Posts Tagged ‘media’

Must Reads

Stem Cell Medical Center | Posted by admin
Dec 31 2014

December 30, 2014

Media mogul John Malone and his wife, Leslie Malone, have donated $42.5-million to Colorado State University to establish a center to develop stem-cell research into viable medical treatments for animals and humans, writes The Denver Post. The gift includes $32.5-million for building the 100,000-square-foot CSU Institute for Biologic Translational Therapieshalf the projected construction costplus $10-million for operating expenses once the facility opens.

Mr. Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Corp., and his wife raise dressage and jumping horses, and the new gift grew out of stem-cell treatment at Colorado States College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences that returned one of their injured equines to competition. The university is raising additional private funds to complete the institute, which will operate under the aegis of the veterinary school but will seek to apply promising therapies tested on animals to humans as well.

See the rest here:
Must Reads

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Embattled Stem Cell Researchers Sue Harvard And Brigham And Women's Hospital

Stem Cell Medicine | Posted by admin
Dec 18 2014

Two embattled and highly controversial stem cell researchers are suing the Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School for an ongoing investigation into their research. The investigation has already resulted in the retraction of one paper inCirculationand anexpression of concern about another paper in theLancet.

The suit was filed by Piero Anversa, the highly prominent stem cell researcher who is a Harvard professor and the head of a large lab at the Brigham, and his longtime colleague,Annarosa Leri, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard who has coauthored many papers with Anversa. The suit places the blame for any scientific misconduct relating to the two papers on a third colleague and coauthor,Jan Kajstura, their longtime collaborator. In an explanation of the problems relating to the Circulation paper,Anversa and Leri accuse Kajstura of doctoring data in a spreadsheet in such a way that they could not have detected it. For theLancet paper the two scientists say thatKajstura and another unnamed scientist in the lab altered two images. Kastura is no longer at the Brigham.

The news was first reported byCarolyn Johnson in theBoston GlobeandJessica Bartlett in the Boston Business Journal. The story has also been reported in depth by Ivan Oransky onRetraction Watch.

The lawsuit accuses Elizabeth Nabel, the president of the Brigham, and the individual members of the investigating panel, of inappropriate and illegal behavior and conflicts of interest.At one point the complaint alleges that the scientists on the panel lack substantial expertise in the relevant scientific areas, including cardiac stem cells. But then, when another member was added to the panel, Ulrich von Andrian, the complaint states that he suffers from serious conflicts of interest that impede his ability to participate in the investigation in an impartial manner. Nabel and von Andrian, along with other Harvard and Brigham figures, serve on the scientific advisory board of Moderna Therapeutics, a stem cell company pursuing an alternative modality for regenerative treatment of cardiac disease.

Anversa and Leri further allege that the investigation caused the withdrawal of a multimillion dollar offer to purchase their company, Autologous/Progenital. The investigation also ended efforts to recruit Anversa and Leri to the University of Miami and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

The complaint discloses that as a result of the ongoing investigation Anversa and Leri were subject to embarrassing questions from other prominent stem cell researchers, including Joshua Hare, Steven Houser, and Eduardo Marban. These researchers, the complaint states, had no need to know of the inquiry.

Anversa and Leri also criticizethe panel for expanding its investigation to at least 15 papers from the research group. There is no justification for expanding the investigation to encompass these additional papers at this late stage. Most were published before the inquiry process began in January 2013, and all were published before the investigation began in February 2014. It is unclear from the complaint why these papers should not have been subject to scrutiny.

As I reported in 2011, the Lancet paper reporting the results of theSCIPIO trial was the subject of considerable hype at the time of its original publication. ABC News, CBS News and other media outlets used phrases like medical breakthrough and heart failure cure. ABC News correspondent Richard Besser was so enthusiastic that anchor Diane Sawyer commented that she had never seen him so excited. The first author of SCIPIO, Roberto Bolli, said the work could represent the biggest advance in cardiology in my lifetime.

Follow this link:
Embattled Stem Cell Researchers Sue Harvard And Brigham And Women's Hospital

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

International Stem Cell Corp. Gets FDA Clearance

Stem Cell Treatment | Posted by admin
Nov 05 2014

International Stem Cell Corp., a Carlsbad-based biotech company developing stem cell therapies and biomedical products, announced that the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the companys human parthenogenetic stem cell line for investigational clinical use.

Human embryonic stem cells typically come from fertilized eggs. In 2007, however, scientists at International Stem Cell Corp. (ISCO) reported the first successful creation of human stem cell lines from unfertilized eggs, according to Scientific American. They used a process called parthenogenesis, in which researchers use chemicals to induce the egg to begin developing as if it had been fertilized. The egg called a parthenote behaves just like an embryo in the early stages of division. Because it contains no genetic material from a father, however, it cannot develop into a viable fetus. Just like embryonic stem cells, parthenogenetic stem cells can be coaxed to grow into different kinds of human cells or tissue, ready to be transplanted into diseased areas of the body.

“Many stem cell lines can never be used to develop commercial therapeutic products because they don’t meet the FDA’s ethical and quality standards, said Ruslan Semechkin, ISCOs chief scientific officer. With this clearance from the FDA, based on the safety of our cells and quality of our manufacturing processes, the company has removed any uncertainty in the potential clinical use of human parthenogenetic stem cells. Not only does this increase the chance that our regulatory submission for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, which we will be submitting before the end of the year, will be approved, but it also means that our human parthenogenetic stem cells can serve as the basis for investigational clinical studies for other indications, for example stroke or traumatic brain injury.”

To be approved by the FDA for use in human trials and commercial therapeutic products, stem cells must be grown under what’s known as good manufacturing practice (GMP) conditions. GMP standards require that each batch of cells is grown in identical, repeatable conditions, ensuring that they have the same properties, and each person receiving a stem cell therapy would be getting an equivalent treatment. According to ISCO, achieving this level of consistency is difficult and requires knowing the exact identity and quantity of every component of the media that the cells grow in and characterizing cell batches extremely precisely, as well as rigorous quality control and assurance.

ISCO (OTCQB: ISCO) will use its own GMP facilities in Oceanside to produce the cells in preparation for the first clinical trial.

View post:
International Stem Cell Corp. Gets FDA Clearance

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Stem Cell Therapy The Aspen Institute for Anti Aging & Regenerative Medicine - Video

Cell Therapy | Posted by admin
Sep 30 2014



Stem Cell Therapy The Aspen Institute for Anti Aging Regenerative Medicine

By: Cupio Media

Read the original post:
Stem Cell Therapy The Aspen Institute for Anti Aging & Regenerative Medicine – Video

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Cell Isolation/Cell Separation Market Worth $5.1 Billion by 2019

Stem Cell Medicine | Posted by admin
Sep 24 2014

DALLAS, September 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ —

According to the new market research report “Cell Isolation/Cell Separation Marketby Product (Reagent, Media, Bead, centrifuge), Cell Type (human, stem cell, animal), Technique (Filtration, Surface Marker),by Application (Research, IVD) &by End user (Hospital, Biotechnology) – Forecast to 2019″, published by MarketsandMarkets, provides a detailed overview of the major drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, current market trends, and strategies impacting the Cell Isolation Market along with the estimates and forecasts of the revenue and share analysis.

Browse 194 market data tables and 53 figures spread through 211 pages and in-depth TOC on”Cell Isolation/Cell Separation”

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cell-isolation-market-103931479.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The global Cell Isolation Market is expected to reach $5.1 Billion by 2019 from $2.5 Billion in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 15.8% from 2014 to 2019.

The report segments this market on the basis of product, cell type, technique, application, and end user. Among various techniques, the centrifugation-based cell isolation technique is expected to account for the largest share in 2014, while surface marker-based cell isolation technique is expected to account for the fastest-growing segment in the cell isolation market, owing to technological advancement due to which new products are being launched in the market. Furthermore, rising usage of surface market-based cell isolation techniques in stem cell and cancer research is another major reason for the growth of this market.

Based on geography, the global Cell Isolation Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America is expected to account for the largest share of the market by the end of 2014. The large share of this region can be attributed to various factors including increasing government support for cancer and stem cell research and expanding biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries in this region.

Further Inquiry:http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=103931479

Prominent players in the Cell Isolation Market are BD Biosciences (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Merck Millipore (U.S.), Miltenyi Biotec (Germany), pluriSelect (U.S.), STEMCELL Technologies (Canada), Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (U.S.), Terumo BCT (U.S.), and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.).

Browse related reports

Go here to see the original:
Cell Isolation/Cell Separation Market Worth $5.1 Billion by 2019

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy for Stroke Demonstrated in …

Stem Cell Treatment | Posted by admin
Sep 10 2014

Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy for Stroke Demonstrated in Landmark Study using Vitro Biopharma Stem Cells & Media

Read the original post:
Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy for Stroke Demonstrated in …

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

FDA on alternative regenerative med

Cell Therapy | Posted by admin
Sep 05 2014

This has reference to the article titled Regenerative medicinean alternative to facelifts and surgery by Alex Y. Vergara (Lifestyle Wellness section, 6/17/14).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has noted that the procedureautologous platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections and cell therapy injections that involve cell extracts taken from sheep and rabbit fetuses featured in the article, i.e., getting the patients blood, processing it, and once the blood is processed, injecting its growth factors back to the patients anesthetized faceare analogous to stem cell procedure.

PRP and cell therapy injections are outside the initial three standard healthcare procedures recognized by the FDA, namely: hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, corneal resurfacing with limbal stem cells, and skin regeneration with epidermal stem cells.

The article also featured Swiss-made cellular products (known as MFIII Nano Cell Extracts and

Myopep Peptide Therapy) which are claimed to decrease fat buildup and to contour the body.

It must be stressed that the recognized skin regeneration procedure applies only to skin grafting for burn patients and not for any antiaging indications or aesthetic reason as featured in the subject news item.

To date, no human cells, tissues and cellular- and tissue-based products (HCT/Ps) are currently registered with the FDA; hence, any information on products and treatments which claims to use stem cells and the likewhether the information is in the form of an advertisement or information materialsis illegal as this could mislead the public on the standard of safety, efficacy and quality of the FDA-recognized HCT/P.

FDA highly recognizes the role of the media in promoting the consumers basic right to information. But it is our responsibility to give the consumers accurate facts and correct information to enable them to make an informed choice and be free from exploitation.

KENNETH Y.

HARTIGAN-GO, MD,

Link:
FDA on alternative regenerative med

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Vanderbilt researchers find that coronary arteries hold heart-regenerating cells

Stem Cell Clinic | Posted by admin
Aug 20 2014

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Aug-2014

Contact: Craig Boerner craig.boerner@vanderbilt.edu 615-322-4747 Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Endothelial cells residing in the coronary arteries can function as cardiac stem cells to produce new heart muscle tissue, Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered.

The findings, published recently in Cell Reports, offer insights into how the heart maintains itself and could lead to new strategies for repairing the heart when it fails after a heart attack.

The heart has long been considered to be an organ without regenerative potential, said Antonis Hatzopoulos, Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology.

“People thought that the same heart you had as a young child, you had as an old man or woman as well,” he said.

Recent findings, however, have demonstrated that new heart muscle cells are generated at a low rate, suggesting the presence of cardiac stem cells. The source of these cells was unknown.

Hatzopoulos and colleagues postulated that the endothelial cells that line blood vessels might have the potential to generate new heart cells. They knew that endothelial cells give rise to other cell types, including blood cells, during development.

Now, using sophisticated technologies to “track” cells in a mouse model, they have demonstrated that endothelial cells in the coronary arteries generate new cardiac muscle cells in healthy hearts. They found two populations of cardiac stem cells in the coronary arteries a quiescent population in the media layer and a proliferative population in the adventitia (outer) layer.

Continue reading here:
Vanderbilt researchers find that coronary arteries hold heart-regenerating cells

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Scientists Withdraw Report on Simpler Stem Cells - ABC News

Stell Cell Research | Posted by admin
Jul 03 2014

U.S. and Japanese scientists who reported that they’d found a startlingly simple way to make stem cells withdrew that claim Wednesday, admitting to “extensive” errors in the research.

In two papers published in January in the journal Nature, the researchers said that they’d been able to transform ordinary mouse cells into versatile stem cells by exposing them to a mildly acidic environment. Someday, scientists hope to harness stem cells to grow replacement tissue for treating a variety of diseases.

While researchers have long been able to perform such transformations with a different method, the newly reported technique was far simpler, and the papers caused a sensation and some skepticism in the research community. They were also widely reported in the media, including by The Associated Press.

But before long, the government-funded Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Japan accused one of its scientists, Haruko Obokata, of falsifying data in the research. Obokata, the key author of the papers, defended the results during a televised news conference in April while apologizing for using wrong and altered images in the published reports. She also said she opposed withdrawing the papers, a process called retraction, and the 30-year-old attributed her mistakes to inexperience.

On Wednesday, Nature released a statement from Obokata and the other authors of the papers that retracted the papers, a rare occurrence for the prestigious journal. The scientists acknowledged “extensive” errors that meant “we are unable to say without a doubt” that the method works. They noted that studies of the simpler method are still going on by other researchers.

The Riken center also said on its website Wednesday that it expected a separate statement from Obokata and would post it when available.

Dr. Charles Vacanti of the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, another main author, issued his own statement in which he said he believes the further studies will vindicate the method, which produced what the authors called STAP cells.

But another author, Yoshiki Sasai, deputy director of the Riken center, said the errors in the papers meant “it has become increasingly difficult to call the STAP phenomenon even a promising hypothesis.” In a statement issued by Riken, he said he was “deeply ashamed” of the problems in the papers.

The Riken investigation that led to allegations against Obokata also focused on Sasai and two other employees, but they were not accused of research misconduct.

Retractions of papers in major scientific journals like Nature are unusual. They can come about because of fraud or the discovery of honest mistakes that undercut the conclusions of research. Publications like Nature routinely have experts review papers submitted by scientists to look for problems. But in an editorial released Wednesday, Nature concluded that its editors and reviewers “could not have detected the fatal faults in this work.”

Read the original:
Scientists Withdraw Report on Simpler Stem Cells – ABC News

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed

Stem Cell Transplantation For Severe Sclerosis Linked With Improved Long-term Survival

Stem Cell Treatment | Posted by admin
Jun 25 2014

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Among patients with a severe, life-threatening type of sclerosis, treatment with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), compared to intravenous infusion of the chemotherapeutic drug cyclophosphamide, was associated with an increased treatment-related risk of death in the first year, but better long-term survival, according to a study in the June 25 issue of JAMA.

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune connective tissue disease characterized by vasculopathy (a disorder of the blood vessels), low-grade inflammation, and fibrosis (development of excess fibrous connective tissue) in skin and internal organs. Previously, small studies have shown that systemic sclerosis is responsive to treatment with autologous HSCT, although it has been unclear whether HSCT improves survival, according to background information in the article. For this study, autologous HSCT involved a multistep process beginning with infusion of high doses of cyclophosphamide and an antibody against immune cells, followed by reinfusion of the patient’s own stem cells that had been previously collected from blood and purified.

Jacob M. van Laar, M.D., Ph.D., of the University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands and Dominique Farge M.D., Ph.D, of the Assistance Publique – Hopitaux de Paris, Paris 7 Diderot University, France, and colleagues randomly assigned 156 patients with early diffuse cutaneous (widespread skin involvement) systemic sclerosis to receive HSCT (n = 79) or cyclophosphamide (n = 77; 12 monthly infusions). The phase 3 clinical trial was conducted in 10 countries at 29 centers; patients were recruited from March 2001 to October 2009 and followed up until October 2013.

During a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 53 adverse events occurred: 22 in the HSCT group (19 deaths and 3 irreversible organ failures) and 31 in the control group (23 deaths and 8 irreversible organ failures). Patients treated with HSCT experienced more adverse events (including death) in the first year but had better long-term event-free survival than those treated with cyclophosphamide.

Patients in the HCST group experienced higher mortality in the first year but had better long-term overall survival than those treated with cyclophosphamide. During year 1 there were 11 deaths (13.9 percent, including 8 treatment-related deaths) in the HSCT group vs 7 (9.1 percent, no treatment-related deaths) in the control group. After year 2 of follow-up, there were 12 deaths (15.2 percent) in the HSCT group vs 13 (16.9 percent) in the control group. After 4 years of follow-up, there were 13 deaths (16.5 percent) in the HSCT group vs 20 (26.0 percent) in the control group.

The authors add that HSCT was also more effective than intravenous cyclophosphamide on measures evaluating skin, functional ability, quality of life, and lung function, consistent with previous studies.

Among patients with early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, HSCT was associated with increased treatment-related mortality in the first year after treatment. However, HCST conferred a significant long-term event-free survival benefit, the authors conclude. (doi:10.1001/jama.2014.6368; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)

Editors Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Link:
Stem Cell Transplantation For Severe Sclerosis Linked With Improved Long-term Survival

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Closed