StemCell Therapy

11.04.2012 - (idw) Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt Bonn

Until recently, the production of pluripotent multipurpose stem cells from skin cells was considered to be the ultimate new development. In the meantime, it has become possible to directly convert cells of the body into one another without the time-consuming detour via a pluripotent intermediate stage. However, this method has so far been rather inefficient. Scientists from the Bonn Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology (director: Prof. Dr. Oliver Brstle) have now developed the method to the point that it can be used for biomedical applications. The scientists are presenting their results in the journal Nature Methods. There was much excitement surrounding cell reprogramming with the breakthrough of Shinya Yamanaka. In 2006, the Japanese scientist was able to reprogram skin cells for the first time with the aid of a few control factors into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) multipurpose cells from which all body cells can in principle be produced. In 2010, Marius Wernig, a former postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Brstle and meanwhile the director of the institute at Stanford University in California, developed the idea further: Using only three so-called transcription factors, his team was able to perform direct transformation of skin cells into so-called induced neurons (iN). However, the method has so far been rather inefficient: Only a small percentage of the skin cells were converted into the desired nerve cells.

Researchers are increasing yields during transformation of cells

For the scientists at the LIFE & BRAIN Center at the University of Bonn, that was not enough. They are interested in the biomedical utilization of artificially produced human nerve cells for disease research, cell replacement, and the development of active substances. One concept seemed likely: Why not use low-molecular active substances - so-called small molecules - to optimize the process? Julia Ladewig, post-doctoral researcher and lead author of the study, began using such active substances to influence several signaling pathways important for cell development.

By blocking the so-called SMAD signaling pathway and inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3), they increased the transformational efficiency by several times and were thus able to even simplify the means of extraction. Using only two instead of previously three transcription factors and three active substances, the Bonn researchers were able to convert a majority of the skin cells into neurons. In the end, their cell cultures contained up to more than 80% human neurons. And since the cells divide even further during the conversion process, the actual efficiency is even higher.

We can obtain up to more than 200,000 nerve cells converted in this way from 100,000 skin cells, says Julia Ladewig. In order to find the right combination of active substances, the Bonn scientists are focusing on signaling pathways which are especially important for cell specialization. The SMAD signaling pathway and also GSK3 were suspected of inhibiting the conversion of connective tissue cells and pluripotent stem cells into neural cells. The obvious step was to block both of them using corresponding active substances, says Philipp Koch, team leader and senior author responsible for the study, together with Prof. Brstle. The results were intriguing: We were able to demonstrate how the genes typical for skin fibroblast were gradually down-regulated and nerve-cell-specific genes were activated during the cell transformation. In addition, the nerve cells thus obtained were functionally active, which also makes them interesting as a source for cell replacement, says Ladewig.

Scientists are now transferring the method to other types of cells

The Bonn scientists have already transferred the method to other types of cells such as, for example, umbilical cord cells. Brstle clearly foresees the next steps: First of all, we want to use nerve cells obtained in this way for disease and active substance research. The long-term goal will be to convert cells directly in the body into nerve cells.

Publication: Ladewig, J., Mertens, J., Kesavan, J., Doerr, J., Poppe, D., Glaue, F., Herms, S., Wernet, P., Kgler, G., Mller, F.-J., Koch, P., Brstle, O. (2012) Small molecules enable highly efficient neuronal conversion of human fibroblasts. Nature Methods (DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1972)

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Researchers convert skin and umbilical cord cells directly into nerve cell

(PRWEB UK) 11 April 2012

Renowned French plastic surgeon Dr. Roger Amar is the pioneer of the Facial Autografting Muscle Injection (FAMI) process. Dr. Amar has been using and perfecting this method of stem cell face lift surgery since 1997 and the procedure has been successfully performed on over 500 patients.

FAMI is an innovative procedure that uses the patients own living fatty connective tissue (adult stem cells) extracted through fat grafting. This tissue is injected into the patients face to restore the natural symmetry and fullness of the face that changes with age or disfiguring accident. Using the patients own fat cells also prevent the introduction of foreign bodies into system.

As we age, the youthful contours of the face become harsher and the edges and angles of the face become sharper. FAMI attacks this aging process by recreating the harmonious lines present in a youthful face and restoring the contours of the face. In the process, the nose seems smaller, the cheeks fuller and the lips fleshier. The entire face regains its normal harmonious proportions.

For years doctors have advocated the use of fat as a natural filler in cosmetic surgery, but what sets FAMI apart is the utilization of adult stem cells (from a living person, not from an embryo). These cells are injected into the facial muscles and after years of using this method it has been discovered that using stem cells prolongs the longevity of the fat graft, unlike the simple fat injection methods used in the 1980s. Since he first began using the FAMI method in the late 1990s, Dr. Amar has taught it to over 200 surgeons who travel to international conferences to learn the Amar Technique.

Facial FAMI is considered much safer than standard plastic surgery and can be used as a non surgical facelift. Whereas more traditional open surgeries risk damage to the nerves, arteries, veins and other facial structures, FAMI features non-invasive injections performed on an out-patient basis with minimal risk of complications. With the promise of taking years off of a face in less than three hours, with little or no risk of complication, it is no wonder the FAMI procedure has proven so popular.

Perhaps nothing else speaks to the effectiveness and popularity of the FAMI procedure more than the fact that an estimated 10-15% of all FAMI patients are doctors themselves. For anyone seeking the return to a more natural youthful face, FAMI is ideal.

The basics of FAMI are:

To learn more about FAMI stem cell face lift visit Dr. Amars website http://www.rogeramar.com

Originally posted here:
Dr Roger Amar FAMI Stem Cell Face Lift

The new suspension method allows stem cells to be collected in larger numbers instead of being scraped off of a surface

Researchers from the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) have created a new method for growing stem cells in larger quantities.

David Fluri, a postdoctoral researcher at IBBME, and Peter Zandstra, a professor at IBBME, have developed a new suspension method for growing stem cells, which allows for the collection of greater numbers of stem cells and increases the chance of obtaining viable cells in a cost-effective way.

Traditionally, stem cells are grown on surfaces that need to be scraped and are then differentiated from other kinds of cells to avoid cell death. However, this method doesn't produce enough viable stem cells from each culture, and the high cost to use this method doesn't match the results.

But now, Fluri and Zandstra have combined the stem cell creation process with a bioreactor, which provides stable environments for such processes. The cells were also grown in suspension, making the process more stable and safer for more viable cells.

By doing this, mouse cells were reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells, which can become any kind of cell. They were then changed into cardiac cells.

Fluri and Zandstra hope that this new technique can be used to eventually treat heart disease. It is designed to work with large scale processes and provide the quantity needed for successful stem cell research and drug development.

"This is an enabling technology," said Zandstra. "It takes something we showed we could do before at low efficiency but not at such numbers that could be used in manufacturing."

Source: Eurekalert

See the original post here:
Canadian Researchers Find Way to Grow Stem Cells in Larger Quantities

STROKE BACKGROUND: A stroke is an attack on the brain. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted or severely reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and food. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die.In the United States alone, stroke is the third leading cause of death, killing about 137,000 people each year. Approximately 795,000 people will suffer from some form of stroke this year. Strokes can happen to anyone at any time, regardless of race, sex or age and it is the leading cause of serious, long-term adult disability. (SOURCE: http://www.stroke.org, http://www.mayoclinic.com)

TYPES OF STROKES: There are two major types of strokes: ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke occurs when arteries are blocked by blood clots or by the gradual build-up of plaque and other fatty deposits. Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain breaks leaking blood into the brain. SOURCE: (www.stroke.org).

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOWN: Approximately 55,000 more women than menhave a stroke each year. Mens stroke incidence rates are greater than womens at younger ages, but not older ages; and African Americans are twice as likely of having a stroke compared to whites. About 87 % of all strokes are ischemic. Hemorrhagic strokes account for 13% of all strokes, yet are responsible for more than thirty percent of all stroke deaths. SOURCE: (www.stroke.org)

DETECTION: Use the F.A.S.T. to detect signs of a Stroke:

F = FACE Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop? A = ARMS Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? S = SPEECH Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Does the speech sound slurred or strange? T = TIME If you observe any of these signs (independently or together), call 9-1-1 immediately. SOURCE: (www.stroke.org)

PREVENTION: There are ways to prevent a stroke, such as: Not smoking or quitting smoking; controlling your cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetes; exercising at least 30 minutes a day; maintaining a healthy weight; and limiting how much alcohol you drink. This means 1 drink a day for women and 2 a day for men. SOURCE: (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth)

LIFE AFTER A STROKE: Stroke rehabilitation is the process by which a stroke survivor works with a team of health care providers with the aim of regaining as much of the function lost after a stroke as possible. By joining a comprehensive rehabilitation program immediately after leaving the hospital, stroke survivors can maximize their chances of recovery, and in most cases they can regain a substantial portion of the functions they lost as a result of their stroke.

Some of the different types of medical professionals who participate in the care of stroke patients during the rehabilitation process include:

1. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians (Physiatrists)

2 .Physical Therapists

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Stem cells for stroke?

Public release date: 9-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jill Scoggins jill.scoggins@louisville.edu 502-852-7461 University of Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. To paraphrase Yogi Berra: It's dj vu all over again with a twist.

A University of Louisville researcher known for his prowess at winning competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health has won another one his first for clinical research.

During his 18-year tenure at UofL, Dr. Roberto Bolli has generated more than $100 million in grants for basic research from the NIH. Today, Bolli joined with University of Louisville President James R. Ramsey to announce a new NIH grant he has won for clinical research, a seven-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to establish one of seven regional centers across the United States in the Cardiac Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN). The network conducts early clinical trials of adult stem cell therapies in patients with heart disease.

"Stem cell therapy holds great promise for treating heart disease, and researchers involved in CCTRN are helping determine how these promising therapies might be most beneficial to patients," said Dr. Sonia Skarlatos, deputy director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences in the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "This new round of funding is an important step in helping to improve cardiovascular health."

This move from basic to clinical research from "bench to bedside" in medical lingo will test the validity of new therapies by replicating studies in patients at two or more of the network's centers located at UofL, Stanford University, Texas Heart Institute, Minneapolis Heart Institute, University of Florida, University of Miami and Indiana University.

Replicating studies in several locations with a large number of patients is necessary for researchers to ultimately determine which ones can be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.

"Through the work of Dr. Bolli and his team, the UofL Health Sciences Center continues to fulfill the promise of a great metropolitan research university," Ramsey said. "Success like Dr. Bolli's in conducting basic research lays the foundation for him to conduct clinical studies that will determine the standard of care for the future.

"Clinical trials of new adult stem cell therapies are among the most promising and exciting areas of medical research today, and being part of a national network such as the CCTRN means UofL can bring this cutting-edge medicine to the people of Kentucky and beyond."

Original post:
From bench to bedside: NIH grant establishes cardiac clinical research center at UofL

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN), a nationwide U.S. network funded by the National Institutes of Healths (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has selected the Minneapolis Heart Institute (MHI) as one of its seven U.S. centers of excellence. The network will receive $63 million from the NIH and NHLBI over the next seven years to help achieve its mission of driving public health advances in cardiovascular cell therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

MHI was integral to the success of the first CCTRN initiativea series of clinical studies that took place over five years involving five sites using bone marrow stem cells in patients with heart disease, and in which nearly 50 percent of the patients were enrolled in Minnesota. As principal investigator, Timothy D. Henry, MD, director of research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF), will be responsible for a network of Minnesota hospitals including the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

This extension of CCTRN already has three trials planned, including

These trials will play a key role in identifying the benefits of cell therapy in patients with cardiovascular disease. The Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital has been a leader in cardiovascular cell therapy research with more than 300 patients treated for a variety of conditions including acute heart attack, heart failure, ischemic heart disease and peripheral arterial disease, Henry said. The first CCTRN was highly successful in achieving the NIHs goal of promoting clinical research and has led to the expansion of the network to seven clinical centers for seven years.

Henry noted the remarkable progress in cell therapy over the past several years. Currently, there are several large Phase 3 trials, which if proven efficacious, will lead to cell therapy added to the armamentarium for treating patients with challenging cardiovascular diseases. The CCTRN in particular is critical to provide key insights into the preferred cell, and method of delivery to increase the chance of success.

The CCTRN was created to support the collaboration of physicians, researchers and support staff with expertise in innovative stem cell therapies and experience in leading clinical trials that evaluate leading edge treatments for heart disease.

Stem cell therapy holds great promise for treating heart disease, and researchers involved in CCTRN are helping determine how these promising therapies might be most beneficial to patients, said Sonia I. Skarlatos, PhD, NHBLIs deputy director of the division of cardiovascular sciences and program director of CCTRN. This new round of funding is an important step in helping to improve cardiovascular health.

The CCTRN also includes the University of Miami, the University of Florida, Stanford University, Texas Heart Institute, Indiana University and University of Louisville.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming nearly 900,000 lives each year and more lives than the next five leading causes of death combined. One in three Americans suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease and associated costs are estimated at $432 billion in 2007.

Excerpt from:
Minneapolis Heart Institute Again Selected to Participate in Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN)

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A little more than three years ago a medical team from Berlin published the results of a unique experiment that astonished HIV researchers. The German group had taken bone marrow--the source of the body’s immune cells--from an anonymous donor whose genetic inheritance made him or her naturally resistant to HIV. Then the researchers transplanted the cells into a man with leukemia who had been HIV-positive for more than 10 years. Although treatment of the patient’s leukemia was the rationale for the bone marrow transplant therapy, the group also hoped that the transplant would provide enough HIV-resistant cells to control the man’s infection. The therapy exceeded the team’s expectations. Instead of just decreasing the amount of HIV in the patient’s blood, the transplant wiped out all detectable traces of the virus from his body, including in multiple tissues where it could have lain dormant. The German researchers were so surprised by the spectacularly positive results that they waited nearly two years before publishing their data.

[More]

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Antidepressants restore well-being to many people, but sometimes at the cost of such side effects as weight gain or loss of interest in sex. And these side effects can be just part of the frustration. As Robin Marantz Henig wrote in " Lifting the Black Cloud ," in the March issue of Scientific American , the drugs that have long dominated the market--the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)--"do not help everyone and eventually fail in more than a third of users. A pill that seems to be working today might well stop helping tomorrow. And the drugs can take several weeks to start having a marked effect." Equally disturbing, some major pharmaceutical houses, such as GlaxoSmithKline , are pulling back from developing psychiatric medicines.

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A young woman who calls herself blue­berryoctopus had been taking anti­depressants for three years, mostly for anxiety and panic attacks, when she recounted her struggles with them on the Web site Experience Project. She said she had spent a year on Paxil, one of the popular SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), but finally stopped because it destroyed her sex drive. She switched to Xanax, an ­antianxiety drug , which brought back her libido but at the cost of renewed symptoms. Then Paxil again, then Lexapro (another SSRI), then Pristiq, a member of a related class of antidepressants, the SNRIs (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors). At the time of the post, she was on yet another SSRI, Zoloft, plus Wellbutrin (a cousin of SNRIs that affects the activity of dopamine as well as norepinephrine), which was intended to counteract the sexual side effects of Zoloft. “I don’t notice much of a difference with the Wellbutrin, but I’m on the lowest dose now,” she wrote. “I’m going back to my psychiatrist next week, so maybe he’ll up it. Who knows.”

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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics

 Quintiles and the American Diabetes Association announced a strategic agreement in which Quintiles’ Digital Patient Unit will provide the Association’s millions of website users access to Quintiles’ medication monitoring service.

The Association’s constituents who opt in for the service will receive free safety checks of their medications to identify potential interactions and other risk factors, which are already provided to the 2.5 million registered users of Quintiles’ http://www.MediGuard.org. Registrants will also be eligible to participate in select direct-to-patient programs to benefit their medical conditions and advance global diabetes patient care.

The Association’s constituents may opt in to this service from the Association’s website http://www.Diabetes.org

Via http://www.quintiles.com

Source:
http://microarray.wordpress.com/feed/

A blue-ribbon Institute of Medicine panel is broadening its reach in its examination of the performance of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.

The group will hold a one-day public hearing next Tuesday at UC Irvine that will include independent perspectives along with comments from biotech firms, some of which have been unhappy with the paucity of CIRM funding for industry. The IOM has additionally expanded its efforts to generate responses to its questionnaires to include rejected applicants and the general public.

The hearing is the last public session scheduled in California and will be audiocast on the Internet. The IOM's fourth and final public session is scheduled for some time later this year with release of the full report in November. The stem cell agency is paying the IOM $700,000 to conduct the study. The public sessions so far have been taken up with testimony from recipients of CIRM largesse or from employees or directors of the agency.

The list of independent witnesses next week includes Stuart Drown, executive director of the state's good government agency, the Little Hoover Commission, which conducted a lengthy study of the stem cell agency. Also on tap are others including:

• Ruth Holton-Hodson, California deputy state controller, and who deals with CIRM issues for the state controller, who chairs the only state body officially charged with overseeing the agency.
• Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, an organization that has been critical of CIRM
• David Jensen, publisher of the California Stem Cell Report, which has posted more than 3,000 items on the agency since 2004 in addition to a number of freelance articles. 

The IOM has widened its efforts to secure comments from persons who cannot appear at its hearings. At the IOM's request, CIRM sent emails about the questionnaires to the 4,039 persons who have asked the agency to be notified about its RFAs. Recipients were asked by CIRM to complete the IOM surveys.

The online forms are due by April 23. Here are links in the various categories:  general public, CIRM investigators,CIRM industry partners, leadership from CIRM-funded institutions, technology transfer professionals,CIRM's international collaborators, members of the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee (the CIRM governing board), and investigators not funded by CIRM.

The IOM said access to the Internet audiocast of the meeting can be gained on April 10 through this web page.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Chuck Winner is a name that doesn't surface often in connection with California's $3 billion stem cell research effort.

Chuck Winner (left) at USC in 2006 USC Photo

In fact, he rarely appears in the news. Winner's name, however, did surface yesterday when Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the state's horse racing board. Most of the stories about the appointment were in horse racing publications. But none, including The Sacramento Bee's, mentioned the Prop. 71 campaign managed by his firm, Winner & Mandabach Campaigns of Santa Monica, Ca.

Nonetheless, he and his firm were the key to winning approval of the 2004 ballot measure that created the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, an enterprise that is unprecedented in state or national history.

The firm's $35 million campaign for Prop. 71 attracted 59 percent of the vote. That same year, the firm also successfully managed four other ballot measures in the Golden State. Its lifetime average is remarkable. The firm's web site says it has won 90 percent of the 150 ballot measure campaigns it has run throughout the country.

Winner-Mandabach has this to say about how it pulled off the Prop. 71 campaign:

"Surveys (in 2003-04) showed that most voters supported the basic concept of expanding stem cell research. However, because of the state’s serious budget and debt problems, it was also clear that passing such a huge bond measure for any purpose would be a major challenge.

"The campaign overseen by Winner & Mandabach to overcome those odds involved a year-long coalition building effort that ultimately recruited over 40 Nobel Prize winning scientists and more than 100 patient groups, disease foundations and business groups – the largest, most diverse coalition of its kind ever formed to support a state ballot measure. The supporting groups helped mount an intense grassroots outreach and activation effort to their members, who numbered in the millions."

Winner-Mandabach continued,

"The TV advertising developed by the firm featured award-winning scientists, patients and their families, and highly-respected patient advocates like Michael J. Fox and the late Christopher Reeve. The ads focused on the potential for cures that could save millions of lives. Details of the initiative and economic issues were addressed through in-depth mail pieces and earned media efforts that included the release of an economic study showing that stem cell cures would help reduce the state’s skyrocketing health care costs. Prior to the implementation of the paid media campaign in late-September, polling showed Proposition 71 below the 50% threshold. But after an intense 6-week advertising, earned media and grassroots campaign, Prop. 71 steadily gained support, even in the face of final attacks by conservative groups and activists like Mel Gibson, and attacks from the left by some anti-biotech groups. Because of its precedent-setting nature, the Prop. 71 campaign became the most watched ballot measure campaign in the nation and generated worldwide press attention. On election day, it was approved overwhelmingly by a vote of 59% to 41%."

The key to success on any ballot measure is a firm like Winner-Mandabach, although high profile individuals – in the case of Prop. 71, Robert Klein, who became the first chairman of the stem cell agency – are often given complete credit. Top notch campaign firms have a keen understanding of voters, appropriate political timing and effective PR and TV advertising campaigns. Without Winner-Mandabach – or a firm with the same skillset – the California stem cell agency would not exist.

Chuck Winner, however, does not have an uncritical view of the ballot initiative process, which has resulted in much expensive mischief in California. He told a USC audience in 2006,

"It’s abused time and again. My opinion is that when you circumvent the legislative process or representative democracy to solve a problem, you can take it to an extreme and that extreme becomes, in some ways, worse than the problem you were trying to solve in the first place. Single-issue up or down initiative votes are very often not the best way to govern."

As for the horse racing business, Winner, a Beverly Hills resident, has been involved in horse racing since 1986. His partner, Paul Mandabach, is also involved in the sport of kings. Their firm has not disclosed their record at the track.

(Click here to see two powerful ads developed for the 2004 campaign, including the famous Christopher Reeve spot.)

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

SAN FRANCISCO – A proposed $17.9 million operational budget for the California stem cell agency has cleared a key hurdle despite objections concerning the addition of another attorney to its $2.4 million annual legal effort.

The spending plan was approved yesterday by the CIRM directors' Finance Subcommittee on an 8-0 vote. The proposal is 7.2 percent higher than spending for the current fiscal year, which ends in June. The agency by law operates with a stringent budget cap of 6 percent of its bond funding.

Most of the budget goes for salaries at the agency, which has slightly more than 50 employees. The agency spends $8.4 million annually administering its 400-plus grants and developing new grant programs.

The proposal to add another lawyer to its staff drew fire from CIRM Co-vice chairman Art Torres. He asked why the agency wanted to spend more money for "a lawyer we don't need."

CIRM President Alan Trounson and CIRM General Counsel Elona Baum defended the plan, saying another lawyer was needed to deal with intellectual property and research commercialization issues. They said that grantee institutions and businesses are not dealing with the legal ramifications in a satisfactory manner.

Trounson said the agency would be "at risk" if it did not have control of the legal issues.

Torres brought up a memo on the subject, which he said did not justify the addition of a lawyer. Other directors said they had not seen the memo and asked for copies. The California Stem Cell Report has also asked for a copy.

Michael Goldberg, a venture capitalist and chair of the Finance Subcommittee, asked CIRM staff and a handful of directors to resolve the matter between now and the end of May, when the budget is expected to be approved by the full board.

Currently CIRM has five attorneys on staff, not including directors who are lawyers. The budget for the internal legal operation is $1.3 million annually. The rest of the $2.4 million goes for contracted services, including the firm of Remcho, Johansen & Purcell of San Leandro, Ca., a highly regarded political and governmentally oriented law firm that is budgeted for as much as $650,000 for the coming year, down from $695,000 this year. Another attorney is also on contract for $250,000, down from $325,000 this year.

CIRM budget documents projected savings in $190,000 in legal costs from the current year that could be used to help hire another attorney. The total legal costs for next year are budgeted at $2.44 million, compared to $2.39 million for the current year.

Source:
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SAN FRANCISCO -- The California stem cell agency scored during the weekend in a front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle that heralded a possible cancer treatment involving a "don't-eat-me-molecule."

The piece by Victoria Colliver said,

"In a potential breakthrough for cancer research, Stanford immunologists discovered they can shrink or even get rid of a wide range of human cancers by treating them with a single antibody."

The story was played prominently on the Chronicle front page on Saturday. However, the stem cell agency and its funding role was not mentioned until the last paragraph of the story. Nonetheless, on Saturday night, the Chronicle website reported that it was the most read and most emailed story on its site at that time.

When we looked at the story that evening, the article had 84 comments from readers, including several which praised the agency for its work. One reader noted, however, that other funding agencies were involved besides the California stem cell agency. The reader quoted from the Stanford press release, which said,

"This work was supported by the Joseph & Laurie Lacob Gynecologic/Ovarian Cancer Fund, the Jim & Carolyn Pride Fund, the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, the Weston Havens Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and anonymous donors."

Stanford's news release said,

"It is the first antibody treatment shown to be broadly effective against a variety of human solid tumors, and the dramatic response — including some overt cures in the laboratory animals — has the investigators eager to begin phase-1 and –2 human clinical trials within the next two years."

The Los Angeles Times also carried a story last week on the research, but did not mention CIRM. The agency itself wrote about the research on its blog.

CIRM Chairman J.T. Thomas and other CIRM directors have been concerned about the lack of coverage in the mainstream media – particularly favorable coverage – of the agency's work. When this writer was at a meeting yesterday afternoon at CIRM headquarters in San Francisco, Thomas pointedly presented a copy of the Chronicle front page, suggesting the article was worthy of note. Thomas is correct; the piece can certainly be counted as a favorable mention of the $3 billion research effort. Now it is up to CIRM and its new communications director, Kevin McCormack, who began work on Monday, to multiply the Chronicle piece many times over.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Source:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/integratedmedicine

A little more than three years ago a medical team from Berlin published the results of a unique experiment that astonished HIV researchers. The German group had taken bone marrow--the source of the body’s immune cells--from an anonymous donor whose genetic inheritance made him or her naturally resistant to HIV. Then the researchers transplanted the cells into a man with leukemia who had been HIV-positive for more than 10 years. Although treatment of the patient’s leukemia was the rationale for the bone marrow transplant therapy, the group also hoped that the transplant would provide enough HIV-resistant cells to control the man’s infection. The therapy exceeded the team’s expectations. Instead of just decreasing the amount of HIV in the patient’s blood, the transplant wiped out all detectable traces of the virus from his body, including in multiple tissues where it could have lain dormant. The German researchers were so surprised by the spectacularly positive results that they waited nearly two years before publishing their data.

[More]

Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/sciam/topic/gene-therapy

Antidepressants restore well-being to many people, but sometimes at the cost of such side effects as weight gain or loss of interest in sex. And these side effects can be just part of the frustration. As Robin Marantz Henig wrote in " Lifting the Black Cloud ," in the March issue of Scientific American , the drugs that have long dominated the market--the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)--"do not help everyone and eventually fail in more than a third of users. A pill that seems to be working today might well stop helping tomorrow. And the drugs can take several weeks to start having a marked effect." Equally disturbing, some major pharmaceutical houses, such as GlaxoSmithKline , are pulling back from developing psychiatric medicines.

[More]

Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/sciam/topic/gene-therapy

A young woman who calls herself blue­berryoctopus had been taking anti­depressants for three years, mostly for anxiety and panic attacks, when she recounted her struggles with them on the Web site Experience Project. She said she had spent a year on Paxil, one of the popular SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), but finally stopped because it destroyed her sex drive. She switched to Xanax, an ­antianxiety drug , which brought back her libido but at the cost of renewed symptoms. Then Paxil again, then Lexapro (another SSRI), then Pristiq, a member of a related class of antidepressants, the SNRIs (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors). At the time of the post, she was on yet another SSRI, Zoloft, plus Wellbutrin (a cousin of SNRIs that affects the activity of dopamine as well as norepinephrine), which was intended to counteract the sexual side effects of Zoloft. “I don’t notice much of a difference with the Wellbutrin, but I’m on the lowest dose now,” she wrote. “I’m going back to my psychiatrist next week, so maybe he’ll up it. Who knows.”

[More]

Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/sciam/topic/gene-therapy

Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics

 Quintiles and the American Diabetes Association announced a strategic agreement in which Quintiles’ Digital Patient Unit will provide the Association’s millions of website users access to Quintiles’ medication monitoring service.

The Association’s constituents who opt in for the service will receive free safety checks of their medications to identify potential interactions and other risk factors, which are already provided to the 2.5 million registered users of Quintiles’ http://www.MediGuard.org. Registrants will also be eligible to participate in select direct-to-patient programs to benefit their medical conditions and advance global diabetes patient care.

The Association’s constituents may opt in to this service from the Association’s website http://www.Diabetes.org

Via http://www.quintiles.com

Source:
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