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Category Archives: Stem Cells

California Stem Cell Agency: Comparing the Critiques

Posted: February 27, 2013 at 8:22 am

State Controller John Chiang has posted
a useful, side-by-side comparison of critiques of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency, including the Institute of Medicine(IOM)
study, along with the responses from the agency.

Chiang, the state's top fiscal officer,
has additionally posted the initial remarks Jan. 23 by CIRM Chairman
Jonathan Thomas before the stem cell agency governing board on his
plan to deal with the sweeping recommendations of the IOM.

Regardless of one's opinion of the
board's response to the IOM, Thomas adroitly handled the discussion
and vote, not a small accomplishment given the size of the board (29
members) and the legal restrictions involving public meetings. Under
state law, Thomas could not lobby significant numbers of the board in
advance of the meeting. He was restricted to engineering the approval
in a public session, which can easily take on a life of its own given
the unwieldy size of the board and the necessity for public comment.

As for the documents posted by Chiang,
he is chairman of the Citizens Financial Accountability and Oversight
Committee, the only state body specifically charged with oversight of
the agency and its board. The web site for the committee is the only
location on the Internet where Thomas' prepared remarks and the
comparison can be found.

Chiang's comparison chart includes not
only the IOM study, but last year's performance audit and the Little
Hoover Commission study in 2009. Missing, however, is the state
auditor's report in 2007 and its recommendation that the agency seek an attorney general's opinion on whether scientific grant reviewers must file a public financial disclosure form.

Here are links to the various
documents: Thomas' prepared comments, Power Point chart used by Thomas,
comparison chart of various studies and the transcript of the Jan. 23 meeting during which the governing board approved its response.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Yb7Eb9xPMvo/california-stem-cell-agency-comparing.html

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Liver stem cells grown in culture, transplanted with demonstrated therapeutic benefit

Posted: February 26, 2013 at 7:49 am

Feb. 25, 2013 For decades scientists around the world have attempted to regenerate primary liver cells known as hepatocytes because of their numerous biomedical applications, including hepatitis research, drug metabolism and toxicity studies, as well as transplantation for cirrhosis and other chronic liver conditions. But no lab in the world has been successful in identifying and growing liver stem cells in culture -- using any available technique -- until now.

In the journal Nature, physician-scientists in the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, Ore., along with investigators at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, Utrecht, Netherlands, describe a new method through which they were able to infinitely expand liver stem cells from a mouse in a dish.

"This study raises the hope that the human equivalent of these mouse liver stem cells can be grown in a similar way and efficiently converted into functional liver cells," said Markus Grompe, M.D., study co-author, director of the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital; and professor of pediatrics, and molecular and medical genetics in the OHSU School of Medicine.

In a previous Nature study, investigators at the Hubrecht Institute, led by Hans Clever, M.D, Ph.D., were the first to identify stem cells in the small intestine and colon by observing the expression of the adult stem cell marker Lgr5 and growth in response to a growth factor called Wnt. They also hypothesized that the unique expression pattern of Lgr5 could mark stem cells in other adult tissues, including the liver, an organ for which stem cell identification remained elusive.

In the current Nature study, Grompe and colleagues in the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher used a modified version of the Clever method and discovered that Wnt-induced Lgr5 expression not only marks stem cell production in the liver, but it also defines a class of stem cells that become active when the liver is damaged.

The scientists were able to grow these liver stem cells exponentially in a dish -- an accomplishment never before achieved -- and then transplant them in a specially designed mouse model of liver disease, where they continued to grow and show a modest therapeutic effect.

"We were able to massively expand the liver cells and subsequently convert them to hepatocytes at a modest percentage. Going forward, we will enlist other growth factors and conditions to improve that percentage. Liver stem cell therapy for chronic liver disease in humans is coming," said Grompe.

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Liver stem cells grown in culture, transplanted with demonstrated therapeutic benefit

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OHSU scientists first to grow liver stem cells in culture, demonstrate therapeutic benefit

Posted: February 26, 2013 at 7:49 am

Public release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tamara Hargens-Bradley hargenst@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University

PORTLAND, Ore. For decades scientists around the world have attempted to regenerate primary liver cells known as hepatocytes because of their numerous biomedical applications, including hepatitis research, drug metabolism and toxicity studies, as well as transplantation for cirrhosis and other chronic liver conditions. But no lab in the world has been successful in identifying and growing liver stem cells in culture -- using any available technique until now.

The scientists were able to grow these liver stem cells exponentially in a dish an accomplishment never before achieved and then transplant them in a specially designed mouse model of liver disease, where they continued to grow and show a modest therapeutic effect.

###

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OHSU scientists first to grow liver stem cells in culture, demonstrate therapeutic benefit

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Liver stem cells grown in dish for first time

Posted: February 26, 2013 at 7:49 am

London, February 26 (ANI): Scientists at Oregon Health and Science University have become the first to grow liver stem cells in culture.

For decades scientists around the world have attempted to regenerate primary liver cells known as hepatocytes because of their numerous biomedical applications, including hepatitis research, drug metabolism and toxicity studies, as well as transplantation for cirrhosis and other chronic liver conditions.

But no lab in the world has been successful in identifying and growing liver stem cells in culture -- using any available technique - until now.

Now, physician-scientists in the Pape Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, Ore., along with investigators at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, Utrecht, Netherlands, have described a new method through which they were able to infinitely expand liver stem cells from a mouse in a dish.

"This study raises the hope that the human equivalent of these mouse liver stem cells can be grown in a similar way and efficiently converted into functional liver cells," said Markus Grompe, M.D., study co-author, director of the Pape Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital; and professor of pediatrics, and molecular and medical genetics in the OHSU School of Medicine.

They also hypothesized that the unique expression pattern of Lgr5 could mark stem cells in other adult tissues, including the liver, an organ for which stem cell identification remained elusive.

In the latest study, Grompe and colleagues in the Pape Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher used a modified version of the Clever method and discovered that Wnt-induced Lgr5 expression not only marks stem cell production in the liver, but it also defines a class of stem cells that become active when the liver is damaged.

The scientists were able to grow these liver stem cells exponentially in a dish - an accomplishment never before achieved - and then transplant them in a specially designed mouse model of liver disease, where they continued to grow and show a modest therapeutic effect.

Originally posted here:
Liver stem cells grown in dish for first time

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Distinct Niches in Bone Marrow Nurture Blood Stem Cells

Posted: February 25, 2013 at 6:45 am

Newswise In research that could one day improve the success of stem cell transplants and chemotherapy, scientists have found that distinct niches exist in bone marrow to nurture different types of blood stem cells.

Stem cells in the blood are the precursors to infection-fighting white blood cells and oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

The research, by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is reported Feb. 24 in the advance online edition of Nature.

The new findings, in mice, suggest that it may be possible to therapeutically target support cells in a particular niche. On the one hand, a drug that nourishes support cells could encourage blood stem cells to establish themselves in the bone marrow, enabling patients who have had stem cell transplants to more quickly rebuild their immune systems.

On the other, tumor cells are known to hide in the bone marrow, and a drug that disrupts the niche environment may drive cancer cells into the bloodstream, where they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of chemotherapy.

Our results offer hope for targeting these niches to treat specific cancers or to improve the success of stem cell transplants, says senior author Daniel Link, MD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Medicine. Already, we and others are leading clinical trials to evaluate whether it is possible to disrupt these niches in patients with leukemia or multiple myeloma.

Working in the mice, the researchers selectively deleted a critical gene, CXCL12, which is known to be important for keeping blood stem cells healthy. Rather than knock out the gene in all of the support cells in a niche, the researchers deleted the gene in specific types of support cells. This led to the discovery that each niche holds only certain blood stem cells that are nourished by a unique set of support cells.

What we found was rather surprising, Link says. Theres not just one niche for developing blood cells in the bone marrow. Theres a distinct niche for stem cells, which have the ability to become any blood cell in the body, and a separate niche for infection-fighting blood cells that are destined to become T cells and B cells.

The findings provide a strong foundation for investigating whether disrupting these niches can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

In a phase II pilot study led by Washington University medical oncologist Geoffrey Uy, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Link is evaluating whether the drug G-CSF can alter the stem cell niche in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia whose cancer has recurred or is resistant to treatment. The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration more than 20 years ago to stimulate production of white blood cells in patients undergoing chemotherapy, who often have weakened immune systems and are prone to infections.

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Distinct Niches in Bone Marrow Nurture Blood Stem Cells

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California Stem Cell Agency Bonds On Sale in March

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 9:48 pm

Early next month, the state of
California will sell $2.7 billion in bonds, a tiny fraction of which will go
towards the California stem cell agency.

It is all part of an arrangement that
currently involves short-term borrowing as well to keep the cash
pipeline at CIRM properly filled.

To refresh some of you, the agency
subsists off money that the state borrows (bonds) instead of going to
the legislature annually for financial support. While that avoids
competing against school children, the poor, the University of
California, state colleges, parks, highways and other interests
seeking state funding, it also means that the cost of a $20 million
grant is something closer to $40 million because of the interest
expense.

The California Stem Cell Report last
week asked the state treasurer's office about the bond sale March
12-13 and what it means for the stem cell agency. Here is what Tom
Dresslar, spokesman for the treasurer, replied in an email.

“CIRM’s funding needs now are met
via the issuance of commercial paper (CP). They’re authorized
a certain amount of CP periodically. Then we work with them on
a regular basis to issue the commercial paper on an as-needed basis.
Last fall, they were authorized $160 million of CP. We will
issue the first $27 million under that authorization (this) week.
This spring, CIRM is scheduled to receive another $100 million
authorization. The Department of Finance , consulting with CIRM
officials, determined the $100 million would be needed to meet CIRM’s
funding requirements through the end of 2013.
“Now, here’s where it gets a little
complicated. The state pays down the CP with bond proceeds.
The March ....bond sale includes $60 million of stem
cell bonds. Those proceeds won’t provide new money for CIRM,
but will pay down the CP proceeds CIRM already has used.”

Proposition 71, which created the stem
cell agency in 2004, authorized bond sales for stem cell research for
only 10 years. CIRM's financial timekeepers say the clock started
running when the first bonds were sold. The upshot is that the agency
will run out of money for new grants in less than four years.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/GGDUJVY45VQ/california-stem-cell-agency-bonds-on.html

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Monitoring the Cash and IP at the California Stem Cell Agency

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 3:04 am

The $3 billion California stem cell
agency appears unlikely to make any changes in who gets the cash from
any commercial products that its research grants help finance despite
recommendations from the Institute of Medicine(IOM).

The subject will come up next Wednesday
during a meeting of the intellectual property subcommittee of the
governing board of the stem cell agency. Intellectual property (IP) simply
determines ownership rights and the share of any revenue from
therapies that result from research.

CIRM staff has prepared a briefing paper with recommendations for next week's meeting, which has
teleconference locations in La Jolla, Los Angeles, two in Irvine
along with the main site in San Francisco.

The document summarized two key IOM
recommendations in this fashion:

“Because CIRM is a new institution
without a track record to reassure stakeholders, and because its
finite funding timeline means as yet unknown agencies will be
enforcing these policies years down the road, CIRM should “propose
regulations that specify who will have the power and authority to
assert and enforce in the future rights retained by the state” in
CIRM IP, specifically referring to march-in rights, access plans and
revenue sharing....

“Second, as other sources of funding
become more prevalent, the agency should “reconsider whether its
goal of developing cures would be better served by harmonizing CIRM’s
IP policies wherever possible with the more familiar policies of the
BayhDole Act.”

Here are the CIRM staff
recommendations.

“CIRM staff has engaged in
preliminary discussions several years ago with other agencies
regarding future enforcement of CIRM’s regulations and agreements.
Staff proposes to restart those discussions and return to the
Subcommittee (or the Board) with a formal proposal to address future
enforcement of CIRM’s IP regulations.”
“In light of the IOM’s own
recognition that it may be premature to assess whether CIRM’s
regulations will act as a deterrence to future investment, the fact
that a number of CIRM’s regulations have been codified in statutes
and CIRM’s positive progress in its industry engagement efforts to
date, although quite early, CIRM staff proposes to continue to
monitor this area and not to pursue any changes at this time.”

The director's subcommittee is unlikely
to diverge significantly from the staff proposal, which was dated
Feb. 14 but not posted on the CIRM website until Feb. 20.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/xvosTob7Zo0/monitoring-cash-and-ip-at-california.html

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City of Hope Exec Will Leave California Stem Cell Agency Board

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 3:04 am

Michael Friedman
City of Hope photo

The governing board of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency will lose another one of its veteran
members this year – Michael Friedman, the CEO of the City of Hope
in the Los Angeles area.

He will join Claire Pomeroy in leaving
the board. Pomeroy is resigning as vice chancellor of Human Health
Services at UC Davis this spring to become president of the Lasker Foundation in New York.. Friedman is retiring at the end of this year.

Both have been on the CIRM board since
its first meeting in December 2004. Pomeroy was appointed by the UC
Davis chancellor. Friedman was appointed by the state treasurer.

No names have surfaced concerning
likely successors. However, the UC Davis chancellor is required by
law to appoint an executive officer from the campus. The new dean at
the UCD medical school would seem to be the most likely candidate.

To fill Friedman's seat, Treasurer Bill
Lockyer must appoint an executive officer from a California research
institute. The tradition on the board has been for particular
institutes to hold particular seats on the board. The major exception
is the Salk Institute, which lost a seat on the board a few years
back.

Both UC Davis and the City of Hope have
benefited enormously from CIRM largess. UC Davis has received $131
million and the City of Hope $51 million. Although Friedman and
Pomeroy have not been allowed to vote on grants to their
institutions, their presence and the presence on the board of other executives
from beneficiary institutions has triggered calls for sweeping changes at the agency.

A blue-ribbon report by the Institute
of Medicine said “far too many” board members are linked to
institutions that receive money from CIRM. The institute recommended
that a new majority of independent members be created on the board.

According to compilations by the
California Stem Cell Report, about 90 percent of the $1.8 billion the
board has awarded has gone to institutions with ties to past and
present board members. Fifteen of the 29 members of the board, which
has no independent members along the lines suggested by the IOM, are
linked to recipient institutions.

The agency has $700 million remaining
before money for new awards runs out in less than four years.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/DWx8xx07ZOY/city-of-hope-exec-will-leave-california.html

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Half-full, Half-empty Editorial on California Stem Cell Agency

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 3:04 am

The California stem cell agency's
editorial road show paid off a bit again this week with a mildly
approving editorial in the Oakland Tribune.

The Feb.18 piece said that the presence
of Jonathan Thomas, a Los Angeles bond financier, as chairman of the
$3 billion agency has improved things, compared to the reign of Bob
Klein, who “built a protective shield” around the agency's
governing board and prevented action to deal with obvious
conflict-of-interest problems.

The newspaper also said that “to some
extent” the agency has brought “cutting edge” scientists to the
state and helped boost the stem cell field.

That was the half-full side of the
editorial. The half-empty side included the headline.

“California
must get its stem cell house in order”

The editorial continued:

“...{T)he agency must prove that it
understands how to properly handle the public's money. …. If
the stem cell agency can establish a record as a good steward of
public dollars to finance brilliant science, it can continue to play
a useful role in stimulating and guiding research to bring the
potential cures from stem cell research to fruition.

“If it cannot do that, it will be
just another expensive Tyrannosaurus rex.”

Thomas and company are knocking on
editorial doors around the state in hopes of building support for the
board's modest – some might say inadequate – response to
recommendations for sweeping changes at the agency.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/tMt6gs55Yvs/half-full-half-empty-editorial-on.html

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Time For Public Disclosure of Financial Interests of Stem Cell Agency Reviewers

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 3:04 am

Should the scientists who evaluate
and score the applications for $3 billion in taxpayer funds be
required to publicly disclose their financial interests?

No, says the California stem cell
agency, despite concerns by the state auditor and the state's Fair
Political Practices Commission (FPPC) that date back at least six
years. The agency says that its governing board makes the decisions
on the applications – not the grant reviewers – and that the
members of the board fully disclose their economic interests.

However, last month the agency produced
a document that sheds new light on the issue. The document confirms
that the board rubber-stamps virtually all the reviewers' decisions,
going along with their actions 98 percent of the time. The board
exercised independent judgment on 28 out of 1,355 applications.

Why is this important? Here is what the state auditor said in 2007,

“(T)he FPPC believes that, under
state regulations, working group members (including grant reviewers)
may act as decision makers if they make substantive recommendations
that are, over an extended period, regularly approved without
significant amendment or modification by the committee. Thus, as
decision makers, working group members would need to be subject to
the conflict-of-interest code. This would mean that working groups
would be subject not only to the (public) financial disclosure requirements of
the Political Reform Act but also to the prohibition against a member
participating in a government decision in which that member has a
disqualifying financial interest and may be subject to the penalties
that may be imposed on individuals who violate that act.”

The auditor recommended that the stem
cell agency seek an attorney general's opinion on the matter, a
recommendation the agency agency summarily dismissed seven months later..

Then interim CIRM
President Richard Murphy, a former member of the agency's board and
former president of the Salk Institute, replied to the auditor:

"We have given careful
consideration to your recommendation and have decided it is not
appropriate to implement at this time. In almost three years of
operation and approval of four rounds of grants, the recommendations
of the CIRM working groups have never been routinely and/or regularly
adopted by the ICOC. Until the time that such a pattern is detected,
the question you suggest we raise with the attorney general is
entirely hypothetical, and is therefore not appropriate for
submission. We will, however, continue to monitor approvals for such
a pattern and will reconsider our decision if one emerges."

In the four rounds mentioned in
Murphy's response, 100 percent of reviewer decisions were
rubber-stamped by the board. In the other two rounds, the percentage
was 95 and 96 percent.

Currently, scientific grant reviewers at the stem cell agency, all of whom are from out-of-state, disclose financial and professional conflicts
of interest in private to selected CIRM officials. (See policy here.)
From time to time, grant reviewers are excused from evaluating
specific applications.

The CIRM governing board has resisted
requiring public disclosure of the interests of reviewers. The subject
has come up several times, but board members have been concerned
about losing reviewers who would not be pleased about disclosing
their financial interests. Nonetheless, disclosure of interests among researchers is becoming routine in scientific research articles. Many universities, including
Stanford, also require public disclosure of financial interests of
their researchers. Stanford says,

“No matter what the circumstances --
if an independent observer might reasonably question whether the
individual's professional actions or decisions are determined by
considerations of personal financial gain, the relationship should be
disclosed to the public during presentations, in publications,
teaching or other public venues.”

The latest version of CIRM's conflict
of interest rules are under review by the FPPC. They do not include
any changes in public disclosure for grant reviewers. In view of the
new information that confirms that reviewers are making 98 percent of
the decisions on who gets the taxpayers' dollars, it would seem that it is long past due for public disclosure of both financial and professional
interests of reviewers. Indeed, given the nature of scientific
research and the tiny size of the stem cell community, disclosure of
professional interests may be more important than financial
disclosures.

As Francis S. Collins, head of the NIH,
said concerning his organization's own strengthening of disclosure requirements,

"The public trust in what we do is
just essential, and we cannot afford to take any chances with the
integrity of the research process."

Here is the CIRM document concerning
reviewers' decisions and governing board action. The table has not
been posted on the CIRM website, but it was prepared for last month's
meeting dealing with the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for
sweeping changes at the agency, especially related to conflicts of
interest.

CIRM Board's
Record on Reviewer Grant Decisions by

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/oma-MLcANoY/time-for-public-disclosure-of-financial.html

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Page 210«..10 20..209210211 212..220 230..»

Category Archives: Stem Cells

California Stem Cell Agency: Comparing the Critiques

Liver stem cells grown in culture, transplanted with demonstrated therapeutic benefit

OHSU scientists first to grow liver stem cells in culture, demonstrate therapeutic benefit

Liver stem cells grown in dish for first time

Distinct Niches in Bone Marrow Nurture Blood Stem Cells

California Stem Cell Agency Bonds On Sale in March

Monitoring the Cash and IP at the California Stem Cell Agency

City of Hope Exec Will Leave California Stem Cell Agency Board

Half-full, Half-empty Editorial on California Stem Cell Agency

Time For Public Disclosure of Financial Interests of Stem Cell Agency Reviewers

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