Category Archives: Stem Cell Research

Park Ki-Young stepped down as the head of a newly-created science centre, which is responsible for allocating $18 billion in government subsidies and budgets for research projects, a blow to President Moon Jae-In

A top South Korean technology official accused of covering up a notorious stem cell research fraud resigned Friday, a blow to new President Moon Jae-In.

Park Ki-Young stepped down as the head of a newly-created science centre, which is responsible for allocating $18 billion in government subsidies and budgets for research projects.

"I sincerely apologize for causing such disappointment and controversy," Park said in a statement.

"I hope my resignation will serve as an opportunity for the country's science sector to pull together again for development", she added.

Park, a former biology professor seen as a key figure in a scandal involving the fabrication of research by prominent stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-Suk, had been under heavy pressure to step down after hundreds of South Korean scientists protested her appointment by Moon this week.

Hwang was lauded as the "pride of Korea" after claiming to have derived stem cell lines from cloned human embryosa world firstin two articles published in the journal Science in 2004 and 2005.

But his research was later found to be fraudulent and riddled with ethical lapses.

Park played a key role in supporting Hwang and his research projects with generous government subsidies when she served as a presidential aide for science and technology from 2004 to 2006.

She was also one of 15 co-authors of one of Hwang's Science papers.

She resigned from her role as a presidential aide at that time after being accused of covering up crucial flaws in Hwang's stem cell study and sweeping under the carpet ethical lapses involved in his projects that used many human eggs.

Explore further: Outrage over S.Korean stem cell scandal official's new post

2017 AFP

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S. Korea stem cell scandal official resigns - Phys.Org

Im often asked about the safety of treatments that purport to inject stem cells into painful body parts. The reputation of stem cells seems to exceed the reach, with companies touting treatments that arent FDA approved or even being tested.

Back in March, an alarming article in the New England Journal of Medicinedescribed three women blinded by stem cell treatments two of the patients reported seeing a reference on the company website to registration at the National Institutes of Healths well-respected ClinicalTrials.gov, and assuming it applied to their treatment. It didnt.

In what is perhaps a modern version of hawking snake oil, companies can indeed register certain clinical trials without breaking any rules but desperate patients might not know that.

There is no doubt that some patients have misinterpreted a studys listing on ClinicalTrials.gov as a stamp of legitimacy, federal review, and compliance. In this way, treatments with no safety or efficacy data, no prior clinical study, and no ongoing clinical trials under FDA review, appear to have federal approval. Such a misunderstanding can lead to disastrous outcomes for patients, said Thomas Albini, MD, of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami, who treated the blinded women.

When I wrote about the disaster here at DNA Scienceand atMedscape Medical News, my Medscape editor asked me to take a closer look at criteria for listing investigations at ClinicalTrials.gov. It proved an interesting exercise, but I declined to write an article, fearing lawsuits if I named companies.

ClinicalTrials.gov is where research groups, in academia and pharma/biotech, describe protocols to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new drugs, biologics, and devices, which FDA regulates, typically in randomized, controlled trials. But for an observational study that just follows what happens after a treatment, no such thumbs-up is required; no investigational new drug (IND) designation or investigational device exemption (IDE) need be filed. And that creates a loophole that companies are happily jumping through and luring patients in pain, who may know little about clinical trial design, and perhaps trust too much the companies and the doctors offering these services.

Its easy to see how people are fooled. One company claims that By providing access to registered clinical studies through the NIH, we are providing patients with the ability to choose a stem cell treatment center with the highest standard of care. If the treatment is experimental, how can there even be a standard of care?

MOST STUDIES LEGIT

I love ClinicalTrials.gov its packed with information about all manner of conditions, with contacts and references. I started my investigation by searching for studies that sounded bogus.

I began with a treatment that epitomizes pseudoscience: magnets. But I was fooled. Other than legit uses in medical devices, my magnet search called up as an acronym of sorts for theMothers and Girls Dancing Together Trial, a well-designed study on preventing childhood obesity, with a decent sample size and controls.

I also thought the randomised crossover trial of the acute effects of a deep-fried Mars bar or porridge on the cerebral vasculature was fake, but it turned out to be a medical students project, well done, and published in the Scottish Medical Journal.

But trial NCT02833532, sponsored by a Korean pharmaceutical company, was likely a joke, with the stated purpose of temporary penile enhancement and one of the investigators first name being Dong. Participants must answer the question How do you rate your penile size? Very small/small/normal/big/very big to enroll. Those accepted get to try something made of hyaluronic acid, which is found, coincidentally, in cocks combs.

Searching ClinicalTrials.gov for stem cells returns more than 4,000 entries, so I gave up. Fortunately, Leigh Turner, PhD, associate professor at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, wasnt afraid of lawyers and took a more measured, scholarly approach. He recently published the intriguing findings in Regenerative Medicine, where you can find nice tables naming the stem cell companies that use and possibly abuse ClinicalTrials.gov.

AN ACADEMIC INVESTIGATION

Dr. Turner searched ClinicalTrials.gov for stem cells along with patient-sponsored, patient-funded, and self-funded because expecting patients to pay is a red flag. Only a very few real clinical trials charge patients, and those that do must have FDA approval to do so.

He found 7 such pay-as-you-go clinical trials, each enrolling more than 100 people, at the government website, and another 11 in a database of companies that provide direct-to-consumer stem-cell-based treatments. The DTC label indicates that the treatments arent part of a real experimental protocol. One of themhad signed up more than 3,000 gullible people.

The companies that charge patients yet proclaim a ClinicalTrials.gov listing are having their proverbial cake and eating it too borrowing the governmental veneer of a sanctioned clinical trial, while collecting fees. And many health care consumers arent even aware theyre being bamboozled.

Another red flag in a stem cell pitch is an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink list of targets. Stem Cell Network, for example, claims to be able to treat, using stem cells grown from a patients fat, some 28 conditions, including the vague knee problems, and also muscular dystrophy, ankle problems, neuropathy, asthma, and alopecia areata. Also be wary of stem cells derived from one body part like butt fat being injected into another body part such as eyeballs.

Wed like people to protect themselves by going to a reliable website, like ClinicalTrials.gov, to distinguish legitimate from bogus claims of stem cell clinics. But the findings of this paper challenge that advice because this valuable resource, which is designed to promote transparency and to help people find clinical trials, lists unlicensed and unproven stem cell interventions that companies turn into personal marketing platforms. So if you have ALS, MS, Parkinsons disease, a ClinicalTrials.gov listing looks like any other study on the NIH website. Many people think a listing is credible, Dr. Turner told me.

There is an urgent need for careful screening of clinical studies before they are registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, Dr. Turners paper concludes. But in the current climate of a nuclear threat, a health care system in disarray, and possible cuts to the CDC, FDA, and NIH, ramping up scrutiny at ClinicalTrials.gov is unlikely to have priority, if the President even has a clue what it is.

Its not possible to slash, burn, defund, and deregulate at every turn and think that federal agencies are going to improve how they function. But no administration is forever, no budget is forever, deregulatory moments dont last forever, and perhaps problems that are ignored or neglected now will be addressed in the future, with collateral damage along the way while nothing is done, warns Dr. Turner, who lives in Canada. I wonder if he has a spare room.

Those seeking stem cell treatments should check out the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Patient Handbook on Stem Cell Therapiesand stemcells.nih.gov. Alas, much of the media is still somewhat unfamiliar with the biology of stem cells, that they are not cells that can turn into any cell typebut that they self-renew and jettison a new stem cell at every division. Thats what makes them stem cells, not the ability to spawn specialized cells.

So I tell people who ask me if they should have stem cells shot into their aching knees or backs to do so only if they wouldnt object to an abnormal growth cancer forming there.

When it comes to stem cell therapies, its caveat emptor buyer beware!

Original post:
Are Stem Cell Companies Abusing ClinicalTrials.gov? - PLoS Blogs (blog)

Even though Richard Lopez is still in high school, he can already tell you a thing or two about the ureteric bud, the metanephric mesenchyme and the developing kidney.

More impressively, he was familiar with these terms before starting his summer internship in the lab of Andy McMahon, kidney researcher and director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.

I knew I was going to come here, Lopez said. So from December on, I was just reading papers that were written by Dr. McMahons lab. And so I read about the development of the kidney, kidney organoids, experimental methods like in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, all that stuff. Im really glad I did all of that because now that Im here, I understand whats going on.

Lopez undertook this intense preparation as part of the Science Research Program at his Connecticut boarding school, Choate Rosemary Hall. In addition to familiarizing him with the McMahon labs research, the program provided experience with useful molecular biology techniques, ranging from gel electrophoresis to polymerase chain reaction.

Lopez didnt start his high school career at Choate. Growing up in Lennox near the Los Angeles International Airport, he attended local public schools until his sophomore year in high school. At that point, his exceptional scores on the California Standardized Test attracted the attention of the Young Eisner Scholar program, which empowers underserved students to fulfill their potential.

As an Eisner Scholar, he earned both admission and a full scholarship to attend Choate. But the decision to leave home wasnt easy.

I was terrified at first, leaving everything behind, he said. I talked to my mom about it, and at first she was hesitant because I was born and raised here, and Im the only child. But then she realized that this is an amazing opportunity, and I cant let it go by.

Lopez recalls that Choate was initially in a huge culture shock from the occasional Maserati to the international student body to the exceptional academic opportunities such as the Science Research Program that brought him to USC.

In the McMahon lab, Lopez has learned about the molecular signals that drive the branching development of the kidney, and he has practiced a wide range of lab techniques.

Im really excited about science because I know its potential.

Richard Lopez

Im really excited and passionate about science because I know its potential, he said. If you pair that with math, you have no boundaries. If you look at the lab where Im working right now creating kidney organoids, learning about kidney development, these kinds of things can solve really burdensome illnesses that are fatal to some people, like end-stage renal disease and polycystic kidney disease.

To get to the lab every day, Lopez bike commutes a total of 32 miles from his home in Lennox to USCs Health Sciences Campus. Hes run the Los Angeles Marathon once and the San Francisco Marathon twice. In November, hes planning to travel to Florida to celebrate his 18th birthday with his first Ironman Triathlon a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run.

Hes participating in these events not only for fun and fitness, but also as a way to give back. Hes currently raising sponsorship money for the Partnership Scholars Program, which provides underserved junior high and high school students with educational and cultural experiences, ranging from theatergoing to restaurant outings to college tours. His goal is to raise $54,000 to fund three new scholars.

I was very lucky, he said. So I want to raise money for the scholarships that have helped me out along the way.

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High school student gets an early start in stem cell research at USC - USC News

Irvine, Calif., July 26, 2017 A stem cell-based method created by University of California, Irvine scientists can selectively target and kill cancerous tissue while preventing some of the toxic side effects of chemotherapy by treating the disease in a more localized way.

Weian Zhao, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, and colleagues have programmed human bone marrow stem cells to identify the unique physical properties of cancerous tissue. They added a piece of code to their engineered cells so that they can detect distinctively stiff cancerous tissue, lock into it and activate therapeutics.

Our new type of treatment only targets metastatic tissue, which enables us to avoid some of conventional chemotherapys unwanted side effects, Weian Zhao said. Steve Zylius / UCI

In a study appearing in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers report they have effectively and safely employed this stem cell-targeting system in mice to treat metastatic breast cancer that had spread to the lung. They first transplanted the engineered stem cells to let them find and settle into the tumor site where they secreted enzymes called cytosine deaminase. The mice were then administered an inactive chemotherapy called prodrug 5-flurocytosine, which was triggered into action by the tumor site enzymes.

Zhao said his team specifically focused on metastatic cancer, which comes when the disease spreads to other parts of the body. Metastatic tumors are particularly deadly and the cause of 90 percent of cancer deaths.

This is a new paradigm for cancer therapy, Zhao said. We are going in a direction that few have explored before, and we hope to offer an alternative and potentially more effective cancer treatment.

Zhao added that this stem cell-targeting approach can provide an alternative to many forms of chemotherapy, which has a number of bad side effects. While this widely used method is powerful enough to kill rapidly growing cancer cells, it also can harm healthy ones.

Our new type of treatment only targets metastatic tissue, which enables us to avoid some of conventional chemotherapys unwanted side effects, said Zhao, who is a member of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UCI.

This published work is focused on breast cancer metastases in the lungs, he added. However, the technology will be applicable to other metastases as well, because many solid tumors have the hallmark of being stiffer than normal tissue. This is why our system is innovative and powerful, as we dont have to spend the time to identify and develop a new genetic or protein marker for every kind of cancer.

So far, the Zhao team has done preclinical animal studies to demonstrate that the treatment works and is safe, and they hope to transition to human studies in the near future. They are currently expanding to include other type of cells, including cancer tissue-sensing, engineered immune-system T cells (called CAR-T) to treat metastasizing breast and colon cancers. They also plan to transform the technology for other diseases such as fibrosis and diabetes, which result in stiffening of otherwise healthy tissue.

Along with Zhao, UCI doctoral students Linan Liu and Shirley Zhang, are co-leading authors of the study. The National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the American Cancer Society and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine provided support.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. Its located in one of the worlds safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange Countys second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.

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UCI stem cell therapy attacks cancer by targeting unique tissue stiffness - UCI News

About Edheads

Edheads is an online educational resource that provides science and math games and activities that promote critical thinking. Choose from Simple Machines, Virtual Knee Surgery or Stem Cell Heart Repair, among others. All activities meet state and national standards.

We partner with corporations, universities, and school systems throughout the United States, which help us research, design, and test our activities every step of the way. Not only do teachers and students appreciate our free activities, Edheads has been recognized by almost every major award on the Web for our excellent educational content.

So search under the "Games" menu at the top of the page to dive into an activity and let the fun and learning begin!

There are still free games on Edheads! Look at the menu bar above, click 'Games' and look for the 'free games' section. You can still play Virtual Hip Resurfacing, Sickle Cell DNA, Trauma and other games without logging on and without a membership!

If you are a teacher purchasing a membership, please remember to set up your sub-accounts, so students can log in!

Important news!To ensure that Edheads can continue to create dynamic, minds-on STEM learning experiences, we are now a membership site. Membership levels and costs can be found here.

Register as a member now!Join the Edheads Community to play all the games you love and help create new ones!

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Posted by admin on November 25, 2014 Leave a Comment

Texans for Stem Cell Research (TSCR), proudly announces its participation in the World Stem Cell Summit, 2014 in San Antonio November 25th, 2014 | Texans for Stem Cell Research (TSCR), proudly announces its participation in the World Stem Cell Summit, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas, December 2-5th, 2014. TSCR will co- host a Welcoming Party for the Genetics Policy Institute, the organizer of the Summit, along with the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. This event will be held at the San Antonio Convention Center LDR Room, 200 E. Market St. The event will be from 7:30-10:30 pm on December 2, 2014. Featured speakers include Dr. Doris Taylor of the

Posted by admin on February 10, 2014 Leave a Comment

February 9, 2014, 7:00 PM|What 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl learned while reporting on the surprising medical differences between males and females Watch 60 Minutes Overtime Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Posted by admin on January 23, 2014 Leave a Comment

Scientists have known for years that stem cells in male and female sexual organs are regulated differently by their respective hormones. In a surprising discovery, researchers at the Childrens Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) and Baylor College of Medicine have found that stem cells in the blood-forming system which is similar in both sexes also are regulated differently by hormones, with estrogen proving to be an especially prolific promoter of stem cell self-renewal. The research, published in Nature, raises several intriguing possibilities for further investigation that might lead to improved treatments for blood cancers and increased safety and effectiveness of chemotherapy. Before the finding, blood-forming stem cells were thought to

Category Blood, Children, Headlines, Pediatric, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research Tags Baylor College of Medicine, blood-forming stem cells, Daisuke Nakada, estrogen, Hideyuki Ogur, hildrens Medical Center Research Institute, hormones, Mary McDermott, pediatric genetics, Sean Morrison, stem cells, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Posted by admin on January 7, 2014 Leave a Comment

Bold New Alliance Among Houstons Leading Health Care Providers to Transform Care Delivery in the Region Clinical Services, Research and Education Greatly Enhanced by New Collaborations for CHI, St. Lukes, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Heart Institute HOUSTON (Jan. 7, 2014) Three of the regions leading medical institutions Baylor College of Medicine, CHI St. Lukes Health and the Texas Heart Institute have significantly expanded and enhanced their long-standing educational, clinical and research affiliations in conjunction with Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, which sponsors and operates the newly named CHI St. Lukes Health. Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nations largest health systems, announced today that CHI St. Lukes has partnered with Baylor

Posted by admin on November 26, 2013 Leave a Comment

The city of San Antonio will invest $200,000 in a biotech startup founded to develop new advances in stem-cell technology. City Council voted Thursday to invest in StemBioSys, Inc. through a grant to the San Antonio Economic Development Corporation. The money will be used for stem-cell research, development and manufacturing. StemBioSys, founded in 2010, holds two patents and has three others pending. The company has four employees and will hire at least two more in the next year. The company was formed by Dr. Xiao-Dong Chen, a professor at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Dr. Steven Davis, a San Antonio dermatologist, using licensed stem-cell technology Chen created at the university.

Posted by admin on November 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Research with mice may someday help people recovering from heart attacks, scientists say New insight into the hearts ability to repair itself could help scientists develop ways to improve recovery after a heart attack, a new study of mice suggests. Researchers found that a signaling pathway called the Hippo pathway normally blocks heart repair in adult mice. When certain signals were removed, the animals hearts were able to regenerate after being damaged. This was because specialized heart cells called cardiomyocytes were able to multiply much better after the signals were removed, an ability that is normally lost in damaged hearts, according to the researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas

Posted by admin on October 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

Daria O Brians Science Club Adventures in Time Not currently available on BBC iPlayer Series 2 Episode 2 of 6 Dara O Briain and the team go on a journey through time to discover what it is and how to get more of it. Watch Video Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Category Body Parts, For the Kids!, Organs, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research, Videos Tags BBC, Daria O Brian's Science Club, Doris Taylor, For the Kids!, Helen Czerski, organs, Texas Heart Institute

Posted by admin on September 13, 2013 Leave a Comment

HOUSTON Gov. Rick Perry today announced a $3 million investment through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) to create the Center for Cell and Organ Biotechnology in collaboration with the Texas Heart Institute (THI) and Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. This center represents another step toward making Texas the forefront of biotechnology for generations to come, Gov. Perry said. The investment is all a part of the culture of creation weve nurtured in Texas, built upon the concept that if you give bright and visionary people the freedom to innovate and pursue their dreams, good things will happen. I could not be prouder that this life-affirming research will be

Posted by admin on June 20, 2013 Leave a Comment

Its a pioneering procedure. Doctors at Austins Heart Hospital are taking a patients own stem cells from bone marrow a few days after a heart attack and injecting those stem cells back into formerly blocked arteries. Dr. Roger Gammon is an Interventional Cardiologist who leads the research team at the hospital. He says, We think those stem cells in particular are most able to recover heart muscle and grow new blood vessels in an area which could save that heart muscle. This trial could be a critical next step in fighting the nations number one killer. Medication and surgery to open blocked arteries have dramatically improved survival rates for people with heart disease. But once

Category Headlines, Heart Attacks, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research, Videos Tags Austin's Heart Hospital, Bone Marrow, heart attack, Roger Gammon, stem cells

Posted by admin on June 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Texas Heart Institute One of Many Hospitals Seeing Success in Organ Creation On average, 18 people die each day awaiting an organ donation one person is added to the waiting list for organ transplants every ten minutes. Although nearly 80 people receive an organ transplant per day according to OrganDonor.gov, the gap between donations made and those awaiting organs is devastating for those on the waiting list. There is good news on the horizon for the 100,000-plus people awaiting a transplant, however. Researchers in Texas and across the globe are working on a way to create organs from the patients own body. While 3D printed versions of large organs such as kidneys are

Category Headlines, Heart Disease, Stem Cells, Technology, Texas, Texas Research, Videos, World News Tags 3D printed, Doris Taylor, OrganDonor.gov, Stanford, stem cells, Texas Heart Institute

Posted by admin on May 30, 2013 Leave a Comment

Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) announced that they have performed an investigational procedure on six patients in a new FDA-approved clinical trial to evaluate therapy that uses regenerative cells derived from a patients own adipose (body fat) tissue to treat a severe form of heart failure. The trial, known as ATHENA, marks the first such study in the United States using adipose-derived regenerative cells, known as ADRCs, which are harvested using a technology developed by Cytori Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that specializes in cell therapies. Previous studies in Europe have shown the safety and feasibility of the therapy. We have found that body fat tissue is a

Category Adipose, Headlines, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Stem Cells, Technology, Texas, Texas Research Tags adipose, ADRC, Cytori Therapeutics, Fat-Derived Regenerative Cells, heart failure, James T. Willerson, Texas Heart Institute

Posted by admin on April 30, 2013 Leave a Comment

Texas Heart Institute not concerned about changes at St. Lukes A spokesman for Texas Heart Institute said the center does not have any ongoing research that would be in direct conflict with the faith-based medical care of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives. The St. Lukes Episcopal Health System said April 19 it decided to sell to CHI, the nations second-largest faith-based health system. Shortly after, concerns arose about whether the Catholic provider would eliminate any procedures currently offered at St. Lukes. The Texas Heart Institute is affiliated with but not owned or governed by St. Lukes, though it is housed within St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. CHI issued a statement April 26

Category Headlines, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Stem Cells, Technology, Texas, Texas Research, Vascular Disease, World News Tags Catholic Health Initiatives, CHI, Denton Cooley, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Texas Heart Institute

Posted by admin on April 25, 2013 Leave a Comment

Latest advances in treatment for Alzheimers,traumatic brain injury and stroke to be presented at symposium AUSTIN, Texas (April 24, 2012) Some of the countrys leading practitioners will discuss the cutting-edge treatments and imaging techniques being developed to treat Alzheimers, traumatic brain injury and stroke at a symposium on May 1 in Austin. Collaborating for Cures: Research, Rehabilitation & Treatment for Alzheimers, Brain Injury & Stroke will feature presentations on The Promise of Stem Cells; Current treatment of closed head injury, Disorders of consciousness, Imaging in dementia, Drug screening for degeneration, Pain syndrome after stoke, Emerging therapeutics in ischemic stroke and Neurorecovery vs neurorehabilitation as well as provide a forum for leading scientists in the

Category Alzheimer's, Headlines, Preclinical, Stroke, Texas, Texas Research Tags Alzheimers, brain injury, CORE Health Care, Core Health Foundation, Moss Rehabilitation & Research Institute, Nantz National Alzheimers Center, NeuroTexas Institute, Reliant Austin Rehabilitation Hospital, Seton Brain & Spine Institute, St. Davids HealthCare, Stroke, Texans for Stem Cell Research, Texas Cures Education Foundation, TIRR Memorial Hermann, UT Southwestern

Posted by admin on March 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

Reprogramming Adult Cells to Stem Cells Works Better with One Gene Turned Off The removal of a genetic roadblock could improve the efficiency of converting adult cells into stem cells by 10 to 30 times, report scientists from The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and two other institutions in the latest issue of Cell. The discovery six years ago that scientists can convert adult cells into inducible pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, bolstered the dream that a patients own cells might be reprogrammed to make patient-specific iPSCs for regenerative medicine, modeling human diseases in petri dishes, and drug screening, said Rongfu Wang, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics. But reprogramming

Category Drug Discovery, Headlines, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research Tags Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, drug screening, epigenetic, inducible pluripotent stem cells, Regenerative Medicine, Rongfu Wang, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute

Posted by admin on February 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

A University of Texas spinoff company has pulled in $2 million to test a new technique for culturing non-embryonic stem cells. According to a regulatory filing, StemBioSys raised at least $2 million of a $3.5 million equity offering. A company representative was not available to elaborate, but CEO Dr. Steven Davis told the San Antonio Business Journal last year when the company began raising the round that it would fund research projects to validate the quality of the stem cells generated by the companys technology. StemBioSys is developing XC-marrow ECM, a propriety three-dimensional culture for growing mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood. These immature cells have multiple potential uses

Posted by admin on February 7, 2013 Leave a Comment

Every week, it seems, theres a new breakthrough in 3-D printing that promises us the ability to (eventually) fabricate some new thing in one of those glass-walled wonder boxes. Such things have included everything from spare parts for the International Space Station above to the beef on our dinner plates to the organs inside our bodies. Although this last idea of fabricating body parts may seem the most fanciful, a team of scientists is reporting a breakthrough in 3-D printing using human embryonic stem cells that could purportedly lead to life-like bioengineered tissue and, eventually, artificial organs tailor-made for specific patients. Researchers have been able to engineer tissue samples in then past by combining artificial

Posted by admin on January 27, 2013 Leave a Comment

Doris Taylor and her team are building new organs, hoping to reverse disease, maybe even the aging process By Maggie Galehouse | January 23, 2013 It sounds like science fiction, but it is isnt. On the ninth floor of the Texas Heart Institutes Denton Cooley building, Doris Taylor and her team are building human hearts, with help from pigs and stem cells. We think a pig heart is a perfect scaffold for a human heart, based on its structure and size, says Taylor, a passionate scientist with a Ph.D. in pharmacology. One recent morning, a pig heart hung suspended in a clear homemade tank in the lab built for Taylor and her team. Filled with

Category Headlines, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Texas, Texas Research Tags Doris Taylor, Houston Chronicle, Jame T. Willerson, Maggie Galehouse, Regenerative Medicine, stem cells, Texas Heart Insitute

Posted by admin on January 21, 2013 Leave a Comment

After a nationwide competition, Texas Heart Institute at St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital has been chosen as the Biorepository Core Lab for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes network of cardiac stem cell research centers. The seven centers, collectively known as the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network, are home to a network of physicians, scientists and support staff who work together to study stem-cell therapy for treating heart disease. The goals of the network are to complete research studies that will potentially lead to more effective treatments for patients with cardiovascular disease, and to share knowledge quickly with the health care community. Read Full Story Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

Posted by admin on January 8, 2013 Leave a Comment

Scar Tissue In Damaged Hearts Reprogrammed By Gene Therapy Into Healthy Heart Muscle A cocktail of three specific genes can reprogram cells in the scars caused by heart attacks into functioning muscle cells, and the addition of a gene that stimulates the growth of blood vessels enhances that effect, said researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College, Baylor College of Medicine and Stony Brook University Medical Center in a report that appears online in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The idea of reprogramming scar tissue in the heart into functioning heart muscle was exciting, said Dr. Todd K. Rosengart, chair of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at BCM and the reports corresponding

Posted by admin on January 4, 2013 Leave a Comment

The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the international organization representing the interests of the regenerative medicine community, today announced that 18 ARM members will be presenting at the Biotech Showcase 2013 meeting in San Francisco next week. Featuring company presentations by leading organizations in the industry, Biotech Showcase, produced by EBD Group and Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors, has emerged as a high profile forum for mid-, small- and micro-cap and private companies seeking access to the investor community and potential collaborators. Collectively, the ARM members presenting will showcase the wide scope of progress that is taking place in the regenerative medicine and cell therapy field. (Press Release) Recommend on FacebookTell a friend

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Texas Research : Stem Cell Cite

Welcome

The Stem Cell Center Texas Heart Institute is dedicated to the study of adult stem cells and their role in treating diseases of the heart and the circulatory system. Through numerous clinical and preclinical studies, we have come to realize the potential of stem cells to help patients suffering from cardiovascular disease.We are actively enrolling patients in studies using stem cells for the treatment of heart failure, heart attacks, and peripheral vascular disease.

Whether you are a patient looking for information regarding our research, or a doctor hoping to learn more about stem cell therapy, we welcome you to the Stem Cell Center. Please visit our Clinical Trials page for more information about our current trials.

Emerson C. Perin, MD, PhD, FACC Director, Clinical Research for Cardiovascular Medicine Medical Director, Stem Cell Center McNair Scholar

You may contact us at:

E-mail: stemcell@texasheart.org Toll free: 1-866-924-STEM (7836) Phone: 832-355-9405 Fax: 832-355-9440

We are a network of physicians, scientists, and support staff dedicatedto studying stem cell therapy for treating heart disease. Thegoals of the Network are to complete research studies that will potentially lead to more effective treatments for patients with cardiovasculardisease, and to share knowledge quickly with the healthcare community.

Websitein Spanish (En espaol)

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The Stem Cell Center at Texas Heart Institute

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There is no shortage of myths and misconceptions when it comes to stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Here we address the most common concerns.

If you have more questions that aren't addressed here, please visit our other Stem Cell FAQ pages.

Is CIRM-funded stem cell research carried out ethically? Where do the embryos come from to create stem cell lines? I'm opposed to abortion. Can embryonic stem cell lines come from aborted fetuses? Does creating stem cell lines destroy the embryo? Are adult stem cells as goodor betterthan embryonic stem cells? Don't iPS cells eliminate the need to use embryos in stem cell research? Can't stem cell research lead to human cloning?

Stem cell research, like field within biomedicne, poses social and ethical concerns. CIRM, as well as the broader research community, takes these seriously.

As a state funding body, CIRM has comprehensive policies to govern research, similar to our national counterpart, the National Institutes of Health. CIRM-funded researchers must comply with a comprehensive set of regulations that have been carefully developed and are in accordance with national and international standards.

These regulations were among the first formal policies governing the conduct of stem cell research and are in accordance with recommendations from the National Academies and from the International Society for Stem Cell Research. CIRMs Standards Working Group meets regularly to consider new ethical challenges as the science progresses and to revise standards to reflect the current state of the research.

Find out More:

CIRM regulations National Academies of Science guidelines International Society for Stem Cell Research guidelines National Academies of Science podcast about guidelines for embryonic stem cell research More about CIRM-grantee ethics training (4:03)

All the human embryonic stem cell lines currently in use come from four to five day-old embryos left over from in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. In IVF, researchers mix a man's sperm and a woman's eggs together in a lab dish. Some of those eggs will become fertilized. At about five days the egg has divided to become a hollow ball of roughly 100 cells called a blastocyst which is smaller than the size of the dot over an i. It is these very early embryos that are implanted into the woman in the hopes that she becomes pregnant.

Each cycle of IVF can produce many blastocysts, some of which are implanted into the woman. The rest are stored in the IVF clinic freezer. After a successful implantation, they must decide what to do with any remaining embryos. There are a few options:

Some embryonic stem cell lines also come from embryos that a couple has chosen not to implant because they carry harmful genetic mutations like the ones that cause cystic fibrosis or Tay Sachs disease. These are discovered through routine genetic testing prior to implantation. Still other embryos might be malformed in some way that causes them to be rejected for implantation into the mother. Embryos with genetic defects of malformations would have been discarded if the couple had not chosen to donate them to stem cell research.

People who donate leftover embryos for research go through an extensive consent process to ensure that they understand embryonic stem cell research. Under state, national and international regulations, no human embryonic stem cell lines can be created without explicit consent from the donor.

Policies vary as to whether women may be paid or otherwise compensated to donate eggs. Most jurisdictions allow donors to be reimbursed for direct costs such as travel to the clinic or lodging. Some also allow payments or IVF services to be provided to egg donors.

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How do scientists create stem cell lines from left over IVF embryos? (4:11)

No. Emybronic stem cells only come from four to five day old blastocysts or younger embryos.

In most cases, yes. The hollow blastocystwhich is where embryonic stem cells come fromcontains a cluster of 20-30 cells called the inner cell mass. These are the cells that become embryonic stem cells in a lab dish. The process of extracting these cells destroys the embryo.

Dont forget that the embryos were donated from IVF clinics. They had either been rejected for implantation and were going to be destroyed, or the couple had decided to stop storing the embryos for future use. The embryos used to create embryonic stem cell lines were already destined to be destroyed.

There is, however, a second method that creates embryonic stem cell lines without destroying the embryo. Instead, scientists take a single cell from a very early stage IVF embryo and can use that one cell to develop a new line. The process of removing one cell from an early stage embryo has been done for many years as a way of testing the embryo for genetic predisposition to diseases such as Tay Sachs. This process is called preimplantation genetic testing.

Adult stem cells are extremely valuable and have great potential for future therapies. However, these cells are very restricted in what they can do. Unlike embryonic stem cells, which can grow into virtually any cell type in the body, adult stem cells can only follow certain paths.

For example, Blood-forming stem cells can grow into mature blood cells, and brain stem cells may be able to grow into mature neurons, but a blood-forming stem cell cant grow into a neuron, and vice versa. Whats more, adult stem cells dont grow indefinitely in the lab, unlike embryonic stem cells, and they arent as flexible in the types of diseases they can treat.

And, while the news is full of stories about people who had great results from adult stem cell therapies, few of these therapies are part of big trials that can test whether a potential therapy is safe and effective. Until some of these large trials take place with both adult and embryonic stem cells we won't know which type of stem cell is superior. Even researchers who study adult stem cells advocate working with embryonic cells as well.

CIRM is excited about their potential for treating some diseases. However, our goal is to accelerate new treatments for diseases in need. At this time the most effective way of doing that is by exploring all types of stem cells. That's why CIRM has funded researchers pursuing a wide range of approaches to finding cures for diseases.

See how much of CIRM's funding has gone to different types of stem cells here: Overview of CIRM Stem Cell Research Funding.

Filter our list of all funded CIRM grants to see awards using different cell types.

How are adult stem cell different from embryonic stem cells? (3:29)

Induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, represent another type of cell that could be used for stem cell research. . iPS cells are adult cellsusually skin cellsthat scientists genetically reprogram to appear like embryonic stem cells. The technology used to generate human iPS cells, pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka in 2007, is very promising, which is why CIRM has funded many grants that create and use these cells to study or treat disease. However, iPS cell technology is very new and it is still not known whether those cells have the same potential as human embryonic stem cells or whether the cells are safe for transplantation.

Many CIRM-funded researchers are working to find better ways of creating iPS cells that are both safe and effective. In the mean time, waiting for iPS cells to become therapeutically safewhich will likely take yearswould slow the search for disease treatments. Cures cant wait, which is why CIRM funds all types of stem cell research.

Experts agree that research on all types of stem cells is critical. In September 2008, a panel of experts convened by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences stated that the use of human embryonic stem cells is still necessary. As panel chair Richard Hynes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stated:

It is far from clear at this point which types of cell types will prove to be the most useful for regenerative medicine, and it is likely that each will have some utility.

See a video about creating iPS cells (3:40)

No. Every significant regulatory and advisory body has restrictions on reproductive cloning. The National Academy of Sciences has issued guidelines banning the technique as has the International Society for Stem Cell Research. The California constitution and CIRM regulations specifically prohibit reproductive cloning with its funding.

Updated 1/15

More here:
Myths and Misconceptions About Stem Cell Research ...

ISCRM's Deok-Ho Kim, Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at University of Washington, has been named a 2015 Young Innovator of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) by the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).

Dr. Kim is one of only 11 distinguished honorees this year who are tenure-track assistant professors working in the field of cellular and molecular bioengineering. This years honorees represent some of the best and brightest working in the field and were chosen from a highly competitive pool of candidates, noted a CMBE official.

As part of the selection process, they were invited to submit full-length manuscripts that underwent a rigorous peer-review process prior to publication in the most recent issue of the scientific journalCellular and Molecular Bioengineering.

Dr. Kim was recognized for the development of a nanopatterned human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived model of a dystrophin-null cardiomyopathic phenotype. His research group has demonstrated the utility of bio-inspired nanotopographically-defined materials for controlling the structural and functional properties of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, providing an enabling platform for effectively stratifying normal and structural cardiac disease phenotypes in vitro. This work was performed in collaboration with Dr. David Mack and Dr. Martin Childers in the Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington. Their findings are published in the September issue ofCMBE Journal.

Advanced heart cell-based systems such as these offer unprecedented opportunities to study a wide range of heart diseases in more rigorous and innovative ways; paving the way for breakthroughs in treatment options and someday cures for patients where none exist today, said Jesse Macadangdang, lead author of the paper and graduate student in Kims laboratory.

Dr. Kim, who joined University of Washington in 2011, received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, where he was most recently an assistant research professor. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kim worked at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETH Zrich) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology as a Research Scientist. His research spans diverse fields, including nanobiomaterials, mechanobiology, stem cell and tissue engineering, and micro/nanofabrication of polymeric biomaterials.

For more information on Dr. Kims research,visithttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12195-015-0413-8.

The rest is here:
Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine

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