(Reuters) - Diamond jewelry belonging to Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida sold for more than 4.74 million Swiss francs ($4.9 million) on Tuesday in Geneva and set a record for pearl earrings, auctioneer Sotheby's said. Lollobrigida, a leading sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s, said she was selling the jewelry to raise money for stem cell research. A pair of diamond and natural pearl earrings sold for 2.29 million francs ($2.37 million), an auction record. The earrings beat the $1.98 million figure set in 2011 from the sale of natural pearl and diamond earrings by Bulgari, owned by late actress Elizabeth Taylor. Other prized items from Lollobrigida's collection included a Bulgari necklace and bracelet combination, and a Bulgari ring featuring a 19.03-carat cushion-shaped diamond. Each fetched 749,000 francs ($776,056). The 85-year-old actress attended the auction and said she hoped the money raised would be put towards advancing stem cell research in Italy. "Jewels are meant to give pleasure and for many years I had enormous pleasure wearing mine," Lollobrigida said in a statement. "Selling my jewels to help raise awareness of stem cell therapy, which can cure so many illnesses, seems to me a wonderful use to which to put … Continue reading →

GENEVA (AP) Sotheby's auctioned off $78 million in jewels Tuesday night, fetching just under $3 million for a fancy yellow diamond belonging to actress Gina Lollobrigida that was once owned by a shah of Persia and she hoped would now bring more support for stem cell research. The auction house said the diamond was a highlight in a collection of 23 jewels that the 85-year-old actress, who starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and other top actors in the 1950s and 1960s, was selling partly to fund an international hospital for stem cell treatment. Jewelry, watches and other luxury items are sold every spring by the big auction houses at Geneva's elegant lakefront hotels seemingly a world away from some European countries whose economies are shrinking as their governments enact often tough budget austerity measures to get a handle on their debts. The 74.53-carat fancy yellow diamond that was sold off once belonged to Ahmad Shah Qajar, the shah of Persia from 1909 to 1925 and the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty. Its sale for $2,985,750 set both an auction record and a record price per carat an eye-popping $40,061 per carat for a fancy yellow diamond, according to … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Genetics Policy Institute (GPI) announced that the Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) will again serve as a co-organizing institution for the World Stem Cell Summit. The 2013 Summit is scheduled for Dec. 4-6, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, California. The World Stem Cell Summit is the window to the world of stem cells and regenerative medicine. Bernard Siegel, founder and co-chair of the Summit and executive director of GPI said, "We are honored to have Kyoto University's iCeMS serve as an organizing Summit partner. Under the visionary leadership of Professor Norio Nakatsuji, iCeMS continues its groundbreaking, cross-disciplinary research tying together materials science and stem cell biology. We also recognize the significant contributions of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine (JSRM) to our upcoming World Stem Cell Summit. Prof. Norio Nakatsuji, Founding Director of Kyoto University iCeMS stated, "Our participation as co-organizer at last years World Stem Cell Summit served as a catalyst for numerous new collaborations and provided global recognition of our accomplishments. We look forward to joining other Japanese academic institutions and industry leaders attending the Summit, which we believe to be the most important strategic meeting fostering collaborations and … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, CA--(Marketwired - May 14, 2013) - International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCQB: ISCO) (www.internationalstemcell.com) ("ISCO" or "the Company"), a California-based biotechnology company developing novel stem cell based therapies, today announced financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2013. "We've made excellent progress in the first quarter, showing, for the first time, how neuronal cells developed from our unique and powerful stem cell platform can be used to treat Parkinson's disease in the most widely accepted primate model of the disease, and presenting these results at one of the most important neurology conferences in the world," said Dr. Andrey Semechkin, the Company's CEO and Co-Chairman. "We have also published our innovative and efficient new method of creating these neuronal cells in a well respected peer-reviewed scientific journal, further consolidating ISCO's leadership position," continued Dr. Semechkin. "In addition, the strong sales growth achieved by our subsidiaries confirms that the sales and marketing tactics we have been implementing are starting to deliver the results we anticipated and begin to partially offset our core Research and Development expenses. At the same time we continue to challenge ourselves to become ever more efficient and this continued vigilance is reflected in both the reduced … Continue reading →