Cryo-Save Group N.V. (Euronext: CRYO, `Cryo-Save`, or `the Group`), the leading international stem cell storage company and the largest family stem cell bank in Europe, announces its trading update for the quarter ended 31 March 2013. Operating results during the first quarter of 2013 of -0.6 million were at a similar level as the first quarter of 2012. The top line performance was at a lower level in comparison to the first quarter of 2012, but the Group was able to achieve significant cost savings. Almost half of the operating loss was attributable to India, where the Group expected a better performance this first quarter. According to plan the performance of the Indian entity will improve in this second quarter, and break even on a full year basis. To achieve this, Cryo-Save appointed a new General Manager in November last year, strengthened the organization and repositioned itself in the Indian market, focusing on fully automated, high quality services. The result of the Group`s operations in South Africa was impacted by consequences of the opening of the new processing and storage facility in Pretoria in January 2013, but is expected to be profitable as of Q2. Finally, due to the on-going … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: David McKeon dmckeon@nyscf.org 212-365-7440 New York Stem Cell Foundation NEW YORK, NY (May 6, 2013) A team of New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute scientists report today the generation of patient-specific bone substitutes from skin cells for repair of large bone defects. The study, led by Darja Marolt, PhD, a NYSCF-Helmsley Investigator and Giuseppe Maria de Peppo, PhD, a NYSCF Research Fellow, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, represents a major advance in personalized reconstructive treatments for patients with bone defects resulting from disease or trauma. This advance will facilitate the development of customizable, three-dimensional bone grafts on-demand, matched to fit the exact needs and immune profile of a patient. Taking skin cells, the NYSCF scientists utilized an advanced technique called "reprogramming" to revert adult cells into an embryonic-like state. These induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells carry the same genetic information as the patient and they can become any of the body's cell types. The NYSCF team guided these iPS cells to become bone-forming progenitors and seeded the cells onto a scaffold for three-dimensional bone formation. They then placed … Continue reading →

By: Philippines News Agency | Xinhua May 6, 2013 10:04 AM BRAIN PHOTO BY MATT CARDY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5 WASHINGTON DC - Epilepsy that does not respond to drugs may be halted by transplanting a specific type of cell into the brain, according to a new study conducted by US researchers and published online on Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The study, the first ever to report stopping seizures in mouse models of adult human epilepsy, raises hope for a similar treatment in severe forms of the disease. Anti-epileptic drugs and other therapies reduce seizures in about two-thirds of patients. The remaining one-third, however, do not respond to any form of therapy, and those who take drugs can experience harmful side effects. Researchers with the University of California at San Francisco injected newborn inhibitory nerve cells called Medial Ganglionic Eminence into the hippocampus in the brains of adult epileptic mice. They found that the treatment eliminated seizures in half of the treated mice and dramatically reduced the number of seizures in the rest. In addition to having fewer seizures, treated mice became less abnormally agitated and less hyperactive. Analysis of the mice brains suggested … Continue reading →

May 6, 2013 redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online Scientists from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have effectively cured epilepsy in mice by transplanting brain cells into the rodents hippocampus research that they hope could one day be applied to help treat severe forms of the condition in humans. Dr. Scott C. Baraban, who holds the William K. Bowes Jr. Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research at UCSF, and colleagues took medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) cells, which inhibit signaling in overactive nerve circuits, and transplanted them in the area of the brain associated with seizures. While previous research focusing on different cell types proved unsuccessful, Barabans team was able to control the seizures in epileptic mice following the transplantation. The results of their work, which is reportedly the first ever successful attempt to stop seizures in mouse models of adult human epilepsy, were published Sunday in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience. Our results are an encouraging step toward using inhibitory neurons for cell transplantation in adults with severe forms of epilepsy, Baraban, whose work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, said in a … Continue reading →