Its the most complete genetic map of an entire country yet completed and it could show clues of what medicine could look like in the coming age of big data. Researchers working at DeCode Genetics, a unit of the drug company Amgen, have sequenced the genomes of 2,636 Icelanders and used genealogical records and more spotty genetic data to calculate the likely genetics of 101,584 more. Because DeCode has anonymized access to patient medical records, the company could then look for relationships between the genetic variants and disease and they found a new genetic variant that increases the risk of Alzheimers, as well as confiming suspected variants that raise the risk of diabetes and one that causes atrial fibrillation, a heart condition. The results are published in three scientific papers in the journal Nature. Its certainly an impressive tour de force, says George Yancopoulos, the Chief Scientific Officer of Amgen rival Regeneron. This is certainly establishing a benchmark for all of us and showing the value of this type of analysis, in particular in the Icelandic population. Regeneron is creating its own database of sequencing data with Pennsylvanias Geisinger Health Systems. The United Kingdom has embarked on a 100,000 Genomes … Continue reading →

Developing stem cell therapy as an alternative to corneal transplants. Professor Julie Daniels talks about her tissue engineering research. By: Fight for Sight … Continue reading →

A federal public servant has lost a legal bid to have taxpayers pay for experimental stem cell treatment on his dodgy knees. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has knocked back an appeal by Customs officer Vic Kaplicas to force insurer Comcare to pay $13,400 for the new treatment, instead saying he could have a tried-and-tested double knee replacement. But the 49-year-old border official says he worries he cannot pass his department's fitness tests if he undergoes the knee replacements, which will leave him unable to run. Advertisement The former triathlete, who had to give up his sport because of his bad knees, said he was keen to avoid the "radical but effective" replacements for as long as possible. Mr Kaplicas hurt his left knee working at Sydney's Mascot Airport in 2000, then injured his right knee 10 years later at Kingsford-Smith. He managed the pain in his knees, which have since developed osteoarthritis, for years using over-the-counter painkillers, physio, exercises and injections but Mr Kaplicas' doctors say a more permanent solution is now needed. In June 2012, Sydney knee specialist Sam Sorrenti asked Comcare to pay for bilateral knee stem cell assisted arthroscopic surgery for Mr Kaplicas. The cost of the … Continue reading →

Irvine, Calif., March 26, 2015 -- Leslie Thompson of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UC Irvine has been awarded $5 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to continue her CIRM-funded effort to develop stem cell treatments for Huntington's disease. The grant supports her next step: identifying and testing stem cell-based treatments for HD, an inherited, incurable and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. In this project, Thompson and her colleagues will establish an HD therapy employing human embryonic stem cells that can be evaluated in clinical trials. Over the past seven years, Thompson, a UCI professor of psychiatry & human behavior and neurobiology & behavior, and her team have used CIRM funding to produce stem cell lines "reprogrammed" from the skin cells of individuals carrying the Huntington's genetic mutation in order to study the disease. In addition, they conducted basic and early-stage transitional studies to develop a stem cell-based technique to treat areas of the brain susceptible to HD. "These stem cells offer a possible long-term treatment approach that could relieve the tremendous suffering experienced by HD patients and their families," said Thompson, who's also affiliated with UCI's Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI … Continue reading →

Profiles in Nanomedicine Research: Wannemuehler By: ISUengineering … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise Nanoparticles hold great promise for cancer diagnostics and therapies, but only to the extent that they can be selectively guided to tumors and cancer cells. Leading a multidisciplinary group from Dartmouth College, Karl E. Griswold, PhD published, "Antibody-mediated targeting of iron oxide nanoparticles to the Folate receptor alpha increases tumor cell association in vitro and in vivo," in the International Journal of Nanomedicine, which follows closely the publication of "Tumor Cell Targeting by Iron Oxide Nanoparticles is Dominated by Different Factors in Vitro versus in Vivo," published in PLOS ONE. "The ultimate utility of anti-cancer nanoparticle technologies will depend in large part on their capacity to selectively home to cancer cells," explained Griswold. "Achieving optimal targeting of nanoparticles in clinically relevant scenarios remains a key challenge for researchers in this space." The in vivo environment is enormously complex, and there exists an extensive array of variables that determine distribution and cellular targeting of nanoparticles in the body. Homing of nanoparticles to tumors is dependent upon parameters such as nanoparticle size and composition, molecular targeting, surface chemistry, route of administration, cancer cell type, and tumor location. Using carefully designed and rigorously validated functional … Continue reading →

A federal public servant has lost a legal bid to have taxpayers pay for experimental stem cell treatment on his dodgy knees. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has knocked back an appeal by Customs officer Vic Kaplicas to force insurer Comcare to pay $13,400 for the new treatment, instead saying he could have a tried-and-tested double knee replacement. But the 49-year-old border official says he worries he cannot pass his department's fitness tests if he undergoes the knee replacements, which will leave him unable to run. Advertisement The former triathlete, who had to give up his sport because of his bad knees, said he was keen to avoid the "radical but effective" replacements for as long as possible. Mr Kaplicas hurt his left knee working at Sydney's Mascot Airport in 2000, then injured his right knee 10 years later at Kingsford-Smith. He managed the pain in his knees, which have since developed osteoarthritis, for years using over-the-counter painkillers, physio, exercises and injections but Mr Kaplicas' doctors say a more permanent solution is now needed. In June 2012, Sydney knee specialist Sam Sorrenti asked Comcare to pay for bilateral knee stem cell assisted arthroscopic surgery for Mr Kaplicas. The cost of the … Continue reading →