Posted: January 14, 2015 at 6:43 pm
Dr. Mok Explains the advances in Stem Cell Research
I made a flub. Platelets are made in bone marrow (I said a different organ and meant a different cell line). This video explains the development of Adipose D...
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Dr. Mok Explains the advances in Stem Cell Research - Video
Posted: January 14, 2015 at 6:00 pm
The Controversy
Earlier this November, scientists from the University College London Institutes of Ophthalmology and Child Health and Moorfields Eye Hospital were able to restore vision to blind lab mice. This scientific breakthrough signifies that millions of people with optical conditions such as macular degeneration (loss of sight experienced by the elderly), diabetic retinopathy, and a variety of other forms of blindness could be able to regain sight through a remarkably simple procedure. However, the fact that the procedure requires stem cells from foetusescurrently viewed as a highly controversial method by many politicianshas prevented this procedure from becoming more publicized in the U.S. (1).
The Breakthrough
Researchers have identified certain cells on the margin of adult retinas that are similar to stem cells. Additionally, retinal cell replacement may be the most effective method of "cell transplant therapy because photoreceptor loss initially leaves the rest of the wiring to the brain intact (1). In other words, major surgical reconstruction is not necessary. Any surgical procedure would only involve the superficial layer of the retina and not the particularly sensitive optic nerve wiring at the back of the eye. However, in order to attain human retinal cells at the necessary stage of development, stem cells would need to be extracted from a foetus during the second trimester of pregnancy (1). Because stem cells are able to proliferate and develop into many other types of cells within the human body, they can be extracted from any part of the foetus. However, the timing is imperative if the procedure is to work.
Three Blind Mice See How the Procedure Works...
1. Early stage retinal stem cells were extracted from a 3 to 5 day old newborn mouse (1).
2. The retinal cells were transplanted onto the retinal surface of a blind mouse whose condition was genetically programmed to resemble the gradual loss of sight characteristic to the human disease retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration (1).
3. The cells embed themselves and connected with other cells on the retina of blind mouse. Within 30 minutes the photoreceptors from the retinal stem cells implanted themselves and fused electrical connections with the animals' existing retinal nerve cells (3). As a result, the formerly blind mice's pupils began to respond to light and there was activity in the optic nerve (indicating that the eye was transmitting signals to the brain) (1).
Anatomy & Physiology of the Eye: Photoreceptors
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Stem Cells Cure Blindness | Serendip Studio
Posted: January 14, 2015 at 5:42 pm
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Winnipeg researcher Doug Broeska previously ran a lumber business. (REGENETEK.COM)
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Regenetek is located on Chevrier Boulevard, but its stem-cell study is being conducted at a hospital in India. The study is not listed on any clinical-trial registry. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )
The hope of dancing at her sons summertime wedding led Sharon Nordstrom to pay $38,000 for a treatment she hoped would keep her multiple-sclerosis symptoms at bay.
That money paid for what she hoped would be a life-changing stem-cell procedure at a hospital in Pune, India. It was part of what she, and nearly 70 other patients from Manitoba and from as far away as Australia, believed was a clinical study helmed by a brilliant Winnipeg medical researcher with a PhD, who said the procedure could stop MS in its tracks.
Soon after her return in May, Nordstrom began to uncover troubling facts. Doug Broeska, whom patients reverently call "Dr. Doug," has no recognized medical credentials. Regenetek Research, his company based out of a spartan office on Chevrier Boulevard, boasted credentials and positive medical results that didnt add up. Patients who were once ardent supporters were attacked as saboteurs or shills for "Big Pharma" and threatened with removal from the study after they asked questions.
A Free Press investigation has found Broeska fabricated his credentials, including his PhD, and overstated the effects of the stem-cell treatment, for which he often charged desperately ill people $45,000. Four patients spoke to the Free Press on the record, saying they got no benefit from the treatment, got none of the followup common in clinical trials such as MRIs or physical acuity tests and believe they are victims of fraud.
Patients, doctors in India and now Canadian officials are questioning the claims of Winnipeg researcher Doug Broeska and his $45,000 stem-cell therapy for MS sufferers.
At least two of Regeneteks former patients have complained to the RCMP, and sources say the Canada Revenue Agency is investigating, though CRA officials would not confirm that. Last week, Regeneteks website, Broeskas LinkedIn page and a "patient-run" Facebook group were taken down.
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City man who ran stem-cell trial for MS patients fabricated credentials, overstated results
Posted: January 14, 2015 at 4:59 am
12 hours ago by Ken Kingery A microscopic view of lab-grown human muscle bundles stained to show patterns made by basic muscle units and their associated proteins (red), which are a hallmark of human muscle. Credit: Nenad Bursac, Duke University
In a laboratory first, Duke researchers have grown human skeletal muscle that contracts and responds just like native tissue to external stimuli such as electrical pulses, biochemical signals and pharmaceuticals.
The lab-grown tissue should soon allow researchers to test new drugs and study diseases in functioning human muscle outside of the human body.
The study was led by Nenad Bursac, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, and Lauran Madden, a postdoctoral researcher in Bursac's laboratory. It appears January 13 in the open-access journal eLife
"The beauty of this work is that it can serve as a test bed for clinical trials in a dish," said Bursac. "We are working to test drugs' efficacy and safety without jeopardizing a patient's health and also to reproduce the functional and biochemical signals of diseasesespecially rare ones and those that make taking muscle biopsies difficult."
Bursac and Madden started with a small sample of human cells that had already progressed beyond stem cells but hadn't yet become muscle tissue. They expanded these "myogenic precursors" by more than a 1000-fold, and then put them into a supportive, 3D scaffolding filled with a nourishing gel that allowed them to form aligned and functioning muscle fibers.
"We have a lot of experience making bioartifical muscles from animal cells in the laboratory, and it still took us a year of adjusting variables like cell and gel density and optimizing the culture matrix and media to make this work with human muscle cells," said Madden.
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Madden subjected the new muscle to a barrage of tests to determine how closely it resembled native tissue inside a human body. She found that the muscles robustly contracted in response to electrical stimulia first for human muscle grown in a laboratory. She also showed that the signaling pathways allowing nerves to activate the muscle were intact and functional.
To see if the muscle could be used as a proxy for medical tests, Bursac and Madden studied its response to a variety of drugs, including statins used to lower cholesterol and clenbuterol, a drug known to be used off-label as a performance enhancer for athletes.
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First contracting human muscle grown in laboratory
Posted: January 14, 2015 at 4:51 am
Stem Cell Therapy: A cure for Diabetes | PlacidWay
http://tiny.cc/DiabetesCure2015 Diabetes treatment can consist of numerous elements, consisting of standard medications, alternative medication, and natural treatments. Alternative therapies...
By: Robert Esser
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Stem Cell Therapy: A cure for Diabetes | PlacidWay - Video
Posted: January 13, 2015 at 10:50 pm
6 hours ago by Amanda Morris
Electroporation is a powerful technique in molecular biology. By using an electrical pulse to create a temporary nanopore in a cell membrane, researchers can deliver chemicals, drugs, and DNA directly into a single cell.
But existing electroporation methods require high electric field strengths and for cells to be suspended in solution, which disrupts cellular pathways and creates a harsh environment for sensitive primary cells. This makes it nearly impossible for researchers to study the cells naturally, in a setting that encourages the cells to continue differentiating and expanding.
A Northwestern University collaboration has developed a novel microfluidic device that allows for electroporation of stem cells during differentiation, making it possible to deliver molecules during this pivotal time in a cell's life. This provides the conditions needed to study primary cells, such as neurons, opening doors for exploration of the pathogenic mechanisms of neural diseases and potentially leading to new gene therapies.
Developed by Horacio Espinosa, the James and Nancy Farley Professor of Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship at the McCormick School of Engineering, and John Kessler, the Ken and Ruth Davee Professor of Stem Cell Biology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, the localized electroporation device (LEPD) can be applied to adherent cells, which are grown on an artificial substrate as opposed to free-floating in a culture medium and are able to continue growing and differentiating.
"The ability to deliver molecules into adherent cells without disrupting differentiation is needed for biotechnology researchers to advance both fundamental knowledge and the state-of-the-art in stem cell research," Espinosa said.
"Non-destructive manipulation of cells over time and in the correct environment is a key enabling technology highly needed within the biology and medical research communities," Kessler said.
The research is described in a paper published in the September 10 issue of Lab on a Chip, the journal of The Royal Society of Chemistry, and was also highlighted on the journal's back cover.
Explore further: Stem cells born out of indecision
(Phys.org) Northwestern University researchers have developed a new method for delivering molecules into single, targeted cells through temporary holes in the cell surface. The technique could find applications ...
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New device allows for manipulation of differentiating stem cells
Posted: January 13, 2015 at 10:41 pm
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Newswise January 13, 2015 New York, NY Peter S. Kim has been named the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Established in 1994, Ludwig professorships have since been awarded to a total of 15 leading scientists at academic institutions affiliated with the six U.S.-based Ludwig Centers. With this appointment Kim also becomes a member of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine at Stanford.
Kims lab focuses on the mechanisms by which viral membranes fuse with cell membranes, which has to happen for the virus to invade its target cell. His team also studies how that process might be disrupted by small molecules and antibodies. Kims lab is, for example, using such studies to engineer antigens for a vaccine that might elicit antibodies that block a key step in HIVs invasion of its target cell. The strategies that he is developing could be applied to design new preventive and therapeutic vaccines for cancers. His lab is also developing methods to identify small molecules that bind tightly and very specifically to proteins that have so far proved resistant to targeting by typical drug-like molecules.
Kim joined Stanford University in February 2014 after a ten-year tenure as president of Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc. During this time he oversaw the development and FDA approval of Gardasil, the worlds first vaccine against HPV, the causative agent of cervical cancer. Kim began his academic career as a professor in the biology department at MIT, where he ultimately served as associate head. During his 16 years at MIT Kim was also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
We are very happy, and fortunate, to have Peter Kim back here at Stanford, where he began his graduate training, said Irv Weissman, director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine at Stanford. Peter brings with him rare experience and new strategies for developing preventive tools and therapiesincluding immunotherapiesfor viral infections that cause, allow and/or infect cancers. His goals are in line with our mission, and his approaches complement our own efforts to recruit the immune system to attack cancer cells.
Kim has received numerous awards for his research and holds leadership positions at several academic and scientific institutions. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He serves on the Scientific Review Board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the External Scientific Advisory Board of the Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science, the Board of Scientific Governors of the Scripps Research Institute and the Scientific Advisory Working Group of the Vaccine Research Center, NIAID, NIH.
Kim joins four other Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professors at Stanford: Lucy Shapiro, Irving Weissman, Sanjiv Sam Gambhir and Roeland Nusse.
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About Ludwig Cancer Research Ludwig Cancer Research is an international collaborative network of acclaimed scientists that has pioneered cancer discoveries for more than 40 years. Ludwig combines basic research with the ability to translate its discoveries and conduct clinical trials to accelerate the development of new cancer diagnostics and therapies. Since 1971, Ludwig has invested more than $2.5 billion in life-changing cancer research through the not-for-profit Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the six U.S.-based Ludwig Centers.
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Peter S. Kim Named the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford
Posted: January 13, 2015 at 10:40 pm
IMAGE:BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal... view more
Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
New Rochelle, NY, January 12, 2014--A promising new therapeutic approach to treat a variety of diseases involves taking a patient's own cells, turning them into stem cells, and then deriving targeted cell types such as muscle or nerve cells to return to the patient to repair damaged tissues and organs. But the clinical effectiveness of these stem cells has only been modest, which may be due to the advanced age of the patients or the effects of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a probing Review article published in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers . The article is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.
Anastasia Yu. Efimenko, TN Kochegura, ZA Akopyan, and YV Parfyonova, Moscow State University (Russia), analyze how aging and chronic diseases might affect the regenerative potential of autologous stem cells and explain the differences between the promising results reported in preclinical studies using stem cells derived from healthy young donors and the more modest success of clinical studies in aged patients. The authors propose strategies to test for and enhance to regenerative properties and therapeutic potential of stem cells in the article "Autologous Stem Cell Therapy: How Aging and Chronic Diseases Affect Stem and Progenitor Cells".
"This review discusses a very important issue in regenerative medicine, how aging and chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders affect adult stem/progenitor cells," says BioResearch Open Access Editor Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. "Future therapies are discussed by the authors in terms of overcoming or correcting the limitations of these cells in order to enhance their therapeutic potential."
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About the Journal
BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMed Central. All journal content is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many areas of science and biomedical research, including DNA and Cell Biology, Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy, HGT Methods, and HGT Clinical Development, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
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Is stem cell therapy less effective in older patients with chronic diseases?
Posted: January 13, 2015 at 10:40 pm
Religious groups have concerns that the ALS Association, which has been the recipient of millions of dollars in donations through its ice bucket challenge, supports embryonic stem cell research.
The facts: The ALS Association which fights amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrigs Disease primarily is involved with adult stem cell research, which the Catholic Church does not oppose, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The bishops statement on stem cells states that the use of adult stem cells and umbilical-cord blood have been shown to offer a better way to produce cells that can benefit patients.
There is no moral objection to research and therapy of this kind, when it involves no harm to human beings at any stage of development and is conducted with appropriate informed consent, the statement says. Catholic foundations and medical centers have been, and will continue to be, among the leading supporters of ethically responsible advances in the medical use of adult stem cells.
The ALS Association said it does, however, fund one study that uses embryonic stem cell research with money provided by one specific donor who is committed to this area of research, the Record reported.
The association added that donors could designate that they do not want their embryos used to fund any stem cell research.
Most embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro and then donated for research with the consent of the donors, according to the National Institutes of Health. They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a womans body.
After a couple completes the in vitro process, they either continue to freeze the leftover embryos or allow them to thaw, which destroys the cells. In some states, couples do have the choice to donate the embryos to research or to adoptive families, TruthOrFiction.com notes.
Embryonic stem cell research does not appear to rank as a major issue for most Catholics, according to a 2013 survey by the Pew Researchs Religion and Public Life Project. In the survey, 72 percent of Catholics said embryonic stem cell research was not a moral issue or was morally acceptable.
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Fact Check: Adult stem cell research not opposed by church
Posted: January 13, 2015 at 9:54 am
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Newswise Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have discovered a mechanism that leads to resistance to targeted therapy in melanoma patients and are investigating strategies to counteract it. Targeted biological therapy can reduce toxicity and improve outcomes for many cancer patients, when compared to the adverse effects of standard chemotherapeutic drugs. However, patients often develop resistance to these targeted therapies, resulting in more aggressive cells that can spread to other sites or cause regrowth of primary tumors.
B-Raf is a protein that is frequently mutated in human cancers, leading to increased tumor cell growth, survival and migration. Drugs that target B-Raf or another protein in the same network called MEK have proved effective in clinical trials. Several B-Raf and MEK inhibitors have been approved with the combination of a B-Raf and a MEK inhibitor being the current standard of care for patients with B-Raf mutant melanoma. However over time many patients become resistant to B-Raf and B-Raf/MEK inhibitor therapy.
Moffitt researchers found that patients who are on B-Raf inhibitor drugs develop more new metastases than patients who are on standard chemotherapy. The researchers wanted to determine how this acquired resistance develops in order to devise better treatment options for patients. They found that melanoma cells that are resistant to B-Raf inhibitors tend to be more aggressive and invasive, thereby allowing the tumor to spread to a new organ site. They used a large screening approach and discovered that this resistance and aggressive behavior was due to high activity of a cell surface protein called EphA2, which is also found on glioblastoma stem cells.
Their study found that simply withdrawing the B-Raf or MEK inhibitor drugs reversed the cells aggressive behavior. This suggests that alternate dose scheduling where B-Raf and MEK inhibitors are given to patients intermittently may reduce the aggressiveness of the disease meaning patients could stay on therapy for more time, said Keiran S. Smalley, Ph.D., scientific director of the Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center of Excellence at Moffitt.
The research also showed that targeting EphA2 reduced the aggressive behavior of the melanoma cells. This suggests that drugs that target EphA2 may prevent the development of new disease in patients who receive B-Raf and B-Raf /MEK inhibitor therapy.
The study was published in the online edition of Cancer Discovery on Dec. 26. It was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA161107-01 and P50 CA168536-01A1), Melanoma and Sarcoma Groningen Foundation and the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation.
About Moffitt Cancer Center Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitts excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt is the top-ranked cancer hospital in the Southeast and has been listed in U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals for cancer since 1999. With more than 4,500 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on Florida of nearly $1.6 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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Moffitt Researchers Discover Mechanism Leading to Drug Resistance, Metastasis in Melanoma Patients
