September 28, 2012 Image Caption: A Metabiota field staff member collects blood samples from bushmeat in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Metabiota John Neumann for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online An intriguing new virus from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been identified as the cause of a deadly outbreak of acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the summer of 2009. Described this week in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived. The virus was first discovered when a teenager, living in the rural village of Mangala in the DRC, suddenly fell ill and developed symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever, including bleeding from mucous membranes and blood in the vomit. This victim died within three days of the first signs of illness. A week later, a 13-year-old girl who attended the same school and lived in the same neighborhood came down with a similar illness and also died within three days, writes Nathan D. Wolfe, Joseph Fair, and Charles Chiu for National Geographic. Known viruses, such as Ebola, HIV and … Continue reading →

By Ryan Flinn - 2012-09-28T20:12:41Z Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (CYTX), a biotechnology company with $10 million in annual revenue, rose the most in about a year after the company won a $4.7 million U.S. government contract to develop a stem cell therapy to treat burns caused by thermal or radioactive bombs. Cytori jumped 14 percent to $4.41 at the close in New York, the biggest single-day increase since October 2011. The shares of the San Diego-based company have doubled this year. Were seeing a lot of momentum, Chief Executive Officer Christopher Calhoun said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. This contract is one more major thing that we are delivering on, and there is more to come. The two-year contract with the Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority may be worth $106 million over five years if certain milestones are met, Cytori said today in a statement. The company had a net loss last year of $32 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Cytoris experimental therapy takes adipose tissue, or body fat, from a patient and through its device separates the adult stem and regenerative cells before transferring them to a burn wound. … Continue reading →

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY--(Marketwire - Sep 28, 2012) - Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc. ( OTCBB : PWRV ) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Genetic Immunity, Inc., a Phase III clinical stage biotechnology company with experimental nanomedicines that will lead to the next generation of immunotherapies, in a market that is projected to reach $11.00 billion by 2018. Genetic Immunity's lead product candidate is an immune boosting drug for HIV, which is now only treated by antiretroviral drugs that decrease the ability of the immune system to fight with the virus. DermaVir HIV-specific Immunotherapy is the first of a new line of curative nanomedicine products developed for the treatment and eradication of HIV. In addition, Genetic Immunity has implemented a Predictive Genomic Biomarker as companion diagnostics to accurately predict potential responder patients to DermaVir treatment. Such innovations towards personalized medicine increase the treatment effect and reduce the cost of pivotal trials in full compliance with the FDA's initiatives to improve products for patients (Driving Biomedical Innovation, 2011). In addition, following a successful DermaVir trial on HIV-infected adults, the US government is sponsoring a Phase II pediatric clinical trial. DermaVir is the first therapeutic vaccine that consistently boosts broadly directed … Continue reading →

Jamie Inglis undergoes pioneering stem cell treatment 10:06am Saturday 29th September 2012 in News By Kate Liptrot, kate.liptrot@thepress.co.uk Jamie Inglis smiles from his hospital bed in Germany JAMIE INGLIS would love to join the children in the colourful playroom on the other side of the hospital corridor. He would like to play with his new friend, Ryan, who he has painted a picture for and who has waved at him from the doorway but who wasnt allowed to come in. He would like to spend longer looking for spiders outside. Instead, to guard against possible infection and to stay near to medical treatment, the seven-year-old spends every day in the sunny bedroom that could belong to any boy if it wasnt for the drip, monitors and medical equipment standing alongside his Batman posters, bright paintings, action models and cuddly toys. Jamie has a little more freedom than a few weeks ago when, for a month, he was kept in isolation in a sealed room, which his parents had to be disinfected and wear gowns to enter. Now, as long as he puts on a mask and a hat to protect him from the cold, he is allowed to slowly pad … Continue reading →