CIRM governance issues CIRM chairman Jonathan Thomas discusses governance issues of California's stem cell agency. To the left is UCSD stem cell researcher Larry Goldstein, to the ... By: Bradley Fikes … Continue reading →

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization promoting and managing research on board the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory, today announced a Request for Information (RFI) seeking to identify entities capable of serving as implementation partners for microgravity-based, non-embryonic stem cell research conducted on the station. The CASIS Science Advisory Board has identified non-embryonic stem cell research as a strong opportunity for developing a biosciences portfolio for the ISS. This is due to previous experiments in microgravity that have demonstrated diverse cellular activities including cell proliferation, cell cycle, cell differentiation, apoptosis, genomic integrity and DNA damage repair. From this RFI, CASIS will develop an internal database of entities that can support payload development needs for non-embryonic stem cell research. This information gathering opportunity comes before an official non-embryonic stem cell Request for Proposals is announced in the coming months. "CASIS continues to be encouraged by the amount of partners willing to facilitate bringing groundbreaking research ideas to the National Lab," said CASIS Interim Director Jim Royston. "Through this RFI, CASIS can better gauge the capabilities of our current partners in non-embryonic stem cell research, and possibly identify new implementation partners for future … Continue reading →

For the first time, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers successfully implanted stem cells generated from skin cells into the region of a monkeys brain that was affected by Parkinsons disease, according to a study released Thursday. UW-Madison neuroscience professor Su-Chun Zhang, the lead researcher on the project, extracted cells from three monkeys skin and turned them into stem cells, which are cells that have not yet been differentiated to fit a specific purpose in the body. In his research Zhang changed the Induced Pluripotent Stem cells, derived from non-embryonic cells, into the dopamine-creating cells and implanted in an area of the monkeys brains that contained a lesion causing Parkinsons disease. Parkinsons disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, which results from the death of dopamine-creating cells. It causes behavioral and cognitive problems, including shaking, dementia and slow movement, and currently has no cure. One of the major setbacks in previous stem cell research was immune rejection, which occurs when a patients body rejects stem cells because they come from another source. This research marks an important step in solving the issue, Zhang said, because his research created stem cells from the monkeys own body, which prevents immune rejection. … Continue reading →

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 15, 2013) - NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S.NEWSWIRE SERVICES Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. (TSX VENTURE:SSS)("SCT"), a life sciences company developing stem cell-related technologies, announced today that it has closed its previously announced prospectus offering of 12,315,000 units ("Units") at a price of $0.25 per Unit for the aggregate gross proceeds of $3,078,750. Each Unit is comprised of one common share and one common share purchase warrant (the "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase an additional common share for $0.40 for a period of 60 months following the closing of the offering. Euro Pacific Canada Inc. acted as the agent and Bloom Burton & Co., as a selling firm for the offering. The purpose of the offering is to provide the resources necessary to conclude the acquisition of Trillium Therapeutics Inc. by SCT, announced February 4th, 2013, and to trigger a condition precedent to permit the exercise of the option by SCT to acquire the license to the Tigecycline intellectual property from the University Health Network/MaRS Innovation, Toronto, announced November 7th, 2012. The assets expected to be acquired and licensed will conclude the initial step of SCT's published … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 15, 2013) - International Stem Cell Corporation ( OTCQB : ISCO ) (www.internationalstemcell.com), a California-based biotechnology company focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells, announced today the publication of its breakthrough method of deriving neuronal cells for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in Scientific Reports, a primary research publication from the publishers of Nature. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder caused by a progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons resulting in gradual dysfunction of the motor system. Pharmacological treatments are useful in the relatively early stage of the disease, but the continuous use of pro-dopaminergic medication eventually becomes ineffective and can worsen some of the motor symptoms. ISCO is developing a treatment for PD based on replacing the lost neurons with new neuronal cells derived from human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSC). To this end ISCO has developed a sophisticated and efficient manufacturing process for neuronal cells which has now been published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports. The paper describes the technology, developed by ISCO's R&D team, for producing highly pure populations of GMP-grade neuronal cells suitable for pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. The neuronal cells created using this approach are further … Continue reading →