In Thursday's Healthier Me,scientists say they've discovered new ways in which small changes in our DNA can increase the risk for breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer. It is a trove of new genetic information about cancer that could soon help millions of patients: researchers have found nearly 50 new markers for breast cancer, 26 for prostate cancer, and nearly a dozen for ovarian cancer. Groundbreaking studies of more than 200,000 people in some 200 labs around the worldalmost doubled the number of gene variations known to affect risk for some of the deadliest cancers. Thisnew genetic information could soon lead to new blood tests to help determine how much a person is at risk and how serious the cancer might be. Because the research involved so many subjects, some of the tests should be in your doctor's office in a year or two, with others coming further down the road. The explosion of genetic information has been made possible through the development of robotic machines capable of identifying the slight differencesin the DNA which signal cancer risk. Finding these variations used to take months or years; now it takes just days. Dr. Fergus Couch, Mayo Clinic: "We started this project … Continue reading →

Public release date: 29-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 x2156 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News New Rochelle, NY, Mar 28, 2013Explosive growth in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has led to innovative and promising applications and techniques, many of which are now being tested in human clinical trials. Hot topics, research advances, and transformative publications that are driving the field forward are highlighted in a comprehensive overview of the field presented in Tissue Engineering, Part B, Reviews, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available on the Tissue Engineering website (http://www.liebertpub.com/ten). Matthew Fisher, PhD and Robert Mauck, PhD, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, identify four key areas in which the field is progressing. The first main theme, in the area of tissue engineering, focuses on advances in grafts and materials, including human or animal tissue from which the cells are removed and the remaining scaffold is used to regenerate new tissues, as well as scaffolds made of new types of biomaterials. Second, in the field of regenerative medicine, the authors highlight the role of … Continue reading →

ROME -- European scientists are criticizing a decision by Italy's government to allow a handful of children to be treated in public hospitals with an experimental stem cell therapy. The adult stem cell treatment was halted in May by the Italian Pharmacological Agency. But the government last week overruled the regulator after parents went to court to demand that the therapy be continued. The health ministry, citing ethical and compassionate concerns, said the therapy shouldn't be interrupted since it hadn't shown any "grave collateral effects" in the children, some of whom are terminally ill. In a letter to Italy's health minister, Renato Balduzzi, more than a dozen scientists criticized the decision, saying it "seems to be dictated by emotions raised by public opinion rather than scientifically based reasons." The decision to allow the unproven therapy by the Stamina Foundation, which is based in Italy, came despite findings from a police search, including inspectors from the Italian Pharmacological Agency, at the laboratory where the stem cell treatments were being prepared. In May, the agency ordered all work at the Stamina Foundation laboratory to stop after finding that conditions were "absolutely inadequate." The inspectors said there were "terrible maintenance and cleanliness conditions" … Continue reading →

ROME -- European scientists are criticizing a decision by Italy's government to allow a handful of children to be treated in public hospitals with an experimental stem cell therapy. The adult stem cell treatment was halted in May by the Italian Pharmacological Agency. But the government last week overruled the regulator after parents went to court to demand that the therapy be continued. The health ministry, citing ethical and compassionate concerns, said the therapy shouldn't be interrupted since it hadn't shown any "grave collateral effects" in the children, some of whom are terminally ill. In a letter to Italy's health minister, Renato Balduzzi, more than a dozen scientists criticized the decision, saying it "seems to be dictated by emotions raised by public opinion rather than scientifically based reasons." The decision to allow the unproven therapy by the Stamina Foundation, which is based in Italy, came despite findings from a police search, including inspectors from the Italian Pharmacological Agency, at the laboratory where the stem cell treatments were being prepared. In May, the agency ordered all work at the Stamina Foundation laboratory to stop after finding that conditions were "absolutely inadequate." The inspectors said there were "terrible maintenance and cleanliness conditions" … Continue reading →

Mar. 28, 2013 The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience. A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in. The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen. Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials. Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, … Continue reading →