Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) February 22, 2012

There is little evidence to support the safety and effectiveness of procedures, equipment and treatments that have been advertised using adult stem cells for aesthetic reconstruction, including plastic surgery and facial rejuvenation, according to physicians writing in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center and editor-in-chief of the journal, published a position statement on “stem cell facelifts” and “stem cell breast augmentation,” also known as “natural breast augmentation.” Dr. Felmont F. Eaves III of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Dr. Phillip C. Haeck of Seattle, Wash.,collaborated on the statement on behalf of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

“There are encouraging data from studies in laboratories to suggest that the use of adult stem cells is a very promising field and may produce beneficial medical therapies to treat a variety of diseases,” the doctors said in the statement. They emphasized that there is a lack of consistency in the way stem cell facelift procedures are performed, and pointed out that many procedures are being advertised by physicians who are not board-certified for this type of treatment, and devices being sold for aesthetic stem cell treatments have not been approved for human use in the U.S.

In the report, the doctors encourage their peers to continue reporting clinic results and experimental research to peer-reviewed plastic surgery journals to both promote good science and to foster safety and best practices for stem cell use in aesthetic procedures. “Much more research needs to be conducted before any definitive statements can be made,” the report said. “[Until then,] stem cell based procedures should be performed in compliance with FDA regulatory guidelines.”

Dr. Rohrich said many of the advertisements claiming stem cells can aid in restoring facial and body youthfulness come from outside the U.S. “Further direct, approved clinical research is needed to validate those claims,” he said, “but the future is potentially bright for the use of adult stem cells in both plastic surgery and facial rejuvenation, as well as in medical procedures, such as restoring nerve and brain damage resulting from trauma or cancer, as well as reversing the severe effects of auto immune disease.”

To read the complete joint ASAPS/ASPS position statement on stem cell use in aesthetic surgery, including stem cell facelifts and natural breast augmentation, visit the ASPS, at their website.

About Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Dr. Rod J. Rohrich holds the Betty and Warren Woodward Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He also holds the UT Southwestern Medical Center Crystal Charity Ball Distinguished Chair in Plastic Surgery. He is a graduate of the Baylor College of Medicine with high honors, with residencies at the University of Michigan Medical Center and fellowships at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard (hand/microsurgery) and Oxford University (pediatric plastic surgery). He has served as president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. He repeatedly has been selected by his peers as one of America's best doctors, and twice has received one of his profession's highest honors, the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes his contributions to education in his field. Dr. Rohrich participates in and has led numerous associations and councils for the advancement of plastic and reconstructive surgery. He is a native of North Dakota. He is married to Dr. Diane Gibby, also a plastic surgeon. They live in Texas with their two children.

###

More:
Surgeons Urge Caution: Stem Cell Treatments Untested in Aesthetic Surgery

NOKOMIS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research into Cancer Stem Cells (CSC) is on the rise, fueling industry growth that Rainbow Coral Corp. (OTCBB: RBCC.OB - News) expects to translate into demand for n3D cell growth technologies.

RBCC is finalizing an equity funding agreement with n3D Biosciences, the maker of a revolutionary new system that allows scientists to grow three-dimensional cell cultures more easily than ever before. The device, called the Bio-Assembler, could have an extraordinary impact on cell research worldwide, and RBCC expects to find a strong market for the device once its funding agreement with n3D is finalized.

Many cancers, including breast, prostate, pancreatic, colon, brain, and lung cancers, contain a subset of stem-like cells understood to play a critical role in the development and progression of the disease. Research suggests that these cells, called Cancer Stem Cells, are able to “seed” new tumor formation and drive metastasis.

Because these cells are believed to be at the root of the development and spread of cancer, they’re quickly becoming the center of cancer diagnostics and biomarkers. CSCs are resistant to a number of chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy, and approximately 20 different strategies are currently being pursued in the hope of selectively targeting CSCs. This creates a huge opening for new companies and technologies dedicated to streamlining cellular research.

RBCC believes that the Bio-Assembler could allow researchers to dramatically shorten the development timeline for new CSC drugs and treatments, potentially proving very lucrative to the company.

For more information on Rainbow BioSciences, please visit http://www.rainbowbiosciences.com/investors.

Rainbow BioSciences will develop new medical and research technology innovations to compete alongside companies such as Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG), Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and Affymax, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY).

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RBCCinfo.

About Rainbow BioSciences

Rainbow BioSciences is a division of Rainbow Coral Corp. (OTCBB: RBCC). The company continually seeks out new partnerships with biotechnology developers to deliver profitable new medical technologies and innovations. For more information on our growth-oriented business initiatives, please visit our website at [www.rainbowbiosciences.com]. For investment information and performance data on the company, please visit www.RainbowBioSciences.com/investors.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipate" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition, description of anyone's past success, either financial or strategic, is no guarantee of future success. This news release speaks as of the date first set forth above and the company assumes no responsibility to update the information included herein for events occurring after the date hereof.

See the article here:
Cancer Stem Cell Research Drives Growth in RBCC’s Target Market

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Celling Biosciences announces a sponsorship of the 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit being held on February 21st at Bridgewaters New York in New York City. The Stem Cell Summit is consistently the premiere venue for the world's leaders in regenerative medicine to network and promote next generation technologies and cell therapies.

The meeting will feature more than 30 thought leaders in stem cell therapy including Dr. Kenneth Pettine of the Orthopedic Stem Cell Institute in Loveland, Colorado.  Dr. Pettine has teamed up with Celling Biosciences' SpineSmith Division to present "Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Orthopedic and Spine Conditions Resulting from Injury or Aging."  Dr. Pettine has become an innovator in the regenerative cell therapy market and believes "regenerative therapies will become the next standard of care in treating many orthopedic conditions." 

Following the Stem Cell Summit, Dr. Pettine will be presenting a discussion on regenerative therapies to the trainers and medical staff attending this year's NFL combine.  The NFL has recently gained attention from Peyton Manning going oversees to receive a cell therapy treatment for his cervical spine condition.  Dr. Pettine envisions a day when these professional athletes stop going to foreign countries to receive medical treatment.

The Orthopedic Stem Cell Institute provides state-of-the-art regenerative cell therapy using Celling Biosciences' ART 21 system. The ART 21 system processes bone marrow from the patient at the point of care to consistently produce a concentrate of regenerative cells with high yields of mononuclear stem cells in less than 15 minutes.  Celling Biosciences provides the cell separation systems along with the biomaterials and devices necessary to recreate the environment to promote healing. 

Kevin Dunworth, founder of Celling Biosciences, believes regenerative cell therapy has more to do with creating the optimal environment then just providing cells.  "We believe autologous cell therapy is a viable solution but physicians need to understand that these cells require the necessary substrate for delivery and the proper techniques for retrieval.  Our focus has been on providing not only cell separation technologies, medical devices and biomaterials but also the registered nurses to deliver the service so physicians can have the most consistent, reliable and predictable regenerative cell therapy for their patients."

Contact:
Tracy Gladden
Communications Manager
Tgladden@spinesmithusa.com
512-637-2050

About Celling Biosciences
Celling Biosciences, works closely with surgeons, scientists and engineers to research and develop innovative technologies in the field of regenerative medicine. http://www.cellingbiosciences.com and http://www.spinesmithusa.com

View original post here:
Celling Biosciences Sponsors 7th Annual Stem Cell Summit

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (Nasdaq: SIAL) today announced that Sigma Life Science, its innovative biological products and services research business, has furthered its commitment to stem cell research, drug discovery and ADME/Toxicology by acquiring a worldwide license to use Kyoto University's induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio. Sigma Life Science, leveraging its zinc finger protein platform and stem cell technology portfolio, is now poised to develop a new set of differentiated tools for both the drug discovery and preclinical research communities. These tools will include novel iPS-cells, iPS-cell derived primary cells, novel assays, custom cell line development and ADME/Toxicology services.  Under the terms of the agreement, iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (AJ) will receive a license fee from Sigma-Aldrich.

iPS cell technology can create pluripotent stem cells from the normal adult cells of a patient. Pluripotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into many specialized primary cell types needed for research, such as cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, neurons, and muscle cells. With access to differentiated cells from patients with the condition of interest, or healthy human cells engineered to contain disease-specific genetics, researchers may obtain greater predictive accuracy than is possible with the in vitro models used currently in pharmaceutical research and preclinical studies.

"The pace of progress in iPS cell research has been breathtaking thanks to many scientists' strenuous efforts. With the non-exclusive license agreement that has been formed by Sigma-Aldrich, a global corporation in the life science field, and iPS Academia Japan, I expect that this move will further accelerate research and development using iPS cell technologies not only in the United States but also in the rest of the world," said Professor Shinya Yamanaka, Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University.

"Our license with Kyoto University grants us the freedom to operate under Kyoto University's induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio in the increasingly important field of stem-cell based research and development. Researchers currently use primary cells derived from techniques that lack consistency and the ability to genetically engineer cells. Using the Kyoto iPS cell technology and our zinc finger protein technologies, we hope to generate stable, defined sets of cells and subsequently derived tissues whose predictive power will allow us to develop a new paradigm in assay development," says David Smoller, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Sigma-Aldrich. "Thus, our Sigma-Aldrich scientists may be able to guide cells through the critical series of maturation steps — in ways no one has done previously — and also add reporter genes into these cells so that researchers can directly visualize the true biology of cellular processes."

Sigma Life Science's new iPS cell-based technologies, along with its existing stem cell product portfolio of serum-free cell culture products, cell culture media, 3D matrices, growth factors, and antibodies, will provide uniquely comprehensive support for iPS cell-related research.

Cautionary Statement: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "has furthered," "is poised to," "can create," "will," "hope," "may be able," "expect," "predictive" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived there from. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that iPS cells, iPS-cell derived primary cell lines, novel assays, or related custom services will assist the Company to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding products associated iPS cells, iPS-cell derived primary cell lines, novel assays, or related custom services could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Sigma Life Science: Sigma Life Science is a Sigma-Aldrich business that represents the Company's leadership in innovative biological products and services for the global life science market and offers an array of biologically-rich products and reagents that researchers use in scientific investigation. Product areas include biomolecules, genomics and functional genomics, cells and cell-based assays, transgenics, protein assays, stem cell research, epigenetics and custom services/oligonucleotides. Sigma Life Science also provides an extensive range critical bioessentials like biochemicals, antibiotics, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools, hematology and histology, nucleotides, amino acids and their derivatives, and cell culture media.

About Sigma-Aldrich:   Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company whose biochemical, organic chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostics and high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich customers include more than one million scientists and technologists in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and industry. The Company operates in 40 countries and has nearly 9,000 employees whose objective is to provide excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to accelerating customer success through innovation and leadership in Life Science and High Technology.  For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award winning web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Sigma-Aldrich and Sigma are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co, LLC registered in the US and other countries.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.sigma-aldrich.com

Original post:
Sigma® Life Science Obtains Global License for Kyoto University's iPS Cell Patent Portfolio, Deepens Commitment to ...

Bioethicist Glenn McGee’s new job raised questions of conflict of interest at the journal he founded.

J. WILSON/KRT/NEWSCOM

The field of bioethics is embroiled in a period of soul-searching, sparked by a startling career move by one of its biggest names.

Glenn McGee is the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the most cited bioethics journal, which he founded in 1999. Since December 2011, he has also been president for ethics and strategic initiatives at CellTex Therapeutics in Houston, Texas, a controversial company involved in providing customers with unproven stem-cell therapies. A CellTex press release says that “Dr McGee’s responsibilities will include ensuring that all of the firm’s work, centered on adult stem cells, will meet the highest ethical standards of the medical and scientific communities.”

Although McGee has said he will leave the journal on 1 March, many bioethicists have criticized him, the journal’s editorial board and its publisher, London-based Taylor and Francis. They argue that in holding both posts, McGee has a conflict of interest between his responsibilities to the journal and his new employer’s desire to promote the clinical application of stem-cell treatments that are not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

“Imagine if the Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine took a job as Vice President at Merck, and the Mass Medical Society asked him to stay on as Editor, opining that the conflicts of interest would be manageable. One might rightly wonder, ‘What are these people smoking?’,” says John Lantos, director of the Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

More broadly, bioethicists are questioning whether it can ever be acceptable to work for companies, which, they argue, may be using the appointment to present a veneer of ethical probity. The episode brings to a head concerns that have emerged among bioethicists over the past decade, says Insoo Hyun, a stem-cell bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. “It’s a perfect storm,” he says.

McGee is a leading voice on one side of the debate, arguing that bioethics must have practical relevance. For the past three years he has been chair of bioethics at the non-profit Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, where he ran a course for those who might go on to chair hospital ethics committees or serve as ethical advisers to corporations.

But during McGee’s tenure as editor-in-chief of the AJOB, four editors are known to have resigned from the editorial board because of differences in opinion over how the journal handles conflicts of interest. Two left this month, including Lantos, who wrote on his blog that he will no longer work with the journal because of McGee’s simultaneous employment at the AJOB and CellTex, and frustration over the lack of a clear conflict-of-interest policy at the AJOB. In response to Nature’s questions about the situation, Taylor and Francis responded that it “is grateful for Dr McGee’s editorship of AJOB” and “supportive of Glenn’s decision to step down”.

On 17 February, McGee announced that he is merely acting in an advisory capacity at the journal until 1 March, when its new editors-in-chief take over. They are David Magnus, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University, California, and Summer Johnson McGee, director of graduate studies at the Center for Practical Bioethics and the journal’s current executive editor. She is also Glenn McGee’s wife.

“Mainstream bioethics is no longer speaking truth to power.”

Responding to questions from Nature, Summer Johnson McGee says that the journal has a conflict-of-interest policy that requires editors to withdraw from reviewing a manuscript if they perceive a conflict. She calls allegations that her appointment results from her relationship with her husband “baseless and sexist”. “David Magnus and I were hired by our publisher, not by my husband.” Magnus says that at least a dozen editorial board members have supported his and Summer Johnson McGee’s appointments. Two even indicated that Glenn McGee should have been able to retain an advisory or editorial role.

Other bioethicists’ blogs and Twitter feeds about the episode have expressed concerns, however. Leigh Turner of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, called on the entire editorial board of the AJOB to resign for allowing the situation to persist. And many say that McGee’s move illustrates a broader problem. “Mainstream bioethics is no longer speaking truth to power,” complains Jan Helge Solbakk at the University of Oslo. “Instead it has become the handmaiden of the medico-industrial complex, and of bioscience and technology.”

So how should companies get their advice on bioethics? Magnus never takes cash from industry for advising or speaking — “I’m a hardass about that” — but he believes that bioethicists can work for industry as long as they give up their academic positions, including posts on journal editorial boards.

Working for a respected company may be acceptable to some bioethicists, but McGee’s new employer comes with a great deal of baggage. CellTex, which was founded last year and as yet has no website, licenses stem-cell technology from Seoul-based RNL Bio. The South Korean company has made a business out of taking fat cells from people, processing them in a way that they say increases the number of mesenchymal stem cells, and then reinjecting them in an effort to treat conditions such as spinal cord injury.

McGee already had a connection with RNL Bio. In 2010, two patients died following injections of RNL’s cells. McGee, working for stem-cell lobby group the International Cellular Medicine Society, based in Salem, Oregon, helped to conduct an investigation into the company. This concluded that only one of the two cases was likely to be related to the injections, and because the patient understood the risk the company was not culpable.

Jin Han Hong, the then president of RNL’s US subsidiary, admitted in 2010 that there was no clinical-trial evidence proving that these treatments are effective (Nature 468, 485; 2010). As treatment with RNL’s stem cells is not approved in the United States or South Korea, for the procedures the company sends patients to China or Japan, where regulations are less strictly enforced. Using RNL’s methods, CellTex is banking stem cells that have gone on to be used in a number of patients, including Rick Perry, governor of Texas (Nature 477, 377–378; 2011). CellTex says that it does not conduct medical procedures itself.

When Nature contacted McGee to put the criticisms to him, he directed us to previous statements indicating that he wants to put CellTex on firmer ethical ground by having it conduct clinical trials that meet standards set by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, based in Deerfield, Illinois, which represents most mainstream stem-cell researchers around the world.

Hyun warns that working directly for business can be fraught with danger, however good a bioethicist’s intentions. In 2005, he helped to craft the informed consent procedure for egg donations used in a cloning procedure by disgraced Korean stem-cell scientist Woo Suk Hwang. Following Hwang’s claim, later proved fraudulent, that he had cloned human embryos and harvested stem cells from them, it emerged that he had ignored the consent procedure for egg donations (Nature 438, 536–537; 2005), leading to embarrassment for Hyun.

“I know first hand how difficult it is to separate conflict of interest — to maintain the role of bioethicist,” says Hyun. “I know you need to not be too chummy with enterprises trying to speed ahead in stem cells.”

Read more here:
Editor’s move sparks backlash

Research on the potential of stem cells in preventing ovarian cancer, obesity-related diseases and other serious illnesses affecting people in Qatar and the region is to be presented by three Qatari graduate students at the Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy next week.
The conference is organised by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) and James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy.
It will provide an international platform to discuss the latest discoveries in stem cell research and collaborate on new therapeutic approaches for the use of stem cells, within an acceptable ethics, cultural and religious framework.
The students are part of QF’s Qatar Science Leadership Programme (QSLP), and their participation in the conference is considered an important part of their training. 
With more than 400 registered participants, including key ethicists and scientists in stem cell research, the conference provides students invaluable opportunities for exchanging knowledge and building relationships with top figures and leading regional and international institutions in the field.
QSLP, aims to equip rising Qatari generations for leading roles in the country’s scientific and research endeavours, with stem cell research as a national priority.
Qatari QSLP trainee and PhD student from Paris XI University, Dr Hamda al-Thawadi, will present at the conference a poster about her research on ovarian cancer.
She explained that this is an important area specifically for Qatar, as there is a high prevalence of thrombotic diseases which affect patients with cancer.
“My project will help in detecting a powerful tool for the assessment of thrombosis risk factors in patients with cancer as well as healthy individuals, which should help develop preventative measures,” she said.
Dr Halema Alfarsi, another student on QSLP’s scientific track, is also presenting her research on ovarian cancer at the conference. Her work explores the potential application of stem cells in making cells and tissues for medical therapies.
She pointed out that currently, donated tissues and organs are often used to replace those that are diseased or destroyed. Stem cells offer a viable source of replacement cells to treat diseases and can potentially reduce the morbidity and mortality for those awaiting transplants for Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, severe burns, diabetes and arthritis.
“In Qatar we have many cases of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and arthritis. Stem cells offer hope for effective treatment or perhaps even reversal of the disease,” added Dr Alfarsi.
The recently published Heba al-Siddiqi, another QSLP student, will present her research on preventing chronic obesity-related diseases through tissue engineering and organ regeneration. This research was recently featured in the leading international scientific journal Nature.
“Tackling obesity-related diseases such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes through developing stem cell technology is very important as these diseases are increasingly common in Qatar,” observed al-Siddiqi.
“I am excited about the potential of creating cell-based therapies to treat and prevent chronic diseases in Qatar for future generations,” she added.
The three student presenters will be joined at the conference by their fellow QSLP members, Sarah Ali Abdulla and Abeer al-Shammari. 
Abdulla, who is pursuing her PhD in stem cell science and neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, will serve as master of ceremonies over the conference’s four days.
“The Qatar conference on stem cells supports our students’ scientific development by including them in the country’s stem cell research community and connecting them with leading figures in the field. We hope it will inspire young people in Qatar and the region to pursue studies in stem cell science,” said QF’s head of Research Training and Development, Dr Ayman Bassil.
The Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy opens on February 27, 2012 at the Qatar National Convention Centre. 
More information about the conference can be found at http://www.qf-research-division.org/stemcell2012

Read this article:
Qatari students to present research on stem cells

28-07-2010 10:24 Dr. Ed Prochownik, director of Oncology Research at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, discusses his research on cancer stem cells published in the June issue of the journal Stem Cells. Dr. Prochownik's team discovered an unprecedented method of permanently blocking cancer stem cells so they remain stem cells instead of differentiating into other types of tumor-forming cells.

Go here to read the rest:
Cancer Stem Cell Research - Video

Moskovskiye Novosti

Church Calls for Ban on Stem Cell Research

The Russian Orthodox Church has called for recognizing fetuses as human life and for banning medical research that involves biological material procured from abortion procedures.

The church has sent a series of amendments to the cell technology bill, which iscurrently in the works, to Healthcare Minister Tatyana Golikova in the hope that “the ministry will heed its opinion.” “We, in turn, are ready for dialogue and discussion on each proposal,” said Bishop Panteleimon, head of the the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry.

Incidentally, the clerics cite “enlightened” European policies on this issue. In October 2011, the European Court of Justice outlawed the patenting of stem cell research that destroys a human embryo as immoral. Russia’s Healthcare Ministry supported that decision and said the cell technology bill they were working on embraced similar ethical principles. Deputy Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the new bill would ban the use of a human fetus, embryo or gamete in preparing cell lines.

According to Father Panteleimon, this means that the government is ready to agree that a fertilized ovum constitutes a person. Therefore, it would only remain to legalize this statement. That would make it possible to refer to an embryo as a “child,” which in turn would make the 1959 Children’s Rights declaration applicable to the embryo, thus guaranteeing the “child” legal protection “before and after birth.”

One proposal would include church officials on the ministry’s expert council on biomedical ethics. The church has had a similar council since 1998.

“The ministry’s bill cites advanced cell technology that is not widely used in Russia,” a church official said. “At the same time, there are simpler technologies which also use fetal cells as biological material, and these are quite widespread.”

The letter sent to Minister Golikova mentions valid patents for using fetal cells in anti-aging treatments, mesotherapy and fetal tissue implants.

The bill, drafted by the Ministry of Healthcare, is currently in the public discussion stage, and could be submitted to the lower house this spring. Given current legislative trends, the church may well expect that its proposals will be heeded. However, Russian scientists involved in stem cell research fear that the bill would entirely halt research in this area.

According to Sergei Kiselyov from the Human Stem Cells Institute, very few cell technologies are actually used in medicine. The bill would drastically limit the current research and could affect projects that are already underway. This would lead to Russia’s lagging even further behind Western biotechnology, he said.

Kommersant

Russia Joins OECD Convention Against Bribery

The Russian Foreign Ministry notified the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Friday that Russia has joined the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Experts believe that joining the convention will stimulate the fight against corruption. Russia will be the 39th state party to the convention as of April 17.

The State Duma ratified the convention on January 13, 2012, and President Dmitry Medvedev signed it into law on February 1. Medvedev said at a judiciary meeting, “Accession will harmonize our legal system with international standards in the fight against corruption.”

“We have not joined this convention to please anybody,” First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov clarified. “Joining is important in terms of our internal anti-corruption policy.”

Denisov added that ratifying the convention, a three-year process, is a condition for OECD accession. Russia, he said, will seek to join the organization in 2013, but the country will have to ratify 160 other conventions and instruments in 22 categories, including the introduction of international standards for economic statistics. Joining the anti-bribery convention requires Russia to pay annual dues of about 100,000 euros per year to the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business.

The convention was signed in 1997 and entered into force in February 1999. Most European countries are members, as are some Latin American countries and the United States. The main obligation for the states parties is to track and prosecute their citizens for bribery or attempted bribery of foreign officials and to track foreign officials on their territories who take bribes. The convention recommends not only criminalizing these acts, but also blacklisting the companies found guilty of bribing foreign public officials from tenders for government contracts. The convention discourages the practice of allowing income tax deductions for bribes to officials of foreign states: some companies in developing countries having been implicated in this practice. The convention aims to prevent parties from adding to corruption not only within their borders, but also beyond. However, fewer than 20% of participating countries actively apply the convention's provisions, according to a 2011 Transparency International report.

Even before ratifying the convention, Russia adopted a series of measures to fulfill it. In April 2011, Dmitry Medvedev's anti-corruption package introduced amendments to the Criminal Code, including multiple penalties for giving and receiving bribes, as well as mediation. Foreign officials as well as companies that give bribes to foreign officials or officials of international public organizations will be held liable.

Vladimir Yuzhakov, director of the Department for Administrative Reform at the Center for Strategic Studies, said that the practice of applying the convention will provide additional incentives to fight corruption in the country in general. Yuzhakov expects that the convention will require further steps in developing anti-corruption legislation – in particular, the introduction of more stringent procedures for investigating cases of bribery of foreign public officials.

RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.

Follow this link:
Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, February 20

The day – Valentine’s Day, as it happened – began in a whirl of coffee cups, bustling dogs and homework, then a brisk walk around the block – in other words, business as usual for a UC Irvine couple who are a high-profile science team engaged in cutting-edge stem-cell research.

Brian Cummings and Aileen Anderson, whose stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injury is being tested on patients in Switzerland, say their office – only a short walk from their home on the UCI campus – has a family feel as well.

At UCI’s recently constructed Stem Cell Research Center, they supervise a crew of young students and technicians whose bond with their mentors is so close that they call themselves the “Andermings.”

“I suppose it’s like having an orphanage,” Cummings joked as he prepared for the day ahead.

It would include a lengthy meeting with the Andermings on how best to grow human embryonic stem cells without animal-cell contamination, a critique of a doctoral candidate’s presentation of potentially significant new findings and a session with Alzheimer’s researchers at an institute called UCI MIND.

But first, Cummings, Anderson and their two dogs – Chesapeake and Indiana – had to get the couple’s 6-year-old daughter, Camryn, to school.

After Camryn finished her homework (completed strategically a day in advance, leaving more time for afternoon play), they took the long way round to the Montessori school, also easy walking distance from their home.

Along the way, they encountered another faculty couple, from the German department, and their dog. They stopped with Camryn, giggling as the dogs rolled and tumbled on a neighbor’s lawn.

•••

Cummings, 47, and Anderson, 45, together since they were both undergrads at the University of Illinois, say living and working with each other comes naturally.

“People say, ‘Do I need a break from her?’ ” Cummings said as he wrangled the dogs.

“More people say, ‘Do you need a break from him?’ ” Anderson replied.

Later, the conversation transitions into a science meeting as the two take the 20-minute walk past UCI’s Ecological Preserve and into the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. The energy-efficient building, with an open design to encourage chance meetings among scientists, houses a roster of high-powered researchers as well as their experimental subjects: rodents.

The center was seeded by $27 million in state stem-cell funding and $10 million from donors Bill and Sue Gross. The building was completed in 2010.

Now, researchers working there cultivate lines of human embryonic stem cells that can grow into a variety of cell types, from brain cells to liver and heart cells.

The ability to coax stem cells into many forms – and with it the potential to treat Alzheimer’s, paralysis and a long list of diseases – is fueling an explosion of research around the nation and across the state.

Anderson and Cummings showed that their stem-cell treatment, using cells derived from aborted fetuses, allowed partially paralyzed rats to walk again. The rat’s recovery was revealed in a dramatic before-and-after video.

So far, the human trial of the treatment in Switzerland is showing no ill effects on patients, Cummings said.

But stem-cell research is buffeted by political controversy, funding uncertainties and, sometimes, attacks by stem-cell research opponents.

The trial of the treatment developed by Cummings and Anderson with their collaborators, StemCells Inc., was the first of its kind in the world when it was announced in 2010.

In some ways, that made the family – and their team – a target.

Concerns about possible intruders prompted the couple to place a camera at their front door. Cummings’ tires have been slashed, he said, though he doesn’t know if that was the work of people who oppose the harvesting of human embryonic stem cells, animal-rights activists (angered by experiments on rodents) or perhaps a disgruntled student.

At the moment, Cummings and Anderson are running five research programs and leading 17 researchers. All of it is funded by $2.2 million in grants, much of it from California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM.

Created by voter initiative – Proposition 71 in 2004 – CIRM is California’s $3 billion answer to federal restrictions on funding for stem-cell research. Those restrictions were started by the Bush administration and eased, but not eliminated, under President Obama.

Cummings said opposition to their research is based, in part, on incorrect assumptions.

A big one is that the research involves the destruction of embryos. In reality, they work with balls of cells created at an earlier stage of human development, called blastocysts – a distinction many opponents do not draw.

“Embryonic stem cells don’t come from embryos,” he said. “And they never have.”

The raw material comes from fertility clinics and otherwise would be discarded.

Cummings says those who say that such research is immoral have it wrong.

“The argument is backward,” he said. “It’s immoral to throw away this stuff and not use it to help someone.”

••

During their meeting with the Andermings, project leader Hal Nguyen described the group’s plan to grow a series of stem-cell cultures and check a compelling question: Is some of a stem cell’s transformation guided by the microscopic environment in which it dwells, or is it entirely dictated by the cell’s internal workings?

“The plan is in the email,” Nguyen told Anderson.

“Dude, I have 400 emails,” Anderson said.

The group’s task was meant to answer a classic nature-nurture question, Anderson said. In this case, “nature” is the DNA coding in the stem cell itself, while “nurture” is the cellular environment, with all its floating nutrients and chemical signals.

“Will that environment, the extrinsic factor, trump anything the cell can do?” Anderson had wondered earlier. “Or is the intrinsic programming of the cell the principal determinant? Is that the main driving factor?”

Cummings stood by in the tiny meeting room while the researchers batted around their questions and answers. He said Anderson, a spinal cord specialist, was the expert in this arena, though he couldn’t help piping in during a discussion of the medium in which the cells would be grown.

“You’re comparing two different medias, too?” Cummings asked.

“We all know what we’re talking about,” Anderson told him. “Don’t interrupt.”

Then it was on to a larger, mostly empty meeting room where Sheri Peterson, a doctoral candidate, wanted to test her presentation on Cummings and Anderson.

Her eventual target is an advancement committee that will determine her future. The presentation will be crucial in her quest for a Ph.D.

Peterson ran through an array of slides projected on a large screen to reveal her findings. Inflammation of damaged tissue being regenerated in rats, she said, might be eased or worsened simply by manipulating proteins surrounding the regenerating cells.

Again, the topic was in Anderson’s wheelhouse.

“My notes said, ‘Nicely done,’ ” Cummings told Peterson.

“He’s not an aficionado,” Anderson said.

The husband-and-wife researchers then provided her with a detailed, slide-by-slide critique.

•••

Cummings’ expertise centers on traumatic brain injury. But he also is an expert at the complex task of marshaling grant funding. On his office wall, a whiteboard densely covered with writing tells the story: Cummings must police incoming and outgoing grants like an air traffic controller, timing the grants and the work they fund to match years of employment for graduate students and staff members.

The grants come and go over months and years, and so do the students and staff. Get the timing wrong, and you might have funding with no researchers, or researchers with nothing to do.

“At UCI, I’m like a small-business owner,” Cummings said.

Over a hasty lunch in his office (cold sandwiches grabbed during a trip, with Anderson, to a nearby campus snack shop), Cummings spoke of the merging of home and office life.

Writing up grant requests takes up both researchers’ time. Often, as they write, Camryn is playing in the background, whether at home or at the office. And research collaborators can show up wanting to conduct interviews at any time, holidays included.

“I did draw a line in the sand at Christmas Eve,” Anderson said.

Cummings knows such stress has driven other husband-and-wife teams into open conflict. But that just isn’t his and Anderson’s style. In fact, he said, keeping a scientific perspective, even at home, might help keep things calm.

“There’s no need to be yelling and shouting at each other because we don’t think that way,” he said. “You’re supposed to believe nothing until you prove it.”

That doesn’t mean they don’t differ, sometimes strongly, over scientific details.

“They don’t always agree with each other, and that’s good,” said Brittany Greer, an intern in their lab and an Anderming.

Nurturing the students and young scientists is part of the pleasure of doing science for both halves of the research couple, Anderson said.

“You start to look at this crowd of people as your second family,” she said. “They’re your kids. That is fun and rewarding for sure.”

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Follow this link:
Stem-cell scientists find right chemistry

EDMOND, OK--(Marketwire -02/19/12)- The team of veterinarians at White Oaks Veterinary Clinic in Edmond announced that the animal hospital is now offering pet stem cell therapy. This new regenerative medicine for pets helps animals suffering from degenerative joint disease or arthritis. Based on the research and technology provided by a company called Stemlogix, White Oaks Veterinary Clinic can now offer affordable, same-day stem cell therapy to dogs suffering from these debilitating conditions. The Stemlogix technology enables the Edmond veterinarians to extract adult stem cells from a pet's own body fat, virtually eliminating the risk of rejection or negative reaction.

"I see far too many otherwise healthy pets at our veterinary clinic that have been hobbled by the effects of arthritis," Dr. Jennifer Bianchi said. "We're thrilled to be able to offer this holistic solution which harnesses the pet's own healing power to aid in the pain relief process. Our main goal with stem cell therapy is to reduce long-term inflammation and slow the progression of cartilage damage. The motto at our veterinary hospital is, 'Quality service at a great value.' Being able to provide stem cell transplants in about two hours at an affordable rate helps us live up to that promise and makes me happy to think of the pets we'll be able to help move freely again."

The veterinary hospital now has an on-site stem cell laboratory for producing stem cells. The on-site lab allows for immediate processing after extraction as the stem cells have a limited lifespan outside of the pet's body. Once the fat cells have been procured from the pet, the stem cells are isolated and returned back to the host body within ninety minutes. Stemlogix promotes this therapy as being able to relieve pain and increase range of motion in pets suffering with joint pain, arthritis, tendon and ligament damage, hip dysplasia and cartilage damage.

Once implanted, stem cells have the ability to stimulate regeneration, reduce pain and inflammation, and assist in the repair of damaged tissue. They can also differentiate into other cell types such as tendon, cartilage, bone, and ligament, which may further aid the repair process. The Edmond veterinarian says that pain relief can be expected within a few days to a few weeks. Pet owners are cautioned to gradually allow their pets to experience increased activity so as not to interfere with the healing process.

As a holistic veterinarian, White Oaks Veterinary Clinic combines natural healing techniques, such as pet acupuncture, with traditional veterinary medical services. The animal hospital was founded in 1997 and is currently practicing out of a 6500 square foot facility. Equine vet, Dr. Mark Bianchi, offers general and advanced services such as surgery, equine dentistry, lameness evaluations and reproduction consultations.

White Oaks Veterinary Clinic is located at 131 W. Waterloo Rd. Further information on the animal hospital or pet stem cell therapy may be obtained by visiting the website at http://www.whiteoaksvet.com.

Original post:
Edmond Veterinary Hospital Offers Pet Stem Cell Therapy for Arthritis