Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

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Future Growth Of Animal Stem Cell Therapy Market By New Business Developments - News by aeresearch

Life during a global pandemic takes on a surreal quality. The ubiquitous presence of social media and a constant fire hose of coronavirus news can make it particularly hard if you're already feeling anxious.

So, we've put together a little round-up of recent science news that we find inspiring, encouraging, and worthy of note in these trying times.

In a world first, surgeons at Oregon Health & Science Institute have used the CRISPR gene-editing technique to attempt a cure for Leber congenital amaurosis, a rare genetic condition that causes blindness in early childhood.

While we await results on how this experiment worked out, this achievement joins a list of other medical uses of the technique, including the search for a Huntington's disease cure, herpes, HIV, and immunotherapy for some types of cancer.

Living at a time when medical researchers have this powerful tool at their disposal is certainly a good news item in our books.

In February, a huge stock of 60,000 seed samples was added to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault nestled inside a mountain in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, including the first-ever heirloom seed deposit by an indigenous US tribe.

Increasing deposits to this safehouse of crops reflect growing worldwide concern about potential loss of biodiversity and food security - but these actions also demonstrate a beautiful commitment to our future generations.

The virus strains that cause influenza are shapeshifters, constantly moving beyond our ability to immunise against them - hence, we need annual flu shots to stay ahead of the disease. A 'universal' flu vaccine would give us a huge advantage in this race, and there's now a truly promising candidate on the cards.

The vaccine, called FLU-v, has successfully passed phase I and phase II clinical trials, demonstrating its safety in human subjects; it's been found to induce immune responses that last at least six months. We can't wait to see the results of the next phase of trials.

A new type of contact lens could restore the colour spectrum limitations in people whose eyes struggle to tell apart green and red hues.

This brilliant technology already exists in some cleverly designed sunglasses; soon, people might also have access to it in the highly convenient form of contacts, thanks to a team of engineers at Tel Aviv University.

'Normal' image of a tree; colour blind version; corrected version. (Sharon Karepov/Tel Aviv University)

Researchers have announced that for the second time ever, a patient carrying the HIV virus has been declared cured, with no trace of infection in his blood 30 months after he stopped traditional treatment, undergoing a specialised type of stem cell therapy.

The achievement doesn't constitute a generalised cure, because the patient also had a type of lymphoma that enabled him to receive this experimental treatment; but it demonstrates a real breakthrough in medical science, showing scientists are able to push the boundaries like never before.

The tiny South Pacific nation of Niue recently accepted a unique honour, as it became the first country to be formally accredited as an International Dark Sky Place.

This accreditation is bestowed by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), a conservation non-profit charged with preserving the naturally dark night-time environment, defending it from the intrusive disturbances of artificial light pollution.

There's no end of scientific research charting the negative effects of light pollution, whether on animals, plants, or human health; this honour emphasises that seeking a truly dark night sky remains as important as ever.

Hydrogen fuel is one of the more promising zero-emissions options around - if only we could produce it cheaply and without needing insane amounts of energy input.

Now, a team of researchers in Tokyo have managed to do just that, refining a method that produces hydrogen fuel using just a few basic ingredients, including light and a particular type of rust. A new study shows this method yields 25 times more hydrogen than existing methods.

Speaking of sustainability, one of the biggest challenges to widespread adoption of renewables remains the problem of large-scale storage. However, there is one excellent solution to this problem - pumped thermal electricity storage. This approach stores electricity by turning it into heat, then turning it back into electricity when needed using an engine.

Unlike pumped hydro, which requires specific geographic requirements, this type of storage can be built in many places, and it uses thermodynamic principles to store electricity in the form of heat. And the best part? It's already being tested in pilot plants.

In June 2019, an odd paper made waves after it was published in Scientific Reports. The scientific community was quick to voice their concerns over this flawed study, which claimed that the Sun's movements were the real cause of anthropogenic global warming.

Now, the editors of the well-known journal have corrected the scientific record, issuing a retraction notice that explains the errors,showing that even if something incorrect initially slips through peer review, the scientific process is still rigorous enough to fix the mistake.You can read about this fascinating case in full here.

A new report by the non-profit Project Drawdown has outlined a whopping 76 solutions the world already has at hand if we want to slow down climate change. These strategies - from shifting our means of energy production, to reducing food waste and empowering women - span across all sectors.

Furthermore, these solutions are actually cheaper than maintaining the status quo (also known as 'doing nothing'). Project Drawdown estimates that if we implemented these 76 solutions, it would result in savings of up to around US$144 trillion of avoided climate damage and pollution-related healthcare costs. Tell everyone - we can do this.

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Tired of The Coronavirus? Here Are 10 Good News Stories You Need Right Now - ScienceAlert

Global Autologous Stem Cell Based Therapies Market Report is a professional and in-depth research report on the worlds major regional market conditions of the Autologous Stem Cell Based Therapies industry, focusing on the main regions and the main countries (United States, Europe, Japan and China).

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Based on type, report split into Embryonic Stem Cell, Resident Cardiac Stem Cells, Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells.

Based on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including Neurodegenerative Disorders, Autoimmune Diseases, Cardiovascular Diseases.

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Autologous Stem Cell Based Therapies Market 2020: Potential Growth, Challenges, Attractive Valuation | Key Players: Anterogen, Holostem Advanced...

DURHAM Hemophilia. Cystic fibrosis. Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Huntingtons disease. These are just a few of the thousands of disorders caused by mutations in the bodys DNA. Treating the root causes of these debilitating diseases has become possible only recently, thanks to the development of genome editing tools such as CRISPR, which can change DNA sequences in cells and tissues to correct fundamental errors at the source but significant hurdles must be overcome before genome-editing treatments are ready for use in humans.

Enter the National Institutes of Health Common FundsSomatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE)program, established in 2018 to help researchers develop and assess accurate, safe and effective genome editing therapies for use in the cells and tissues of the body (aka somatic cells) that are affected by each of these diseases.

Todaywith three ongoing grants totaling more than $6 million in research fundingDuke University is tied with Yale University, UC Berkeley and UC Davis for the most projects supported by the NIH SCGE Program.

In the 2019 SCGE awards cycle, Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and collaborators across Duke and North Carolina State University received two grants: the first will allow them to study how CRISPR genome editing affects engineered human muscle tissues, while the second project will develop new CRISPR tools to turn genes on and off rather than permanently alter the targeted DNA sequence. This work builds on a 2018 SCGE grant, led by Aravind Asokan, professor and director of gene therapy in the Department of Surgery, which focuses on using adeno-associated viruses to deliver gene editing tools to neuromuscular tissue.

Duke engineers improve CRISPR genome editing with biomedical tails

There is an amazing team of engineers, scientists and clinicians at Duke and the broader Research Triangle coalescing around the challenges of studying and manipulating the human genome to treat diseasefrom delivery to modeling to building new tools, said Gersbach, who with his colleagues recently launched the Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies (CAGT), a collaboration of the Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Medicine. Were very excited to be at the center of those efforts and greatly appreciate the support of the NIH SCGE Program to realize this vision.

For their first grant, Gersbach will collaborate with fellow Duke biomedical engineering faculty Nenad Bursac and George Truskey to monitor how genome editing affects engineered human muscle tissue. Through their new project, the team will use human pluripotent stem cells to make human muscle tissues in the lab, specifically skeletal and cardiac muscle, which are often affected by genetic diseases. These systems will then serve as a more accurate model for monitoring the health of human tissues, on-target and off-target genome modifications, tissue regeneration, and possible immune responses during CRISPR-mediated genome editing.

Duke researchers: Single CRISPR treatment provides long-term benefits in mice

Currently, most genetic testing occurs using animal models, but those dont always accurately replicate the human response to therapy, says Truskey, the Goodson Professor of Biomedical Engineering.

Bursac adds, We have a long history of engineering human cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues with the right cell types and physiology to model the response to gene editing systems like CRISPR. With these platforms, we hope to help predict how muscle will respond in a human trial.

Gersbach will work with Tim Reddy, a Duke associate professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, and Rodolphe Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor in Probiotics Research at North Carolina State University, on the second grant. According to Gersbach, this has the potential to extend the impact of genome editing technologies to a greater diversity of diseases, as many common diseases, such as neurodegenerative and autoimmune conditions, result from too much or too little of certain genes rather than a single genetic mutation. This work builds on previous collaborations between Gersbach, Barrangou and Reddy developing bothnew CRISPR systems for gene regulationandto regulate the epigenome rather than permanently delete DNA sequences.

Aravind Asokan leads Dukes initial SCGE grant, which explores the the evolution of next generation of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), which have emerged as a safe and effective system to deliver gene therapies to targeted cells, especially those involved in neuromuscular diseases like spinal muscular atrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other myopathies. However, delivery of genome editing tools to the stem cells of neuromuscular tissue is particularly challenging. This collaboration between Asokan and Gersbach builds on their previous work in usingAAV and CRISPR to treat animal models of DMD.

We aim to correct mutations not just in the mature muscle cells, but also in the muscle stem cells that regenerate skeletal muscle tissue, explainsAsokan. This approach is critical to ensuring long-term stability of genome editing in muscle and ultimately we hope to establish a paradigm where our cross-cutting viral evolution approach can enable efficient editing in multiple organ systems.

Click through to learn more about theDuke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies.

(C) Duke University

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Duke researchers land $6M in federal grants to advance gene editing - WRAL Tech Wire

The 3D printer has won the hearts of manufacturers for its ability to create detailed products without the need for expensive and time-consuming prototyping. Everything from prosthetics to engines to football cleats have spun out of the technology.

But it couldnt create human organs, could it? Well, yes, it can. Scientists claim to have recently enhanced the performance and stability of 3D-printed organs, including a heart a development that would excite the Tin Man of The Wizard of Oz.

The real-life implications of organs created by 3D printing are vast and revolutionary. The printer could quickly produce organs to those in need of a transplant, and it could enhance the skills of surgeons by letting them practice on copied organs innovations many would say are worth copying on a large scale.

To be clear, the organs arent entirely the products of additive manufacturing, the term to describe 3D printing, but a recent development with the technology signals it will probably have a large role in advancing copied organs.

Creating organs through additive manufacturing had until now been largely unsuccessful. As described by Cosmos, laboratories have grown so-called organoids for the past decade. These miniaturized versions of the brain, heart and kidney help scientists study cancer, dementia and heart attacks. But with the models unable to expand beyond the size of a lentil, they couldnt incorporate the tubes that mimic blood vessels. Without those tubes, oxygen and nutrients struggle to reach the core of the organ.

It seemed as if the dream to produce ready-made full-sized organs in a lab would have to remain just that, a dream. But a recent breakthrough that combines human stem cells with a 3D-printed vascular channel could overcome the structural issues.

A new method of replication solves the size challenge by integrating 3D-printed vascular channels into living matrices of stem cells that form organ building blocks, according to the scientists who devised the technique SWIFT (sacrificial writing into functional tissue). The 3D printer infuses ink and gelatin into a matrix and the mix is then heated, melting the ink and leaving a channel that is then lined with cells found in human vessels. Stir in oxygen and nutrients and you have an organ. The researchers kept one such organ, a 1.5-centimeter mini-heart, beating on its own for more than a week.

The researchers from Harvard Universitys Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) say SWIFT produces organ-specific tissues that have high cell density and functionality, a critical step toward large-scale and safe organ replacement and other uses.

This is an entirely new paradigm for tissue fabrication, Mark Skylar-Scott, a research associate at the Wyss Institute and one of the studys co-authors, told ScienceDaily. Rather than trying to 3D-print an entire organs worth of cells, SWIFT focuses on only printing the vessels necessary to support a living tissue construct that contains large quantities of (organ building blocks), which may ultimately be used therapeutically to repair and replace human organs with lab-grown versions containing patients own cells.

As ScienceDaily noted, 20 people die daily while waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S. More than 30,000 transplants are performed each year but its still not enough to whittle down the long waiting lists of those in need of a suitable organ. More than 113,000 people are currently awaiting word that their wait has ended. Artificial organs could lessen or eliminate the shortage.

Replicated organs could also give doctors an opportunity to practice difficult surgical procedures, a chance to enhance their skills without fear of doing harm to human patients. Similarly, 3D-printed organs could remove the need to try out new pharmaceutical drugs on human or even animal test subjects.

The ink is barely dry on the Harvard researchers test, but the scientific world is hoping their discovery can be replicated for years to come.

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3D-printed Organs Give Hope to Transplant Patients Now. Powered by - Now. Powered by Northrop Grumman.

Four Maryland Technology Development Corporation funds will begin accepting applications for investments again after they had delayed investments while adapting regulations to an oversight law passed by the Maryland General Assembly last year.

The Builder Fund, the Maryland Venture Fund, the Rural Business Innovation Initiative and the Seed Fund are now accepting applications for investment.

Stephen Auvil (File photo)

We are thrilled to bring these application portals live after the team has worked hard to finalize the regulations, Stephen Auvil, TEDCOs executive vice president, said in a statement. Its our goal to get back to what TEDCO does best, and thats building great, Maryland-based startups and continuing to grow innovation and entrepreneurship in the state.

A legislative audit issued last February found issues that included how TEDCO directed funding to companies that were not primarily based in Maryland and invested in companies that had associations with the Maryland Venture Funds advisory committee.

In the aftermath of the audit, lawmakers put more restrictions in place to govern how TEDCO invests its money and what oversights are in place to govern the agency.

One of the lawmakers requirements was that TEDCO develop an application process for its investment programs. That application process is now ready, TEDCO said Friday.

The Builder Fund is designed to help startups founded by people from economically disadvantaged background. The Rural Business Innovation Initiative invests in companies from rural Maryland. The Maryland Venture Fund is a venture capital fund focused on growth stage companies, and the Seed Fund invests in seed-stage companies.

TEDCO explained to lawmakers last month how it had crafted its regulations to comply with the oversight law.

The new regulations more clearly define what a Maryland business is and how it can qualify for investments. They also define how a company not defined as a Maryland business can receive investment if it will have a substantial economic impact on the state.

Under the new regulations, state businesses must have their principal base of operations in Maryland; have more than half of their workforce in Maryland; and intend to maintain their base of operations in Maryland.

TEDCO also has created provisions that would allow it to claw back its investment if a company leaves the state.

While TEDCO is accepting applications now, investments could still take a little while to happen. The agencys Maryland Venture Fund Authority does not yet have a quorum of members appointed to disburse funds.

The Maryland Venture Fund will also only be accepting applications from current Maryland Venture Fund portfolio companies. It anticipates accepting applications from other companies for the fund later this spring.

TEDCO operates eight funds. Programs like the Maryland Innovation Initiative, which helps commercialize university technology, and the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund were not affected by the new regulations.

Originally posted here:
TEDCO funds open again for applications - Maryland Daily Record

Abstract

IFN- produced by T cells directly induces intestinal stem cell death upon inflammation-induced intestinal injury (see the related Research Article by Takashima et al.).

Intestinal regeneration upon tissue damage is fueled by intestinal stem cells (ISCs) residing in the crypt bottom of the epithelium and marked by the gene Lgr5 (1, 2). There is growing evidence that tissue repair is at least partially mediated by a regenerative inflammatory response (3, 4). How inflammation-induced intestinal injury influences ISCs and their microenvironment (stem cell niche) remains poorly understood. In this issue of Science Immunology, Takashima et al. (5) explore the changes in the ISC niche in vivo upon T cellmediated injury as a model of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and in vitro using organoid T cell cocultures. Although earlier studies already implicated interferon- (IFN-) as a negative regulator of intestinal epithelial homeostasis (68), Takashima et al. now demonstrate that IFN- directly acts on ISCs by triggering apoptosis.

In an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) model, Takashima and colleagues found that ISC numbers per intestinal crypt were markedly reduced in mice receiving bone marrow alone or bone marrow and T cells when compared with normal control mice. While the ISCs in the mice receiving only bone marrow recovered 7 days later, the ISC numbers remained reduced in those mice also transplanted with donor T cells. Of note, Paneth cell numbers were also reduced after ISC depletion. The numbers of organoids established from the intestines of mice 10 days after BMT recovered back to that of control mice, whereas the organoid forming capacity from crypts of mice after combined transplantation of bone marrow and T cells remained significantly lower. Similar in vivo and in vitro results were obtained when autoreactive T cells were transplanted, pointing to a common feature of T cellmediated intestinal injury.

As seen by three-dimensional confocal microscopy, intraepithelial T cells (CD3+ IELs) preferentially localized to the villus region, whereas lamina propriaassociated T cells (CD3+ LPLs) were equally distributed along the crypt-villus axis of control mice (Fig. 1A). Conversely, mice receiving bone marrow and allogeneic T cells showed a progressive increase in the density of both CD3+ LPLs and CD3+ IELs in the crypt region.

To identify signaling molecules that cause the loss of ISCs in this model, Takashima and colleagues performed several elegant murine and human epithelial organoid coculture experiments. Murine nave allogeneic T cells did not impair murine intestinal organoid numbers, whereas alloreactive T cells effectively reduced organoid numbers. Likewise, human allogeneic cytotoxic T cells robustly inhibited human intestinal organoid forming efficiency. Even bead-activated autologous T cells suppressed human intestinal organoid growth. The authors then proceeded to screen for potential pathways mediating cytotoxicity. Organoids cocultured with T cells in the presence of antiIFN- neutralizing antibodies showed normal growth. Although IFN- receptor (IFN-R)depleted T cells were still able to affect organoid viability, IFN-Rdepleted organoids were resistant to T cellmediated killing. Organoid toxicity by IFN- was also observed in the absence of T cells. Live imaging confirmed the progressive ISC depletion upon organoid exposure to IFN-. Treatment of organoids with the immunosuppressive JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib robustly preserved numbers of both organoids and ISCs in the presence of IFN-, irrespective of whether the organoids were cultured alone or together with T cells. The authors additionally demonstrated that JAK1-depleted organoids are resistant to IFN- treatment. Further downstream, ruxolitinib prevented STAT1 phosphorylation by IFN- in intestinal crypts, and, in line, STAT1-depleted organoids were resistant to growth suppression in response to IFN- treatment.

IFN-treated organoids showed reduced expression of ISC marker genes. ISCs underwent apoptosis in vitro in a direct response to IFN-. Next, the authors confirmed in vivo that ISC numbers did not change upon transplanting allogeneic bone marrow and T cells when treating mice with IFN- neutralizing antibodies. Likewise, ruxolitinib treatment protected ISCs from T cellmediated killing in vivo. Donor T cells, particularly T helper 1 cells, were activated and IFN-+. Transplanting IFN-depleted allogeneic T cells robustly reduced the ISC loss and allowed epithelial cell proliferation to increase.

Takashima and colleagues lastly investigated whether IFN- directly induces ISC apoptosis. Using tissue-specific depletion of IFN-R1, the authors found that epithelial loss of the receptor protects from the immune-mediated GVHD phenotype. IFN-R1 is expressed by both ISCs and Paneth cells, the epithelial component of the ISC niche (9). However, Paneth celldeficient organoids remained sensitive to both IFN- and allogeneic T cellmediated cytotoxicity. Likewise, T cells were able to reduce the number of organoids containing IFN-R1deficient Paneth cells, whereas organoids containing IFN-R1deficient ISC were protected from cytotoxicity. The authors demonstrated in further experiments that IFN- directly induces ISC apoptosis independent of Paneth cells (Fig. 1, B and C).

The study by Takashima et al. extends our knowledge on signaling between ISCs and immune cells, identifying ISCs as direct targets of IFN- secreted by T cells in immune-mediated intestinal damage (as caused by GVHD). In the 2015 study by Lindemans et al., this group already identified that interleukin-22 (IL-22) secreted by group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) directly stimulates ISCs to proliferate and regenerate the intestinal epithelium upon inflammation-induced intestinal injury (4). Modulating the effects of T cellderived IFN- on ISC, for instance, by suppressing JAK/STAT signaling via ruxolitinib treatment, may provide a new therapeutic avenue to reducing GVHD-induced damage of the intestinal epithelium (10).

(A) ISCs maintain adult homeostasis of the intestinal epithelium. T lymphocytes patrol the intestine. (B) Takashima et al. show that in GVHD as modeled by BMT and aberrant activation of T lymphocytes, T cellderived IFN- directly acts on ISCs and induces apoptosis via JAK/STAT signaling. (C) Disease progression results in marked intestinal damage due to loss of ISCs and their niche.

Acknowledgments: Funding: K.K. is a long-term fellow of the Human Frontier Science Program Organization (LT771/2015). Competing interests: H.C. and K.K. are named inventors on patents or patents pending on Lgr5 stem cellbased organoid technology.

Read this article:
IFN-: The T cell's license to kill stem cells in the inflamed intestine - Science

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders' fight to save minor league baseball is ... [+] rallying bipartisan members of Congress around democratic socialist ideals.

It is not surprising Sen. Bernie Sanders has spent significant time over the last couple of weeks railing against a small group of billionaires whom he thinks are choosing profit over humanity. But in a strange twist, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy agrees with the democratic socialist, along with over 100 bipartisan members of Congressincluding Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of President Donald Trumps most vociferous defenders during the impeachment proceedings.

Last month, the aforementioned 106 congressional members sent a letter to MLB expressing their firm opposition to a cost-cutting proposal that would slash 42 minor league teams across the country. The current agreement between MLB and its minor league affiliates expires at the end of next season.

One proposal would regroup more than 40 teams in an inferior Dream League that would be run jointly by MLB and Minor League Baseball and include players who werent drafted. MLB, which generated a record-setting $10.3 billion in revenue last year, pays the entirety of minor league salaries. The undertaking costs the league as little as $1,160 and $2,150 per month for each Single-A and Triple-A player, per ESPN.

Sanders, like former MLB commissioner Bud Selig, says baseball is more of a public trust than a business. The Democratic presidential hopeful points to the leagues unique antitrust exemption from Congress and practice of using public funds to finance stadiums as reasons why franchises are indebted to their host communities. This week, Sanders met with commissioner Rob Manfred, which prompted MLB to release a vaguely worded statement saying it is committed to negotiating with Minor League Baseball to find solutions that balance the competing interests of local communities, MLB clubs, Minor League owners, and the young players who pursue their dream of becoming professional baseball players.

MLB contests eliminating minor league teams would streamline the player development process and improve conditions for the games best prospects most likely to reach the big leagues.

Sanders doesnt appear to buy MLBs message. In an interview Friday with the L.A. Times, the longtime Vermont senator said he wants the minor league reshuffling plan to be expunged entirely. Baseball is a social phenomenon. It brings people together, from all kinds of backgrounds and races and religions, Sanders told Bill Shaikin. So baseball cannot be looked at as another business, to make as much money as possible, especially given the fact they made $1.2 billion in profits last year. Thats pretty good. And you dont have to shut down minor league teams in order to make a bit more. They should pay attention to the needs of those communities, the fans in those communities, and the city governments that have supported local baseball. Thats the message that I will be conveying to major league owners.

The core of Sanders messagethat corporate profits should not take priority over the wellbeing of people and communitiesis not different from his other rallying points on the campaign trail. Sanders argument for providing universal healthcare coverage, for example, hinges on the notion that healthcare is a human right and not meant to be milked for profit.

And yet even most of the other Democratic contenders for president wont embrace universal healthcare. The widespread galvanization around the crusade to save minor league baseball speaks to how the power of first-person impact can spark politicians to buck the party line. There is a reason why former vice president Dick Cheney is pro gay marriage, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan was a staunch advocate for stem-cell research.

To further prove the point, more than half of the members of Congress who formally admonished MLB for its minor league subtraction plan voted last year for a spending bill that exempted teams from paying minor league players overtime.

But that draconian measure, of course, only affects minor league baseball players. MLBs plan to eliminate 42 teams impacts all sorts of communities, including Representative McCarthys district. The Lancaster Jethawks, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, are on the chopping block.

Suddenly, the concept of democratic socialism doesnt appear so frightening. Expect Sanders and other progressives to keep using minor league baseball as a major league issue.

See the rest here:
Bernie Sanders Fight To Save Minor League Baseball Is One Issue Thats Unifying Congress - Forbes

Researchers at Columbia University were able to grow fully functional lungs in mouse embryos using transplanted stem cells. The findings suggest that it may be ultimately possible to use the technique to grow human lungs in animals for patients who need transplants and to study new lung treatments.

Millions of people worldwide who suffer from incurable lung diseases die without treatment due to the limited supply of donor lungs for transplantation, said co-senior author Wellington V. Cardoso, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Our study shows that it may eventually be possible to develop new strategies for generating human lungs in animals for transplantation as an alternative to waiting for donor lungs.

Researchers have dedicated major efforts to bioengineer lungs by growing stem cells on synthetic scaffolds or in lungs that have been stripped of their original cells. Though substantial progress has been made, researchers have been unable to generate a fully functional lung capable of maintaining survival in animal models.

We thought it might be simpler to grow new lungs in a developing animal, so that we could take advantage of the animals natural signals for lung development, says first author Munemasa Mori, MD, PhD, instructor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The researchers first challenge was to create tissue culture conditions that would allow the donor stem cells to expand proliferate and maintain their ability to transform into many different cell types.

Next, the researchers implanted these stem cells in two types of engineered mouse embryos. One type lacked the stem cells that develop into mature lung cells and another could not produce enough of the cells to make a lung. This procedure created a chimeric embryo that was a mix of donor and host cells.

The implanted stem cells outcompeted the host cells for growth-promoting molecules present in the embryo, leading to the formation of functional lungs that allowed the mice to live well into adulthood. A variety of lung function tests confirmed that the chimeric lungs worked as well as normal mouse lungs, with no signs of rejection.

The stem cells were implanted before the embryos immunological system was turned on, which may explain why the organs were not rejected, says Mori, who will later test his approach in larger animals and in interspecies organ transplants.

Many of the signals for lung development are conserved across species, from frogs to mice to humans, so the idea of using animals to grow human lungs is not out of the question, Cardoso says.

The research was performed in collaboration with Hiromitsu Nakauchi, PhD, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Tokyo, a co-senior author of the paper.

Reference:Mori, M., Furuhashi, K., Danielsson, J. A., Hirata, Y., Kakiuchi, M., Lin, C.-S., Cardoso, W. V. (2019). Generation of functional lungs via conditional blastocyst complementation using pluripotent stem cells. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0635-8

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Stem Cell Transplants Used To Grow Fully Functional Lungs in Mice - Technology Networks

Press release content from ACCESSWIRE. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.

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CARLSBAD, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 15, 2019 / International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCQB:ISCO) ( http://www.internationalstemcell.com ) (ISCO or the Company), a California-based clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel stem cell-based therapies and biomedical products, today announced operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019.

As we mentioned before we completed the enrollment of the Phase I Parkinsons disease clinical trial and currently involved in reorganizing our revenue-generating subsidiaries. We expect that we will see positive results of this reorganization next year. - commented Andrey Semechkin, PhD., CEO and Co-Chairman of ISCO.

Year-to-Date Financial Highlights

About International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCOs core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs). hpSCs avoid ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos. ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenetic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. hpSCs offer the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology ( http://www.lifelinecelltech.com ), and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care (www.lifelineskincare.com). More information is available at http://www.internationalstemcell.com.

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Safe Harbor Statement

Statements pertaining to anticipated developments, expected results of clinical studies, progress of research and development, and other opportunities for the company and its subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates,) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products, regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, application of capital resources among competing uses, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the companys business, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in the companys Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements.

International Stem Cell Corporation and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands, except share data and par value) (Unaudited)

Assets

Cash

Accounts receivable, net

Inventory, net

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

Total current assets

Non-current inventory

Property and equipment, net

Intangible assets, net

Right-of-use assets

Deposits and other assets

Total assets

Liabilities, Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock, and Stockholders' Equity (Deficit)

Accounts payable

Accrued liabilities

Operating lease liabilities, current

Related party payable

Advances

Warrant liability

Total current liabilities

Long-term deferred rent

Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion

Total liabilities

Commitments and Contingencies

Series D Redeemable Convertible Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 50 shares authorized, 43 issued and

outstanding, with liquidation preference of $4,300 at September 30, 2019

Stockholders' Equity (Deficit)

Series B Convertible Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 5,000,000 shares authorized, 250,000

issued and outstanding, with liquidation preferences of $423 and $411 at September 30, 2019 and

December 31, 2018

Series D Convertible Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 50 shares authorized, 43 issued and

outstanding, with liquidation preference of $4,300 at December 31, 2018

Series G Convertible Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 5,000,000 shares authorized, issued and

outstanding, with liquidation preference of $5,000 at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018

Series I-1 Convertible Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 2,000 shares authorized, 814 issued and

outstanding, with liquidation preferences of $814 at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018

Series I-2 Convertible Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 4,310 shares authorized,

issued and outstanding with liquidation preference of $4,310 at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018

Common stock, $0.001 par value, 120,000,000 shares authorized, 7,533,083 and 6,933,861 shares

issued and outstanding at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018

Additional paid-in capital

Accumulated deficit

Total stockholders' equity (deficit)

Total liabilities, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders' equity (deficit)

International Stem Cell Corporation and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited)

Revenues

Product sales

Total revenues

Expenses

Cost of sales

Research and development

Selling and marketing

General and administrative

Total expenses

Loss from operations

Other income (expense)

Change in fair value of warrant liability

Interest expense

Miscellaneous income

Total other income (expense), net

Net income (loss)

Net income (loss) applicable to common stockholders

Net income (loss) per common share-basic

Net income (loss) per common share-diluted

Weighted average shares-basic

Weighted average shares-diluted

Contacts:

International Stem Cell Corporation

Russell A. Kern, PhD

Phone: 760-940-6383

Email:

SOURCE: International Stem Cell CORP

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International Stem Cell Corporation Announces Financial Results for the Three and Nine-Months ended September 30, 2019 - Associated Press