Published: Oct. 4, 2021 at 4:00 AM MDT

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI), a leading developer of cellular therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that Stacy Lindborg, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Research, will deliver a presentation at the2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, being held as a hybrid conferenceOctober 12-14, and October 19-20, 2021.

Dr. Lindborg's presentation highlights the expansion of Brainstorm's technology portfolio to include autologous and allogeneic product candidates, covering multiple neurological diseases. The most progressed clinical development program, which includes a completed phase 3 trial of NurOwn in ALS patients, remains the highest priority for Brainstorm. Brainstorm is committed to pursuing the best and most expeditious path forward to enable patients to access NurOwn.

Dr. Lindborg's presentation will be in the form of an on-demand webinar that will be available beginning October 12. Those who wish to listen to the presentation are required to registerhere. At the conclusion of the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, a copy of the presentation will also be available in the "Investors and Media" section of the BrainStorm website underEvents and Presentations.

About the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa

The meeting will feature sessions and workshops covering a mix of commercialization topics related to the cell and gene therapy sector including the latest updates on market access and reimbursement schemes, international regulation harmonization, manufacturing and CMC challenges, investment opportunities for the sector, among others. There will be over 135 presentations by leading public and private companies, highlighting technical and clinical achievements over the past 12 months in the areas of cell therapy, gene therapy, gene editing, tissue engineering and broader regenerative medicine technologies.

The conference will be delivered in a hybrid format to allow for an in-person experience as well as a virtual participation option. The in-person conference will take place October 12-14 in Carlsbad, CA. Virtual registrants will have access to all content via livestream during program dates. Additionally, all content will be available on-demand within 24 hours of the live program time. Virtual partnering meetings will take place October 19-20 via Zoom.

About NurOwn

The NurOwntechnology platform (autologous MSC-NTF cells) represents a promising investigational therapeutic approach to targeting disease pathways important in neurodegenerative disorders. MSC-NTF cells are produced from autologous, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that have been expanded and differentiated ex vivo. MSCs are converted into MSC-NTF cells by growing them under patented conditions that induce the cells to secrete high levels of neurotrophic factors (NTFs). Autologous MSC-NTF cells are designed to effectively deliver multiple NTFs and immunomodulatory cytokines directly to the site of damage to elicit a desired biological effect and ultimately slow or stabilize disease progression.

About BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. is a leading developer of innovative autologous adult stem cell therapeutics for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases. The Company holds the rights to clinical development and commercialization of the NurOwntechnology platform used to produce autologous MSC-NTF cells through an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement. Autologous MSC-NTF cells have received Orphan Drug designation status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). BrainStorm has completed a Phase 3 pivotal trial in ALS (NCT03280056); this trial investigated the safety and efficacy of repeat-administration of autologous MSC-NTF cells and was supported by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM CLIN2-0989). BrainStorm completed under an investigational new drug application a Phase 2 open-label multicenter trial (NCT03799718) of autologous MSC-NTF cells in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and was supported by a grant from the National MS Society (NMSS).

For more information, visit the company's website atwww.brainstorm-cell.com.

Safe-Harbor Statement

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information, including statements regarding future NurOwnmanufacturing and clinical development plans, constitute "forward-looking statements" and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.'s actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Terms and phrases such as "may," "should," "would," "could," "will," "expect,""likely," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "potential," and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, BrainStorm's need to raise additional capital, BrainStorm's ability to continue as a going concern, the prospects for regulatory approval of BrainStorm's NurOwntreatment candidate, the initiation, completion, and success of BrainStorm's product development programs and research, regulatory and personnel issues, development of a global market for our services, the ability to secure and maintain research institutions to conduct our clinical trials, the ability to generate significant revenue, the ability of BrainStorm's NurOwntreatment candidate to achieve broad acceptance as a treatment option for ALS or other neurodegenerative diseases, BrainStorm's ability to manufacture, or to use third parties to manufacture, and commercialize the NurOwntreatment candidate, obtaining patents that provide meaningful protection, competition and market developments, BrainStorm's ability to protect our intellectual property from infringement by third parties, heath reform legislation, demand for our services, currency exchange rates and product liability claims and litigation; and other factors detailed in BrainStorm's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q available athttp://www.sec.gov. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on BrainStorm's forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this press release. We do not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or assumptions if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, unless otherwise required by law. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

ContactsInvestor Relations:Eric GoldsteinLifeSci Advisors, LLCPhone: +1 646.791.9729egoldstein@lifesciadvisors.com

Media:Paul TyahlaSmithSolvePhone: + 1.973.713.3768Paul.tyahla@smithsolve.com

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SOURCE Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc

The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.

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BrainStorm to Present at the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa - KKTV 11 News

The latest:

Alberta is expanding COVID-19 booster eligibility to more vulnerable groups as the province battles a severe wave of infections that has strained its health-care system for weeks. Meanwhile, B.C. is makingthird doses available to a widergroup of immunocompromised people.

Starting Wednesday in Alberta,everyone who is75 years of age or older andFirst Nations, Inuit or Mtis people who are 65 or older can book a third dose of the vaccine, provided it has been six months since their last dose.

"We're doing this because older Albertans remain uniquely at risk and will benefit from more protection," Premier JasonKenneysaid atanews conference Tuesday.

The change means more than150,000Albertans will be eligible for booster shots by the end of October, he said.

Alberta reported663 new cases and26 additional deaths on Tuesday. There were 1,094 COVID-19 patients being treated in hospital, including 252 in intensive care.

The Canadian Armed Forces is preparing to send up to eight critical care nurses to help in the province's intensive care units.

Meanwhile, neighbouring B.C. has announced it willexpandthe group of immunocompromised people who are eligible for a third dose of the vaccine.

Third doses are already available for those in the province who arethemost clinically vulnerable, including people who have hadwhole organ transplants, bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants, those with blood cancersand certain immune disorders.

During a news conference Tuesday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry saidthat those considered moderately to severely immunocompromisedwouldalso receive an invitation for a third dose. That group comprises approximately 100,000 people, she said.

Johnson & Johnson saysit has submitted data to the FDAfor emergency use authorization of a booster shot of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in people aged 18 years and older.

J&J on Tuesday said its submission includes data from a late-stagestudy that found a booster of its vaccine given 56 days afterthe primary dose provided 94 per centprotection against symptomaticCOVID-19 in the United States and 100 per centprotection against severedisease, at least 14 days after the booster shot.

The FDA has already authorized a booster dose of the vaccinedeveloped by Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTechfor 65-year olds and older, people at high risk of severedisease and others who are regularly exposed to the virus. Moderna submitted its application seekingauthorization for a booster shot of its two-dose vaccine lastmonth.

J&J said it plans to submit the data to other regulators,the World Health Organization and National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups to inform decision-making on localvaccine administration strategies, as needed.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has requestedemergency use authorization from U.S. regulators for its newtreatment to prevent COVID-19 for people who respond poorly tovaccines because of a weakened immune system.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker saidit included data in its filing with the Food and Drug Administration from a late-stage trial that showed its antibody therapy called AZD7442 reduced the risk of people developing any COVID-19 symptoms by77 per cent.

While vaccines rely on an intact immune system to developtargeted antibodies and infection-fighting cells, AZD7442 contains lab-made antibodies designed to linger in the body formonths to contain the virus in case of an infection.

A U.S. authorization for AZD7442 based on two antibodiesdiscovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the UnitedStates could be a major win for AstraZeneca, whose widely usedCOVID-19 vaccine has yet to be approved by U.S. authorities. Trial results on the AZD7442 therapy, first published inAugust, were taken three months after injection, but the company hopes it can tout the shot as a year-long shield as trialinvestigators will follow up with participants as far out as 15 months.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 235.6million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus-tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.8million.

In Asia,India's top court ordered state authorities to pay 50,000 rupees ($844 Cdn)as compensation for each death caused by COVID-19as a way to help families cope with the loss, according to its order reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.

Singapore's Health Ministry reported 3,486 new cases of COVID-19, itshighest since the beginning of the pandemic, andnine new deaths.

China reported no new local COVID-19 casesfor the first time in more than three weeks.

In Europe,the number of new infections in Romania exceeded 15,000 in the past 24 hours and there were no available intensive care beds, the government said.

Coronavirus deaths in Russia have reached a new highfor the third time this month at 895, and new cases have exceeded 25,000 a day as vaccination rates in the country remain low.

Meanwhile, Norway and Portugalhave become the latest countries to announce they will start administering COVID-19 booster shots to people ages 65 and older.

In the Americas, New York State's largest health-care provider has fired1,400 employees who refused to get vaccinations.Meanwhile, a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for teachers and other staff members has taken effect in New York City's million-plus-student public school system.

In Africa, South Africa reported429 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 39 deaths on Monday.President Cyril Ramaphosa eased restrictions to the country's lowest alert level last week,afterthe National Institute for Communicable Diseases said the country had exited its third and worst COVID-19 wave.

More here:
Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Tuesday - CBC.ca

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday heard arguments in a case brought by a conservative nonprofit challenging a New York order that prohibits state health care workers from seeking religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

We The Patriots USA, Inc. wants the three-judge panel to grant a temporary injunction that would force the state to allow religious exemption requests from health care workers while the court fight continues.

The case stems from an emergency order issued in August by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Hochul requiring state health care workers to get a vaccine or a medical exemption or face suspension or termination. Over the weekend, she unveiled a plan to deal with potential worker shortages which includes the possibility of activating the National Guard.

The order took effect Monday, but a federal court in Utica last week ruled in a similar case and temporarily blocked the vaccine mandate for those seeking a religious exemption until Oct. 12 which prompted the circuit judges to question the need for another injunction.

Cameron Atkinson, lead attorney for the Connecticut-based nonprofit, argued the group of Christian nurses he represents should not be dependent on the outcome of other proceedings.

Theyre on a ticking clock, he said. As soon as that clock swings in the direction of the orders being lifted my clients are left hung out to dry theyre fired on the spot the next day.

The nurses say they do not want to take a vaccine linked to fetal stem cells because it would violate their Christian beliefs. They argue the lack of a religious exemption violates their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

Meanwhile, New York Deputy Solicitor General Steven Wu argued that the regulation does not run afoul of that constitutional right because it does not target or display hostility to religion and it applies to all health care workers.

Asked why there is a medical exemption but not a religious exemption, he said there was a desire to make it consistent with mandates for measles and rubella vaccines, which also only include medical exemptions. He added that religious exemptions generally exceed medical exemptions by a significant amount.

Mr. Wu said the governors order came in response to very serious concern over the highly transmissible delta variant which has really swamped the diagnoses that are taking place across the state.

And this order was issued to ensure the health care workers in these facilities who are dealing with particularly vulnerable populations will be protected themselves, and will not themselves be a vector for further spread in these facilities, he said.

It is not clear when the judges will rule on the case.

If the preliminary injunction is denied, We The Patriots USA, Inc. said it plans to file an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The groups website states that it is dedicated to fighting to restore individual liberties and the God-given inalienable rights of all Americans, as recorded in the United States Constitution.

Continue reading here:
Court hears dispute over N.Y. healthcare workers seeking COVID vaccine religious exemption - Washington Times

Almost two months after Jeff Bezosblasted off into space debuting his rocket along with a new, plumper face the Amazon honcho announced anew investmentinAltos Labs, a startupdedicated todiscovering how to reverse the aging process.

While non-Botoxed eyebrows were raised around the world, Bezos isnt the only mega-wealthy man who wants to become Dorian Gray.

Eternal life has become the new space quest for the tech overlords.

Its a little bit juvenile,Rami Kaminski, MD,Kaminski, who is the founder and director of The Institute of Integrative Psychiatry(TiiPS). You may go to Mars, but you cannot go out into the solar system. [These wealthy men] are limited. What theyre trying to do is get away from the mortal coil. Every day when you look in the mirror you are reminded you are made of carbon. It is degrading and has to be recycled.

Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-foundertoldBusiness Insiderin 2012.,There are all these people who say that death is natural, its just part of life, and I think that nothing can be further from the truth, noting that death is a problem that can be solved.

Also on the hunt for the Fountain of Youth is Larry Page, one of the co-founders of Google. In 2013,Google founded Calico, a biology company with the stated goal of solv[ing] death. The company, according to itsWeb site, Seek(s) to answer the most challenging biological questions of our time how humans age and can we develop interventions to allow people. To live longer, healthier lives.

Keith Campbell, a psychology and social personality professor at the University of Georgia, told The Post: I call this process rebuilding Frankenstein [The desire]comes from a radical misunderstanding of the human condition, [where] materialism and behaviorism are mashed up with AI. That coupled with egoand fear and lots of money leads to the search.

Silicon Valleyentrepreneur Serge Faguet founder of the video platform TokBox and the Russian booking Web site Ostrovok has spent more than $250,000 on biohacking. Hes also a fan of microdosing with MDMA, telling The Guardian its all helped him become calmer, thinner, extroverted, healthier and happier. Oh, and its increased his sex drive, helping him (pick) up girls.

Meanwhile, lets not leave out TeslasElon Musk, who doesnt care about his body he simply wants his thoughts and brain to live forever via his new company,Neuralink.

The quest for the Fountain of Youth is not a new one. Ponce De Len never found it. In modern times, you have men like Peter Nygard. The disgraced fashion execbuilt a bio science lab in the Bahamasas part of a scheme to gather stem cells from the aborted fetuses of women hed impregnate all to elongate his life. (Hes now in jail in Canada, facing trial for sex trafficking and racketeering, amid several sexual assault allegations.)

Why are so many powerful men eager to, seemingly, live forever?

Death is the great equalizer the only thing that can bring [these men] down is death and you can not do anything about it. Unless you can,Kaminski told the Post. They are literally scared to die and immortality is the ultimate defense.

They want to defeat the only thing they cannot. They have the means and the power. When you have limitless amount of money you start pushing the boundaries. For the super billionaires, its not surprising they are choosing the ultimate limit.

And because these men have done the seemingly impossible in their work lives, and are treated like demigods on social media, their ego has morphed into a Dr. Frankenstein-esque manner, where they think they can now control the one thing man has never been able to control: death.

People with big egos think they matter more than their organizations, Campbell said. They think that, if they were gone, the world would fall apart because they are smarter than others and they were put here for a reason. Because theyve been so successful in putting their will on reality they think, Why cant I beat [death]? I can beat anything.

This feeling of being able to master the universe and manipulate all in their realm leads to a very real God Complex.

When an individual is exposed to excess wealth and power over an extended period of time it can alter their entire worldview; (they believe) they are special and better than others because of their ability to amass and hoard money, Dr.BethanyCook, a licensed psychotherapist told the Post. If one has vast amounts of money and power, along with a God complex, its easy to see why they may invest in discovering the secret to eternal life; they wish to retain their power and wealth for as long as possible.

The psychologists and psychiatrists The Post spoke to also noted that while these men think they are masters of the universe, their actions suggest immaturity and a fear of the inevitable.

Our old elites had some life experiences, like going to war or even doing sales, and were not psychological children like this new crowd, said Campbell. These arent spiritually grounded individuals. They may have a high IQ, but they are linear and very detached from reality.

And while some see the billionaires continued quest for everlasting life as interesting, Campbell finds it worrisome.

Im utterly terrified of people who think they know better than everyone else and who have power and arent afraid to use it, he said. Thats what a tyrant is. People who think they can control the world, who have power without humility makes me nervous.

And once the Fountain of Youth is discovered, how do we stop it? Already scientists are predicting humans can live to 130 years and that its not improbable to think we could live forever and the consequences have already been dire. This week, 23 more species, including the ivory-billed woodpecker, were declared extinct due to human activity. What will happen if we all live forever and keep reproducing?

Kaminski warns, Maybe there will be a breakthrough [for longevity] but then what do we do with humanity? If they had a pill to stop everyone from dying, people would be crawling all over the planet there wouldnt be a place to sit. The problem is the defiance of nature.

That, thus far, has never really worked out for humans.

The rest is here:
Why Bezos, Musk, Page and other billionaires want to live forever - New York Post

This spring, Southwest Missouri folks thought the coronavirus was taking its last gasps, but it came back with a vengeance.

So, what happened? If we look back a year or so, we can see the beginnings of the reason.

COVID-19 news dominated the media, and ideas and opinions about how to protect ourselves swirled around us.

We eagerly soaked up information ranging from the reasonable to the ridiculous.

In this part of the world, Branson televangelist Jim Bakkers faithful followers received welcome news there was a cure for the threatening disease. A guest on the show assured believers that the product, Silver Solution, could totally eliminate the virus. Lucky viewers could buy a bottle of this magic COVID-19-killer for just $80 (NPR, March 11, 2020).

Bakkers remedy was a fraud and as part of a legal settlement he agreed to pay back at least $156,000 in restitution.

But, compared to Springfield-area health clinic owner and state Rep. Patricia Derges, R-Nixa, Bakker was a small fish.

Derges operated for-profit clinics in Springfield, Ozark and Branson and a nonprofit, Lift Up Someone Today, in Springfield.

Her clinics charged $167 each for COVID-19 tests, bringing in approximately $517,000. She is accused of fraudulently acquiring CARES Act funds through Lift Up by billing Greene County for tests that had already been paid for by other payers. She allegedly received $296,574, which she diverted to her for-profit Ozark Valley Medical Clinic.

Another major moneymaker was a regenerative stem-cell treatment that she is accused of advertising as a safe and natural potential cure for COVID-19. It didnt actually have any stem cells, according to prosecutors.

Derges was indicted on charges of felony wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances, and making false statements. Her statehouse colleagues removed her from committee assignments in the state Capitol.

However, Chicago former osteopath Joseph Mercolas natural health operations make Bakker and Derges look like small fry. Mercola, a pioneer of the anti-vaccine movement, is the most influential spreader of COVID-19 misinformation online, researchers say.

In the last 10 years Mercola has built a vast operation that boosted his net worth to more than $100 million. He is listed as top man in the Disinformation Dozen, the group of 12 people responsible for sharing 65% of all anti-vaccine messaging on social media (The New York Times, July 25, 2021).

But theres an even larger fish in this propaganda sea, our longtime adversary: Russia.

It has weaponized COVID-19 misinformation in worldwide propaganda campaigns that push anti-vax messages on a large scale by using bots on troll farms and influencers recruited on Facebook. Reuters reported on Aug. 10 that Facebook had removed a network of accounts from Russia aimed at enlisting influencers to push anti-vaccine messaging.

Here in our corner of the world, these misleading campaigns have been overwhelmingly successful. Vaccination rates are low and more than 500 residents in the two-county Joplin metro area have lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic. On a recent weekend, 18 patients in Mercy and Freeman hospitals died.

The fallout from misinformation goes beyond the physical toll. The tsunami of divisive messaging has thrown our communities into chaos, torn relationships apart and caused menacing confrontations.

Were swimming in a sea of misinformation.

Lets try to avoid drowning in it.

Vera Nall lives in Neosho.

Read the original post:
Vera Nall: Misinformation will kill us in Southwest Missouri - Joplin Globe

The University of Texas at Dallas welcomed 25 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members in 2021, with many of them joining the University this fall.

The professors bring an array of expertise in disciplines ranging from visual and performing arts, psychology, and bioengineering to computer science, marketing, biological sciences and mathematics.

We are delighted to welcome this stellar group of professors to UT Dallas. They exemplify the Universitys strong tradition of research, scholarship and teaching excellence and will challenge our students to fulfill their potential, said UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson, the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership.

Recognized as a top-tier public research institution by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, UT Dallas is home to a growing roster of esteemed faculty who foster excellence in the classroom, forge community partnerships and attract exceptional students to the University. UT Dallas recently received a National Science Foundation grant to enhance its recruitment and retention of female professors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

UT Dallas is a top teaching and research destination, where students are learning from some of the best and brightest minds in their respective fields. This talented group is contributing to the rich environment of ideas found throughout our campus, said Dr. Inga Musselman, provost, vice president for academic affairs and the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership at UT Dallas.

The new tenured and tenure-track faculty members are:

The School of Arts and Humanities offers programs in visual and performing arts, history and philosophy, and literature and languages.

Dr. Laura Kim, assistant professor of visual and performing arts

Education: PhD in intermedia art, writing and performance, University of Colorado Boulder; Master of Fine Arts in new genres, San Francisco Art Institute; Bachelor of Science in art, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research areas: performance-based multimedia, research in art

Dr. Maurine Ogbaa, assistant professor of literature

Education: PhD in literature, University of Houston; Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, Washington University in St. Louis; Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature, UT Austin

Research areas: contemporary African and African diasporic literature, particularly womens literature; theories of race, post/coloniality, historical materialism, and feminism and gender

Dr. Songyao Ren, assistant professor of philosophy and history of ideas

Education: PhD in philosophy, Duke University; Master of Arts in East Asian literatures and cultures, Columbia University; bachelors degree in journalism, The University of Hong Kong

Research areas: Chinese philosophy, ethics, moral psychology

Dr. Jerillyn Kent, assistant professor of psychology

Education: PhD in psychological and brain sciences, Indiana University Bloomington; Bachelor of Science in psychology and biology, William & Mary

Research areas: motor abnormalities in psychopathology, particularly cerebellar abnormalities in individuals with psychotic disorders; neuromodulation interventions for psychopathology

Dr. Waseem Abbas, assistant professor of systems engineering

Education: PhD and Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology; Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Research areas: networked control systems, cyber-physical systems, resilience and robustness in networked systems, distributed optimization, graph machine learning and graph-theoretic methods for multiagent systems

Dr. Shuang (Cynthia) Cui, assistant professor of mechanical engineering

Education: PhD in mechanical engineering, University of California, San Diego;Master of Science in thermal engineering and Bachelor of Science in energy systems and power engineering, Wuhan University

Research areas: advanced thermal energy storage materials and systems, intelligent soft materials and devices, nanoscale heat transfer and energy conversion, grid-interactive efficient buildings

Dr. Gu Eon Kang, assistant professor of bioengineering

Education: PhD in movement science and Master of Science in mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, University of Michigan; Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, Korea University

Research areas: biomechanics, mobility research, frailty, diabetic foot, fall prevention, gait, posture, wearable sensors, motion analysis, computational modeling, finite element analysis, physical activity, physiological monitoring

Dr. Kyle McCall, assistant professor of materials science and engineering

Education: PhD in applied physics, Northwestern University; Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics, University of Notre Dame

Research areas: materials chemistry, semiconductors for optoelectronics applications, halide perovskites, renewable energy conversion, light emission, radiation detection

Dr. Joshua Summers, professor and department head of mechanical engineering

Education: PhD in mechanical engineering, Arizona State University; Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, University of Missouri

Research areas: collaborative design, knowledge management, design enabler development with the overall objective of improving design through collaboration and computation

Dr. Yu Xiang, assistant professor of computer science

Education: PhD in electrical and computer engineering, University of Michigan; Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in computer science, Fudan University

Research areas: robotics, computer vision

The School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences is home to eight academic programs, including criminology and criminal justice.

Dr. Anne M. Burton, assistant professor of economics

Education: PhD and Master of Arts in economics, Cornell University; Bachelor of Arts in economics and government, Colby College

Research areas: health economics, public economics, economics of crime

Dr. Sivaram Cheruvu, assistant professor of political science

Education: PhD and Master of Arts in political science, Emory University; Master of Science in politics and government in the European Union, The London School of Economics and Political Science; Bachelor of Arts in political science, Rutgers University

Research areas: comparative institutions, judicial decision-making, public law, European Union

Dr. Brenda Gambol, assistant professor of sociology

Education: PhD and Master of Philosophy in sociology, The City University of New York; Bachelor of Arts in ethnic studies and sociology, University of California, San Diego

Research areas: international migration, race and ethnicity, family and marriage

Dr. Jessica Hanson-DeFusco, assistant professor of public policy and political economy

Education: PhD in public policy and international development, University of Pittsburgh; Master of Education in international education policy, Harvard University; Bachelor of Arts in English-ESL secondary education, Colorado State University

Research areas: international development policies related to quality education, public health and gender rights

Dr. Andrew Krajewski, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice

Education: PhD and Master of Arts in criminology, The Pennsylvania State University; Bachelor of Arts in psychology, University of South Florida

Research areas: verbal and physical aggression, interpersonal conflict, criminal behavior, social networks

Dr. Yeungjeom Lee, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice

Education: PhD in criminology, law and society, University of Florida

Research areas: developmental life-course criminology, juvenile delinquency, victimization, psychopathy, substance use and crime

Dr. Lauren Pinson, assistant professor of public policy and political economy

Education: PhD, Master of Philosophy and Master of Arts in political science, Yale University; Master of Public Administration and Bachelor of Arts in international affairs, University of Georgia

Research areas: illicit trafficking, foreign aid, border security, migration

Dr. Allison Russell, assistant professor of public and nonprofit management

Education: PhD in social welfare, University of Pennsylvania; Master of Public Administration, University of North Carolina Wilmington; Bachelor of Arts in Latin American and Latino studies, Fordham University

Research areas: volunteerism, nonprofit human resources management, equity and ethics in nonprofits, social innovation and impact

Dr. Anton Sobolev, assistant professor of public policy, political economy, and cybersecurity

Education: PhD in political science and Master of Science in statistics, University of California, Los Angeles; Master of Arts in political economy and Bachelor of Arts in political science, Higher School of Economics University in Russia

Research areas: digital technology and political behavior, cybersecurity, misinformation, mass protest, text analysis

Dr. Samir Mamadehussene, assistant professor of marketing

Education: PhD in economics, Northwestern University; Master of Science in economics and Bachelor of Arts in management, Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon.

Research areas: pricing and promotional strategies, game theory, consumer search

Dr. Nicholas Dillon, assistant professor of biological sciences

Education: PhD in microbiology and Master of Science in biology, University of Minnesota; Bachelor of Science in biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research areas: microbiology, antibiotic resistance, antibiotic pharmacology, host-pathogen interactions

Dr. Shengwang Du, professor of physics

Education: PhD in physics and Master of Science in electrical engineering, University of Colorado Boulder; Master of Science in physics, Peking University; Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, Nanjing University

Research areas: quantum optics, quantum networks, quantum information processing, nonlinear optics, laser cooling and trapping, optical neural networks and artificial intelligence, optical microscopy, bioimaging

Dr. Purna Joshi, assistant professor of biological sciences

Education: PhD in stem cell biology, Master of Science in developmental biology and Bachelor of Science in pathobiology, University of Toronto

Research areas: stem cells, breast and ovarian cancer biology, regenerative medicine

Dr. Darshan Sapkota, assistant professor of biological sciences

Education: PhD in biochemistry and developmental neurobiology, The State University of New York at Buffalo; Master of Science in microbiology and Bachelor of Science, Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal

Research areas: neuroscience, neurological diseases, regulation of mRNA translation, brain and retinal homeostasis, molecular biology

Dr. Yunan Wu, assistant professor of statistics

Education: PhD and Master of Science in statistics, University of Minnesota; Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics, Tsinghua University in China

Research areas: causal inference in precision medicine, nonparametric and semi-parametric analysis, high-dimensional analysis, Mendelian randomization, machine-learning techniques

Read this article:
Meet the Newest Group of Tenured, Tenure-Track Faculty at UT Dallas - University of Texas at Dallas

Bench-to-bedside

Armed with this knowledge, further experiments showed that giving G-CSF, which is already used clinically as an immune system booster in cancer patients to mice with non-mutant IDH1 also increased their survival. And giving it in combination with the immune-stimulating gene therapy had an even bigger impact.

The team also confirmed that patients who have gliomas with mutated IDH1 also have higher levels of G-CSF circulating in their blood a clue that the findings will be applicable beyond the mouse models.

The next step, says Lowenstein, will be to work on moving these findings into a clinical trial, building on the current, ongoing trial using the immunotherapy/gene therapy combination.

Our study shows two main things: Patients with the IDH1 mutation may benefit from immunotherapy due to the G-CSF their tumors are producing, he said. And patients without the mutation may benefit from combining treatment with G-CSF and immunotherapy.

Additional authors include Brandon L. McClellan, Ruthvik P. Avvari, Rohit Thalla, Stephen Carney, Margaret S. Hartlage, Santiago Haase, Maria Ventosa, Ayman Taher, Neha Kamran, Li Zhang, Syed Mohammed Faisal, Felipe J. Nez, Mara Beln Garcia-Fabiani, Wajd N. Al-Holou, Daniel Orringer, Jason Heth, Parag G. Patil, Karen Eddy, Sofia D. Merajver, Peter J. Ulintz, Joshua Welch, Chao Gao, Jialin Liu and Gabriel Nez all of U-M; Shawn Hervey-Jumper of University of California, San Francisco; and Dolores Hambardzumyan of the Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

Funding for the work was provided by National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (R37-NS094804, R01-NS105556, R21- NS107894, R01- NS076991, R01-NS082311, R01-NS096756; the U-M Department of Neurosurgery; the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, Leahs Happy Hearts Foundation, Ians Friends Foundation, Chad Tough Foundation, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, and Smiles for Sophie Forever Foundation, National Cancer Institute (T32-CA009676), American Brain Tumor Association Basic Research Fellowship and a Rogel Cancer Center Scholar Award.

Paper cited: G-CSF secreted by mutant IDH1 glioma stem cells abolishes myeloid cells immunosuppression and enhances the efficacy of immunotherapy, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh3243

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Glioma subtype may hold the secret to the success of immunotherapies - Michigan Medicine