The director of the agency's Center for Regenerative Medicine resigned on March 28 after just one clinical-trial award had been made Therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells, here differentiating into retinal cells on a scaffold, were the focus of the Center for Regenerative Medicine. Credit: NIH Stem-cell researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been left frustrated and confused following the demise of the agencys Center for Regenerative Medicine (CRM). The intramural programs director, stem-cell biologist Mahendra Rao, left the NIH, in Bethesda, Maryland, on 28March, and the centers website was taken down on 4 April. Although no official announcement had been made at the timeNaturewent to press, NIH officials say that they are rethinking how they will conduct in-house stem-cell research. Researchers affiliated with the center say that they have been left in the dark. When contacted byNatureon 7April, George Daley, a stem-cell biologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the centers external advisory board, said that he had not yet been told of Raos departure or the centers closure. The CRM was established in 2010 to centralize the NIHs stem-cell program. Its goal was to develop useful therapies from induced … Continue reading →

Bradley J. Fikes Stem-cell biologist Mahendra Rao expected five projects to receive support to set up clinical trials. Stem-cell researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been left frustrated and confused following the demise of the agencys Center for Regenerative Medicine (CRM). The intramural programmes director, stem-cell biologist Mahendra Rao, left the NIH, in Bethesda, Maryland, on 28March, and the centres website was taken down on 4 April. Although no official announcement had been made at the time Nature went to press, NIH officials say that they are rethinking how they will conduct in-house stem-cell research. Researchers affiliated with the centre say that they have been left in the dark. When contacted by Nature on 7April, George Daley, a stem-cell biologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the centres external advisory board, said that he had not yet been told of Raos departure or the centres closure. The CRM was established in 2010 to centralize the NIHs stem-cell programme. Its goal was to develop useful therapies from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells adult cells that have been converted into embryonic-like stem cells and shepherd them towards clinical trials and regulatory approval. Its … Continue reading →

Brenda Goodman HealthDay Reporter Posted: Monday, April 7, 2014, 4:00 PM MONDAY, April 7, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- In an early test, researchers report they've safely injected stem cells into the brains of 18 patients who had suffered strokes. And two of the patients showed significant improvement. All the patients saw some improvement in weakness or paralysis within six months of their procedures. Although three people developed complications related to the surgery, they all recovered. There were no adverse reactions to the transplanted stem cells themselves, the study authors said. What's more, the researchers said, two patients experienced dramatic recoveries almost immediately after the treatments. Those patients, who were both women, started to regain the ability to talk and walk the morning after their operations. In both cases, they were more than two years past their strokes, a point where doctors wouldn't have expected further recovery. The results have encouraged researchers to plan larger and longer tests of the procedure, which uses stem cells cultured from donated bone marrow. An expert who was not involved in the research called it a promising first step. "It's a small, early human study. It takes multiple steps to get to something clinically useful, … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) April 08, 2014 CELL SURGICAL NETWORK Originating in California, CSN is the worlds largest cell surgical network and first multidisciplinary Regenerative Medicine group. CSN is collaborating with the Australian Adult Stem Cell Foundation to bring the research network to Australia. CSN HAS OVER 40 LOCATIONS within the United States and several more worldwide. CSN has recently been launched in Australia with hand selected approved board certified Physicians. The ASCF has played an important role to identifying physicians who are passionate about regenerative and integrated medicine with a strong interest in SVF cell transplants. INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIAN GROUP- Physicians belonging to the CSN network join an international network of Board certified Physicians, creating a multidisciplinary team where they receive training, technology and IP transfer, education and support for physicians and staff, access to IRB approved research protocols, the opportunity to submit their own protocols for IRB approval, website presence, and access to a university quality research database that collects outcomes from all sites. SVF PROCUREMENT- The CSN SVF isolation system is a completely closed sterile surgical procedure. There are no laboratory requirements (e.g. laminar flow hood or otherwise) avoiding issues of GMP maintenance or possible cross contamination from laboratory handling. Further, … Continue reading →

Posted on: 10:47 pm, April 7, 2014, by Web Staff, updated on: 11:02pm, April 7, 2014 Ana Watson said she has tried everything for her young son Preston, who has epilepsy. The particular form he has is called Dravet Syndrome, caused by a genetic anomaly that was largely unknown when Preston first exhibited its symptoms. There is little treatment for it and what there is has proven to be ineffective. It started shortly after Preston was born. We noticed his legs would tremor and they just thought it was muscles that hadnt developed and then, at three months when he had his first grand mal seizure, then we knew, Watson said. He has literally hundreds of seizures a day. Some are small and others arent. You think, Is this the seizure when Im going to have to call 911?, Watson said. And, then youre last thoughts are, Is this the seizure hes not going to come out of? Dr. Bob Greenwood, of UNC Childrens Hospital, is Prestons neurologist. Dr. Greenwood, too, feels the frustration of dealing with a condition that appears to be stronger than any medicine. He has, literally, been treated with every anti-convulsive that we have, Greenwood said. … Continue reading →