Posted: January 16, 2015 at 5:41 am
Live100 Hospitals - Stem Cell Therapy
"We wanted to focus on stem cell after seeing the advantages since the cells were available in the body and they were really doing wonderful research across the world which was really promising...
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Live100 Hospitals - Stem Cell Therapy - Video
Posted: January 16, 2015 at 5:41 am
UC Davis to test device that offers new approach to obtaining stem cells during surgery
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- A new device that can rapidly concentrate and extract young cells from irrigation fluid used during orthopaedic surgery holds promise for improving the delivery of stem cell therapy in cases of non-healing fractures. UC Davis surgeons plan to launch a "proof-of-concept" clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of the device in the coming months.
"People come to me after suffering for six months or more with a non-healing bone fracture, often after multiple surgeries, infections and hospitalizations," said Mark Lee, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, who will be principal investigator of the upcoming clinical trial. "Stem cell therapy for these patients can be miraculous, and it is exciting to explore an important new way to improve on its delivery."
About 6 million people suffer fractures each year in North America, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Five to 10 percent of those cases involve patients who either have delayed healing or fractures that do not heal. The problem is especially troubling for the elderly because a non-healing fracture significantly reduces a person's function, mobility and quality of life.
Stem cells - early cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types - have been used for several years to successfully treat bone fractures that otherwise have proven resistant to healing. Applied directly to a wound site, stem cells help with new bone growth, filling gaps and allowing healing and restoration of function. However, obtaining stem cells ready to be delivered to a patient can be problematic. The cells ideally come from a patient's own bone marrow, eliminating the need to use embryonic stem cells or find a matched donor.
But the traditional way of obtaining these autologous stem cells - that is, stem cells from the same person who will receive them - requires retrieving the cells from a patient's bone marrow, a painful surgical procedure involving general anesthesia, a large needle into the hip and about a week of recovery.
In addition, the cells destined to become healing blood vessels must be specially isolated from the bone marrow before they are ready to be transplanted back into the patient, a process that takes so long it requires a second surgery.
The device Lee and his UC Davis colleagues will be testing processes the "wastewater" fluid obtained during an orthopaedic procedure, which makes use of a reamer-irrigator-aspirator (RIA) system to enlarge a patient's femur or tibia by high-speed drilling, while continuously cooling the area with water. In the process, bone marrow cells and tiny bone fragments are aspirated and collected in a filter to transplant back into the patient. Normally, the wastewater is discarded.
Although the RIA system filter captures the patient's own bone and bone marrow for use in a bone graft or fusion, researchers found that the discarded effluent contained abundant mesenchymal stem cells as well as hematopoietic and endothelial progenitor cells, which have the potential to make new blood vessels, and potent growth factors important for signaling cells for wound healing and regeneration. The problem, however, was that the RIA system wastewater was too diluted to be useful.
Now, working with a device developed by SynGen Inc., a Sacramento-based biotech company specializing in regenerative medicine applications, the UC Davis orthopaedic team will be able to take the wastewater and spin it down to isolate the valuable stem cell components. About the size of a household coffee maker, the device will be used in the operating room to rapidly produce a concentration of stem cells that can be delivered to a patient's non-union fracture during a single surgery.
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Treating non-healing bone fractures with stem cells
Posted: January 16, 2015 at 12:50 am
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) --
Our bodies contain 23 pairs of them, 46 total. But if chromosomesare damaged, they can cause birth defects, disabilities, growth problems, even death.
Case Western scientist Anthony Wynshaw-Boris is studying how to repair damaged chromosomes with the help of a recent discovery. He's taking skin cells and reprogramming them to work like embryonic stem cells, which can grow into different cell types.
"You're taking adult or a child's skin cells. You're not causing any loss of an embryo, and you're taking those skin cells to make a stem cell." Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, M.D., PhD, of Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine told ABC30.
Scientists studied patients with a specific defective chromosome that was shaped like a ring. They took the patients' skin cells andreprogrammed them into embryonic-like cells in the lab. They found this process caused the damaged "ring" chromosomes to be replaced by normal chromosomes.
"It at least raises the possibility that ring chromosomes will be lost in stem cells," said Dr. Wynshaw-Boris.
While this research was only conducted in lab cultures on the rare ring-shaped chromosomes, scientists hope it will work in patients with common abnormalities like Down syndrome.
"What we're hoping happens is we might be able to use, modify, what we did, to rescue cell lines from any patient that has any severe chromosome defect," Dr. Wynshaw-Boris explained.
It's research that could one day repair faulty chromosomes and stop genetic diseases in their tracks.
The reprogramming technique that transforms skin cells to stem cells was so ground-breaking that a Japanese physician won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2012 for developing it.
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Stem Cells to Repair Broken Chromosomes: Medicine's Next Big Thing?
Posted: January 16, 2015 at 12:50 am
A new technique to image messenger RNA activity in real time has been developed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland in the US and Xidian University in Shaanxi, China. The technique, which was used in this work to track how mRNA expresses itself in neuronal stem cells as they differentiate, could help us better understand neurogenesis and perhaps even be used to screen drugs for treating neurodegenerative diseases and brain trauma.
Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is the form of RNA that helps transfer genetic information from inside the cell nucleus to ribosomes in the cytoplasm. It acts as a template for making proteins and is synthesized from a DNA template during a process known as transcription. When mRNA dynamics are disrupted, pathological abnormalities such as interrupted embryonic development and cell death can occur.
Imaging mRNA in real time is no easy task and most techniques that have attempted to do this to date have failed. A team led by Shawn Chen of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health says that it has now designed a new nanocomplex containing multiple mRNA imaging probes that can retrieve spatial and temporal information from different mRNA sequences.
We used gold nanoparticles as the core of our nanocomplex, explains team member Zhe Wang of the School of Life Sciences and Technology at Xidian University and the National Institutes of Health. This core is functionalized with a dense layer of stable dithiol-modified DNA oligonucleotides hybridized with distinctive fluorophore-capped reporter sequences.
The fluorophore attached to the reporter sequences does not fluoresce when it is attached to the gold nanoparticle core (it is quenched), but it reactivates when it attaches to mRNA. The mRNA competitively hybridizes with the DNA oligonucleotides on the nanocomplex, and it is more attracted to this DNA than are the existing reporter genes.
The technique allows for real-time imaging of mRNA without any artifacts, Chen tells nanotechweb.org. The nanocomplex is also very stable in the cell cytosol, is resistant to endonuclease enzymes that might otherwise break it down, and senses mRNA fast.
By using the nanocomplex in conjunction with computer programme codes and imaging software, the researchers were able to follow how mRNA expresses itself during neural stem cell differentiation. This differentiation plays a crucial role in both the developing and adult nervous system. The technique might thus be used as a chemical screening platform for treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons, as well as brain trauma, explains Chen.
The team says that it is now busy improving its nanocomplex platform to explore small interfering RNA or micro RNA regulated neural stem cell differentiation and corresponding mRNA sequential expression imaging profiles. We are also trying to optimize this system and adapt it to various cell types, to ultimately create a versatile nanocomplex for use in a host of basic biology studies and chemical screening in regenerative medicine, says team member Zhongliang Wang, who works in China and the US.
The research is detailed in ACS Nano DOI: 10.1021/nn505047n.
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Nanocomplex images differentiating stem cells
Posted: January 16, 2015 at 12:43 am
The new clinic claims its stem-cell treatment can benefit those suffering from emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis and most forms of lung disease.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The Lung Institute, a national clinic that uses adult stem cells extracted from fat and blood to treat pulmonary conditions, is set to open next month in Scottsdale, the for-profit company's first location in the western United States.
The new clinic claims its treatment can benefit those suffering from emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis and most forms of lung disease.
Such stem-cell therapy is part of a growing trend particularly among affluent Americans who can afford it to treat a variety of health problems with cells taken from their own bodies.
The industry remains largely controversial, with plenty of doubters and detractors who say the science is unproven and potentially dangerous.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research, an independent non-profit organization based in Illinois, cautions against the potential risk of some treatments, which it says could cause cancer or result in infection from the procedure itself. The group suggests patients speak with their doctor about the potential benefits or risks of stem-cell therapy.
For its part, Lung Institute says the treatment helps fight lung conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, one of the world's leading killers. Cells extracted from one organ can create healthy tissue in another organ, the company claims.
The therapy is provided as an outpatient service, and patients can have cells drawn, isolated and planted in the affected area all in the same day. The clinic does not use embryonic, umbilical cord or donor stem cells.
Lung Institute, a clinic that uses stem cells to treat pulmonary conditions, is set to open its first West Coast location in Scottsdale in February 2015.(Photo: Courtesy of Lung Institute)
Patients typically visit the clinic for a few hours over three consecutive days. The treatment seeks to slow disease progression, calm inflammation or repair damaged tissue.
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Stem-cell therapy clinic to open in Valley
Posted: January 15, 2015 at 6:41 pm
Do you use stem cells in regenerative medicine? - prof. Graziella Pellegrini
By: Bio-Tech Media
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Do you use stem cells in regenerative medicine? - prof. Graziella Pellegrini - Video
Posted: January 15, 2015 at 6:41 pm
How do ethics and religion shape stem cell research 5 Medina Arellano
Panel: How do ethics and religion shape stem cell research.
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How do ethics and religion shape stem cell research 5 Medina Arellano - Video
Posted: January 15, 2015 at 2:42 am
MIAMI (PRWEB) January 14, 2015
Citing fast-paced growth and the need for more space to accommodate its expanding operations, Global Stem Cells Group CEO Benito Novas has announced plans to move the organizations headquarters from Sunrise, Florida to the Miami Lakes Corporate Center. The new location more than doubles the space for the international stem cell and regenerative medicine company's corporate offices.
Since opening in 2012 under the Regenestem brand, Global Stem Cells Group and its six operating companies have grown exponentially, establishing partnerships with stem cell clinics, hospitals, researchers and physicians in the Philippines, South America and Europe.
The new Global Stem Cells Group facility provides state-of-the-art space for our entire team to drive innovation through our research and development initiatives, and support partnering activities with our biotechnology products and education programs, Novas says. We now have the space to continue the fast-paced growth of our companies and advance the development of new stem cell and regenerative medicine technologies that will benefit patients worldwide.
The new corporate headquarters, scheduled to open January 15, 2015, are located in the Miami Lakes Corporate Center, 14750 NW 77th Court, Suite 304 Miami Lakes, FL 33016.
For more information visit the Global Stem Cells website, email bnovas(at)regenestem(dot)com, or call 305-224-1858.
About the Global Stem Cells Group:
Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. is the parent company of six wholly owned operating companies dedicated entirely to stem cell research, training, products and solutions. Founded in 2012, the company combines dedicated researchers, physician and patient educators and solution providers with the shared goal of meeting the growing worldwide need for leading edge stem cell treatments and solutions.
With a singular focus on this exciting new area of medical research, Global Stem Cells Group and its subsidiaries are uniquely positioned to become global leaders in cellular medicine.
Global Stem Cells Groups corporate mission is to make the promise of stem cell medicine a reality for patients around the world. With each of GSCGs six operating companies focused on a separate research-based mission, the result is a global network of state-of-the-art stem cell treatments.
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Global Stem Cells Group to Move Headquarters to Larger Miami Lakes Office Complex
Posted: January 15, 2015 at 2:40 am
A therapy for Parkinson's disease from Carlsbad's International Stem Cell Corp. is expected to get approval for testing in Australia as soon as February, the company said this week.
The publicly traded company has grown neural stem cells, which can mature into cells making the neurotransmitter dopamine, deficient in Parkinson's. The company plans to implant these stem cells into the the brains of Parkinson's patients, restoring dopamine production and normal movement in the patients.
If approved, the trial will be the first test of therapy with the company's cells, derived from unfertilized, or parthenogenetic human egg cells. The cells, which in theory can produce nearly all types of cells found in the body, are grown into neural stem cells. These cells will be implanted and mature in place.
Parthenogenetic cells have much the same potential as embryonic stem cells without the ethical objections some have, says International Stem Cell, which has 38 employees. In addition, these parthenogenetic stem cells are less likely to provoke an immune reaction, the company says.
International Stem Cell Corp. chose Australia for its first trial because its regulatory agency is more "interactive" than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Simon Craw, executive vice president for business development. The FDA is inclined to give yes-or-no answers for proposed cell-based treatments, Craw said. In addition, patient recruitment takes place more slowly, which delays trial completion. The FDA does this for safety reasons.
Simon Craw / International Stem Cell Corp.
The Australian agency helps guide companies through the application process, Craw said in an interview Wednesday at Biotech Showcase, an annual life science conference in San Francisco. Craw also gave a company presentation on Tuesday at the conference.
"We're in the process of submitting the (application)," to Australian regulators, Craw said. "We're going back and forth with them right now. We expect to hear back from them by the end of February."
The trial will primarily assess safety, but also look for evidence of efficacy, Craw said.
The trial will take place at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Craw said. The hospital is headquartered in Parkville, in the state of Victoria. The principal investigator, Dr. Andrew Evans, will recruit patients from his own practice.
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Parkinson's stem cell trial approaches
Posted: January 14, 2015 at 6:43 pm
Modelling Neurodegenerative Diseases with Stem Cells - Maya Mitalipova
Source - http://serious-science.org/videos/1801 MIT Professor Maya Mitalipova on age-related diseases, stem cells, and new ways to model neurodegenerative diseases.
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Modelling Neurodegenerative Diseases with Stem Cells - Maya Mitalipova - Video
