Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

By Caleb Hellerman, CNN updated 9:58 AM EDT, Fri May 24, 2013 STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: "Life's Work" features innovators and pioneers who are making a difference in the world of medicine. (CNN) -- Dr. Roberto Bolli's face lights up when he talks about his true love: the human heart. "The heart is really a miraculous organ. It beats 72 times a minute throughout our life, which means billions of times in our lifetime. And it never gets tired," Bolli says. "It knows exactly how much blood to pump; it can increase its output by fivefold if we need more oxygen -- for example, if we're running or doing strenuous activity. You have 5 billion cells called myocites, all beating in synchrony, in a perfectly coordinated manner, to maximize the heart's pumping ability. It is an engineering feat that never ceases to amaze me." Bolli was born in Perugia, Italy, the son of a general practitioner. He came to the United States after finishing medical school in Italy, starting at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Since 1994, he's been the chief of cardiology at the University of Louisville, where he also directs the Institute of Molecular Cardiology. Like most … Continue reading →

JERUSALEM, May23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd. (TASE: HDST, OTC: HADSY), a publicly traded portfolio of biotech companies, based on intellectual property developed and owned by Hadassah University Hospital, Israel's foremost medical research center, today announced that its portfolio company, Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd., received significant funding from the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) to support product development and advance clinical trials. Cell Cure's development budget totaling NIS 11.5 million (over $3 million USD) was approved for a grant of close to 50% financial support. CEO of Hadasit Bio-Holdings, Ophir Shahaf, stated, "We are very pleased with the recent grant approvals. This substantial government support, particularly at a time of cut backs in government spending, is a vote of confidence and an expression of faith. The OCS conducted a rigorous evaluation of Cell Cure's scientific, managerial and potential. The financial support will fund up to 60% of certain aspects of the company's activities. Cell Cure is at the forefront of the regenerative medicine field with stem cell therapies posing as the promising future of medicine, attracting worldwide scientific reviews and substantial investments. Using the unique cell lines, directed differentiation process and controlled growth … Continue reading →

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BTX) today announced that at a Special Meeting held on May 21, 2013, its shareholders approved the proposals related to the planned acquisition of stem cell related assets from Geron Corporation by BioTimes subsidiary Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Asterias). Each of the proposals received at least 32,459,164 votes in favor from the 34,450,307 shares that were represented and voted, in person or by proxy, at the meeting. Additional information concerning the proposals approved at the Special Meeting and the vote totals can be found in a Form 8-K that BioTime has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Approvals of the Share Issuance Proposal and the Articles Amendment Proposal were necessary for the acquisition of stem cell related assets from Geron Corporation under the Asset Contribution Agreement, as the approval of those proposals satisfies one of the conditions required to be met in order to complete the asset contribution transaction. About BioTime, Inc. BioTime, headquartered in Alameda, California, is a biotechnology company focused on regenerative medicine and blood plasma volume expanders. Its broad platform of stem cell technologies is enhanced through subsidiaries focused on specific fields of application. BioTime develops and markets research products … Continue reading →

BROWNSBURG, Ind., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) and StemCyte, Inc., a global leader in human cord blood stem cell banking and therapeutics, announced today that StemCyte has become an associate sponsor of the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Indy car driven by James Jakes. Sponsorship is for the remainder of the IZOD IndyCar 2013 season. StemCyte, Inc.and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) will work to support awareness of umbilical cord blood banking and its educational initiative 'Stars for Stem Cells'. Cord blood stem cells are potential cures for over 80 illnesses, including cancers,blood disorders, immune and genetic diseases, and continuebe a keyelement in regenerative medicine research. "We are very excited about our relationship withRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing," said Calvin Cole, StemCyte President for Commercial Operations, North America."We believe StemCyte's brandaligns with thepioneeringimage of IndyCar and thechampionship spirit of Bobby Rahal. SupportingdriverJames Jakes and getting the word outon optionsfor expecting parents to secure their baby's cord bloodforfuturelife-saving treatmentsis very important." "We are always looking towards innovation in our ongoing efforts within the world of motorsports," said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with CBS LATE SHOW host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan. "Working with … Continue reading →

STORY HIGHLIGHTS (CNN) -- A human embryo, containing about a couple hundred cells, is smaller than the period at the end of a sentence. Scientists need strong microscopes to see these precursors to life, and to take from them stem cells, which have the potential to become any cell in the body. Earlier this week a breakthrough in this field was announced. A group of researchers published in the journal Cell proof that they had created embryonic stem cells through cloning. The scientists produced embryos using human skin cells, and then used the embryos to produce stem cell lines. "It is an incredibly powerful approach with potential to generate almost any tissue in the body, genetically identical to the patient," said Jeff Karp, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Center for Regenerative Therapeutics at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Creating an embryo just from an egg and a skin cell seems like magic, but just how practical would the subsequent stem cells be? And does it actually amount to cloning? What they did Normally, an embryo is created when sperm enters the egg and it starts to divide. But, in the Cell study, Shoukhrat … Continue reading →

Human cloning has been used to produce early embryos, marking a "significant step" for medicine, say US scientists. The cloned embryos were used as a source of stem cells, which can make new heart muscle, bone, brain tissue or any other type of cell in the body. The study, published in the journal Cell, used methods like those that produced Dolly the sheep in the UK. However, researchers say other sources of stem cells may be easier, cheaper and less controversial. Opponents say it is unethical to experiment on human embryos and have called for a ban. Stem cells are one of the great hopes for medicine. Being able to create new tissue might be able to heal the damage caused by a heart attack or repair a severed spinal cord. There are already trials taking place using stem cells taken from donated embryos to restore people's sight. However, these donated cells do not match the patient so they would be rejected by the body. Cloning bypasses this problem. The technique used - somatic cell nuclear transfer - has been well-known since Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to be cloned, in 1996. Skin cells were taken from an … Continue reading →

Photo issued by Cell Press showing how scientists have succeeded in obtaining stem cells from human embryos cloned from skin. Photograph: Eric Baker/OHSU/PA Embryonic stem cells are highly-prized because they can turn into any type of cell in the body, like heart cells, muscles or neurons. However, the research is controversial because it can involve destroying embryos and raises the vexed question of when life begins . As a result, successive governments have failed to grapple with this area of stem cell research and the wider field of assisted human reproduction. This is despite the recommendations of advisory groups and State bodies over the course of a decade or more. Ireland is one of the few European countries that does not have legislation or meaningful regulation to guide this kind of research. This gap leaves scientists caught in a web of ethical uncertainty at a time when the States official policy is to promote research and development in these kinds of cutting-edge fields. Ironically, theres no law or Constitutional obstacle standing in the way of embryonic stem cell research. In 2009 the Supreme Court ruled in Roche vs Roche an embryo custody case that the Constitution did not offer protection … Continue reading →

Regenerative medicine is constantly discovering new inroads to potential therapies utilizing adult stem cells for a variety of life threatening or debilitating conditions and diseases. Progress has accelerated in the past few years, fueled in part by President Obamas 2009 Executive Order 13505 that removed barriers in responsible research which has opened doors to examination of new ways of thinking. It has also aided in the emergence of research in the area of adipose (fat)-based stem cell therapy, which could prove to be a major breakthrough in regenerative medicine. Not only has early research at Johns Hopkins suggested the possibility of superior efficacy with Adipose-Derived Stem Cells, or ADSCs, in the treatment of glioblastoma (a severe form of brain cancer), but ADSCs are easily harvested, meaning that they could become a standard as the most reliable and abundant source of stem cells for research, cultures and therapeutic processes. Akin to institutions like Harvards Dana-Farber and University of Texas MD Anderson being recognized as two of the worlds leading cancer research centers, certain institutions have become established as pioneering experts in stem cell research. Johns Hopkins and Rutgers University sit amongst the leaders in this arena. This bodes very well for … Continue reading →

15 May 2013 Last updated at 14:02 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News Human cloning has been used to produce early embryos, marking a "significant step" for medicine, say US scientists. The cloned embryos were used as a source of stem cells, which can make new heart muscle, bone, brain tissue or any other type of cell in the body. The study, published in the journal Cell, used methods like those that produced Dolly the sheep in the UK. However, researchers say other sources of stem cells may be easier, cheaper and less controversial. Opponents say it is unethical to experiment on human embryos and have called for a ban. Stem cells are one of the great hopes for medicine. Being able to create new tissue might be able to heal the damage caused by a heart attack or repair a severed spinal cord. There are already trials taking place using stem cells taken from donated embryos to restore people's sight. However, these donated cells do not match the patient so they would be rejected by the body. Cloning bypasses this problem. The technique used - somatic cell nuclear transfer - has been well-known since Dolly … Continue reading →

Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD Stem cell science blasted across front pages worldwide when Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The UCSF professor and senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institutes received the award for discovering how to transform ordinary adult skin cells into cells that, like embryonic stem cells, are pluripotent capable of becoming any cell in the human body. The news bringing UCSF's total of Nobel laureates to five brought fresh attention to something UCSF long ago sensed and seized: the promise of regeneration medicine for repairing or replacing damaged cells, tissues, and even whole organs. Gail Martin, PhD More than three decades ago, UCSF researcher Gail Martin, PhD, co-discovered embryonic stem cells in mice, coining the term. The cells were discovered separately and simultaneously by University of Cambridge investigators Martin Evans, PhD, and Matthew Kaufman, PhD. Embryonic stem cells brought hope to billions, giving scientists new avenues for understanding and treating some of the worlds most complex health conditions heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons disease, spinal cord injury, and many more. Despite the cells tremendous promise, political pressure to stop embryonic stem cell research began to brew. In a … Continue reading →