Category Archives: Tennessee Stem Cells

The first patients in each of two early-stage clinical trials testing CRISPR-based treatments for inherited blood disorders have been symptom free for several months with normalized hemoglobin levels, the companies developing the therapies announced today (November 19). Both participants experienced only treatable, temporary side effects, according to the data.

Last fall, Switzerland-headquartered CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston teamed up to launch a trial in Germany testing a CRISPR-based approach to treating -thalassemia. The therapy, known as CTX001, is applied to blood stem cells removed from the patient to cleave the BCL11A gene that represses the production of fetal hemoglobin. These cells are then reinfused to provide a healthy supply this protein, normally only produced in infancy, to overcome problems associated with mutations in the gene encoding the adult version. A few months later, the two companies launched a parallel trial in Nashville, Tennessee, to test CTX001 in sickle cell patients, who also suffer from mutations in the gene for adult hemoglobin.

The data released this week pertains to the first patients treated, one in each of these trials. In both participants, the CRISPRed cells successfully homed to the bone marrow. In the nine months since she received the treatment, the -thalassemia patient has required no blood transfusions, which she had needed regularly for 16 years, and her total hemoglobin levels are near-normal, STATreports. Meanwhile, the sickle-cell patient has not suffered any of the painful and organ-damaging events known as vaso-occlusive crises, where the misshapen blood cells characteristic of the disease stick to and clog small blood vessels, since she received her treatment in July, and her total hemoglobin levels have also normalized, according to STAT.

We are very, very excited, Haydar Frangoul, the treating physician at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, tells NPR. This preliminary data shows for the first time that gene editing has actually helped a patient with sickle cell disease. This is definitely a huge deal.

Both patients experienced only minimal side effects, which the treating physicians attributed to the drug busulfan, used to wipe out the patients mutant bone marrow cells before receiving the infusion of CRISPRed blood stem cells.

These results are remarkable because they represent the first clinical evidence that CRISPR-Cas9 has real curative potential, Jeff Leiden, the president and chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, tells STAT. Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics say they will now proceed with enrolling a total of 45 patients in each trial.

Jef Akst is managing editor ofThe Scientist. Email her atjakst@the-scientist.com.

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Early Results Are Positive for Experimental CRISPR Therapies - The Scientist

Flu shots can be hard to sell to the public. Even a run-of-the-mill influenza infection can be debilitating to otherwise healthy people, and lethal to those who are elderly or frail, so vaccinations are important. The problem is that flu vaccines deliver inconsistent performance. In a good season, were up to 60% effectiveness, but in bad, mismatched years it can be as low as 10% or 20%, says Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Current flu vaccines provide protection only against the strains they have been matched to, so a universal flu vaccine that provides broader protection against most influenza viruses has been a long-standing dream. The 2009 swine-flu pandemic, which caught the public-health community off guard and claimed the lives of as many as half-a-million people worldwide, gave the issue new urgency.

The 2009 pandemic made it obvious and clear that we didnt have good enough solutions for influenza vaccines, says Graham. We knew the virus, but we werent able to make enough vaccine quickly enough. More-effective manufacturing is one solutionbut a single inoculation that protects against both seasonal and emerging strains would have much greater impact.

Fortunately, the timing of the pandemic coincided with great progress in the development of technologies for investigating the human response to influenza. Around 2008 or 2009, people started finding a few broadly neutralizing antibodies against the influenza virus, says Ian Wilson, a structural biologist specializing in vaccine development at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Once people started looking, many more were discovered.

Now, around 100 years after the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 that killed about 50 million people, multiple universal-vaccine programmes are demonstrating promise in both preclinical and clinical testing. But it remains to be seen whether any will ultimately deliver the broad protection that clinicians seek.

Peter Palese, a microbiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, believes that todays flu vaccines come in for too much criticism. They are fairly good vaccines but theyre not perfect, he says. The main problem, he adds, is that they elicit a focused immune response against a moving target.

Humans are affected by two main types of influenza. Influenza A and B can both contribute to seasonal flu, but some influenza A subtypes preferentially infect animal hosts. Sometimes these subtypes abruptly acquire the ability to infect humans, leading to pandemics such as the one in 2009. Each year the seasonal flu vaccine is designed to cover two strains each of influenza A and B, based on the publichealth communitys best informed guess about which strains will be dominant that year.

Every influenza virus is studded with hundreds of molecular structures formed by a multifunctional protein called haemagglutinin. Haemagglutinin helps the virus to bind and penetrate host cells. It comprises a bulky head attached to the virus by a slender stalk. Most of the immune response is targeted at the head because it is highly exposed, but there is also evidence that the head contains features that preferentially elicit a strong antibody response.

There are structured loops, and antibodies easily recognize loops that stick out like that, explains James Crowe, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately, these immunodominant elements are also highly variable between strains.

Influenza A viruses are particularly diverse. They are classified by numbers based on the subtype of haemagglutinin (H) protein and a second viral protein known as neuraminidase (N), with even greater strain variation observed among those subtypes. For example, the 2009 pandemic arose from a new strain of the H1N1 subtype. The extent of haemagglutinin variability means that poor strain selection can leave recipients largely unprotectedand even a good vaccine offers limited protection against future strains. In two years, the virus can change again so we can get re-infected and get disease, says Palese.

Further complicating the quest for a universal flu vaccine is the fact that our immune system is strongly biased by its earliest encounters with influenza through a phenomenon called imprintingor, as it has been dubbed, original antigenic sin. This means that individuals have a strong antibody response to viruses with molecular features shared by the strain encountered during their first exposure, but they essentially start from scratch when exposed to distantly related strains for the first time. Its not that you cannot see the second virusits just like youre a baby and youre seeing it for the first time, says Crowe.

Imprinting is a double-edged sword because early exposure to the right strain could theoretically produce far-reaching and vigorous protection in response to vaccination. But if a childs first influenza encounter is with a relatively unusual or atypical strain, vaccination might prove less effective in terms of rousing broadly protective immunity.

A vaccine that focuses the immune response on a more stable target on the virus could overcome the problem of viral diversity. Researchers have known that such targets existed for decades. In 1983, Palese and his colleagues determined that the haemagglutinin stalk domain is so similar between strains that antibodies can recognize specific physical features, known as epitopes, of haemagglutinin proteins from multiple influenza subtypes. Unfortunately, the stalk is something of an immunological wallflower, overshadowed by the influence of the head. We have engineered epitopes into the stalk and the same epitopes into the head, and we get a much better response to epitopes in the head, says Palese. But immunity can still emerge naturally in some cases, and a series of stalk-specific antibodies were isolated from human donors in 2008 and 2009.

More recently, several research groups have devised multiple vaccine strategies for selectively provoking a stem-specific response. Grahams team at NIAID, for example, undertook a painstaking process of protein engineering a standalone version of the stem from an H1 influenza virus. It took us about seven or eight years to engineer it and stabilize it enough to maintain the right surfaces and structures, says Graham. The researchers subsequently generated nanoparticles displaying multiple copies of these engineered stems and showed1 that these could generate strong protection against entirely different subtypes of influenza A, such as H5at least in animal models. This vaccine design is now undergoing a phase I clinical trial and could in principle confer protection against many of the most prominent pandemic virus subtypes. A newer haemagglutinin stem construct developed by NIAID could lead to even broader protection against the remaining subtypes.

Palese and Florian Krammer, a virologist who is also at Mount Sinai, have developed an alternative approach to stimulating stemspecific immunity. They have generated multiple influenza viruses with chimaeric haemagglutinin proteins in which the same stalk domain is paired with various exotic head domains from virus subtypes that primarily infect birds and are therefore unlikely to trigger an imprinting-biased response in humans. If you then revaccinate with a vaccine that has the same stalk but a completely different head, the immune memory against the stalk could be boosted, explains Krammer.

This approach uses the entire virus particle, creating the potential to elicit parallel immune recognition of other influenza antigens. On the basis of promising evidence of crossprotection against diverse influenza A subtypes in animals, the Mount Sinai team is now conducting phase I trials to explore the vaccines safety and effectiveness in humans.

Inspired by the discovery of cross-protective stalk antibodies in the wild, several research groups have been casting the net wider to find more such molecules. We use all kinds of donorspeople who are actively sick, people who have recovered from avian influenza, or well go to other countries to find donors with exposure to unusual strains, says Crowe. After isolating the antibody-producing B cells from these individuals, researchers can comprehensively profile the specific influenza targets that elicit a natural immune response and identify antibodies that might have broad infectionneutralizing capabilities.

These studies have revealed that even in the variable head domain of haemagglutinin there are structural elements that are consistent across influenza subtypes. In 2012, researchers at Scripps and Janssens Crucell Vaccine Institute in Leiden, the Netherlands, identified2 an antibody called CR9114, which exhibited unprecedented breadth of recognition. That could actually bind to both influenza A and influenza B, says Wilson, who helped characterize the antibody. This antibody is now being used to identify target epitopes on haemagglutinin that can be exploited to achieve far-reaching virus neutralization for both prevention and treatment.

In some cases these searches have revealed unexpected vulnerabilities in the virus. Haemagglutinin normally assembles into highly stable complexes of three closely coupled molecules, but Crowe and Wilson discovered3 this year that these trimers occasionally open up to expose a weak point to which antibodies can bind, potentially thwarting infection by a wide range of influenza A viruses. This trimer interface is a whole new universal flu epitope, and everybodys going crazy about it, says Crowe. Its not even clear how it works, but it clearly works in animals.

Much of the variability between influenza viruses is only skin deep. Probe more deeply within the virus particle and you find greater similarity in the essential proteins. These are beyond the reach of antibodies but they can be recognized by T cellsan element of the immune system that can target and eliminate influenza-infected cells, which present peptide signatures of their viral intruders.

So far, antibodies have been the primary focus of the vaccine community because they represent a crucial first line of defence against circulating virus particles, but T cells provide critical protection by containing infection once it is under way. People get exposed and infected every two or three years on average, says Sarah Gilbert, who heads vaccine development at the University of Oxfords Jenner Institute, UK. The vast majority of these infections are either asymptomatic or mild, she says, and the reason is that people have a T-cell response thats strong enough to protect them.

In general, eliciting a truly protective T-cell response entails reawakening memory T cells that were formed in the aftermath of a previous exposure. Gilberts team uses a crippled vaccinia virus that can infect human cells and that synthesizes two different immunitystimulating influenza proteins but is incapable of further replication. With a single dose, we saw a boost in pre-existing T-cell responses of between eight- and tenfold in humans, says Gilbert. She adds that the target proteins are 90% identical across influenza A viruses, offering the potential for broad protection against pandemic strains.

Gilberts vaccine is undergoing two phase II trials under the guidance of Vaccitech, a company she co-founded in Oxford. A potent T-cell response also seems to contribute to the apparent cross-protection offered by a replication- defective flu vaccine from FluGen, based in Madison, Wisconsin, which has reported success in a recent phase II clinical trial.

Even with several promising series of human trials under way, the road to the clinic remains fraught with difficulties. Mice are often used for early studies of vaccine preclinical development but Palese points out that they are not a natural reservoir for the influenza virus. Many researchers therefore quickly switch to using ferrets to test their vaccine candidates, because they are broadly susceptible to influenza and are physiologically more like humans in that ferrets have a longer respiratory tract than mice. Both species are short-lived, however, making it difficult to study the effects of a vaccine over many rounds of influenza exposure.

Gilbert has started working on pigs in collaboration with the Pirbright Institute near Woking, UK. This long-lived species could serve as both a useful test case and an important beneficiary for vaccines. The upper respiratory tract of the pig is very similar to the human and they tend to get infected with the same viruses, she says. And there is a need for flu vaccines in pigsthe 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus is thought to have come from pigs.

Krammer has also used pigs as a model but says their large size makes them difficult to use routinely in research. Moreover, he is hesitant about drawing too many conclusions from any animal model: You can use them to down-select candidates and for safety, but with universal influenza vaccines, the ultimate animal model is Homo sapiens.

The ultimate proof for any flu vaccine is protection against disease in clinical trials. But for a putative universal vaccine, such testing is more complicated. A growing number of groups are using human challenge trials, in which healthy volunteers are deliberately exposed to a particular influenza strain after vaccination. This approach allows for faster trials with smaller cohorts and defined exposure conditionslowering the trial costand it also allows researchers to hand-pick the viruses they wish to protect against.

But challenge trials also have their critics. Its not a natural infection. You have to inoculate people with a million or even ten million virus particles, says Krammer, and it doesnt seem to work like a natural infection. These trials also leave out very young and very old people, which are the groups most vulnerable to flu.

Another problem is that the US Food and Drug Administration still requires a real-world trial before giving approval, and these are difficult and costly. They require thousands of participants to ensure that a sufficient number of people are exposed to flu, and they must span several seasons to demonstrate efficacy against multiple virus strains or subtypes.

Many academic researchers say that even embarking on a clinical trial can pose a nearly insurmountable challenge, because it requires access to sophisticated production facilities that meet the high bar of good manufacturing standards. Even if its a simple construct, were talking about at least a year to make it and a cost of approximately US$1 million to $2 million, says Krammer. A few major companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Janssen have made these investments, but obtaining that much funding from either public or private bodies is far from easy. Gilbert struggled for five years to obtain funding before launching her company, which raised the capital needed to bring her labs vaccine programme into phase II trials.

More investment may be on the way. In the past few years, both NIAID and the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority have prioritized the development of a universal vaccine, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has joined forces with governmental and non-governmental organizations to form the Global Funders Consortium for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development.

The vaccines now being developed promise much broader protection than current seasonal shots but fall well short of being truly universal. The World Health Organization (WHO) still sees considerable value in such vaccines, and has called for a vaccine that prevents severe disease from all forms of influenza A by 2027, which would prevent pandemics. But Krammer points out that seasonal influenza B infections can also inflict a serious death toll, and both he and Palese have focused their sites on true universality. I think the WHO is making the bar too low, says Palese. We really should be trying to aim high.

Universal protection need not entail eliminating all traces of influenza virus but simply providing sufficient immunity to minimize the symptoms of infection. Even achieving that more modest goal will probably require a multipronged attack. Stem antibodies contribute to protection but are probably not sufficient for very potent protection, says Crowe. They would be just part of the scheme.

Indeed, Gilbert is exploring the potential of a broader immunological assault that melds the Mount Sinai groups chimaeric stem vaccine with her teams vaccinia technique. At least in mice, she says, combining these two approaches was better than either alone.

A greater understanding of the human immune system and its response to infection could inform smarter vaccination strategies. In May 2019, the US National Institutes of Health awarded $35 million to an international team of researchers to profile the immunity of young children in the years after their initial exposure to influenza, providing the deepest insights yet into the imprinting process.

Their findings could help vaccine designers figure out the best way to rewire the immune system while it remains malleable. And that, says Crowe, could be a game-changer. You could envision doing a universal vaccination as your first exposure, with beneficial imprinting for the rest of your life, he says.

Michael Eisenstein is a science writer in Philadelphia.

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Towards a universal flu vaccine - Scientific American

A Mesenchymal Stem Cell is a cell that is undifferentiated. In other words, it is a" clean slate" that can take on the characteristics of many other cells in the body. A stem cell can metamorphosize into new tissue. It can become new cartilage, muscle, tendons, ligaments, and even bone. It has been shown to repair and regenerate damaged tissue !

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy is a minimally invasive procedure. In our clinic , this involves injecting the effected area with mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cord tissue,which contains literally millions of stem cells. The part of the umbilical cord that is used is the Whartons jelly, and the product itself is called CoreCyte . We also use Amniocyte , and Amniocyteplus . This product is minimally manipulated human tissue allograft derived from the amniotic membrane.Amniocyteplus is processed to preserve the cytokines, growth factors, and scaffolding proteins that help the healing process of damaged connective tissue. Our regenerative medicine products come from Predictive Biotech. All of their products have been evaluated by the FDA .

Since administering medical services is outside the scope of chiropractic practice, our medical staff performs all of the regenerative medicine procedures. The procedure is safe. In fact, over 100,000 stem cell procedures have been performed in the U.S. without one serious side effect. The injection procedure is not very painful and involves little to no down time. Patients can drive home on their own and resume their daily activities within one day in most cases. The most common areas we treat are degenerative knees, shoulders, and elbows.

There are several ways stem cells can be obtained: adipose tissue (fat) from the individual being treated, Bone marrow extraction from the person being treated, or cord blood and from the whartons jelly surrounding the umbilical cord. We use cells from Whartons Jelly,since it is high in the number of mesenchymal stem cells available and not limited by a persons health or age,like cells taken from ones own body. Our procedure requires one injection rather than numerous injections. With Adipose tissue or bone marrow harvested cells , there is pain and a surgical procedure associated with obtaining the cells . This is another reason we use Whartons Jelly derived cells instead . Our treatment protocol also contains growth factor and cytokines essential in the healing and repair process. No rejection to the cells occurs since the immune response is inactive between the donor and recipient. Testing to insure purity and safety is conducted numerous times.All products are monitored and tested by the American Association of Tissue Banks and we adhere to their strict guidelines. It is a safe, minimally invasive procedure administered by our expertly trained medical staff under direction of our oversight physician.

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What We Do Stem Cell Institute of Middle Tennessee

Grand Rounds Recording

If you missedthe 03/01/2019 Grand Rounds withDr. Craig Thiessen, UTHSC Resident Physician (Twist and Shout) and guest speaker, Dr. James C. Loden, from Loden Vision Centers in Nashville )Refractive Surgery Basics and Board Review), you can still view it onlinethrough the Mediaserver.

A new collaboration between Dr. Raja Shekhar Gangaraju at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and Dr. Bingmei Zhu at the West China Hospital-Sichuan University (WCHSU) garnered the team a UTHSC/WCHSU CORNET Award for the project, Reconstitution of CD140b (PDGFR) using CRISPR/Cas9 in the adipose tissue-derived stem cells improves homing capacity and protect against retinal tissue damage. The project will address how adult stem cells help regenerate a diseased retina and thus accelerating translational research to further the field of regenerative medicine using adult stem cells.

Read more on the Department News page.

Monica Jablonski, PhD, Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Associate Dean of the Graduate School has received a renewal of her NIH grant, Genetic Modulators of Glaucoma. The grant is for four years and is for $1,535,975 over the course of the grant.

Read more on the Department News page.

Hamilton Eye Institute930 Madison AvenueMemphis, TN 38163

Suite 200Ph: 901.448.6650Fx: 901.302.2486

Suite 400Ph: 901.287.7337Fx: 901.302.2500

Suite 370Ph: 901.448.3900

8001 Centerview ParkwaySuite 101Cordova, TN 38018Ph: 901.448.6650Fx: 901.347.8394

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UTHSC | Department of Ophthalmology | Hamilton Eye Institute

The latest advances in adult stem cell treatment are available to residents of Nashville, Tennessee, at Precision Pain Care. A nationally renowned leader in pain medicine and the founder of our practice, Dr. Graf Hilgenhurst leverages his incredible expertise and breakthrough treatments to achieve outstanding results for his patients, many of whom have been unsuccessfully treated by other, less specialized physicians.

In short, stem cell treatment involves using the patients own stem cells to stimulate and accelerate the bodys natural healing process around an injured joint. Traditional methods involve harvesting stem cells from a patients bone marrow, but thanks to the breakthrough Lipogems procedure, physicians can now derive regenerative stem cells from fatty stomach tissue. We at Precision Pain Care in Nashville, TN, are proud to offer this innovative new treatment to patients who suffer from chronic joint pain resulting from arthritis or injury.

During this procedure, Dr. Hilgenhurst takes a small amount of fatty tissue from the stomach and separates the stem cells from the fat cells using the Lipogems system. After preparing the cells, he injects them into the injured joint to promote increased blood flow and tissue production. The procedure is minimally invasive can be performed on an outpatient basis.

Contact Precision Pain Care to learn more about our approach to stem cell treatment and how we can help you get back to better. We are in network with most major insurance providers and have three conveniently located offices in the Nashville, TN, area.

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Stem Cell Treatment Nashville TN - Precision Pain Care

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE is the science that replaces or regenerates animal cells, tissues, or organs to restore/establish normal function following injury from any cause.

The UT Veterinary Medical Center Equine Hospital's regenerative medicine service provides adult stem cells and platelet rich plasma to our veterinarians in the treatment of various equine diseases.

Adult stem cells are specialized cells involved in the formation of the various body tissues and organs. Some stem cells can change to make different kinds of tissues (muscle, tendon, etc.) creating tremendous healing capabilities. Platelet rich plasma containing growth factors and other compounds accelerate and improve the healing process.

Adult stem cells are being used as a treatment for a variety of equine diseases including but not limited to ligament and tendon disease, joint diseases (arthritis), wounds, fractures, laminitis (founder), and many others.

We provide adult stem cell therapy for equine patients and plan to expand stem cell therapy to other species in the near future.

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Equine Regenerative Medicine - University of Tennessee system

Stem Cells

A stem cell is an essential building block for survival. Stem cellsare responsible for being the foundation for every living being. They are capable of forming any tissue or organ in the body, which is unique from other cells, while they can still self-renew and replicate constantly. Their plasticity acts as another differentiator from other cells as their ability to create tissue for an organ different than their originating organ is essential to their benefit in regenerative medicine.

Stem cell treatment at the Lung Institute has proven to improve the function of the lungs affected by chronic lung disease, but stem cells are capable of forming any differentiated cell, so they can actually develop into any organ or tissue in the body, which proves their versatility in the medical field. Since stem cells self-renew, they divide indefinitely, which means they are ideal to promote the healing oforgans. As new tissue is created by the stem cells, organs are strengthened and the effects of organ damage are minimized.

The newly opened Lung Institute in Tennessee offers stem cell treatments with adult autologous stem cells. The cells come directly from an adult patients body only to be administered to the same patient. This decreases the potential of rejection and undermines any possible controversy about stem cell therapy.

The Lung Institute provides two unique stem cell treatments: bone marrowand venous (blood-derived). The recommended stem cell treatment will be determined based on the patients health history and their current condition. The recommended treatment type will be determined during a physician consultation. During stem cell treatment, the stem cells target the damaged tissue or organ in order to reinforce function and improve lives.

Depending on the therapy recommended, the cells are then extracted from the patients body either through bone marrowor blood. The stem cells are isolated by a professional, and almost immediately, the stem cells are given back to the individual intravenously allowing patients to breathe in the stem cells. Now, the stem cells can begin to promote the healing oflung tissue, so patients can breathe easier and bring their life within reach.

If you or a loved one want to learn more about how stem cell treatment for COPD in Tennessee can be used to battle lung disease and improve your life, contact us or call us at(800) 729-3065.

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Lung Institute | Stem Cell Treatment Tennessee

July 26, 2017 - By Darrin Black

Among 13 analysts covering Dean Foods (NYSE:DF), 4 have Buy rating, 2 Sell and 7 Hold. Therefore 31% are positive. Dean Foods had 25 analyst reports since July 24, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. The company was initiated on Friday, December 11 by DA Davidson. The company was initiated on Friday, December 2 by KeyBanc Capital Markets. As per Wednesday, December 16, the company rating was initiated by Jefferies. On Thursday, June 29 the stock rating was maintained by Jefferies with Buy. The company was maintained on Tuesday, November 10 by Morgan Stanley. The firm has Buy rating given on Wednesday, November 4 by Deutsche Bank. The stock of Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF) has Hold rating given on Monday, July 24 by Stifel Nicolaus. On Thursday, January 19 the stock rating was downgraded by Bernstein to Mkt Perform. The firm has Overweight rating by Stephens given on Tuesday, January 12. Jefferies maintained the stock with Buy rating in Friday, May 26 report. See Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF) latest ratings:

24/07/2017 Broker: Stifel Nicolaus Rating: Hold New Target: $17.0000 Maintain12/07/2017 Broker: Credit Suisse Rating: Sell New Target: $14.0000 Maintain29/06/2017 Broker: Jefferies Rating: Buy New Target: $24.0000 Maintain13/06/2017 Broker: BMO Capital Markets Rating: Hold New Target: $20.0000 Maintain26/05/2017 Broker: Jefferies Rating: Buy New Target: $24.0000 Maintain17/03/2017 Broker: JP Morgan Old Rating: Neutral New Rating: Overweight Upgrade

Analysts expect BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) to report $-0.06 EPS on August, 10.They anticipate $0.05 EPS change or 45.45% from last quarters $-0.11 EPS. After having $-0.07 EPS previously, BioLife Solutions Incs analysts see -14.29% EPS growth. About 41,398 shares traded. BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) has risen 37.27% since July 26, 2016 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 20.57% the S&P500.

BioLife Solutions, Inc. is engaged in the developing, manufacturing and marketing a portfolio of biopreservation tools and services for cells, tissues and organs, including clinical grade cell and tissue hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media and a related cloud hosted biologistics cold chain management application for shippers. The company has market cap of $44.62 million. The Companys product offerings include hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media products for cells, tissues, and organs; generic blood stem cell freezing and cell thawing media products; custom product formulation and custom packaging services; cold chain logistics services incorporating precision thermal packaging products and cloud-hosted Web applications, and contract aseptic manufacturing formulation, fill and finish services of liquid media products. It currently has negative earnings.

Among 2 analysts covering BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS), 2 have Buy rating, 0 Sell and 0 Hold. Therefore 100% are positive. BioLife Solutions had 2 analyst reports since June 14, 2017 according to SRatingsIntel. The company was upgraded on Wednesday, July 5 by Janney Capital. Maxim Group maintained BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) on Wednesday, June 14 with Buy rating.

Investors sentiment increased to 2.33 in 2016 Q4. Its up 0.83, from 1.5 in 2016Q3. It improved, as 3 investors sold BioLife Solutions Inc shares while 0 reduced holdings. 5 funds opened positions while 2 raised stakes. 267,289 shares or 5.47% less from 282,746 shares in 2016Q3 were reported. Price T Rowe Associates Inc Md holds 0% of its portfolio in BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) for 11,800 shares. Vanguard Gru Incorporated reported 95,127 shares stake. Pnc Finance Service Grp Inc owns 10,000 shares for 0% of their portfolio. Ancora Advsrs Limited Liability owns 0% invested in BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) for 2,500 shares. Deutsche Fincl Bank Ag reported 0% stake. Blackrock Fund Advisors has 2,526 shares for 0% of their portfolio. Citadel Advsr Ltd Liability Co invested in 0% or 16,710 shares. Wells Fargo & Mn accumulated 0% or 22 shares. State Bank Of America De reported 0% stake. Geode Capital Llc reported 69,384 shares. Perkins Capital Mgmt Inc, a Minnesota-based fund reported 10,000 shares. Community Commercial Bank Na holds 250 shares. Blackrock Institutional Co Na accumulated 0% or 33,039 shares. Hudock Cap Group Lc has 0% invested in BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS). Creative Planning invested in 0% or 143 shares.

Dean Foods Company is a food and beverage company. The company has market cap of $1.42 billion. The Firm processes and distributes fluid milk, and other dairy and dairy case products in the United States. It has a 19.68 P/E ratio. It is engaged in manufacturing, marketing, selling and distributing a range of branded and private label dairy and dairy case products.

Investors sentiment increased to 0.88 in 2016 Q4. Its up 0.05, from 0.83 in 2016Q3. It improved, as 33 investors sold Dean Foods Co shares while 89 reduced holdings. 37 funds opened positions while 70 raised stakes. 96.83 million shares or 7.10% less from 104.23 million shares in 2016Q3 were reported. Monroe National Bank & Trust & Mi stated it has 597 shares or 0% of all its holdings. Fmr Lc owns 1.02M shares or 0% of their US portfolio. Timber Hill Lc holds 0% or 14,977 shares. Envestnet Asset Inc invested in 0% or 5,548 shares. Schwab Charles Incorporated holds 0.03% or 1.14 million shares in its portfolio. Renaissance Technology Ltd reported 1.18 million shares or 0.04% of all its holdings. Gamco Investors Et Al owns 14,173 shares. Macquarie Gp reported 0% in Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF). Credit Suisse Ag reported 107,575 shares or 0% of all its holdings. Bessemer has 0% invested in Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF) for 13,180 shares. Prelude Mngmt Llc invested 0.13% in Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF). Moreover, Robecosam Ag has 0.53% invested in Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF) for 262,975 shares. Cornerstone Cap Mgmt Hldg Limited Company owns 393,900 shares. State Of Tennessee Treasury Department, a Tennessee-based fund reported 57,000 shares. Qs Invsts Limited Liability Corp has 0.14% invested in Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF) for 807,000 shares.

Since March 13, 2017, it had 0 insider buys, and 3 insider sales for $174,435 activity. Mailloux J Wayne sold $59,762 worth of stock or 3,033 shares.

By Darrin Black

Echostar Corporation-Receive News & Ratings Via Email - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings with our FREE daily email newsletter.

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EPS for BioLife Solutions (BLFS) Expected At $-0.06; Last Week Dean Foods Co (DF) Coverage - Herald KS

Dr. Gil Center for Back, Neck, and Chronic Pain Relief

Your pain is uniquethats why you need treatment thats tailored specifically for you. Why spend unnecessary time and money on treatments that only hide the symptoms ? At Dr. Gil Center for Back, Neck, and Chronic Pain Relief, we offer regenerative medicine in the form of regenerative cell therapy in Franklin, Tennessee for your knee pain.

Stem cell/regenerative therapy can help treat degenerative knee conditions and essentially provides new cells to old and damaged tissue. This can help regenerate healthy cells and help provide relief and repair. We use this form of therapy for patients who have meniscus tears, arthritis, chronic knee pain, ligament and tendon injuries. Many people think stem cell therapy is a brand new concept, but the fact is, the first stem cell transplant was performed in 1968 at the University of Minnesota. In the mid 1980s stem cells were discovered in human adipose tissue and later in all body tissue. The idea of using umbilical cord tissue and blood to provide the stem cells has been around for over 10 years. The benefit of umbilical stem cells is young healthy stem cells in huge numbers that are ready to become new healthy tissue and regenerate your bodys damaged cells.

Franklin TN stem cell therapy is a procedure that involves injecting stem cells into the affected area in your body, typically joints affected by arthritis or cartilage damage such as the knees. These stems cells are taken from healthy umbilical cord tissue/blood under strict supervision and guidlines . fetal tissue is never used or considered in our stem cell treatment.LIVEYON is unique from other regenerative medicine suppliers because of the quality, viability, and capabilities of theirumbilical cordblood derived Stem Cells.

The donors for this tissue undergo extensive medical screening and provide a detailed medical history in order to ensure this practice is safe. All donated tissue is screened by the American Association of Tissue Banks and all procedures are held to the highest standards.

When cartilage is damaged in the joint due to arthritis or an injury, pain is often the result. This pain doesnt go away and instead needs to be treated. Many doctors will suggest medications or surgery, but these treatment options rarely alleviate all the pain and in some cases can create additional side effects from the medications used.

Unlike having knee surgery, stem cells actually simulate new growth and repair connective tissue. It improves the bodys natural ability to heal itself without the side effects. There is no rejection to umbilical cord stem cells, since this tissue is immuno privileged , meaning there are no antibodies to cause rejection. We have seen excellent results in those with knee pain conditions and shoulder problems as well as other joint conditions.

The great thing about Franklin Tennessee stem cell treatment for knees is that your body continues to heal and benefit from the stem cells long after treatment is done. In fact, typically only one cellular injection is needed for the joint to continue to improve and heal. This provides patients with a long-term solution with lasting results! Patients often start feeling better within 1-2 weeks following the procedure.

Dr. Gil Center for Back, Neck, and Chronic Pain Relief gives each patient the specialized treatment and attention they deserve. Our office tailors your treatment specifically for you, not the other way aroundWe provide you with pre and post procedure instructions specific for your condition. A knee brace is often recommended for the first few weeks, but little if any downtime at all is necessary. The main precaution the first 2 weeks is to avoid deep knee bends, running, jumping , or excessive stair climbing.

As a part of our patient care and unique treatment for each person, we take the time to discuss all your options with you, including options outside our office. If youre facing a total knee replacement and want to consider other options, we can often help. We perform a thorough evaluation that includes your medical history and a physical exam in addition to x-rays. Youll then discuss your options thoroughly with Dr. Gil, and our medical staff who will answer all your questions and provide information about this treatment.

Treating and managing your pain isnt easy, and finding a doctor who understands your chronic pain and can help can be even harder. Dr. Gil Center makes this choice easy. Weve been in business for over 27 years and have a professionally trained, highly skilled, chiropractic and medical staff to accommodate you. We offer options besides medication and surgery to help you find alternatives to an impending knee surgery.

A few years ago, Dr Gil decided to provide regenerative procedures and stem cell therapy in Franklin TN to help patients manage their knee pain with less invasive options. He brought into his office a group of highly skilled medical practitioners to administer the regenerative medicine procedures and provide the best care possible. ALL OF OUR MEDICAL PROCEDURES ARE PERFORMED BY OUR HIGHLY TRAINED AND CREDENTIALED MEDICAL STAFF UNDER DIRECTION OF OUR OVERSIGHT PHYSICIAN. Let us help specialize a treatment plan for you. Your body isnt the same as anyone elseswhy would your treatment be?

Call now for a free consultation to determine if your a good candidate for regenerative cell therapy. (615) 794-0800. GET FURTHER INFO AT OUR STEM CELL AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE WEBSITE TNSTEMCELL.COM

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Stem Cell Therapy Franklin TN | Stem Cell Treatment

30 Jun 2017

Expanded C9ORF72 hexanucleotide repeats cause many cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, but exactly how these expansions work their mischief remains a mystery. Researchers have proposed several different pathogenic mechanisms, including that aberrant dipeptide repeat (DPR) proteins made from the expansion interfere with mRNA splicing. In the June 13 Cell Reports, researchers led by Robin Reed at Harvard Medical School describe how this could happen. Using in vitro assays, they found that DPRs prevented spliceosome assembly through interactions with one portion of this splicing complex, the U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) particle. In cells, C9ORF72 DPRs caused the U2 complex to mislocalize to the cytoplasm, away from splicing sites in the nucleus. Subsequent bioinformatics analyses suggested that disruption of U2 function accounts for about 40 percent of the mis-splicing seen in C9ORF72 patient cells, Reednoted.

The data for the mechanism are compelling, but it remains unclear how much it contributes to neurotoxicity, noted Johnathan Cooper-Knock at the University of Sheffield, England, in an email to Alzforum. He was not involved in the research. One way to address this might be to examine its correlation with clinical phenotype, he suggested (see full commentbelow).

In control motor neurons (left), the U2 splicing complex (red) occupies the nucleus, but in C9ORF72 motor neurons (right), much of it lurks in cytoplasm. [Courtesy of Cell Reports, Yin etal.]

Previous research had found that C9ORF72 expansions caused mis-splicing in cultured cells (see Aug 2014 news; Conlon et al., 2016). In one study, the degree of this mis-splicing correlated with faster ALS progression (Cooper-Knock et al., 2015).The papers proposed different explanations for how mis-splicing occurred, however, from dipeptide repeat proteins physically gumming up the splicing machinery in the nucleolus to C9ORF72-expanded RNAs sequestering crucial splicing factors such asHNRNPH.

To try to nail down the mechanism, first author Shanye Yin used a cell-free system developed in the Reed lab that combined nuclear extract from HeLa cells with a DNA template for the fly Ftz gene. In this assay, the Ftz gene is transcribed by RNA polymerase and the resulting RNA is then spliced to yield mature transcript. However, when the authors added a 20-repeat length of the toxic DPRs glycine-arginine (GR) or proline-arginine (PR), splicing ground to a halt. The effectiveness of the block depended on the dose of DPR. Further analysis showed that in the presence of DPRs, the spliceosome failed to assemble properly. C9ORF72 RNA, by contrast, had no effect on splicing in thissystem.

The authors next searched for proteins that associated with GR and PR using pull-down assays, and identified these interactors by mass spectrometry. The most common were components of the U2 snRNP, although other proteins were present as well. The list of interacting proteins largely matches that seen in previous proteomic screens of DPRs, noted Paul Taylor at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. That gives us confidence in the data, he toldAlzforum.

The findings suggested a direct interaction of DPRs with the splicing machinery in vitro. Would the same thing happen in patients? The authors examined motor neurons made from induced pluripotent stem cells of people who carried the C9ORF72 expansion. They were surprised to find U2 snRNP lingering outside the nucleus in about half these cells (see image above). It was unclear if the complex leaked out of the nucleus, or simply never made it inside in the first place, Reed noted. U2 snRNP is assembled in the cytoplasm, and faulty transport across the nuclear membrane has quickly become a hallmark of C9ORF72 disease, with many nuclear proteins, such as TDP43 and FUS, getting stuck en route (Jan 2010 news;Aug 2015 news).DPRs are known to build up in the cytoplasm, suggesting they could be sequestering the U2 snRNP there. Overexpressing PR in HeLa cells also caused U2 snRNP to loiter in cytoplasm, supporting a direct causal role for these peptides in U2 mislocalization. This was specific to U2, as other components of the splicing apparatus stayed confined to thenucleus.

The authors next wondered how big a role U2 mis-splicing might play in disease. U2 snRNP normally helps splice about one-quarter of all transcripts (see Kfir et al., 2015). Analyzing published RNA expression data from C9ORF72 cerebella and frontal cortices (Prudencio et al., 2015), the authors found that the mis-spliced mRNA was enriched for U2-dependent transcripts. Altogether, U2 snRNP may account for nearly half of the mis-splicing in these cells, they calculated. They saw a much smaller role for HNRNPH-dependent splicing. Notably, in brain samples from sporadic ALS cases, U2-dependent transcripts were no more likely to be mis-spliced than any others, indicating this mechanism is specific for C9ORF72expansions.

In theory, mis-splicing could lead to toxicity by knocking out essential proteins. In support of this, the authors found numerous transcripts involved in mitochondrial function and gene expression among the disrupted set. Both of these processes are known to be perturbed inALS.

However, DPRs sequester other proteins as well, which may play an equally important role in damaging cell function, Taylor noted. Many of the proteins bound by DPRs contain low-complexity domains. Such proteins are now believed to be crucial in assembling many cellular organelles (Oct 2015 webinar; May 2017 conference news).Madolyn BowmanRogers

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When C9ORF72 Silences U2, Spliceosomes Can't Find What They're Looking For - Alzforum