Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc., a leader in adult allogeneic stem cell manufacturing, research and development, announced today that cardiologist Stephen E. Epstein, MD, Director of Translational Research of the MedStar Heart Institute, Washington Hospital Center, has accepted the position of Chairman of Stemedicas Scientific and Medical Advisory Board for the Companys Cardiology Division. Dr. Epstein served for over 30 years as Chief of the Cardiology Branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Maryland. San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 04, 2013 With more than 500 publications in peer-reviewed medical journals, Dr. Epstein is a recognized international authority on angiogenesis and the role of infection in atherosclerosis. He and his colleagues recently developed stem cell strategies for enhancing collateral development (new blood vessel growth) and are currently focused on understanding and treating cardiovascular disease at the molecular level by identifying the molecular mechanisms responsible for development of vulnerable plaques. These efforts have included examining possible genetic polymorphisms and of circulating biomarkers as indicators that a given patient is at risk of plaque rupture. Dr. Epstein has also explored how aging leads to collateral dysfunction and the related molecular mechanisms. One of Dr. Epsteins current primary areas of … Continue reading →

Public release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Caroline Marin crmarin@umn.edu 612-624-5680 University of Minnesota Academic Health Center MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (March 5, 2013) Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have combined genetic repair with cellular reprogramming to generate stem cells capable of muscle regeneration in a mouse model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). The research, which provides proof-of-principle for the feasibility of combining induced pluripotent stem cell technology and genetic correction to treat muscular dystrophy, could present a major step forward in autologous cell-based therapies for DMD and similar conditions and should pave the way for testing the approach in reprogrammed human pluripotent cells from muscular dystrophy patients. The research is published in Nature Communications. To achieve a meaningful, effective muscular dystrophy therapy in the mouse model, University of Minnesota researchers combined three groundbreaking technologies. First, researchers reprogrammed skin cells into "pluripotent" cells cells capable of differentiation into any of the mature cell types within an organism. The researchers generated pluripotent cells from the skin of mice that carry mutations in the dystrophin and utrophin genes, causing the mice to develop a severe case of muscular dystrophy, much like the type seen in human … Continue reading →

Neurosurgeon Daniel Lim's injection system can bend sideways, delivering therapeutic stem cells to the brain through fewer holes in the skull. J. Bardi/UCSF As the surgical team prepared its instruments, a severed human head lay on the plastic tray, its face covered by a blue cloth. It had thawed over the past 24 hours, and a pinky-sized burr hole had been cut near the top of its skull. Scalp covered with salt-and-pepper stubble wrinkled above and below a pink strip of smooth bone. Over the next two hours, the head would be scanned in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine as the researchers, led by Daniel Lim, a neurosurgeon and stem-cell scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, tested a flexible needle for delivering cells to the brain. Several laboratories are investigating ways to treat neurological diseases by injecting cells into patients brains, and clinical trials are being conducted for Parkinsons disease, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases. These studies follow experiments showing dramatic improvements in rats and mice. But as work on potentially therapeutic cells has surged ahead, necessary surgical techniques have lagged behind, says Lim. In 2008 researchers led by Steven Goldman at the University of Rochester in … Continue reading →

The flexible needles could help doctors deliver stem cells to broader areas of the brain with fewer injections. Such therapies are being investigated for Parkinson's diseases, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases By Monya Baker and Nature magazine Neurosurgeon Daniel Lim's injection system can bend sideways, delivering therapeutic stem cells to the brain through fewer holes in the skull. Image: Flickr/TschiAe As the surgical team prepared its instruments, a severed human head lay on the plastic tray, its face covered by a blue cloth. It had thawed over the past 24 hours, and a pinky-sized burr hole had been cut near the top of its skull. Scalp covered with salt-and-pepper stubble wrinkled above and below a pink strip of smooth bone. Over the next two hours, the head would be scanned in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine as the researchers, led by Daniel Lim, a neurosurgeon and stem-cell scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, tested a flexible needle for delivering cells to the brain. Several laboratories are investigating ways to treat neurological diseases by injecting cells into patients brains, and clinical trials are being conducted for Parkinsons disease, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases. These studies follow experiments showing … Continue reading →