Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

Public release date: 4-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Marla Paul Marla-Paul@northwestern.edu 312-503-8928 Northwestern University CHICAGO --- Fibroid uterine tumors affect an estimated 15 million women in the United States, causing irregular bleeding, anemia, pain and infertility. Despite the high prevalence of the tumors, which occur in 60 percent of women by age 45, the molecular cause has been unknown. New Northwestern Medicine preclinical research has for the first time identified the molecular trigger of the tumor --- a single stem cell that develops a mutation, starts to grow uncontrollably and activates other cells to join its frenzied expansion. "It loses its way and goes wild," said Serdar Bulun, M.D., the chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "No one knew how these came about before. The stem cells make up only 1 percent of the cells in the tumor, yet they are the essential drivers of its growth." The paper is published in the journal PLoS ONE. Masanori Ono, M.D., a post-doctoral student in Bulun's lab, is the lead author. The stem cell initiating the tumor carries a mutation called MED12. Recently, mutations in the MED12 gene have … Continue reading →

BEVERLY, MA and TORONTO, ON--(Marketwire -05/02/12)- Hamilton Thorne Ltd. (HTL.V - News), a leading provider of precision laser devices and advanced image analysis systems for the fertility, stem cell and developmental biology research markets, today announced that the Company's Multi-Pulse software has received FDA clearance for performing embryo biopsy in clinical settings. The Multi-Pulse software will come standard with Hamilton Thorne's best-in-class LYKOS clinical laser system and as an option on the legacy ZILOS-tk system in certain markets. The Multi-Pulse feature provides rapid, repeated firing of the laser to facilitate removal of cells from an embryo during the trophectoderm biopsy process. Trophectoderm biopsy is considered one of the best methods used to remove cells from the embryos of patients undergoing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to screen for genetic disease or aneuploidy. Prior to release of the Multi-pulse software, individual laser shots were required to weaken or break the junctions between the trophectoderm cells so that they can be aspirated into the biopsy micropipette. The significant advantage of Multi-Pulse is that one press of the remote footswitch initiates multiple laser pulses in rapid succession for fast and easy cell separation, thereby limiting the amount of time the embryo spends outside the … Continue reading →

Nature | Health Regenerative medicine gets a cash boost from the nation's health ministry, but stricter regulations are needed to ensure safety May 1, 2012 By Soo Bin Park of Nature magazine Seoul, South Korea The South Korean health ministry announced last month that research into stem cells and regenerative medicine will receive a funding boost of 33 billion won (US$29 million) in 2012, four times that given in 2011. Overall, six different ministries will invest 100 billion won in stem-cell research this year. Until last year, public investment in stem cells in South Korea was relatively low and targeted mainly at basic research. But the country's Ministry of Health and Welfare is now expanding its support for clinical research on stem cells, with the money being used to link basic research to intermediate or clinical studies. The aim is to commercialize the research at an early stage. "From the current research atmosphere and infrastructure, the government has judged that stem-cell studies are now maturing," says Hyung Min Chung, president of Seoul-based biotechnology firm Cha Bio and Diostech and an adviser on the budget plan. He adds that his company is particularly pleased that government investment decisions on developing stem-cell … Continue reading →

"See The Potential" program sponsored by Canada's Stem Cell Network and Pfizer MONTRAL, May 2, 2012 /CNW/ - The first two postdoctoral research fellowships of a new program to promote stem cell research in Canada were announced today by the program's sponsors, Canada's Stem Cell Network and Pfizer. "See The Potential" is a program established to encourage the work of promising young scientists in the field of stem cell and regenerative medicine research. Under the program, six postdoctoral fellowships will be funded from competitions over the next three years. Fellows will receive a grant of $50,000 per year for up to three years and will conduct two years of stem cell and regenerative medicine research at a recognized research laboratory in Canada as well as another year of research at the Pfizer Neusentis laboratories in the United Kingdom. The 2011 fellowship recipients that have just been announced, following an internationally publicized competition, are Dr. Corinne Hoesli from Laval University in Qubec City and Dr. Reaz Vawda from University Health Network in Toronto. Dr. Hoesli proposes to conduct research related to engineering artificial blood vessels and is speaking today at the Till and McCulloch Meetings in Montral about the program and … Continue reading →

A second human embryonic stem-cell line derived at the University of Michigan has been accepted on the U.S. National Institutes of Health registry, making the line available for federally funded research and possibly bringing science a step closer to understanding Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The hereditary neurological disorder is characterized by muscle degeneration in the foot, lower leg and hand. The line, known as UM11-1PGD, was derived from a cluster of about 30 cells that had been removed from a donated 5-day-old embryo created for reproductive purposes. The cells were found to carry the gene defect responsible for the disease, also known as CMT. Because the stem-cell line carries the unique characteristics of the disease, researchers can use it to study the disease progression. That, in turn, may lead to screening techniques and even a cure. Like the first line, UM11-1PGD was developed by Gary Smith, codirector of the U-M Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies at the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. Several other disease-specific lines have been submitted to NIH and are awaiting approval. The first accepted line, which is believed to be disease-free, was accepted to the registry in February. Contact Robin Erb: 313-222-2708 or rerb@freepress.com Continue reading here: … Continue reading →

TIJUANA, Mexico, April 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Regenerative Medicine Institute, Mexico (RMI) will be among top scientists and physicians presenting cutting edge data at the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). The ISSCR's annual meeting has become the world's premier stem cell research event. The meeting serves as the largest forum for stem cell and regenerative medicine professionals from around the world. The ISSCR 10th Annual Meeting will be held June 13 - 16, 2012 at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. A summary of data on the use of adult stem cells from adipose tissue to treat heart failure and COPD will be presented by Kristin Comella, Chief Scientific Officer of Bioheart Inc. Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage and peripheral vascular disease. RMI is currently running Phase I/II trials at the Hospital Angeles in collaboration with Bioheart and the Ageless Regenerative Institute. Dr. Javier Lopez, President and CEO of RMI and a member of ISSCR said that "We are proud to share our initial results with the scientific community at such a prestigious event." For more information on RMI, visit … Continue reading →

Sherley continues arguing against stem cell research in court April 24, 2012 Sherley continues arguing against stem cell research in court James L. Sherley, the former Course 20 MIT professor trying to stop government funding of embryonic stem cell research, had his day in court yesterday again. This was his third time before the appeals court. Sherley is now appealing on the merits of his case, after a complex sequence of court events. The D.C. district court found preliminarily in his favor, but the government appealed and the appeals court found against him on the preliminary injunction. Then the district court, respecting the appeals courts decision, ultimately found against Sherley. Both sides argued yesterday before a three-judge panel, which included Chief Judge David B. Sentelle. According to coverage by Science and Nature, Sentelle asked most of the questions in the oral argument. Sentelle, joined by Judge Janice R. Brown, strongly focused on the question of whether the appeals court was bound by its earlier decision on the preliminary injunction (against Sherley). Yesterdays three-judge panel was a different panel from the one that decided the earlier question, although it had one member in common, Karen L. Henderson. Henderson did not speak … Continue reading →

Republican Michigan legislators who are trying to force the University of Michigan to provide details on embryonic stem-cell research have a big hurdle to overcome: Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder, also a Republican, remains convinced that the Legislature cannot force U-M or other universities to answer questions about stem cells included in budget bills, his spokeswoman told the Free Press. "We remain consistent with the language on the stem-cell issue that we used last year where we took the position that the boilerplate language that was included in the current year's budget is unenforceable and unconstitutional if sought to be enforced," Snyder spokeswoman Geralyn Lasher said in a Friday e-mail. "Our legal counsel wrote a letter to legislative leadership to that effect, and it remains our view at this time as well." U-M is glad to have Snyder's support, spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said Friday. "It's encouraging that the governor is being consistent," Fitzgerald said. "We continue to work with the legislators in the appropriations process. We have a lot of time to address this and other issues." Snyder's reluctance is likely to be a major weapon for U-M as it fights the Republicans on the issue. The full House appropriations committee … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCBB: ISCO.OB - News) (www.internationalstemcell.com) today announced it has appointed MZ Group as its investor relations advisor. MZ will assist International Stem Cell with investor relations consulting, corporate communications and investor and shareholder outreach. ISCO also announced the promotion of Dr. Simon Craw to the position of Executive Vice President with responsibility for Business Development and Investor Relations. MZ is an excellent investor relations partner for several reasons," said Dr. Andrey Semechkin, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of International Stem Cell. With our recent financing and steady progress in our Lifeline Skin Care and Cell Technology businesses, we have a tremendous opportunity to introduce our company to a wide variety of investors. MZ has access to a large pool of potential investors who may be interested in an emerging life sciences company such as ours. We also look forward to steadily expanding our corporate communications efforts with the media and the life sciences industry to further solidify our corporate brands. With this in mind I have promoted Dr. Craw to a new position of EVP, to be responsible for Business Development and oversee our Investor Relations program in addition to his existing responsibly for … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCO.OB), http://www.internationalstemcell.com, today announced that several of its senior scientists, led by Dr. Ruslan Semechkin Vice President Research and Development, will present the results of their most recent experiments on the therapeutic use of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) in Parkinsons disease at the 64th Annual Meeting of American Academy of Neurology in New Orleans (April 21 to 28 2012). The data presented at the conference represents progress made in ISCOs Parkinsons disease program, the successful use of functional dopaminergic neurons and the results of pre-clinical studies in rodents. About International Stem Cell Corporation International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs). hpSCs avoid ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos. ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells with minimal immune rejection after transplantation into hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background. This offers the potential … Continue reading →