Prochymal, with an additional six-month extension because it addresses a pediatric disease. Parents, doctors and shareholders can all rest easy.

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World's First Stem Cell Drug From Osiris: Approved

Tim and Padma Vellaichamy of Parramatta have had their new born child's umbilical cord stored cryogenically for future treatment. Pictured with their as yet unnamed three week old daughter. Picture: Adam Ward Source: The Daily Telegraph

IT'S current preservation for future regeneration - and now umbilical cord tissue is going on ice in Australia for the first time.

Usually discarded after birth, umbilical tissue from newborn babies is being collected and cryogenically frozen to be used one day for regenerative and stem cell medicine. And it doesn't just have potential for the babies involved, either. Experts say stem cells could also be used for family members who are genetically compatible.

It is hoped the cells will eventually be able to be used to repair damaged tissues and organs, with researchers investigating its uses for treating diseases like multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and diabetes, as well as for bone and cartilage repair.

Although cord blood storage has been available for many years, Cell Care Australia has added cord tissue storage in anticipation of new discoveries in the regenerative medicine field.

Cell Care Australia medical director associate professor Mark Kirkland said the storage process - already popular in the US, Europe and Southeast Asia - was long overdue for Australian shores.

"The science is developing around the world and we're really behind the rest of the world in providing parents the option to store these cells and we thought it was about time it was brought here," he said.

"It's finding a way to take what would otherwise be waste tissue and turning it into something of potential future value for not only your child but also potentially for other family members.'

Parramatta couple Tim and Padma Vellaichamy are among the first to use the service in Australia.

Mr Vellaichamy, 31, said he heard of the technology while working as a dentist in India and decided to store their daughter's cord cell tissue after birth three weeks ago.

See original here:
Frozen cord could save a life

Tim and Padma Vellaichamy of Parramatta have had their new born child's umbilical cord stored cryogenically for future treatment. Pictured with their as yet unnamed three week old daughter. Picture: Adam Ward Source: The Daily Telegraph

IT'S current preservation for the future regeneration - and now umbilical cord tissue is going on ice in Australia for the first time.

Usually discarded after birth, umbilical tissue from newborn babies is being collected and cryogenically frozen to be used one day for regenerative and stem cell medicine. And it doesn't just have potential for the babies involved, either. Experts say stem cells could also be used for family members who are genetically compatible.

It is hoped the cells will eventually be able to be used to repair damaged tissues and organs, with researchers investigating its uses for treating diseases like multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and diabetes, as well as for bone and cartilage repair.

Although cord blood storage has been available for many years, Cell Care Australia has added cord tissue storage in anticipation of new discoveries in the regenerative medicine field.

Cell Care Australia medical director associate professor Mark Kirkland said the storage process - already popular in the US, Europe and Southeast Asia - was long overdue for Australian shores.

"The science is developing around the world and we're really behind the rest of the world in providing parents the option to store these cells and we thought it was about time it was brought here," he said.

"It's finding a way to take what would otherwise be waste tissue and turning it into something of potential future value for not only your child but also potentially for other family members.'

Parramatta couple Tim and Padma Vellaichamy are among the first to use the service in Australia.

Mr Vellaichamy, 31, said he heard of the technology while working as a dentist in India and decided to store their daughter's cord cell tissue after birth three weeks ago.

Read more here:
Stem cell medicine thrown umbilical rope