Category Archives: Stem Cell Videos

ALBANY -- Almost halfway through a $600 million state program supporting stem cell research, eight medical schools around New York are reporting progress on projects such as replicating liver cells and eradicating leukemia cells.

A new report from Associated Medical Schools of New York updates work at the institutions where hundreds of researchers are starting to unravel causes and potential treatments for conditions ranging from autism to heart disease and cancer. Stem cells are self-renewing and have the ability to develop into other types of cells.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported finding a method to transform human skin cells into stem cells and turned differentiated human stem cells into heart cells. Those findings are expected to result in better understanding of how heart disease develops and allow initial testing of new treatments on stem cells before they are used on human subjects.

The Empire State Stem Cell Program was intended to fund projects in early stages, including those that initially have been unable to get federal or private funding. Grants have also been used for capital projects like renovating labs and establishing new stem cell centers.

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine reported replicating liver cells that could help reduce the need for liver transplants using live donors and cadavers.

Dr. Allan Spiegel said 12 new researchers have been hired with state funding at the Bronx school, which also lists anemia, brain disorders, heart disease and obesity among its stem cell research subjects.

The 11-year program has awarded nearly $223 million in research grants since 2008, with medical schools awarded $137.5 million. This year's state budget includes $44.8 million, the same as last year and down from the $50 million originally planned.

According to the report, the funding has supported about 400 research and related positions from New York City to Buffalo and Rochester.

"This research has the potential to have significant impact on the treatment of patients with specific types of leukemia and will be useful in treating lymphoma and multiple myeloma," the report said.

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N.Y. medical schools chart progress with stem cells

Source: ISNA, Tehran

Iranian researcher and lecturer Radbod Darabi jointly with his collogues from the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have effectively treated muscular dystrophy in mice using human stem cells derived from a new process which for the first time makes the production of human muscle cells from stem cells efficient and effective.

Radbod Darabi, MD, PhD with Rita Perlingeiro, PhD. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Minnesota Academic Health Center)

The research outlines the strategy for the development of a rapidly dividing population of muscle-forming cells derived from induced pluripotent (iPS) cells.

IPS cells have all of the potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells, but are derived by reprogramming skin cells. They can be patient-specific, which renders them unlikely to be rejected, and do not involve the destruction of embryos.

This is the first time that human stem cells have been shown to be effective in the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

According to the researchers, there has been a significant lag in translating studies using mouse stem cells into therapeutically relevant studies involving human stem cells.

This lag has dramatically limited the development of cell therapies or clinical trials for human patients.

The latest research from the University of Minnesota provides the proof-of-principle for treating muscular dystrophy with human iPS cells, setting the stage for future human clinical trials.

As the researchers noted one of the biggest barriers to the development of cell-based therapies for neuromuscular disorders like muscular dystrophy has been obtaining sufficient muscle progenitor cells to produce a therapeutically effective response.

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Iranian researcher helps treating muscular dystrophy using stem cells

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cited a plastic surgery practice over several violations tied to its use of adult stem cells for breast augmentation and other procedures to manufacturing violations.

In a warning letter to Dr. Thomas E. Young, the owner and medical director of Young Medical Spa, the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said the company had significantly altered adult stem cells as part of the process of converting them from adipose tissue.

The FDA allows companies to derive adult stem cells from structural and adipose tissue on condition that the structure of the stem cells is not significantly changed. It permits the use of stem cells to be derived from adipose tissue from one person and injected back into the same person. If the regulator concludes the process significantly changes the adipose tissue, it considers it a biological product that has a much more rigorous set of criteria to meet.

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The company singled out a product it uses in breast augmentation procedures containing adipose-derived stem cells as a violation of the regulators rules.

During a factory inspection of the practices Lansdale, Pennsylvania and South Center Valley, Pennsylvania offices between December 2011 and January this year, the regulator said it found numerous violations of good manufacturing and good tissue practices. Among the violations listed in the letter were its failure to keep a record of investigations into cases in which patients experienced adverse reactions. It also did not ensure appropriate laboratory testing of each batch of drug product required to be free of objectionable microorganisms, the letter posted on the regulators website said.

In at least six cases, the letter said, the company failed to investigate adverse reactions such as fever, redness, soreness, cyst formation, mastitis and infection following the procedures.

If the company fails to adequately respond to the FDAs letter, it could lead to regulatory action being taken without further notice. That action could include seizure and/or injunction, the letter said.

The FDAs action follows a letter sent to New York-based IntelliCell BioSciences in March raising some of the same concerns with the stem cell company and would seem to reflect a crackdown by the regulator.

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Cosmetic surgery practice’s stem cell use runs afoul of FDA

PLATTSBURGH Lois Wenger cites her faith in God as the underlying factor in her ability to help others in need, and she has never faltered in lending a helping hand.

Or in this case some much-needed bone marrow.

Wenger, who works as a support specialist in CVPH Medical Center's Information Services and Support Department, has been donating blood for years. Her blood type is O-negative, which is the universal blood type and can be used by most people in need of a transfusion.

"My older sister is a medical technologist, so it's always been a regular practice (to give blood)," Wenger said.

That practice expanded a few years ago when Wenger heard that the CVPH Blood Donor Center was working with the Rhode Island Blood Donor Center on a plan to increase the national database for bone-marrow donations.

"Only about 5 million people (nationally) were in the database at that time," said Nancy Roberts, a registered nurse at the CVPH Blood Donor Center. "We thought it would be a good idea to send out the word (for needed donors) in our region."

During the past few years, the Donor Center has hosted a bone-marrow registration at the annual Relay for Life fundraising program for the American Cancer Society.

Those successful drives, along with registrations made through the Blood Donor Center, have resulted in about 700 people from the North Country now being listed on the bone-marrow donation registry.

Those potential donors remain anonymous while their specific tissue type (collected by a simple cheek swab when registering) is recorded via bar code.

There is nothing else for the potential donor to do unless they are notified of a potential match anywhere in the country and even across the globe.

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Local woman donates stem cells through national registry

Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra pose for the shutterbugs. (UNI Photo)

Gearing up for the most exciting phase of her life, motherhood, the 36-year-old said, "Motherhood is the best thing that can happen to a woman, it brings a sense of responsibility".

Shilpa would now also be actively involved in creating awareness among would-be parents on the importance of stem cell banking as the brand ambassador of CordLife, Asia's largest stem cell banking network.

With tremendous potential in curing critical diseases, stem cell therapy is regarded as the future of medical science.

Stem cells extracted from the cord blood have positively treated conditions like leukemia, lymphoma, cerebral palsy and thalassemia major.

"As someone who is looked upon as a role model and as a very successful woman in her own right, her decision to bank her baby's stem cells would have the right influence and impact on the would-be parents," Meghnath Roy Chowdhury, MD of CordLife said.

The actress who is now one of the co-owners of the IPL franchise cricket team Rajasthan Royals, had shot to global fame after winning the British Celebrity Big Brother TV show in 2007.

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Delhi - [ Min 20.5 °C

Public release date: 2-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rick Adams clarence.r.adams@hitchcock.org 603-653-1913 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Lebanon, NH - Research led by vascular surgeons at Dartmouth-Hitchcock may offer new hope to sufferers of peripheral artery disease, the cause of nearly 60,000 lower-limb amputations annually, through the use of a patient's own stem cells.

Richard J. Powell MD, chief of vascular surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, is the principal investigator on a national study involving 550 patients at 80 sites around the country of so-called "no option" patients, for whom the disease is so advanced that amputation is the only available treatment.

Powell's study is now in a three-year, third-stage clinical trial, after second-stage trials showed remarkable success at treating patients with CLI. The final results of the second-stage clinical trial have been published in the April, 2012, issue of Molecular Therapy.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) afflicts more than 9 million patients in the United States. The condition results from blockages in blood vessels caused by atherosclerosis hardening of the arteries which can be a consequence of diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, genetic predisposition, and other circumstances. In many cases, endovascular therapies such as insertion of stents or bypass surgery similar to surgical processes used to treat blockages in the arteries of the heart are used to reintroduce blood flow to the legs. But in about 150,000 patients with the most-severe forms of PAD, called critical limb ischemia or CLI, the disease is so extensive that endovascular therapy isn't an option. That's where Powell's stem cell study comes in.

"All of us have stem cells in our bone marrow, and these stem cells can be utilized to repair other parts of our bodies," says Powell. "By taking the patient's own stem cells and injecting them into the ischemic leg, our hope is that we will then improve the blood flow in that part of the leg."

In the study, bone marrow is removed from the patient's hip, and then sent to a lab where stem cells are separated from the marrow and incubated over a two-week period, allowing more stem cells to grow. The stem cells are then re-injected intramuscularly into about 20 different spots on the patient's leg.

"We found that patients who received the stem cell therapy had a significantly lower incidence of amputation at six months than patients who received a placebo," said Powell.

After six months of the second-stage trials, approximately half of the patients who received a placebo died, required an amputation or saw their leg wounds worsen. Of those receiving the stem cell therapy, only a quarter died, required amputation, or saw their wounds worsen. Many showed significant improvement in blood flow in the ischemic limb.

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Dartmouth-Hitchcock research offers new hope for PAD sufferers

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire -04/30/12)- With a shared goal of supporting development projects that will boost innovation in the growing field of stem cells and biomaterials-based products, Pfizer Canada and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) have established the Pfizer-CCRM Innovation Fund to accelerate regenerative medicine (RM) technologies for drug screening and therapeutic applications. The announcement is being made at the first annual Till & McCulloch Meetings (April 30-May 2), Canada's premier stem cell meeting, jointly hosted by the Stem Cell Network and CCRM.

"CCRM was created on the premise that it would work with academia and industry on projects that will hopefully move RM technologies and innovations from the bench to the bedside," says Michael May, CEO of CCRM. "Canada is already a leader in this field and additional funding to advance novel research through early product development will only make us stronger. We're very pleased to be partnering with Pfizer Canada and appreciate their confidence in joining with us."

"Pfizer Canada is pleased to contribute to this new fund which will support important research here in Canada," explains Dr. Bernard Prigent, Vice-President and Medical Director, Pfizer Canada. "With the novel resources offered through CCRM's development capabilities, we hope to help advance the RM field in this country."

Pfizer Canada has contributed a total of $500,000 to the Pfizer-CCRM Innovation Fund and CCRM will contribute matching dollars to any approved projects undertaken in the duration of this fund.

About Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM)

CCRM, a Canadian not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence program and six institutional partners, supports the development of technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based technologies and therapies. A network of academics, industry and entrepreneurs, CCRM translates scientific discoveries into marketable products for patients. CCRM launched in Toronto's Discovery District on June 14, 2011.

About Pfizer Canada

Pfizer Canada Inc. is the Canadian operation of Pfizer Inc., the world's leading biopharmaceutical company. Pfizer discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines for humans and animals. Pfizer Inc. invests more than US$7 billion annually in R&D to discover and develop innovative life-saving and life-enhancing medicines in a wide range of therapeutic areas. Our diversified health care portfolio includes human and animal biologic and small molecule medicines and vaccines, as well as nutritional products and many of the world's best-known consumer products. For more information, visit http://www.pfizer.ca

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New Fund Established to Stimulate Regenerative Medicine Industry

Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) April 29, 2012

Dr. Sassani states that he has been achieving significant and natural looking results with the addition of fat grafting with concentrated stem-cells to the list of services that he provides. The ideal candidate for this new innovative procedure has suffered a loss of volume of the face, which compromises skin texture. The skin may appear thinner lacking its once youthful volume.

Though injectables have their place in anti-aging, there is a significant difference between fat grafting with concentrated stem cells and all other injectible procedures. All injectables such as, Botox, Juvederm and Radiesse are composed of synthetic materials. In contrast, fat grafting with concentrated stem cell is completely natural because it is composed 100% of the individuals own fat cells. Fat grafting with concentrated stem cells offers something no other injectable can; use of the patients own tissue.

The fat is harvested from the lower abdomen and/or inner thighs to provide the volume necessary to correct the deficiency in the face. As an added bonus, the stem-cells that are transported along with the fat grafts are believed to improve overall skin color, texture and pore size. Stem cells are the repair cells of the body as they morph to become whatever cells they come in contact with. The harvested fat is spun in a centrifuge to concentrate these stem-cells for injection.

When should one have a facelift and when should you consider fat grafting with concentrated stem cells?

This procedure can be done either alone or in conjunction with facial aesthetic procedures. For patients exhibiting a loss of facial volume only, fat grafting with concentrated stem-cells done alone can be the ideal solution.

As the name suggests, facelifts lift sagging skin, tone the face and neck muscles, and remove the wrinkles. The ideal candidate for a facelift has suffered a loss of skin elasticity and muscle tone of the face and neck. Often the candidate will appear tired.

For candidates desiring a lift and tone of the face and neck with volume restoration, a facelift in combination with fat grafting may be the best solution. This candidate will have suffered a loss of skin elasticity, muscle tone and noticeable depletion of volume to the face.

The recovery time for all the procedures is approximately two weeks. After this time, the patient may comfortably return to normal social activities and interaction. A patients skin quality, texture, and tone will continue to improve as the stem-cells integrate. The end result is a tailored and youthful appearance with volume restoration and the skin noticeably improved overall. Patients will appreciate that the rejuvenative effects are enduring.

Take Shape Plastic Surgery, PA offers free consultations. They welcome you to visit their Medicare-certified, state-licensed, nationally-accredited, ambulatory surgical center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. You can check out their website at http://www.takeshape.info or call (954)585-3800 to schedule an appointment.

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Fat Grafting with Concentrated Stemcells vs. Traditional Facelift

South San Francisco, CA (Marketwire) - VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: VSTA) (OTCQB: VSTA), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, has secured a new United States patent covering the company's proprietary methods used to measure and type the toxic effects produced by drug compounds in liver stem cells.

Test methods included in this new patent, (U.S. Patent 11/445,733), titled "Toxicity Typing Using Liver Stem Cells," cover all mammalian liver stem cells -- rat and mouse cells, for example, in addition to human cells. Liver stem cells used in drug testing can be derived from in vivo tissue or produced from embryonic stem cells (ES) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS).

H. Ralph Snodgrass, Ph.D., VistaGen's President and Chief Scientific Officer, said, "This patent covers the monitoring of changes in gene expression as an assay for predicting drug toxicities. It is well known that drugs activate and suppress specific genes, and that the changes in gene expression reflect the mechanism of drug toxicities. The specific sets of genes that are affected become a profile of that drug."

VistaGen's new patent also covers techniques used to develop a database of gene expression profiles of drugs that have the same type of liver toxicity. Using sophisticated "pattern matching" database tools, drug developers can analyze these related profiles to determine "gene expression signatures" that are common and predictive of drugs that produce specific types of toxicity.

"Without this database capability, a drug's single gene expression profile could not be interpreted," Dr. Snodgrass added. "The ability to use liver stem cells to differentiate drug-dependent gene expression profiles, and to compare those profiles of drugs known to induce toxic liver effects, provides a powerful tool for predicting liver toxicity of new drug candidates, including drug rescue variants."

Shawn K. Singh, VistaGen's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Strong and enforceable intellectual property rights are critical components of our plan to optimize the commercial potential of our Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube platform. This new liver toxicity typing patent further solidifies our growing IP portfolio, and supports the continuing development of LiverSafe 3D, our human liver cell-based bioassay system, which complements our CardioSafe 3D human heart cell-based bioassay system for heart toxicity."

About VistaGen Therapeutics VistaGen is a biotechnology company applying human pluripotent stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy. VistaGen's drug rescue activities combine its human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube, with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants (Drug Rescue Variants) of once-promising small-molecule drug candidates. These are drug candidates discontinued due to heart toxicity after substantial development by pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) or university laboratories. VistaGen uses its pluripotent stem cell technology to generate early indications, or predictions, of how humans will ultimately respond to new drug candidates before they are ever tested in humans, bringing human biology to the front end of the drug development process.

Additionally, VistaGen's small molecule drug candidate, AV-101, is in Phase 1b development for treatment of neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain, a serious and chronic condition causing pain after an injury or disease of the peripheral or central nervous system, affects approximately 1.8 million people in the U.S. alone. VistaGen is also exploring opportunities to leverage its current Phase 1 clinical program to enable additional Phase 2 clinical studies of AV-101 for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and depression. To date, VistaGen has been awarded over $8.5 million from the NIH for development of AV-101. Visit VistaGen at http://www.VistaGen.com, follow VistaGen at http://www.twitter.com/VistaGen or view VistaGen's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/VistaGen

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements The statements in this press release that are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to regulatory approvals, the issuance and protection of patents and other intellectual property, the success of VistaGen's ongoing clinical studies, including the safety and efficacy of its drug candidate, AV-101, the failure of future drug rescue and pilot preclinical cell therapy programs related to VistaGen's stem cell technology-based Human Clinical Trial in a Test Tube platform, its ability to enter into drug rescue collaborations, risks and uncertainties relating to the availability of substantial additional capital to support VistaGen's research, development and commercialization activities, and the success of its research, development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies, including those plans and strategies related to AV-101 and any drug rescue variants identified and developed by VistaGen. These and other risks and uncertainties are identified and described in more detail in VistaGen's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. VistaGen undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc.

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VistaGen Secures Key U.S. Patent Covering Stem Cell Technology Methods Used To Test Drug Candidates For Liver Toxicity

By Duke Medicine News and Communications

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have shown the ability to turn scar tissue that forms after a heart attack into heart muscle cells using a new process that eliminates the need for stem cell transplant.

The study, published online April 26 in the journal Circulation Research, used molecules called microRNAs to trigger the cardiac tissue conversion in a lab dish and, for the first time, in a living mouse, demonstrating the potential of a simpler process for tissue regeneration.

If additional studies confirm the approach in human cells, it could lead to a new way for treating many of the 23 million people worldwide who suffer heart failure, which is often caused by scar tissue that develops after a heart attack. The approach could also have benefit beyond heart disease.

"This is a significant finding with many therapeutic implications," said Victor J. Dzau, MD, a senior author on the study who is James B. Duke professor of medicine and chancellor of health affairs at Duke University. "If you can do this in the heart, you can do it in the brain, the kidneys, and other tissues. This is a whole new way of regenerating tissue."

To initiate the regeneration, Dzau's team at Duke used microRNAs, which are molecules that serve as master regulators controlling the activity of multiple genes. Tailored in a specific combination, the microRNAs were delivered into scar tissue cells called fibroblasts, which develop after a heart attack and impair the organ's ability to pump blood.

Once deployed, the microRNAs reprogrammed fibroblasts to become cells resembling the cardiomyocytes that make up heart muscle. The Duke team not only proved this concept in the laboratory, but also demonstrated that the cell conversion could occur inside the body of a mouse -- a major requirement for regenerative medicine to become a potential therapy.

"This is one of the exciting things about our study," said Maria Mirotsou, PhD, assistant professor of cardiology at Duke and a senior author of the study. "We were able to achieve this tissue conversion in the heart with these microRNAs, which may be more practical for direct delivery into cells and allow for possible development of therapies without using genetic methods or transplantation of stem cells."

The researchers said using microRNA for tissue regeneration has several potential advantages over genetic methods or transplantation of stem cells, which have been difficult to manage inside the body. Notably, the microRNA process eliminates technical problems such as genetic alterations, while also avoiding the ethical dilemmas posed by stem cells.

"It's an exciting stage for reprogramming science," said Tilanthi M. Jayawardena, PhD, first author of the study. "It's a very young field, and we're all learning what it means to switch a cell's fate. We believe we've uncovered a way for it to be done, and that it has a lot of potential."

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Duke Team Turns Scar Tissue into Heart Muscle Without Using Stem Cells