Stem cell bank, age 4, to be closed

BOSTON The University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center have agreed to phase out operation of the embryonic stem cell bank in Shrewsbury, saying the facility, which is 4 years old, has largely outlived its usefulness.

The stem cell bank, slated for closure at the end of the year, was established at the medical school alongside a stem cell registry that collects stem cell research data, to store embryonic stem cell lines from an array of research centers and make them available to scientists around the world.

It was set up at a time when the federal government had banned use of federal funds for research using embryonic stem cells. That ban put in place by President George W. Bush was withdrawn by President Barack Obama after he took office in 2009.

State funding for the bank came as part of a larger state effort to expand life science research across Massachusetts using targeted state grants, tax benefits and by supporting facilities such as the stem cell bank.

Angus G. McQuilken, spokesman for the Life Sciences Center that awarded the project $8.6 million to open and operate, said yesterday that the school and Life Sciences officials have agreed to wind down the bank's operations by the end of this year.

He said the stem cell registry, which received $1.7 million in startup and operational funding from the Life Sciences Center, remains a valued center for compilation of stem cell research and will remain in operation and continue receiving funds from the Life Science Center.

When this investment was made in 2007 it filled an important gap, Mr. McQuilken said, referring to the restrictions on federal support for embryonic stem cell research. Stem cell lines are now more readily available from multiple sources.

Future investment by the state in stem cell research will move in a different direction. The university is building the $400 million Albert Sherman Center, a major new genetic research facility at its Worcester campus.

While it may have quickly outlived its usefulness, the initial investment in the stem cell bank was an important one that made an important statement about the state's commitment to stem cell research, Mr. McQuilken said.

A medical school spokesman said closing the stem cell bank is expected to eliminate about nine jobs. Those displaced will be encouraged to seek other positions at the medical school, officials said.

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Stem cell bank, age 4, to be closed

Stem cell bank at UMass to close at year's end

SHREWSBURY, Mass.The stem cell bank at the University of Massachusetts is set to run out of cash and close at the end of this year.

State and university officials tell The Boston Globe (http://bo.st/LQi71Z ) that changes in technology and federal policies around stem cell research have made obsolete the facility at the U-Mass Medical Center's Shrewsbury campus.

The stem cell bank was established in 2008 with the help of $8.6 million state funding, part of Gov. Deval Patrick's effort to boost the life sciences industry in Massachusetts. Human stem cells were kept and distributed to researchers working on potential cures for diseases and spinal cord injuries.

Experts say new technologies for producing stem cells and the loosening of federal restrictions on research have significantly altered the need for facilities like the one at U-Mass.

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Stem cell bank at UMass to close at year's end

Cedars-Sinai researchers, with stem cells and global colleagues, develop Huntingtons research tool

Public release date: 28-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nicole White nicole.white@cshs.org 310-423-5215 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL NOON EDT ON JUNE 28, 2012) Cedars-Sinai scientists have joined with expert colleagues around the globe in using stem cells to develop a laboratory model for Huntington's disease, allowing researchers for the first time to test directly on human cells potential treatments for this fatal, inherited disorder.

As explained in a paper published June 28 on the Cell Stem Cell website and scheduled for print in the journal's Aug. 3 issue, scientists at Cedars-Sinai's Regenerative Medicine Institute and the University of Wisconsin took skin cells from patients with Huntington's disease and reprogrammed them into powerful stem cells; these were then made into the nervous system cells affected by the disease. Seven laboratories around the world collaborated to demonstrate the cells had hallmarks of Huntington's.

"This Huntington's 'disease in a dish' will enable us for the first time to test therapies on human Huntington's disease neurons," said Clive Svendsen, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute and a senior author of the study. "In addition to increasing our understanding of this disorder and offering a new pathway to identifying treatments, this study is remarkable because of the extensive interactions between a large group of scientists focused on developing this model. It's a new way of doing trailblazing science."

The Huntington's Disease iPSC Consortium united some of the world's top scientists working on this disease. Cedars-Sinai researchers took skin cells from a several Huntington's patients, including a six-year-old with a severe juvenile form of the disease. They genetically reprogrammed these tissues into induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be made into any type of cell in the body. The cells lines were banked by scientists at Cedars-Sinai and scrutinized by all consortium members for differences that may have led to the disease. These cell lines are now an important resource for Huntington's researchers and have been made available via a National Institutes of Health-funded repository at Coriell Institute for Medical Research in New Jersey.

Huntington's, known to the public, for example, as the cause of folksinger Woody Guthrie's death, typically strikes patients in midlife. It causes jerky, twitching motions, loss of muscle control, psychiatric disorders and dementia; the disease ultimately is fatal. In rare, severe cases, the disorder appears in childhood.

Researchers believe that Huntington's results from a mutation in the huntintin gene, leading to production of an abnormal protein and ultimately cell death in specific areas of the brain that control movement and cognition. There is no cure for Huntington's, nor therapies to slow its progression.

The consortium showed Huntington's cell deficits or how they differ from normal cells, including that they were less likely to survive cultivation in the petri dish. Scientists tried depriving them of a growth factor present around normal cells, or "stressing" them, and found that Huntington's neurons died even faster.

"It was great that these characteristics were seen not only in our laboratory, but by all of the consortium members using different techniques," said Virginia Mattis, a post-doctoral scientist at the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute and one of the lead authors of the study. "It was very reassuring and significantly strengthens the value of this study."

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Cedars-Sinai researchers, with stem cells and global colleagues, develop Huntingtons research tool

New drug dramatically improves survival in Hodgkin lymphoma patients

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2012) A new cancer drug with remarkably few side effects is dramatically improving survival in Hodgkin lymphoma patients who fail other treatments and are nearly out of options.

Loyola University Medical Center oncologist Scott E. Smith, MD, PhD presented survival data for the drug, brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), at the 17th Congress of the European Hematology Association. Smith is director of Loyola's Hematological Malignancies Research Program.

The multi-center study included 102 Hodgkin lymphoma patients who had relapsed after stem cell transplants. Tumors disappeared in 32 percent of patients and shrank by at least half in 40 percent of patients. An additional 21 percent of patients experienced some tumor shrinkage. Only 6 percent of patients had no response to the drug.

Sixty five percent of patients were alive at 24 months, and in 25 percent of patients, the cancer had not progressed at all.

These are "encouraging results in patients with historically poor prognosis," researchers said.

Loyola patient Michelle Salerno had failed two stem cell transplants -- one using her own cells and one using cells donated by her brother -- and multiple rounds of chemotherapy before going on brentuximab vedotin. After three or four infusions, she stopped suffering chills, sweats, high fevers and itchy pain from head to toe. And she experienced almost none of the side effects common to chemotherapy.

"I kept my hair, and never felt like vomiting," she said. "You get the drug, you go home, you feel good."

The standard regimen is a 30-minute infusion every three weeks. A patient typically receives 16 doses over 48 weeks.

Loyola has administered about 500 doses to 60 patients. "A lot of our patients are doing great on this regimen," Smith said.

Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system. Most patients can be cured with chemotherapy or radiation, especially when the disease is diagnosed in early stages. However, if initial treatment fails, the patient may require an autologous stem cell transplant. This procedure uses the patient's own stem cells to replace immune system cells that are destroyed by high-dose chemotherapy or radiation.

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New drug dramatically improves survival in Hodgkin lymphoma patients

Rick Green: State Funds West Hartford Center Restaurant

Our state's $291 million investment in medical research at the UConn Health Center is a smart move. The same for the millions of dollars pouring into stem cell research. The $112 million Connecticut will sink into the busway may even one day prove prescient.

These and other projects under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's aggressive economic development strategy are what's needed after years of somnolent leadership in a state that has failed to create jobs and nurture new business.

But a $47,500 grant from the taxpayers to make sure West Hartford Center gets another trendy restaurant?

Among a slew of economic stimulus grants and loans announced last week, handing taxpayer money to help convert Reuben's Deli on West Hartford's Lasalle Road to a restaurant and bar feels like just too much. Even my local focus group of friends who regularly go to West Hartford restaurants - two doctors and a sucessful businessman I met for a couple of beers one night this week - had a hard time swallowing this one.

Why is the state in the business of propping up a business in a booming town center that has been in the midst of a restaurant explosion in recent years?

"I can understand how people might look at it (that) way,'' said Catherine Smith, commissioner of Economic and Community Development for the state, when I called. "Our belief was they would not go forward with the expansion unless we helped them."

The folks at Reuben's, understandably perhaps, did not respond when I called and emailed looking to talk. And who can blame them for applying for a state grant under the generous Small Business Express program, a $100 million initiative that also provides loans? The program is aimed at helping Connecticut's "base industries" such as "precision manufacturing, business services, green and sustainable technology, bioscience and information technology."

It's just that corned beef on rye doesn't strike me as one of our base industries.

To be sure, this is hardly a no strings attached deal: Reuben's promises to invest $180,000 of its own cash and to hire five new workers in return for the $47,500 state grant. That's five jobs that will be created in a still-struggling state recovery that has left 150,000 people without jobs. By a lot of measures, that's a win.

"We view the Small Business Express program as a Main Street-regular-old-business-guy being able to access state assistance to make an investment in business that they haven't made because of the economy," Smith said. "These programs are about getting small business to do more and grow fast and create jobs We underwrite each of these deals. We make sure the company isn't about to go flat on its face."

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Rick Green: State Funds West Hartford Center Restaurant

State Funds West Hartford Center Restaurant

Our state's $291 million investment in medical research at the UConn Health Center is a smart move. The same for the millions of dollars pouring into stem cell research. The $112 million Connecticut will sink into the busway may even one day prove prescient.

These and other projects under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's aggressive economic development strategy are what's needed after years of somnolent leadership in a state that has failed to create jobs and nurture new business.

But a $47,500 grant from the taxpayers to make sure West Hartford Center gets another trendy restaurant?

Among a slew of economic stimulus grants and loans announced last week, handing taxpayer money to help convert Reuben's Deli on West Hartford's Lasalle Road to a restaurant and bar feels like just too much. Even my local focus group of friends who regularly go to West Hartford restaurants - two doctors and a sucessful businessman I met for a couple of beers one night this week - had a hard time swallowing this one.

Why is the state in the business of propping up a business in a booming town center that has been in the midst of a restaurant explosion in recent years?

"I can understand how people might look at it (that) way,'' said Catherine Smith, commissioner of Economic and Community Development for the state, when I called. "Our belief was they would not go forward with the expansion unless we helped them."

The folks at Reuben's, understandably perhaps, did not respond when I called and emailed looking to talk. And who can blame them for applying for a state grant under the generous Small Business Express program, a $100 million initiative that also provides loans? The program is aimed at helping Connecticut's "base industries" such as "precision manufacturing, business services, green and sustainable technology, bioscience and information technology."

It's just that corned beef on rye doesn't strike me as one of our base industries.

To be sure, this is hardly a no strings attached deal: Reuben's promises to invest $180,000 of its own cash and to hire five new workers in return for the $47,500 state grant. That's five jobs that will be created in a still-struggling state recovery that has left 150,000 people without jobs. By a lot of measures, that's a win.

"We view the Small Business Express program as a Main Street-regular-old-business-guy being able to access state assistance to make an investment in business that they haven't made because of the economy," Smith said. "These programs are about getting small business to do more and grow fast and create jobs We underwrite each of these deals. We make sure the company isn't about to go flat on its face."

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State Funds West Hartford Center Restaurant

RPI breaks ground on Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research

Posted at: 06/22/2012 3:10 PM | Updated at: 06/22/2012 5:29 PM By: WNYT Staff

TROY - Stem cells have been heralded as the frontier from which great medical treatments will come. Whether or not that materializes, New York wants to be in on the action.

So Friday, ground was broken on the Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research. Located on the RPI campus, the state is providing a grant of almost $2.5 million over four years to get it built.

And through it's funding, the state is very forward looking and it is foster a strong stem cell research community here in New York State, said Shirley Ann Jackson, president of RPI.

RPI has already started working in this area, partnering with Albany Medical College and the University at Albany.

This expands the scope of that work, with the hopes of finding new medicines and cures for a variety of illness and traumatic injuries.

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RPI breaks ground on Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research

New method generates cardiac muscle patches from stem cells

ScienceDaily (June 19, 2012) A cutting-edge method developed at the University of Michigan Center for Arrhythmia Research successfully uses stem cells to create heart cells capable of mimicking the heart's crucial squeezing action.

The cells displayed activity similar to most people's resting heart rate. At 60 beats per minute, the rhythmic electrical impulse transmission of the engineered cells in the U-M study is 10 times faster than in most other reported stem cell studies.

An image of the electrically stimulated cardiac cells is displayed on the cover of the current issue of Circulation Research, a publication of the American Heart Association.

For those suffering from common, but deadly heart diseases, stem cell biology represents a new medical frontier.

The U-M team of researchers is using stem cells in hopes of helping the 2.5 million people with an arrhythmia, an irregularity in the heart's electrical impulses that can impair the heart's ability to pump blood.

"To date, the majority of studies using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells have focused on single cell functional analysis," says senior author Todd J. Herron, Ph.D., an assistant research professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the U-M.

"For potential stem cell-based cardiac regeneration therapies for heart disease, however, it is critical to develop multi-cellular tissue like constructs that beat as a single unit," says Herron.

Their objective, working with researchers at the University of Oxford, Imperial College and University of Wisconsin, included developing a bioengineering approach, using stem cells generated from skin biopsies, which can be used to create large numbers of cardiac muscle cells that can transmit uniform electrical impulses and function as a unit.

Furthermore, the team designed a fluorescent imaging platform using light emitting diode (LED) illumination to measure the electrical activity of the cells.

"Action potential and calcium wave impulse propogation trigger each normal heart beat, so it is imperative to record each parameter in bioengineered human cardiac patches," Herron says.

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New method generates cardiac muscle patches from stem cells

Cellerant Appoints Gisela Schwab, M.D., to Its Board of Directors and Names Lowell Sears as Chairman of the Board

SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based cellular and antibody therapies for blood disorders and cancer, announced today the appointment of Gisela Schwab, M.D. to its Board of Directors and the appointment of Lowell Sears as Chairman of the Board. Richard Rathmann, Cellerants former Chairman of the Board, will remain a director on the Board.

Dr. Schwab joins Cellerants Board with more than 20 years of experience in the development of oncology therapeutics. She currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Exelixis. Previously, she held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Abgenix, Inc., a human antibody-based drug development company. Prior to Abgenix, Dr. Schwab held positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen Inc., most recently as Director of Clinical Research and Hematology/Oncology Therapeutic Area Team Leader. Dr. Schwab also serves as a member of the board of directors of Topotarget A/S, a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Heidelberg, trained at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the National Cancer Institute and is board certified in internal medicine and hematology and oncology.

Dr. Schwab is an accomplished leader in the development of oncology therapeutics. I am pleased to welcome her to our board, said Ram Mandalam, President and CEO of Cellerant. Her extensive experience in hematology-oncology indications will significantly benefit Cellerant in the development of CLT-008 and our cancer stem cell programs.

I am very excited to join the Cellerant Board and about the opportunity to work with such an accomplished group of people on the board and in management on the development of a novel, cell-based approach to the treatment for chemotherapy- and radiation-induced neutropenia and on novel therapeutic antibodies aimed at cancer stem cells, said Dr. Schwab.

Mr. Sears joined Cellerants Board in February, 2012. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Sears Capital Management, a venture investment and portfolio management firm specializing in life sciences. He has been an active life science venture investor since 1994, helping to found and fund over forty companies. From 1986 until 1994, Mr. Sears was a part of the senior management team of Amgen, Inc., where he held positions of Chief Financial Officer as well as Senior Vice President responsible for the Asia Pacific Region.

Lowell's vast operational and governance experience has already proven a great benefit to Cellerant since his joining the board earlier this year, said Richard Rathmann, Cellerants former Chairman. I could not be more pleased this recognized leader in biotechnology has agreed to increase his stewardship role in the exciting opportunities ahead for this promising company.

I want to thank Richard for his outstanding leadership and vision in governance of the Company during his five year tenure as Chairman, said Mr. Sears. I look forward to working with the board and management of Cellerant as the Company drives forward its leading edge product portfolio for the benefit of cancer patients worldwide.

About Cellerant Therapeutics

Cellerant Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the regulation of the hematopoietic (blood-forming) system. The Company is developing human stem cell and antibody therapies for oncology applications and blood-related disorders. Cellerants lead product, CLT-008, is currently in two Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with hematological malignancies. The Company also has a cancer stem cell (CSC) antibody discovery program focused on therapies for acute myelogenous leukemia, multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome.

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Cellerant Appoints Gisela Schwab, M.D., to Its Board of Directors and Names Lowell Sears as Chairman of the Board

Six New UM Stem Cell Lines Now Publicly Available

ANN ARBOR Six new human embryonic stem cell lines derived at the University of Michigan have just been placed on the National Institutes of Healths registry, making the cells available for federally funded research.

UM now has a total of eight cell lines on the registry, including five that carry genetic mutations for serious diseases such as the severe bleeding disorder hemophilia B, the fatal brain disorder Huntingtons disease and the heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes sudden death in athletes and others.

Researchers at UM and around the country can now begin using the stem cell lines to study the origins of these diseases and potential treatments. Two of the cell lines are believed to be the first in the world bearing that particular disease gene.

The three UM stem cell lines now in the registry that do not carry disease genes are also useful for general studies and as comparisons for stem cells with disease genes. In all, there are 163 stem cell lines in the federal registry, most of them without major disease genes.

Each of the lines was derived from a cluster of about 30 cells removed from a donated five-day-old embryo roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence. The embryos carrying disease genes were created for reproductive purposes, tested and found to be affected with a genetic disorder, deemed not suitable for implantation and would have otherwise been discarded if not donated by the couples who donated them.

Some came from couples having fertility treatment at UMs Center for Reproductive Medicine, others from as far away as Portland, Ore. Some were never frozen, which may mean that the stem cells will have unique characteristics and utilities.

The full list of UM-derived stem cell lines accepted to the NIH registry includes:

UM9-1PGD Hemophilia B

UM17-1PGD Huntingtons disease

UM38-2PGD- HypertrophicCardiomyopathy (MYBPC3)

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Six New UM Stem Cell Lines Now Publicly Available