Category Archives: Cell Medicine

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

bluebird bio, a leader in the development of innovative gene therapies for severe genetic disorders, announced today that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved an award to the company for $9.3 million for the first round of its new Strategic Partnership Awards initiative. The award is to support a Phase 1/2 study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin, the companys development-stage program for the treatment of beta-thalassemia, which will be initiated in the United States in 2013.

We are very encouraged by the clinical data generated to date demonstrating the potential of LentiGlobin as a one-time transformative gene therapy for patients with beta-thalassemia, said David Davidson, M.D., chief medical officer, bluebird bio. bluebird bio has made significant advances in lentiviral vector design, transduction efficiency, and in our manufacturing process, enabling the production of gene-modified products that can be scaled and deployed for many different clinical indications. We are delighted that CIRM has chosen to recognize the importance of this innovative approach for the treatment of one of the most commonly inherited blood disorders, and we are excited to work with CIRM to continue the development of LentiGlobin in the U.S.

bluebird bios LentiGlobin product introduces a fully functional human beta-globin gene into the patient's own hematopoietic stem cells. These corrected stem cells ultimately produce fully functioning red blood cells. bluebird bio is currently conducting a Phase 1/2 trial examining the feasibility, safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin in the treatment of beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease. Results of the first patient were reported in Nature in 2010, showing dramatic results, including stable expression of functional beta-globin resulting in transfusion independence which now extends for greater than four years following a single treatment.

This CIRM award is among the first awards under the agencys Strategic Partnership Awards initiative, which is designed to engage more effectively with industry and to increase outside investment in CIRM-funded stem cell research. The funding awards were made at the October 25, 2012 meeting of the stem cell agencys governing board, the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC).

About CIRM

CIRM was established in November 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was overwhelmingly approved by voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. A list of grants and loans awarded to date may be seen here: http://www.cirm.ca.gov/for-researchers/researchfunding.

About bluebird bio

bluebird bio is developing innovative gene therapies for severe genetic disorders. At the heart of bluebird bios product creation efforts is its broadly applicable gene therapy platform for the development of novel treatments for diseases with few or no clinical options. The companys novel approach uses stem cells harvested from the patients own bone marrow into which a healthy version of the disease causing gene is inserted. bluebird bios approach represents a true paradigm shift in the treatment of severe genetic diseases by eliminating the potential complications associated with donor cell transplantation and potentially presenting a one-time transformative therapy using a patients own stem cells. bluebird bio has two later stage clinical products in development for childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD) and beta-thalassemia/sickle cell disease. Led by a world-class team, its operations are located in Cambridge, Mass., San Francisco and Paris, France. For more information, please visit http://www.bluebirdbio.com.

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bluebird bio Awarded $9.3 Million From the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to Further Gene Therapy ...

NEWARK, Calif., Oct. 26, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (STEM) announced today that President and CEO Martin McGlynn will make a presentation on the Company's programs and operations at the 2nd Annual Investor and Partnering Forum during the 2012 Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa to be held October 29 -31. Mr. McGlynn is scheduled to speak at 10:15 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, October 30, at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla, California.

The Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa is a three-day conference organized by the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM). The goal of the conference is to bring together the scientific research and business development communities in regenerative medicine to advance stem cell science into cures for debilitating diseases and injuries. The meeting features a nationally recognized Scientific Symposium attended by leading scientists and researchers, as well as an Investor and Partnering Forum designed to facilitate a bridge between academia and industry through one-on-one meetings, furthering the translation of clinical research.

About StemCells, Inc.

StemCells, Inc. is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of cell-based therapeutics and tools for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery. The Company's lead therapeutic product candidate, HuCNS-SC(R) cells (purified human neural stem cells), is currently in development as a potential treatment for a broad range of central nervous system disorders. In a Phase I clinical trial in Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder in children, the Company has shown preliminary evidence of progressive and durable donor-derived myelination in all four patients transplanted with HuCNS-SC cells. The Company is also conducting a Phase I/II clinical trial in chronic spinal cord injury in Switzerland and recently reported positive interim data for the first patient cohort. The Company has also initiated a Phase I/II clinical trial in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and is pursuing preclinical studies in Alzheimer's disease. StemCells also markets stem cell research products, including media and reagents, under the SC Proven(R) brand. Further information about StemCells is available at http://www.stemcellsinc.com.

The StemCells, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7014

Apart from statements of historical fact, the text of this press release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws, and is subject to the safe harbors created therein. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the clinical development of its HuCNS-SC cells; the Company's ability to commercialize drug discovery and drug development tools; and the future business operations of the Company. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Such statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain assumptions that may or may not ultimately prove valid. The Company's actual results may vary materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties to which the Company is subject, including those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and in its subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K.

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StemCells, Inc. to Present at 2012 Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa's Investor and Partnering Forum

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that chairman and CEO Gary Rabin will present at the 2012 Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesas Investor and Partnering Forum, Oct. 29 and 30 in La Jolla, California.

In his presentation, Mr. Rabin will provide an overview of ACTs ocular programs. The presentation will be webcast by theAlliance for Regenerative Medicinein the weeks following the conference.

The following are specific details regarding ACTs presentation at the conference:

About the Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesas Investor and Partnering Forum

The Investor and Partnering Forum is being organized by the Sanford Consortium, CIRM and The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) to facilitate translational research, promote engagement between the scientific and business communities and provide opportunities for business, academic research and investor participants to connect in one-on-one strategic partnering meetings. To learn more or to register for the 2011 Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa Symposium and Investor & Partnering Forum, please visit http://www.stemcellmeetingonthemesa.com.

About Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology company applying cellular technology in the field of regenerative medicine. For more information, visit http://www.advancedcell.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release regarding future financial and operating results, future growth in research and development programs, potential applications of our technology, opportunities for the company and any other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates, and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: limited operating history, need for future capital, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, protection of our intellectual property, and economic conditions generally. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the companys periodic reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. There can be no assurance that the Companys clinical trials will be successful.

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Advanced Cell Technology to Present at Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa’s 2nd Annual Investor and Partnering Forum

Top doctors in Texas ink deal to distribute the only skincare line based on human parthenogenetic stem cells.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) October 25, 2012

Top executives from around the world fly in to meet with Drs. Walter Gaman and Mark Anderson of Executive Medicine of Texas for their innovative and pro-active approach to health care. Voted Best Doctors in Texas by Newsweek Magazine in 2010 and co-authors of the book, Stay Young: 10 Proven Steps to Ultimate Health, the doctors pride themselves on keeping up with the latest technology and weeding out the fads from the real science based products and services.

Dr. Anderson, We are approached almost daily to endorse or support a product. We have no interest in 99.9% of what is brought to us. The irony of Lifeline is that we sought them out.

The duo, who also co-host a nationally syndicated weekly radio program called, The Staying Young Show, with clinical researcher and co-author, Judy Gaman, were first introduced to the Lifeline product when Dr. Elizabeth Hale, a prominent New York dermatologist was a guest on their show and shared her experience with the cream. Once Judy tried it, she and the physicians at Executive Medicine of Texas all agreed that this was nothing short of a miracle cream because Judys skin was changing on a daily basis. It was that personal experience which led the physicians to contact Lifeline and build a relationship.

Donna Queen, President of Lifeline Skin Care adds, Were excited to be working with Dr. Anderson and Dr. Gaman and the Staying Young Show. They have a great understanding of anti-aging medicine, and are established expertslocally, nationally and internationally--on new and innovative treatments for health and wellness.

The unique, patent pending combination of stem cell extracts, vitamins and antioxidants were formulated by a team of ISCOs research scientists in collaboration with cosmetic formulation experts. The serums have been safety tested by independent laboratories, and have been shown to promote firmer, smoother, healthier and younger-looking skin.

Lifeline Skin Care offers consumers the latest advances in biotechnology. These products are game-changers for anti-aging, says Simon Craw, stem cell scientist, International Stem Cell Corporation has developed ethical, potent stem cells that have proved to be a remarkable treatment for aging skin, and we are hopeful these stem cells will someday treat diseases such as Parkinsons disease and diabetes. Today, however, these stem cell extracts are being successfully used for skin rejuvenation. We are reinvesting the profits from the skin care into our research efforts.

Judy Gaman adds, My headshot from less than a year ago doesnt even look like me anymore. If you place that headshot and my new one side by side, it looks like I have turned back the clock ten years. And thats only after using the stem cell cream for six weeks.

The Lifeline collection currently offers two serums, one for day and one for nighttime use, the Defensive Day Moisture Serum SPF 15 and Recovery Night Moisture Serum. In November of 2012 they will launch a multifunctional eye treatment to minimize puffiness and dark circles as well as enhance the firmness of the eye area.

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Executive Medicine of Texas Steps into Forefront of Skin Care with International Stem Cell Corporation’s Breakthrough ...

StemCells Inc. has a history not much different from those of dozens, even hundreds, of biotech companies all around California.

Co-founded by an eminent Stanford research scientist, the Newark, Calif., firm has struggled financially while trying to push its stem cell products through the research-and-development pipeline. It collects about $1 million a year from licensing patents and selling cell cultures but spends well more than $20 million annually on R&D, so it runs deeply in the red.

On the plus side, StemCells Inc. has had rather a charmed relationship with the California stem cell program, that $3-billion taxpayer-backed research fund known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The firm ranks first among all corporate recipients of approved funding from CIRM, with some $40 million in awards approved this year. That's more than has gone to such established California nonprofit research centers as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

The record of StemCells is particularly impressive given that one of the two proposals for which the firm received a $20-million funding award, covering a possible Alzheimer's treatment, was actually rejected by CIRM's scientific review panel twice. Nevertheless, the stem cell agency's governing board went ahead and approved it last month.

What was the company's secret? StemCells says it's addressing "a serious unmet medical need" in Alzheimer's research. But it doesn't hurt that the company also had powerful friends going to bat for it, including two guys who were instrumental in getting CIRM off the ground in the first place.

There's nothing improper about the state stem cell agency funding private enterprise; that's part of its statutory duties, and potentially valuable in advancing the goals of research. In part that's because CIRM is in a good position to help biotech firms leapfrog the "valley of death" the territory between basic research and the much more expensive and speculative process of moving a technology to clinical testing and, hopefully, the marketplace. Unfortunately, that's also the point where outside investment often dries up.

But private enterprise is new territory for CIRM, which has steered almost all its grants thus far to nonprofit institutions. Those efforts haven't been trouble-free: With some 90% of the agency's grants having gone to institutions with representatives on its board, the agency has long been vulnerable to charges of conflicts of interest. The last thing it needed was to show a similar flaw in its dealings with private companies too.

That brings us back to StemCells Inc. First, consider the firm's pedigree. Its co-founder was Irving Weissman, director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and a stem cell research pioneer. Weissman was one of the most prominent and outspoken supporters of Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot initiative that established the stem cell agency.

He's also been a leading beneficiary of CIRM funding, listed as the principal researcher on three grants worth a total of $24.5 million. The agency also contributed $43.6 million toward the construction of his institute's glittering $200-million research building on the Stanford campus. As of mid-April Weissman was still listed as a shareholder of StemCells, where his wife, Ann Tsukamoto, is an executive. Weissman, who is traveling in Africa, could not get back to me by deadline to talk about his relationship with the company.

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Research firm reaped stem cell funds despite panel's advice

StemCells Inc. has a history not much different from those of dozens, even hundreds, of biotech companies all around California.

Co-founded by an eminent Stanford research scientist, the Newark, Calif., firm has struggled financially while trying to push its stem cell products through the research-and-development pipeline. It collects about $1 million a year from licensing patents and selling cell cultures but spends well more than $20 million annually on R&D, so it runs deeply in the red.

On the plus side, StemCells Inc. has had rather a charmed relationship with the California stem cell program, that $3-billion taxpayer-backed research fund known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The firm ranks first among all corporate recipients of approved funding from CIRM, with some $40 million in awards approved this year. That's more than has gone to such established California nonprofit research centers as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

The record of StemCells is particularly impressive given that one of the two proposals for which the firm received a $20-million funding award, covering a possible Alzheimer's treatment, was actually rejected by CIRM's scientific review panel twice. Nevertheless, the stem cell agency's governing board went ahead and approved it last month.

What was the company's secret? StemCells says it's addressing "a serious unmet medical need" in Alzheimer's research. But it doesn't hurt that the company also had powerful friends going to bat for it, including two guys who were instrumental in getting CIRM off the ground in the first place.

There's nothing improper about the state stem cell agency funding private enterprise; that's part of its statutory duties, and potentially valuable in advancing the goals of research. In part that's because CIRM is in a good position to help biotech firms leapfrog the "valley of death" the territory between basic research and the much more expensive and speculative process of moving a technology to clinical testing and, hopefully, the marketplace. Unfortunately, that's also the point where outside investment often dries up.

But private enterprise is new territory for CIRM, which has steered almost all its grants thus far to nonprofit institutions. Those efforts haven't been trouble-free: With some 90% of the agency's grants having gone to institutions with representatives on its board, the agency has long been vulnerable to charges of conflicts of interest. The last thing it needed was to show a similar flaw in its dealings with private companies too.

That brings us back to StemCells Inc. First, consider the firm's pedigree. Its co-founder was Irving Weissman, director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and a stem cell research pioneer. Weissman was one of the most prominent and outspoken supporters of Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot initiative that established the stem cell agency.

He's also been a leading beneficiary of CIRM funding, listed as the principal researcher on three grants worth a total of $24.5 million. The agency also contributed $43.6 million toward the construction of his institute's glittering $200-million research building on the Stanford campus. As of mid-April Weissman was still listed as a shareholder of StemCells, where his wife, Ann Tsukamoto, is an executive. Weissman, who is traveling in Africa, could not get back to me by deadline to talk about his relationship with the company.

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Research firm reaped stem cell funds despite panel's advice

Sir John Gurdon (CNN)

(CNN) The 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded Monday to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for work that revolutionized the understanding of how cells and organisms develop.

The Nobel Assemblys announcement at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, is the first for what will be a series of prizes announced this week. The Norwegian Nobel committee will announce the most anticipated of the annual honors the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in Oslo, Norway.

Gurdon, 79, of Dippenhall, England, and Yamanaka, 50, of Osaka, Japan, share the prize jointly for their discovery that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body, according to the Nobel Assembly, which consists of 50 professors at the Karolinska Institute.

Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the cells are reversible in an experiment with an egg cell of a frog. Yamanaka discovered more than 40 years later how mature cells in mice could be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells that are able to develop into all types of cells in the body, the assembly said in a statement.

These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and cellular specialisation. We now understand that the mature cell does not have to be confined forever to its specialised state, the Nobel Assembly said.

Textbooks have been rewritten and new research fields have been established. By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy.

Separated by more than 40 years, the work of Gurdon and Yamanaka led to a practical medical use for stem cell research that sidesteps the main argument by anti-abortion opponents.

Now embryonic-like stem cells can be created in the laboratory from adult cells of the same organism, rather than using aborted fetuses or embryos, explained Visar Belegu, a stem cell researcher at the Hugo W. Moser Research Institute, part of the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.

Gurdon pioneered cloning through cell reproduction in a tadpole in 1962. In 2006, Yamanaka figured out how to reprogram mature cells so that they revert to their primitive state as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, capable of developing into any part of the body, Belegu said.

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Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to Sir John Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka

MONTREAL, Oct. 15, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - A team of researchers at the IRCM, supervised by Dr. Jacques Drouin, reprogrammed the identity of cells in the pituitary gland and identified critical mechanisms of epigenetic cell programming. This important discovery, published today by the scientific journal Genes & Development, has implications for reprogramming of stem cells and could eventually lead to new pharmacological targets for the treatment of Cushing's disease.

Dr. Drouin's team studies the pituitary, the master gland located at the base of the skull that secretes hormones to control all other glands of the endocrine system. Disruption of pituitary function has dire consequences on growth, reproduction and metabolism.

Within the pituitary gland, each hormone is produced by cells of a different lineage. Unique cell identities are created by cell-specific genetic programs that are implemented during development. Appropriate cell programming is a critical process that needs to be harnessed in order to exploit the therapeutic benefits of stem cell research.

In their work, the IRCM researchers showed that a transcription factor Pax7 has pioneering ability, meaning that it is able to open the tightly-packed chromatin structure of specific regions of the genome. This unmasking of a subset of the genome's regulatory sequences changes the genome's response to differentiation signals such that different cell types are generated.

"We reprogrammed the identity of pituitary cells by using the Pax7 gene in order to create two different types of cells," says Lionel Budry, former student in Dr. Drouin's laboratory and first author of the article. "This allowed us to show that the Tpit protein produces different cell lineages according to the presence or absence of Pax7, and its impact on chromatin organisation."

Cushing's disease is caused by small tumours of the pituitary gland that produce excessive amounts of hormones. For patients with this disease, the abnormal hormone production can lead to hypertension, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis. "For approximately 10% of patients suffering from Cushing's disease, we found that the disease-causing tumours contain cells that express the Pax7 protein," explains Dr. Drouin, Director of the Molecular Genetics research unit at the IRCM. "No effective pharmacological treatment currently exists for Cushing's disease. This discovery could ultimately lead to the development of such treatment, based on tumour growth inhibition by hormones, similarly to what is already done for other pituitary tumours like lactotrope adenomas."

About the research project This research project was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute. Contributors from Jacques Drouin's laboratory also include Aurlio Balsalobre, Yves Gauthier, Konstantin Khetchoumian, Aurore L'Honor and Sophie Vallette. In addition, IRCM scientists worked in collaboration with researchers from the Universit de la Mditerrane and Hopital La Timone, Marseille in France and Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

For more information on this discovery, please refer to the article summary published online by Genes & Development: http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/26/20/2299.abstract

About Dr. Jacques Drouin Jacques Drouin obtained his Doctor of Science in Physiology from the Universit Laval. He is IRCM Research Professor and Director of the Molecular Genetics research unit. Dr. Drouin is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Universit de Montral. He is also associate member of the Department of Medicine (Division of Experimental Medicine), adjunct professor of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and adjunct member of the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University. In addition, he is an elected member of the Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada.

About the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montral (IRCM) Founded in 1967, the IRCM (www.ircm.qc.ca) is currently comprised of 37 research units in various fields, namely immunity and viral infections, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer, neurobiology and development, systems biology and medicinal chemistry. It also houses three specialized research clinics, eight core facilities and three research platforms with state-of-the-art equipment. The IRCM employs 425 people and is an independent institution affiliated with the Universit de Montral. The IRCM clinic is associated to the Centre hospitalier de l'Universit de Montral (CHUM). The IRCM also maintains a long-standing association with McGill University.

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Reprogramming cell identity in the pituitary gland - A discovery by IRCM researchers could lead to new treatments for ...

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 12th, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Prominent stem cell scientists, physicians, and advocates from leading medical facilities and research institutions across Texas and California will highlight the 3rd Annual Stem Cell Research Symposium: Spotlight on Texas, on October 19, 2012, at the Texas State Capitol.

This free, public symposium, produced and co-hosted by the Austin-based nonprofit Texas Cures Education Foundation (Texas Cures), is designed to educate the public about the exciting stem cell research andclinical trials currently under way in Texas.The event will also include a discussion of recent Texas laws affecting stem cell research, the potential economic impact of stem cell research and highlight the current progress in one of the most promising areas of medicine.

This year, more than a dozen local and national advocacy groups, institutions and foundations showed their support for the efforts of the hosting organizations Texas Cures and Texans for Stem Cell Research including the Genetics Policy Institute, Alliance for Regenerative Medicine and Texans for Advancement of Medical Research.

The symposium begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Capitol Extension Auditorium (E1.004), located at the Texas State Capitol Building. Admission is free and open to the public.Registration is recommended.

This program unites the diverse stem cell research and regenerative medicine community to provide a unified voice for promising science that holds unmatched potential to benefit patients. Leading speakers at the event will include:

For additional details about the program and presentation topics, please visit TexasCures.org.

The 3rd Annual Stem Cell Research Symposium: Spotlight on Texas is an official World Stem Cell Awareness Day Event. Follow @TexasCures and #stemcellday for live Twitter updates and announcements.

Texas Cures Education Foundation (Texas Cures) TexasCures.orgis a non-partisan, nonprofit 501(c)3] organization based in Austin, Texas. It was founded for the purpose of advancing knowledge of the life-saving work that doctors and researchers perform every day on behalf of patients and their families. Texas Cures facilitates stem cell public education for the betterment of healthcare and the growth of companies, research hospitals, and institutions, charities, and volunteer patient group organizations that include a broad range of regenerative medicine stakeholders. Texas Cures advocates for responsible public policy and encourages legislative and regulatory proposals that expand access to stem cell clinical applications.

SOURCE Texas Cures Education Foundation

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Leading Researchers to Unite at Texas State Capitol for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was announced on Monday. The award this year went to Sir John B. Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka. The two men were awarded the Nobel Prize jointly, for their individual work in cloning and stem cell research.

Monday's recognition marked the awarding of the first Nobel Prize for 2012. The rest of the Nobel Prize recipients will be announced throughout the next two weeks.

Here is some of the key information regarding Gurdon and Yamanaka's work and Monday's Nobel Prize announcement.

* Yamanaka and Gurdon did not work together or present shared research, even though they both concentrate their studies on a similar area of research.

* Gurdon is actually being honored for work he did back in 1962. According to a New York Times report, he was the first person to clone an animal, a frog, opening the door to further research into stem cells and cloning.

* Gurdon was able to produce live tadpoles from the adult cells of a frog, by removing the nucleus of a frog's egg and putting the adult cells in its place.

* This "reprogramming" by Gurdon laid the groundwork for Yamanaka's work four decades later. Yamanaka's work, which dates back only six years, to 2006, focused on the mechanisms behind Gurdon's results.

* According to the Los Angeles Times, Yamanaka was sharply criticized at first for his own work, in which he sought to discover how cells are able to reprogram themselves the way that Gurdon's work first suggested that they could.

* Ultimately, Yamanaka was able to isolate just four cells that were needed in order to be able to reprogram other cells back to an embryonic state, allowing them to be manipulated into developing into any particular kind of cell that was needed. These cells have now been dubbed "induced pluripotent stem cells," or iPS cells, according to reports by CNN and other media outlets.

* Scientists are reproducing Yamanaka's technique in their own labs to be able to replicate disease cells, like those of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, in order to study them and even to test the effects of potential new treatments.

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Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine Goes to Stem Cell Researchers