For many years scientists have been trying to unravel mechanisms that guide function and differentiation of blood stem cells, those cells that generate all blood cells including our immune system. The study of human blood stem cells is difficult because they can only be found in the bone marrow in specialized "niches" that cannot be recapitulated in a culture dish. Now a group of scientists from Dresden led by stem cell researcher Prof. Claudia Waskow (Technische Universitt Dresden) was able to generate a mouse model that supports the transplantation of human blood stem cells despite the species barrier and without the need for irradiation. They used a mutation of the Kit receptor in the mouse stem cells to facilitate the engraftment of human cells. In the new model human blood stem cells can expand and differentiate into all cell types of the blood without any additional treatment. Even cells of the innate immune system that can normally not be found in "humanized" mice were efficiently generated in this mouse. Of significance is the fact that the stem cells can be maintained in the mouse over a longer period of time compared to previously existing mouse models. These results were now … Continue reading →

Im not betting on it, but if, by some miracle, Argentine winger Angel Di Maria is on the pitch against Germany Sunday in the 2014 World Cup final, get ready for another explosion of interest in stem cell therapy, a now familiar occurrence every time a famous athlete undergoes the treatment. Di Maria, who either tore or strained a thigh muscle in Argentinas World Cup win over Belgium, is so determined to play in the final that, according to some reports, he is having the muscle injected with stem cells in the hope of healing by Sunday. (This Associated Press report from Thursday said he was practicing at 60 to 80 percent, so Im guessing were talking about a strain.) If those reports are true, Di Maria will join a long line of elite athletes who have resorted to the unproven and possibly risky therapy. This kind of stem cell therapy is experimental in every sense of the word, according to the International Society for Stem Cell Research. There also is some evidence that the procedure can promote tumor growth or create an immune response to a patients own cells, or that injected stem cells might migrate to another part … Continue reading →

Stem cells grown under low oxygen. These stem cells from Stemedica are licensed to CardioCell. CardioCell, a San Diego stem cell company, has started a Phase 2a trial of its treatment for chronic heart failure. The companys special stem cells will be injected into patients with heart failure not caused by a heart attack. Nearly 2 million Americans have that kind of heart failure. CardioCell is also testing these stem cells on heart attack patients to help their recovery. The cells are licensed from Stemedica, CardioCell's parent company. Taken from bone marrow, the stem cells produce chemicals intended to heal malfunctioning heart cells. They are grown under low oxygen conditions, or hypoxia. CardioCell says hypoxia reflects the conditions under which natural stem cells exist. Histogen, also of San Diego, is developing its own kind of low-oxygen stem cells. Growing stem cells with abundant oxygen reduces their "stemness," and they become prone to differentiate, said Sergey Sikora, CardioCell's president and chief executive. Sergey Sikora, president and CEO of CardioCell / CardioCell More than 20 patients are being sought to take part in the study, which is taking place at three locations. These are Emory University in Atlanta, Northwestern University in Chicago, … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 11-Jul-2014 Contact: Jia Liu liujia@genomics.cn BGI Shenzhen July 3, 2014, Shenzhen, China Researchers from Salk Institute for Biological Studies, BGI, and other institutes for the first time evaluated the safety and reliability of the existing targeted gene correction technologies, and successfully developed a new method, TALEN-HDAdV, which could significantly increased gene-correction efficiency in human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC). This study published online in Cell Stell Cell provides an important theoretical foundation for stem cell-based gene therapy. The combination of stem cells and targeted genome editing technology provides a powerful tool to model human diseases and develop potential cell replacement therapy. Although the utility of genome editing has been extensively documented, but the impact of these technologies on mutational load at the whole-genome level remains unclear. In the study, researchers performed whole-genome sequencing to evaluate the mutational load at single-base resolution in individual gene-corrected hiPSC clones in three different disease models, including Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), sickle cell disease (SCD), and Parkinson's disease (PD). They evaluated the efficiencies of gene-targeting and gene-correction at the haemoglobin gene HBB locus with TALEN, HDAdV, CRISPR/CAS9 nuclease, and found the TALENs, HDAdVs and CRISPR/CAS9 mediated gene-correction methods have a similar efficiency … Continue reading →

RegulatoryNews: NANOBIOTIX (Paris:NANO) (Euronext: NANO ISIN: FR0011341205), a clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering novel approaches for the local treatment of cancer, today announces its revenue for the second quarter of 2014. Income statement Of which : License Services 45,847 2,749 91,190 2,749 45,847 2,722 Activity The revenue recorded by NANOBIOTIX during the second quarter of 2014 relates to the upfront payment (pro-rata share) from the Taiwan-based PharmaEngine within the framework of the licensing contract. This licensing contract was signed in August 2012 for the development and commercialization of Nanobiotixs lead product, NBTXR3 in the Asia-Pacific region. It is distributed using the straight-line method across the period between the date the contract was signed and the scheduled marketing launch in the region. This upfront payment totaled 810,640, generating a product of 45,847 for the period and totalling 91,190 for the first semester in 2014. The invoicing of services totalled 2,749 for the second quarter of 2014. In total, revenue for the second quarter amounts 48,596. Revenue for the first half of 2014 is 93,939 which is fully in line with Company expectations. See the original post: Nanobiotix revenue for the 2nd quarter of 2014 … Continue reading →