Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

When we view a sunset or a soccer game, an intricate, orchestrated series of events takes place in our eyes. Light passes through the front part of each eye and is refracted and focused on the retina, a thin, delicate tissue at the back of our eyes. The retina contains many specialized cells, including photoreceptor cells, which convert light into electrical signals. These signals are then processed and sent to the brain. If the photoreceptor cells malfunction or die, vision loss and blindness can occur. Researchers have previously shown that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can grow into a type of retinal cell under certain cell culture conditions. These types of stem cells are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to take on the characteristics of embryonic stem cells. They can grow indefinitely in the laboratory and can theoretically change, or differentiate, into all cell types found in the body. Previous work showed that mouse and human embryonic stem cells can develop into a 3-D optic cup in culture that resembles the embryonic vertebrate eye. A team led by Drs. Xiufeng Zhong and M. Valeria Canto-Soler at Johns Hopkins University set out to determine to what extent iPS cells … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 11-Jun-2014 Contact: Susan Lampert Smith ssmith5@uwhealth.org 608-890-5643 University of Wisconsin-Madison MADISON, Wis. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center (UWCCC) report that a new class of tumor-targeting agents can seek out and find dozens of solid tumors, even illuminating brain cancer stem cells that resist current treatments. What's more, years of animal studies and early human clinical trials show that this tumor-targeting, alkylphosphocholine (APC) molecule can deliver two types of "payloads" directly to cancer cells: a radioactive or fluorescent imaging label, or a radioactive medicine that binds and kills cancer cells. The results are reported in today's issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, and featured in the journal's cover illustration and podcast. The APC targeting platform is a synthetic molecule that exploits a weakness common to cancers as diverse as breast, lung, brain and melanoma. These cancer cells lack the enzymes to metabolize phospholipid ethers, a cell membrane component that is easily cleared by normal cells. When given in an intravenous solution, APC goes throughout the body even across the blood-brain barrier and sticks to the membrane of cancer cells. The cancer cells take up the APC and the imaging or treatment medication riding … Continue reading →

SOFTWARE used to keep bugs out of Microsoft Windows programs has begun shedding light on one of the big questions in modern science: how stem cells decide what type of tissue to become. Not only do the results reveal that cellular decision-making is nowhere near as complicated as expected, they also raise hopes that the software could become a key tool in regenerative medicine. "It is a sign of the convergence between carbon and silicon-based life," says Chris Mason, a regenerative medicine specialist at University College London. "World-class stem cell scientists and a world-class computer company have found common ground. It is work at such interfaces that brings the big breakthroughs." Stem cells are the putty from which all tissues of the body are made. That means they have the potential to repair damaged tissue and even grow into new organs. Embryonic stem cells hold particular promise as they can either renew themselves indefinitely or differentiate into any kind of cell in the body a property known as pluripotency. The process that sets a stem cell on the path to either self-renewal or differentiation was thought to be a highly complex web of genetic and environmental interactions. That web is … Continue reading →

Research | Policy | Awards | Funding | Business | Trend watch | Coming up Misconduct update Haruko Obokata, a stem-cell researcher at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, has agreed to retract one of her two controversial research papers, according to media reports in Japan on 28May. In the papers published in Nature in January, Obokata claimed that she had created a new type of stem cell using simple exposure to acid or physical stress. But the work was found to have included manipulated and duplicated images, and in April a RIKEN investigation found Obokata guilty of misconduct. See go.nature.com/wsfox5 for more. Weight issues Obesity is on the rise throughout the world, researchers announced on 28May. Data from more than 19,000 individuals in 188 countries show that the prevalence of overweight and obese people rose by 27.5% for adults and by 47.1% for children between 1980 and 2013. Almost two-thirds of obese people live in developing countries. The study found no countries in which obesity rates had fallen significantly (M. Ng et al. Lancet http://doi.org/szv; 2014). Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images Cleaner power in prospect Existing US power plants will have to cut their carbon dioxide emissions by … Continue reading →

"It's a tiny wee finger prick test," says senior nurse Patsy Scouse to calm the nervous first-time donor having his hemoglobin levels tested at a blood donation centre in Edinburgh. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service receives donations from about four percent of the UK's population. Currently, stocks are stable, although the service is always trying to recruit new donors. The collection may take place in a clinical environment, the nurse says, but the clinic "wants this experience, especially for first-time donors, to be really positive so they can go out and feel they've done a really good thing." But the service is also working on potential new technologies to secure blood supplies in the future, including "artificial blood." Mass-produced and clean Mark Turner, medical director of the Blood Transfusion Service, is looking into how blood could be synthesized in the future. "We've known for some time that it's possible to produce red blood cells from so called adult stem cells, but you can't produce large amounts of blood in that way because of the restrictive capacity of those cells to proliferate," he explains. What scientists can do, he adds, is to derive pluripotent stem cells - stem cell lines … Continue reading →

DefiniGEN, the Cambridge UK stem cell technology specialist, has closed a 2.28m ($3.83m) Series A funding round with a 1m ($1.6m) final placement for ordinary shares. The cash will support the international expansion of the business and the commercial launch of new products to boost regenerative medicines. The funding round was led by Cambridge Enterprise and 24 Haymarket, with existing investors Dr Jonathan Milner CEO of Abcam Hermann Hausers Providence Investment Company and Cambridge Capital Group also participating. New investors include LBA, Wren Capital, and Ranworth Capital. The latest funding will be used to drive profitable growth across four key areas:- Expansion of direct commercial presence across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific with dedicated local marketing presence Investment in automation at the companys enlarged laboratory facility and recruitment of high quality production staff Expansion of product line offerings in new areas including human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived hepatocyte types, pancreatic beta cells and lung cells, with others to follow Strengthening of the companys intellectual property portfolio DefiniGEN is focused on serving the growing need in the pharmaceutical industry for more accurate predictions of efficacy and toxicity in drug candidates ahead of clinical trials. Its platform technology OptiDIFF … Continue reading →

Phil Reyes, one of the Parkinson's patients in Summit 4 Stem Cell, urges California's stem cell agency to support its research. A potentially groundbreaking trial to treat spinal cord injuries with tissue grown from human embryonic stem cells will resume, after being funded by the California's stem cell agency. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's governing committee approved without opposition a $14.3 million award to Asterias Biotherapeutics of Menlo Park. Asterias is taking over from Geron, which stopped clinical trials in November, 2011. Geron, also of Menlo Park, said it discontinued the trials for business reasons. Asterias is a subsidiary of Alameda-based BioTime. Patients will be given transplants of neural tissue grown from the embryonic stem cells. The hope is that the cells will repair the severed connections, restoring movement and sensation below the injury site. CIRM also unanimously approved a $5.6 million grant for another potential breakthrough: a clinical trial by Sangamo Biosciences of Richmond, Calif, to cure HIV infection with gene therapy. The trial is now in Phase II. Immune cells are taken from the patient and given a mutant form of a gene that HIV uses to get inside the cells. The mutated gene resists infection. The … Continue reading →

Ranking among the X-Men probably isn't all that it's cracked up to be, but who wouldn't want their uncanny ability to regenerate lost bone or tissue? New research into tooth repair and stem cell biology, from a cross-institution team led by David Mooney of Harvard's Wyss Institute, may bring such regeneration one step closer to reality or at the very least, give us hope that we can throw away those nasty dentures. The researchers employed a low-power laser to trigger human dental stem cells to form dentin, a hard bone-like tissue that is one of four major components of teeth (the others being enamel, pulp, and cementum). This kind of low-level light therapy has previously been used to remove or stimulate hair growth and to rejuvenate skin cells, but the mechanisms were not well understood, results varied, and evidence of its efficacy was largely anecdotal. The new work is the first to document the molecular mechanism involved, thus laying the foundations for controlled treatment protocols in not only restorative dentistry but also avenues like bone regeneration and wound healing. "The scientific community is actively exploring a host of approaches to using stem cells for tissue regeneration efforts," said Wyss Institute … Continue reading →

A brief but informative presentation from Mathew Vincent, Advanced cell technologies (ACT) served to remind us all that their clinical trial of an embryonic stem cell based therapy for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is ongoing and beginning to generate more long term clinical data points. A total of 34 patients with AMD or Stargardts disease have been treated to date and almost 3 years have passed since the original participants were injected with the cell suspension. A clean safety profile, persistence of the cells at the site of injection and reported improvements in vision seem to bode well for the future of this trial. As by far and away the largest embryonic stem cell trial, the stem cell community eagerly awaits the publication of their results later in the year -following a very brief report in the in 2012 (1). The ACT trial is using a cryopreserved suspension of embryonic stem cell derived retinal pigment epithelium or RPE, in AMD, RPE degenerate in a tiny but vision-critical portion of the retina known as the macular. Dr Vincent emphasised how the tiny amount of tissue required (50-200 thousand cells per dose) greatly facilitated the scale out of this therapy, our therapy … Continue reading →

Contributed By: Dave Blanchard OPB | May 22, 2014 12:06 p.m. | Updated: May 22, 2014 1:51 p.m. An egg cell's nucleus is extracted by apipette. OHSU This March, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) created a new Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy. The facility will be focused in part on advancing the work of Shoukhrat Mitalipov, one of the worlds leading researchers on embryonic stem cells. Mitalipov has been working for years on two promising areas of stem cellscience. The first research area is a gene therapy for women with diseases stored in DNA located in their mitochondria. Mitalipovs lab has developed a technique to extract the nucleus from a cell with damaged mitochondrial DNA, and implant it in a cell with healthy mitochondria. The process would allow most of the mothers DNA to be inherited by her child, without the risk of the mitochondrial diseases. Mitalipov hopes to begin clinical trials of the procedure, and the FDA is in the process of deciding whether to approve the technique soon. Some critics have ethical and medical concerns about creating an embryo with DNA from three differentpeople. The second area, which has garnered even more attention, is the … Continue reading →