ANN ARBOR The University of Michigans second human embryonic stem cell line has just been placed on the U.S. National Institutes of Healths registry, making the cells available for federally funded research. It is the second of the stem cell lines derived at UM to be placed on the registry.

The line, known as UM11-1PGD, was derived from a cluster of about 30 cells removed from a donated five-day-old embryo roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence. That embryo was created for reproductive purposes, tested and found to be affected with a genetic disorder, deemed not suitable for implantation, and would therefore have otherwise been discarded when it was donated in 2011.

It carries the gene defect responsible for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neurological disorder characterized by a slowly progressive degeneration of the muscles in the foot, lower leg and hand. CMT, as it is known, is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders, affecting one in 2,500 people in the United States. People with CMT usually begin to experience symptoms in adolescence or early adulthood.

The embryo used to create the cell line was never frozen, but rather was transported from another IVF laboratory in the state of Michigan to the UM in a special container. This may mean that these stem cells will have unique characteristics and utilities in understanding CMT disease progression or screening therapies in comparison to other human embryonic stem cells.

We are proud to provide this cell line to the scientific community, in hopes that it may aid the search for new treatments and even a cure for CMT, says Gary Smith, Ph.D., who derived the line and also is co-director of the UM Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies, part of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. Once again, the acceptance of these cells to the registry demonstrates our attention to details of proper oversight, consenting, and following of NIH guidelines.

UM is one of only four institutions including two other universities and one private company to have disease-specific stem cell lines listed in the national registry. UM has several other disease-specific hESClines submitted to NIH and awaiting approval, says Smith, who is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School. The first line, a genetically normal one, was accepted to the registry in February.

Stem cell lines that carry genetic traits linked to specific diseases are a model system to investigate what causes these diseases and come up with treatments, says Sue OShea, professor of cell and developmental biology at the UM Medical School, and co-director of the Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies.

Each line is the culmination of years of preparation and cooperation between UM and Genesis Genetics, a Michigan-based genetic diagnostic company. This work was made possible by Michigan voters November 2008 approval of a state constitutional amendment permitting scientists to derive embryonic stem cell lines using surplus embryos from fertility clinics or embryos with genetic abnormalities and not suitable for implantation.

The amendment also made possible an unusual collaboration that has blossomed between the University of Michigan and molecular research scientists at Genesis Genetics, a company that has grown in only eight years to become the leading global provider of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) testing. PGDis a testing method used to identify days-old embryos carrying the genetic mutations responsible for serious inherited diseases. During a PGD test, a single cell is removed from an eight-celled embryo. The other seven cells continue to multiply and on the fifth day form a cluster of roughly 100 cells known as a blastocyst.

Genesis Genetics performs nearly 7,500 PGD tests annually. Under the arrangement between the company and UM, patients with embryos that test positive for a genetic disease now have the option of donating those embryos to UM if they have decided not to use them for reproductive purposes and the embryos would otherwise be discarded.

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Second UM Stem Cell Line Now Available To Help Cure Nerve Condition

Public release date: 25-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kara Gavin kegavin@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System

The University of Michigan's second human embryonic stem cell line has just been placed on the U.S. National Institutes of Health's registry, making the cells available for federally-funded research. It is the second of the stem cell lines derived at U-M to be placed on the registry.

The line, known as UM11-1PGD, was derived from a cluster of about 30 cells removed from a donated five-day-old embryo roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence. That embryo was created for reproductive purposes, tested and found to be affected with a genetic disorder, deemed not suitable for implantation, and would therefore have otherwise been discarded when it was donated in 2011.

It carries the gene defect responsible for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neurological disorder characterized by a slowly progressive degeneration of the muscles in the foot, lower leg and hand. CMT, as it is known, is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders, affecting one in 2,500 people in the United States. People with CMT usually begin to experience symptoms in adolescence or early adulthood.

The embryo used to create the cell line was never frozen, but rather was transported from another IVF laboratory in the state of Michigan to the U-M in a special container. This may mean that these stem cells will have unique characteristics and utilities in understanding CMT disease progression or screening therapies in comparison to other human embryonic stem cells.

"We are proud to provide this cell line to the scientific community, in hopes that it may aid the search for new treatments and even a cure for CMT," says Gary Smith, Ph.D., who derived the line and also is co-director of the U-M Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies, part of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. "Once again, the acceptance of these cells to the registry demonstrates our attention to details of proper oversight, consenting, and following of NIH guidelines."

U-M is one of only four institutions including two other universities and one private company to have disease-specific stem cell lines listed in the national registry. U-M has several other disease-specific hESC lines submitted to NIH and awaiting approval, says Smith, who is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School. The first line, a genetically normal one, was accepted to the registry in February.

"Stem cell lines that carry genetic traits linked to specific diseases are a model system to investigate what causes these diseases and come up with treatments," says Sue O'Shea, Ph.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the U-M Medical School, and co-director of the Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies.

Each line is the culmination of years of preparation and cooperation between U-M and Genesis Genetics, a Michigan-based genetic diagnostic company. This work was made possible by Michigan voters' November 2008 approval of a state constitutional amendment permitting scientists to derive embryonic stem cell lines using surplus embryos from fertility clinics or embryos with genetic abnormalities and not suitable for implantation.

Read more from the original source:
New embryonic stem cell line will aid research on nerve condition

When pitching in the Dominican Republic, C.J. Nitkowski said he felt he was back to his normal self on the mound

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

For the full story on C.J. Nitkowski's risky medical procedure and baseball comeback, watch CNN Presents, Sunday night at 8ET.

Alpharetta, Georgia (CNN) -- At 39 years old, Christopher John Nitkowski really has no business trying to pitch in the major leagues. In the harsh reality of professional sports, he's a has-been.

Just don't tell him that.

The former first-round draft pick last pitched for the Washington Nationals in 2005 after a 10-season career spent mostly as a left-handed reliever.

"You go as long as you can," he told CNN. "I had a good friend tell me, 'Man, just make them tear the uniform off of you. You can do whatever you're gonna do for the rest of your life. You can't play baseball forever.'"

A doctor injects C.J. Nitkowski's stem cells into his injured shoulder

In the middle of the 2011 baseball season Nitkowski announced in a first-person article for Sports Illustrated that he would try a comeback. After his brief major league appearance in 2005, he pitched subsequent years for one team in Japan and three in South Korea.

This time, he wrote, he would agree to a risky medical experiment that would involve injecting his own stem cells into his injured pitching shoulder, which he hurt in an initial comeback attempt last spring.

See original here:
Pitcher hopes stem cell procedure will get him one last season

MOBILE, Alabama -- At the end of this past season with the Oakland Raiders, an aching Rolando McClain gave an assignment to his agent: Find out more about stem cell therapies for injuries, like other athletes are trying.

Ive been having two seasons of nagging pain in my knee, the former University of Alabama standout said.

Not long afterward, McClain was on his way to Gulf Shores.

There, radiologist Jason R. Williams performed liposuction on McClain and then injected stem cells from the linebackers own fat cells into his knee and into the area of a high ankle sprain.

It feels a lot better, McClain said in an interview last week, adding that hes working out four days a week with the Raiders, running, lifting weights, doing squats and even sprinting with hardly any pain at all.

About three months ago, Williams, 38, began the new procedure in which he injects patients -- two of them being McClain and former University of Alabama receiver Marquis Maze -- with their own stem cells in an effort to repair damaged joints and muscles.

This is going to be the future of medicine, said Williams, who owns Precision StemCell, which includes a diagnostic and interventional radiology practice in Gulf Shores.

Stem cells, sometimes called the bodys master cells, are precursor cells that develop into blood, bones and organs, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates their use.

Their promise in medicine, according to many scientists and doctors, is that the cells have the potential to help and regenerate other cells.

While Williams treatments are considered investigational, he said, they meet FDA guidelines since the stem cells are collected from a patients fat tissue and administered back to that patient during the same procedure.

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Former Alabama football players get stem cell injections from Gulf Shores doctor