GAITHERSBURG, MD--(Marketwire -07/18/12)- Cytomedix, Inc. (CMXI) (the "Company"), a regenerative therapies company commercializing and developing innovative platelet and adult stem cell technologies, announces the initiation of a Phase I clinical study with ALD-451 in brain cancer patients in collaboration with Duke University Medical Center. The open-label study will enroll up to 12 patients and is intended to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of ALD-451 when administered intravenously in World Health Organization ("WHO") grade IV malignant glioma patients following surgery, radiation therapy and treatment with temozolomide. The trial also will obtain an initial description of the effects of ALD-451 on neuro-cognition. The clinical study is open for enrollment having received Investigational New Drug clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Investigational Review Board clearance from Duke University Medical Center(ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01639612). The study's principal investigator is Dr. Annick Desjardins, Assistant Professor of Medicine at The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Medical Center. Co-investigators are Dr. Henry S. Friedman, Deputy Director, The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center and Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, Chief Scientific Officer and Medical Director, Robertson Clinical & Translational Cell Therapy Program. Cytomedix will be responsible for manufacturing ALD-451 for the clinical trial. … Continue reading →

(Phys.org) -- New research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sheds light on pluripotencythe ability of embryonic stem cells to renew themselves indefinitely and to differentiate into all types of mature cells. Solving this problem, which is a major challenge in modern biology, could expedite the use of embryonic stem cells in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. If scientists can replicate the mechanisms that make pluripotency possible, they could create cells in the laboratory which could be implanted in humans to cure diseases characterized by cell death, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes and other degenerative diseases. To shed light on these processes, researchers in the lab of Dr. Eran Meshorer, in the Department of Genetics at the Hebrew Universitys Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, are combining molecular, microscopic and genomic approaches. Meshorer's team is focusing on epigenetic pathwayswhich cause biological changes without a corresponding change in the DNA sequencethat are specific to embryonic stem cells. The molecular basis for epigenetic mechanisms is chromatin, which is comprised of a cell's DNA and structural and regulatory proteins. In groundbreaking research performed by Shai Melcer, a PhD student in the Meshorer lab, the mechanisms which support an open chromatin conformation in embryonic … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 18, 2012) New research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sheds light on pluripotency -- the ability of embryonic stem cells to renew themselves indefinitely and to differentiate into all types of mature cells. Solving this problem, which is a major challenge in modern biology, could expedite the use of embryonic stem cells in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. If scientists can replicate the mechanisms that make pluripotency possible, they could create cells in the laboratory which could be implanted in humans to cure diseases characterized by cell death, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes and other degenerative diseases. To shed light on these processes, researchers in the lab of Dr. Eran Meshorer, in the Department of Genetics at the Hebrew University's Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, are combining molecular, microscopic and genomic approaches. Meshorer's team is focusing on epigenetic pathways -- which cause biological changes without a corresponding change in the DNA sequence -- that are specific to embryonic stem cells. The molecular basis for epigenetic mechanisms is chromatin, which is comprised of a cell's DNA and structural and regulatory proteins. In groundbreaking research performed by Shai Melcer, a PhD student in the Meshorer lab, the mechanisms … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 18, 2012) Fluorescent nanoparticles loaded with organic light-emitting dyes are expected to transform live-animal imaging technologies. Compared to inorganic quantum dots, these optically stable materials are non-toxic and can easily be modified with functional groups, making them ideal when targeting specific tissues in the body. Unfortunately, traditional dyes have been known to aggregate and lose their emission intensity when incorporated in nanoparticles at high concentration. To overcome this problem, a team of researchers led by Bin Liu and Ben Zhong Tang at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering have now designed a family of dyes with enhanced fluorescence upon aggregation. At the heart of the traditional dyes is a planar chromophore called triphenylamine-modified dicyanomethylene, which emits red light in dilute solutions but fluoresces weakly when aggregated. "The close vicinity of the chromophores induces fluorescence quenching due to non-radiative pathways," says Liu. Liu, Tang and their team reversed this phenomenon by attaching propeller-shaped tetraphenylethene pendants to each extremity of the chromophore. Contrary to planar compounds, the shape of the propellers prevents strong stacking interactions between chromophores, blocking the aggregation-caused quenching process. In addition, the physical confinement prevents these propellers from rotating freely, enabling light emission. The team … Continue reading →