Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

The US government can continue funding embryonic stem cell research, after a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to throw out a lawsuit challenging federal funding for the research.

According to the Associated Press, opponents of stem cell research had claimed that the National Institute of Health was violating the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law, which prevents US funding for any work that could harm an embryo.

Dickey-Wicker permits federal funding of research projects that utilize already-derived ESCs which are not themselves embryos because no human embryo or embryos are destroyed in such projects, Chief Judge David B. Sentelle said in the ruling, AP reported.

Dr. Francis Collins, the director of NIH, said in a statement that they would "continue to move forward, conducting and funding research in this very promising area of science. The ruling affirms our commitment to the patients afflicted by diseases that may one day be treatable using the results of this research.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by Dr. James Sherley of Boston Biomedical Research Institute and Theresa Deisher of AVM Biotechnology in Seattle, NBC News reported. The two use adult stem cells for research, but oppose the use of embryonic stem cells, stem cells found in day old embryos that act source of all of the cells and tissues in the body.

According to the NIH, stem cells have "the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth" and can provide "new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes, and heart disease."

In Canada, a drug using stem cells, has been approved to treat bone marrow diseases.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/science/120825/embryonic-stem-cell-research-can-be-funded-us-gov-court-rules

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Embryonic stem cell research can be funded by US gov, court rules

August 24, 2012 in Health

Jesse J. Holland Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) A federal appeals court on Friday refused to order the Obama administration to stop funding embryonic stem cell research, despite complaints the work relies on destroyed humanembryos.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court decision throwing out a lawsuit that challenged federal funding for the research, which is used in pursuit of cures to deadly diseases. Opponents claimed the National Institutes of Health was violating the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law that prohibits taxpayer financing for work that harms anembryo.

But a three-judge appeals court panel unanimously agreed with a lower court judges dismissal of the case. This is the second time the appeals court has said that the challenged federal funding of embryonic stem cell research waspermissible.

Dickey-Wicker permits federal funding of research projects that utilize already-derived ESCs which are not themselves embryos because no human embryo or embryos are destroyed in such projects, Chief Judge David B. Sentelle said in the ruling, adding that the plaintiffs made the same argument the last the time the court reviewed the issue. Therefore, unless they have established some extraordinary circumstance, the law of the case is established and we will not revisit theissue.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement after the decision, NIH will continue to move forward, conducting and funding research in this very promising area of science. The ruling affirms our commitment to the patients afflicted by diseases that may one day be treatable using the results of thisresearch.

Researchers hope one day to use stem cells in ways that cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinsons disease and other ailments. Opponents of the research object because the cells were obtained from destroyed human embryos. Though current research is using cells culled long ago, opponents say they also fear research success would spur new embryo destruction. Proponents say the research cells come mostly from extra embryos that fertility clinics would have discardedanyway.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by two scientists who argued that Obamas expansion jeopardized their ability to win government funding for research using adult stem cells ones that have already matured to create specific types of tissues because it will mean extracompetition.

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Court: Gov't can fund embryonic stem cell research - Fri, 24 Aug 2012 PST

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court on Friday refused to order the Obama administration to stop funding embryonic stem cell research, despite complaints the work relies on destroyed human embryos.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court decision throwing out a lawsuit that challenged federal funding for the research, which is used in pursuit of cures to deadly diseases. Opponents claimed the National Institutes of Health was violating the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law that prohibits taxpayer financing for work that harms an embryo.

But a three-judge appeals court panel unanimously agreed with a lower court judge's dismissal of the case. This is the second time the appeals court has said that the challenged federal funding of embryonic stem cell research was permissible.

"Dickey-Wicker permits federal funding of research projects that utilize already-derived ESCs - which are not themselves embryos - because no 'human embryo or embryos are destroyed' in such projects," Chief Judge David B. Sentelle said in the ruling, adding that the plaintiffs made the same argument the last the time the court reviewed the issue. "Therefore, unless they have established some 'extraordinary circumstance,' the law of the case is established and we will not revisit the issue."

Researchers hope one day to use stem cells in ways that cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease and other ailments. Opponents of the research object because the cells were obtained from destroyed human embryos. Though current research is using cells culled long ago, opponents say they also fear research success would spur new embryo destruction. Proponents say the research cells come mostly from extra embryos that fertility clinics would have discarded anyway.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by two scientists who argued that Obama's expansion jeopardized their ability to win government funding for research using adult stem cells - ones that have already matured to create specific types of tissues - because it will mean extra competition.

President George W. Bush also permitted stem cell research, but limited the availability of taxpayer funds to embryonic stem cell lines that were already in existence and "where the life and death decision has already been made." Obama's order removed that limitation, allowing projects that involve stem cells from already destroyed embryos or embryos to be destroyed in the future. To qualify, parents who donate the original embryo must be told of other options, such as donating to another infertile woman.

Sentelle also rejected the opponent's two other arguments: that the same federal law prohibits funding for projects where embryos are "knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death," and that NIH issued guidelines on the funding without responding to complaints about the research.

"Because the executive order's entire thrust was aimed at expanding support of stem-cell research, it was not arbitrary or capricious for NIH to disregard comments that instead called for termination of all ESC research," including research the White House has permitted since 2001," said Sentelle, who wrote the majority opinion for Judges Karen Henderson and Janice Rogers Brown.

Sentelle was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Henderson by President George H.W. Bush and Brown by President George W. Bush.

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Court: Government can fund embryonic stem cell research

By Maggie Fox, NBC News

The federal government may continue to pay for controversial human embryonic stem cell research, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The three-judge panel says the government has correctly interpreted a law that bans the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos for research. The ruling is unlikely to put the issue to rest and one of the judges pleaded for Congress to make clear what the government should and should not be able to do.

The hard-to-understand case pits science against mostly religious arguments against using embryos in medical research. It's even more confusing because there are so many differenlt types of cells called stem cells.

Dr. James Sherley of Boston Biomedical Research Institute and Theresa Deisher of AVM Biotechnology in Seattle, who both do research using adult stem cells and oppose the use of human embryonic stem cells, sued in 2009. They said federal guidelines violate the law and would harm their work by increasing competition for limited federal funding.

Its been back and forth in the federal courts since then, and Sherley has vowed to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

The embryonic stem cells at issue are the bodys master cells. Found in days-old embryos, they are the source of all the cells and tissues in the body blood, brain, bone and muscle. Researchers are studying them to investigate how disease develops and are using some as transplants to treat diseases from Parkinsons to cancer. They are being tested in people to repair spinal cord injuries and as a possible cure for some forms of blindness.

Opponents of the research say its unacceptable to destroy a human embryo to get the cells. The 1996 Dickey-Wicker amendment, added by Congress to budget language every year, forbids the use offederal funds in research that destroys embryos.

When he was president, George W. Bush decided that the ban extended to human embryonic stem-cell research and greatly limited the federal program.

As one of his first acts after he entered office, President Barack Obama issued an executive order reversing this and encouraging the National Institutes of Health to pay for embryonic stem-cell research, so long as federal money wasnt used to directly make the stem cells. To get the cells, someone in a private lab using private money has to take apart the embryos usually left over from fertility clinics and destined for the trash can. Federal funds may be used to work with the cells that private labs make available.

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Court: Embryonic stem cell research is legal

Public release date: 23-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Hilary Glover hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com 44-020-319-22370 BioMed Central

Stem cells isolated from fat are being considered as an option for treating tissue damage and diseases because of their accessibility and lack of rejection. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy shows that this is not as straightforward as previously believed, and that fat-derived stem cells secrete VEGF and other factors, which can inhibit cartilage regeneration. However pre-treating the cells with antibodies against VEGF and growing them in nutrients specifically designed to promote chondrocytes can neutralize these effects.

Chondrocytes make and maintain healthy cartilage but damage and disease including osteoarthritis can destroy cartilage resulting in pain and lack of mobility. Stem cell therapy using cells isolated from adult tissue (such as fat) are being investigated as a way of repairing this damage. Stem cells have the ability to become many different types of tissue so the real trick is persuading them to become cartilage rather than bone, or blood vessels, for example.

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that adipose (fat) stem cells (ASCs) secrete large amounts of factors, especially the growth factor VEGF, which prevent cartilage regeneration and actually causes the death (apoptosis) of chondrocytes along with the formation of blood vessels. Treating ASCs with medium designed to encourage their differentiation into cartilage cells was able to reduce the amount of these secreted factors and also prevented the growth of blood vessels. Specifically, an antibody designed to neutralize VEGF prevented chondrocyte apoptosis.

Prof Barbara Boyan, who led this research, explained, "Non-treated ASCs actually impeded healing of hyaline cartilage defects, and although treating ASCs improved the situation they added no benefit to compared to cartilage allowed to heal on its own. However we only looked at cartilage repair for a week after treatment, and other people have shown that two to six weeks is required before the positive effect of ASCs on influence cartilage regeneration is seen."

So while stem cells from fat may be able to help repair damaged cartilage, careful handling and pre-treatment may be required to ensure a positive result.

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Media contact

Dr Hilary Glover Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2370 Mob: +44 (0) 778 698 1967 Email: hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com

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Repairing cartilage with fat: Problems and potential solutions

An interview with Roberto Bolli, MD.

University of Louisville cardiologist Roberto Bolli, MD, led the stem cell study that tested using patients' own heart stem cells to help their hearts recover from heart failure. Though that trial was preliminary, the results look promising -- and may one day lead to a cure for heart failure.

Here, Bolli talks about what this work means and when it might become an option for patients.

2012 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

"Realistically, this will not come... for another three or four years, at least," Bolli says. "It may be longer, depending on the results of the next trial, of course."

Larger studies are needed to confirm the procedure's safety and effectiveness. If those succeed, it could be "the biggest advance in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime," Bolli says.

A total of 20 patients took part in the initial study.

All of them experienced significant improvement in their heart failure and now function better in daily life, according to Bolli. "The patients can do more, there's more ability to exercise, and the quality of life improves markedly," Bolli says.

Bolli's team published its findings on how the patients were doing one year after stem cell treatment in November 2011 in the Lancet, a British medical journal.

Each patient was infused with about 1 million of his or her own cardiac stem cells, which could eventually produce an estimated 4 trillion new cardiac cells, Bolli says. His team plans to follow each patient for two years after their stem cell procedure.

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Heart Stem Cell Trial: Interview With Researcher Roberto Bolli, MD

By Shane Huntington

Pioneering stem cell researcher Prof Martin Pera discusses where stem cell research has been and where its going, the therapeutic potential of stem cell technologies, and what we should and shouldnt expect from this fast-developing research field. With host Dr Shane Huntington.

SHANE HUNTINGTON Over the last couple of decades stem cells have been touted as the key to treating a wide range of diseases, with advantages that exceed surgical repair or even organ transplantation; but work on stem cells, especially those derived from human embryos, has drawn significant public scrutiny. In many countries embryonic stem cell research is tightly regulated, and researchers have been forced to explore other research options. Such restrictions are not present worldwide and, in some countries, regulation has yet to catch up with the science. This can make it especially challenging for patients trying to navigate through the world of therapeutic stem cell technologies, both in trial phase and on the consumer market. To explore these issues and the technology itself we are joined on Up Close by one of the pioneers of stem cell research: Professor Martin Pera, program leader of Stem Cells Australia, and professor of stem cell sciences at the University of Melbourne. Welcome to Up Close, Martin.

MARTIN PERA Thank you.

SHANE HUNTINGTON Could you start by giving us a bit of an overview of what a stem cell is and why these particular cells have generated so much interest over the last two decades?

MARTIN PERA Well, they're really two basic types of stem cells. One type of stem cell we cal pluripotent stem cells. And these can either be derived from very early stage embryos of they can now be created in the lab from adult cells, from patients, through a process we call reprogramming. And pluripotent stem cells are able to give rise to all the tissues of the body. The second class of stem cell is the tissue stem cell, sometimes called adult stem cells. These are stem cells that are minority populations in many adult tissues. They are, essentially, more limited in their potential; they usually only give rise to a few types. Both types of stem cells have two key properties. The first is that they are primitive cells that can give rise to more mature functional cell types like neurons or red blood cells. The second is that they can also divide to produce more stem cells. So stem cells provide a reservoir for tissue regeneration or repair. I think the excitement around pluripotential stem cells in particular has to do with the fact that they can be grown indefinitely in the laboratory and multiplied many times over to make more stem cells and that they can give rise to all the tissues of the body. So for the first time we've got an indefinitely renewable source of any healthy human tissue for use either in the laboratory or in transplantation medicine.

SHANE HUNTINGTON You've been working at the stem cells, essentially, from the beginning, when you and others first discovered that you could, potentially, coax these cells down particular differentiation pathways. Tell us a bit about what that was like back then because I can imagine there would have been an incredible sense of enthusiasm with regards to the possibilities of such cells.

MARTIN PERA Well, we were very excited. Of course, it was known since the 1980s that stem cells could be developed from the mouse embryo. Despite many attempts in the intervening years it proved difficult to derive these cells from other species. Then, in the mid-'90s, Jamie Thomson, in Wisconsin, showed that you could make pluripotent cells from the rhesus monkey embryo. And our laboratory, and a few others, set out to see if we could do this from human embryos. It was incredibly exciting when we first had some success, so that, indeed, we could make these cells and that they could turn in to human tissue-like nerves.

SHANE HUNTINGTON What does it mean in terms of the progress of, essentially, combating a range of diseases at that point in time? It seems as though you had something that looked like it was an answer but, decades later, we're still sort of a fair way off.

MARTIN PERA Well, at those early stages there was incredible promise and incredible potential. One of the most difficult things for us in the field was to convey that promise, and the excitement was not trying to claim that things were going to happen too quickly. To me, it's remarkable that only a little over a decade after human embryonic stem cells were discovered we're already seeing clinical trials of the first human embryonic stem cell derived products for conditions like macular degeneration, a very common cause of blindness. Now, that's remarkable because, as I say, it's only a little over a decade. Even in the drug industry - which is a well travelled paradigm for development of therapeutics - it's not unusual to have 10 to 15 years between the discovery and clinical trials. So I think this is quite remarkable. However, in many areas, we still have a long way to go for many applications.

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Stem Cell Therapy: The Hope and the Hype

Cambridge stem cell research company Stemgent Inc. has taken $11.3 million in equity, the largest round to date for the four-and-a-half year old company, according to federal filings.

The 40-plus employee company, headquartered in Kendall Square with another research and development site in San Diego, Calif., has filed for more than $40 million in debt and equity investment to date. Most recent is a $6.3 million round in February, which came from eight investors who were not listed on the filing. At the time, CEO Ian Ratcliffe told Mass High Tech that the company would use the new funding to expand its licensed intellectual property around stem cell reagents, as well as expanding its existing operations and product lines.

The current filing indicates that the $11.3 million comes from eight backers, with related persons listed as board members Stefan Miltenyi, founder of German biotech; Harold Werner and Augustine Lawlor of HealthCare Ventures LLC of Cambridge; and Ralph Christofferson of Morganthaler Partners of Ohio. No one from the company was available for comment Monday.

The companys mission is to support cellular reprogramming research by producing products being designed by stem cell researchers. In January 2010, it launched a custom cell line generation service to provide companies with induced pluripotent stem cells - adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem celllike state. Two months later, it launched Ubiquigent Ltd., a subsidiary based in Scotland which produces technology focused on the biology of the ubiquitin protesome pathway (UPP).

In June, Stemgent bought the human tissue business of the UKs Asterand Plc. for $9 million in cash.

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Stemgent rakes in $11M, largest round to date

Toronto, ON (PRWEB) August 13, 2012

1DegreeBio Inc. today launched its Stem Cell Portal, where stem cell researchers can find antibodies and product data specific to their research. The portal also provides a venue where scientists can read and submit reviews of these products, and see quality ratings from the community. The portal is the second in a series of 1DegreeBio portals targeted at specific research areas which will be released in the coming year, and follows the June launch of the 1DegreeBio Epigenetics Portal.

1DegreeBio is the largest independent review website for custom research services, antibodies and related life science products.

Stem cells are an extremely promising avenue in medical research, with new breakthroughs every day, said Alex Hodgson, Managing Director, 1DegreeBio. 1DegreeBio is excited to provide a free, specialized resource to support stem cell researchers, and help them find the best products for their work.

Commercial antibodies are often an essential component in stem cell research, but inconsistency in antibody quality often slows the research process. The new 1DegreeBio Stem Cell Portal is designed to address this issue, as researchers can find validation data and community reviews of stem cell antibodies, helping them identify the right product for their experiments.

The commercial outcomes from large tax-payer investments in stem cell research are increasing steadily, says Dr. Rahul Sarugaser, Director of Business Development for the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine. Open-access resources like the 1DegreeBio Stem Cell Portal provide great support for this rapidly-growing field.

Stem cell research has implications for a number of chronic diseases and conditions, such as cancer, spinal cord injury, heart disease and diabetes.

It is critical that scientists have the right tools to keep pushing our research forward efficiently, said Dr. Geneve Awong, a stem cell researcher at the University Health Network in Toronto and 1DegreeBio user. The 1DegreeBio Stem Cell Portal is an excellent resource that helps make that possible.

About 1DegreeBio Inc.

1DegreeBio.org is an independent product and service review site for life scientists, featuring the worlds largest antibody database. Listing more than 800,000 products and services from 400 providers, 1DegreeBio has all the information researchers need to find the right products and services for their research, including quality validation data, citations, user reviews and ratings. http://1degreebio.org

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1DegreeBio Launches Online Resource for Stem Cell Researchers

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For many Southern California high school students, summer is synonymous with surf, sand and sun. But, for some of Los Angeles' top math and science students, the lure of the beach and traditional summer fun fizzles fast when compared to microscopes, slide kits and real-life stem cell research.

Armed with little more than protective gear and enthusiasm, 20 overachieving teenagers have been clocking 40-hour weeks in the lab at USC's Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

Among them is 17-year-old Brian Tom of Lincoln Heights.

Its fascinating because stem cells have all this potential to heal these degenerative diseases like Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer's," says Tom, a senior at Bravo Medical Magnet in Los Angeles. "It's amazing how you can create multiple tissues from one cell."

Stem cells offer promise as a treatment or cure for many diseases because they can be can induced to morph into other cell types such as brain, muscle or skin cells. Stem cells can also divide without limit, which gives them the potential to repair and replace damaged tissue.

You can just imagine the possibilities," says Sophie McCallister, a 17-year-old senior at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. McCallister works with a USC mentor on cardiac cell regeneration.

Two programs, one goal

McCallister and nine other students are in a program that's privately funded by two donors with ties to USC. Meanwhile, Tom and his summer school classmates are studying under a statewide program funded by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), a voter-created agency that funds stem cell research throughout California.

CIRM has invested $1.7 million in nine high school summer programs statewide for three years.

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Summer school students help scientists advance stem cell research at USC