Injured tissues can be repaired and damaged organs healed using a new nanotech device that adapts a patients own skin to generate stem cells, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Researchers from Ohio State University call the new technology tissue nanotransfection (TNT).

They say TNT which is basically a lab on a chip can adapt skin cells to change into any type of tissue required, which can then be introduced to injured or degenerated areas. They claim a success rate of 98%.

With this technology we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch, says co-author Chandan Sen. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off. The chip does not stay with you, and the reprogramming of the cell starts. Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary."

Lead author Daniel Gallego-Perez says the new technology comprises two elements: the nanotech chip designed to introduce reprogrammed DNA into existing adult cells; and a specific biological cargo that induces the cells to change from one type to another.

The device works using a small electrical charge.

It does not require any laboratory-based procedures, according to Gallego-Perez, and can be used at the point of care a doctors office, say, or an outpatient clinic.

The paper describes experiments on mice and pigs. These included using the device to act upon badly injured legs that lacked blood flow. One week after the application of TNT, vascular vessels reappeared. Within a fortnight flow was back within normal parameters.

In a second experiment, skin cells were converted into nerve cells and introduced into the brains of mice crippled by stroke.

Says Sen: By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.

The concept is very simple, adds co-author James Lee: As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well. In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better. So this is the beginning, more to come.

Lee, Sen and Gallego-Perez were part of a group of researchers that lodged a patent application in 2016 for an earlier iteration of TNT: a device that enables compositions and methods for reprogramming somatic cells into induced endothelial cells.

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Nano-chip promises to heal organs at a touch - Cosmos

Invivo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NVIV) (OTCQB:NVIVD) has paused patient enrollment in the approval trial of its bioresorbable spinal implant, Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, after a third patient in the study died. The company states that all three deaths have been determined to be unrelated to the product or the implantation procedure, used in patients rendered paraplegic by a spinal cord injury, but the company's shares tanked 27%.

Unless Invivo can somehow shake off the product's worrisome reputation - to this end, it is talking with the FDA to see if enrollment criteria ought to be changed or the study altered in other ways - it will have to rely on its one remaining product, an injected spinal cord injury therapy based on neural stem cells. But this is still in animal trials, so Invivo really needs its Neuro-Spinal Scaffold to be vindicated.

This is the second disappointment for the company in its attempt to develop this project. Four years ago the FDA refused to let it file on data from a pilot study, setting the approval date back by some years (InVivo Therapeutics suffers from FDA's timidity on biologic grafts, August 29, 2013).

The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold is made of two polymers, polylactic-co-glycolic acid and poly-L-lysine. It is implanted at the site of a spinal cord injury to provide structural support and a matrix through which the patient's neural tissue can regrow, after which the graft breaks down over several weeks.

The Inspire trial is testing its safety and probable benefit for the treatment of complete spinal cord injury at the T2-T12 and L1 positions - from roughly shoulder level to just above the waist. The primary endpoint is improvement of one or more grades on the on the American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale (AIS) at six months after implantation. The study is slated to enrol 20 patients, according to Clinicaltrials.gov, and is intended to support a filing for US approval via the humanitarian device exemption (HDE) route.

The most recent patient to sign up to the Inspire study underwent implantation in late June but died suddenly at a healthcare facility following discharge from the hospital.

Invivo could hardly be blamed for pointing out that some of the patients in the Inspire trial had had positive outcomes. One had improved from a complete injury (grade A on the AIS) to having some restored sensory and motor function (grade C) one month after treatment. Another had regained sensory but not motor function (grade B) at six months.

One patient who had improved from a complete injury (grade A) to having sensory function (B) at two months reverted to complete injury at three months, but was deemed to have regained this motor function at the six-month point. The company says that of the 16 patients currently in follow-up seven have improved on the AIS, four of whom have recovered both sensory and motor function to reach grade C.

Five further patients had not improved at six months, and four had shown no improvement but had not yet reached this point.

With trial enrollment on hiatus Invivo will have to wait to find out whether these results might be sufficient to get the graft an HDE approval. The company now hopes to complete enrollment in the first half of next year, and to file its FDA approval application in the second half of 2018.

Use of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold in complete and incomplete spinal cord injury, at cervical and thoracic levels, is forecast to bring Invivo revenues of $268m in 2022, according to EvaluateMedTech's consensus. By 2022 the sellside sees it outsold by Invivo's only other product, a biomaterial-based scaffold used to deliver neural stem cells to help reconnect the spinal cord by re-growing nerves.

But the scaffold is the more advanced product, and Invivo will be relying on revenues from this to fund clinical development of the stem cell therapy. The trial delay puts this in jeopardy, as the company's shareholders are well aware.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

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Third Trial Death Endangers Invivo - Seeking Alpha

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Random differences between cells early in development could be the key to making different cells in the body, according to new research from a team co-led by Professor Wolf Reik. Different cell types - brain, blood, skin, gut etc. - all have unique and vital roles, yet they all start out the same. Cells become different as a result of a long sequence of biochemical choices made before we're born. For us to be healthy, these choices need to ensure we get the right number of each cell type.

Scientists at the Babraham Institute, EMBL-EBI and the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute examined the genetics of stem cells from embryos at the earliest stages of development. Typically, cells of the same type have matching patterns of gene activity - many of the same genes are turned off or on in all cells. This latest research, published in the journal Cell Reports reveals that when cells start specialising into different cell types their gene activity becomes more 'noisy' - each cell starts to turn different groups of genes on or off.

The results, which focus on two choices near the start of embryo formation, show that, when cells are making decisions about what to become, there is greater variation in the activity of the genes in different cells - the same genes may be turned on in some cells and off in others. By chance this noise will make some cells more likely to become one type of cell, whilst others will start to favour an alternative.

The paper's co-first authors were Hisham Mohammed, Irene Hernando-Herraez and Aurora Savino. Dr Mohammed at the Babraham Institute, said: "Our analyses suggest that elevated transcriptional noise at two key points in early development coincides with cell fate decisions. By contrast, after these decisions cells become highly synchronised and grow rapidly. Our study systematically charts transcriptional noise and uncovers new processes associated with early lineage decisions."

This process of making similar cells become different is called symmetry breaking. This study marks the first time that a technique called single-cell sequencing has been used to examine individual cells from mouse embryos in the early stages of development. Previous research has only examined groups of cells, so it has been impossible to investigate the differences between cells during symmetry breaking.

Co-senior author Professor Jennifer Nichols at the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute, said: "Our data allow us to study gene activity in individual cells to an unprecedented level of precision. This detail has allowed us to observe substantial differences between cells. Regulating noisy gene activity during development may be a key part of how cells make decisions about their future. In the future we hope to discover how this process is controlled to better understand how noise shapes early development."

As the lead computational scientist on the paper, Dr John Marioni at EMBL-EBI, said: "Making sense of the data generated in studies like this is only possible thanks to ongoing advances in computational biology. With more than 10,000 pieces of data being collected about each individual cell, modern computers are essential in achieving the level of sensitivity needed for this type of research."

Explore further: Controlling gene activity in human development

More information: Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.07.009

Journal reference: Cell Reports

Provided by: Babraham Institute

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Noise helps cells make decisions: Team reveals the importance of genetic noise in development - Phys.Org

Malfunctioning glial cells that keep nerve cells from forming working communication networks may be the basis of the wiring problems in the brains of people with schizophrenia, new research suggests.

The inability of these cells to do their jobappears to be a primary contributor to the disease.

When researchers transplanted human brain cells generated from individuals diagnosed with childhood-onset schizophrenia into mice, the animals nerve cell networks did not mature properly and the mice exhibited the same antisocial and anxious behaviors seen in people with the disease.

The findings of this study argue that glial cell dysfunction may be the basis of childhood-onset schizophrenia, says neurologist Steve Goldman, co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and lead author of the study.

The inability of these cells to do their job, which is to help nerve cells build and maintain healthy and effective communication networks, appears to be a primary contributor to the disease.

Glia are an important family of support cells found in the brain and play a critical role in the development and maintenance of the brains complex interconnected network of neurons. Glia includes two major types: astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

Astrocytes are the brains principal support cells, while oligodendrocytes are responsible for producing myelin, the fatty tissue that, like the insulation on electrical wires, wraps the axons that connect different nerve cells. The source of both these cells is another cell type called the glial progenitor cell (GPC).

Astrocytes perform several functions in the brain. During development, astrocytes colonize areas of the brain and establish domains in which these cells help direct and organize the network of connections between nerve cells.

Individual astrocytes also send out hundreds of long fibers that interact with synapsesthe junction where one neurons axon meets anothers dendrite. The astrocytes help facilitate the communication between neurons at the synapses by regulating the flow of glutamate and potassium, which enable neurons to fire when they are communicating with each other.

In the new study, the researchers obtained skin cells from individuals with childhood-onset schizophrenia and reprogrammed the cells to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) which, like embryonic stem cells, are capable of giving rise to any cell type found in the body. Next, the team manipulated the iPSCs to create human GPCs.

The human GPCs were then transplanted into the brains of neonatal mice. These cells out-competed the animals own native glia, resulting in mice with brains comprised of animal neurons and human GPCs, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes.

The researchers observed that human glial cells derived from schizophrenic patients were highly dysfunctional. The development of oligodendrocytes was delayed and the cells did not create enough myelin-producing cells, meaning signal transmission between the neurons was impaired.

The development of astrocytes was similarly tardy so that the cells were not present when needed and were thus ineffective in guiding the formation of connections between neurons. The astrocytes also did not mature properly, resulting in misshapen cells that could not fully support the signaling functions of the neurons around them.

The astrocytes didnt fully mature and their fibers did not fill out their normal domains, meaning that while they provided control to some synapses, others had no coverage, says Martha Windrem, also with the Center for Translational Neuromedicine and first author of the study. As a result, the neural networks in the animals became desynchronized and uncoordinated.

The researchers also subjected the mice to a series of behavioral tests. They observed that the mice with human glial cells from individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were more fearful, anxious, anti-social, and had a variety of cognitive deficits compared to mice transplanted with human glial cells obtained from healthy people.

The studys authors point out that the new research provides scientists with a foundation to explore new treatments for the disease. Because schizophrenia is a unique to humans, until now scientists have been limited in their ability to study the disease. The new animal model developed the by the researchers can be used to accelerate the process of testing drugs and other therapies in schizophrenia.

The study also identifies a number of glial gene expression flaws that appear to create chemical imbalances that disrupt communication between neurons. These abnormalities could represent targets for new therapies.

Additional coauthors of the study are from the University of Rochester, the University of Copenhagen, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, and Case Western University.

The study appears in the journal Cell. Funding from National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, and the Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck Foundations supported the research.

Source: University of Rochester

Link:
Glial cells botch wiring in childhood schizophrenia - Futurity: Research News

Regenerative medicine is a revolutionary approach to treating many degenerative conditions and includes a variety of different techniques including stem cell therapy. This field joins nearly all disciplines of science and holds the realistic promise of repairing damaged tissue by harnessing the bodys ability to heal itself.

Adult stem cells are found in every part of the body and their primary role is to heal and maintain the tissue in which they reside. Stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves by cell division. In addition, they have the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. Adult stem cells can be harvested from a patients own tissue, such as adipose (fat) tissue, muscle, teeth, skin or bone marrow.

One of the most plentiful sources of stem cells in the body is the fat tissue. In fact, approximately 500 times more stem cells can be obtained from fat than bone marrow. Stem cells derived from a patients own fat are referred to as adipose-derived stem cells. The mixed population of cells that can be obtained from fat is called a stromal vascular fraction (SVF). The SVF can easily be isolated from fat tissue in approximately 30-90 minutes in a clinic setting (under local anesthesia) using a mini-lipoaspirate technique. The SVF contains a mixture of cells including adipose-derived stem cells or ADSCs and growth factors and has been depleted of the adipocyte (fat cell) population.

ADSCs are multi-potential and can differentiate into a variety of different types of tissue including but not limited to bone, cartilage, muscle, ligament, tendon and fat. These cells have also been shown to express a variety of different growth factors and signaling molecules (cytokines), which recruit other stem cells to facilitate repair and healing of the affected tissue. ADSCs are very angiogenic in nature and can promote the growth of new blood vessels.

Based on research performed in our FDA registered facilities, stem cell quality and functionality can vary greatly depending on the methods utilized to obtain the cells. It is important to utilize a product that has undergone full characterization to include safety, identity, purity and potency. We have developed a method for harvesting and isolating stem cells from fat for therapeutic use. The use of a cell population that retains the ability to function in vivo will lead to more consistent patient results with long term success.

Adipose stem cells can be obtained from the patient easily, abundantly, and with minimal patient discomfort. Clinical applications for patients can be performed in an office setting safely, legally, and ethically using autologous ADSCs. Current applications include orthopedic conditions (tendon/ligament injuries, osteoarthritis, etc.), degenerative conditions (COPD, diabetes), neurological (MS, Parkinsons, spinal cord injuries, TBI, etc.) and auto-immune (RA, Crohns, colitis, lupus).

Stem cells possess enormous regenerative potential. The potential applications are virtually limitless. Patients can receive cutting edge treatments that are safe, compliant, and effective. Our team has successfully treated over 7000 patients with very few safety concerns reported. One day, stem cell treatments will be the gold standard of care for the treatment of most degenerative diseases. We are extremely encouraged by the positive patient results we are seeing from our physician-based treatments. Our hope is that stem cell therapy will provide relief and an improved quality of life for many patients. The future of medicine is here!

For additional information on our South Miami clinic, visit http://www.stemcellcoe.com.

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Regenerative Medicine: The Future of Medicine is Here Miami's ... - Miami's Community Newspapers

Yaser and Vicki Martini, who launched a worldwide campaign to find a bone marrow donor for their daughter Margot, today joined the huge public outpouring after the Nigerian international's blood cancer diagnosis was revealed.

Margot died aged just two after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant but her story prompted thousands of people to join the stem cell register.

But it also exposed the difficulty in finding donor matches for people from ethnic minorities or mixed heritage.

Bone marrow stem cell transplants are one of the major treatment for leukaemia, as well as chemotherapy, radiation, biological and targeted therapy.

Mr Martini, whose wife Vicki hails from Essington, said: "We are shocked to hear about Carl's diagnosis and our hearts go out to him and his family. Its ironic, because everyone at Wolves have been so supportive of Team Margot and we want to send our best wishes and our support, as they fight his cancer together."

They set up the Team Margot Foundation with a string of friends, family and supporters which is aimed at getting more people to join the stem cell register particularly those from ethnic minorities and mixed backgrounds.

Mr Martini added: As yet, its unclear whether Carl will need to have a bone marrow transplant, but its a certainty that he will need blood and platelet donations to stay clinically well. Anyone reading this can help in two ways by signing up to become a blood donor and also registering as a potential bone marrow donor.

Regarding bone marrow donation, we know first hand from Margots experience that people with a mixed heritage and those from the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities have only a 21 per cent chance of finding a donor with a matching tissue type. For this reason, we urgently need more people from these communities to join the bone marrow registers.

"In that sense, we each have a unique contribution that we can make and Im not exaggerating when I say that you could be the only one who can save a life.

Wolves players, including club legend Steve Bull, have backed Team Margot's campaign.

Margot's uncle Durand Bailey, who lives in Tettenhall and runs Diffusion designer clothing store in Lichfield Street, knows Ikeme. He said: Carl is such a lovely man, a real gentleman. He has done so much to help others. We all wish him and his family well."

Wolves announced the 31-year-old had returned 'abnormal blood tests' as he returned for pre-season and further checks confirmed the diagnosis.

He is to start a lengthy treatment programme.

To sign up as a blood donor visit: blood.co.uk. To find out how you can become a potential stem cell donor, go to teammargot.com

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Carl Ikeme: Family of toddler Margot Martini support Wolves star after leukaemia diagnosis - expressandstar.com

Dive Brief:

While the loss of the deal has made a hole on the company's value, Capricor is looking on the bright side.

"Over the last few years, and during the term of the Janssen option period, we believe that significant value for our CAP-1002 asset has been created through the demonstration of clinical proof-of-concept to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and also from the progress that has been made towards the development of a commercial-scale manufacturing process for the cells," said Linda Marbn, Capricor's president and CEO.

The company also suggested that a potential upside of the loss of the agreements is that it "resolves uncertainty concerning the scope of the license for CAP-1002 and provides Capricor the freedom to enter into new licensing and/or business development opportunities."

Although, as most investors know, it's generally a bad sign when your big pharma partner bails and, typically, hurts prospects for gaining another commercialization partner.

Capricor has faced some challenges in 2017. In February, it pulled out of an agreement with the Mayo Clinic, which included scrapping development of a Phase 2 heart failure drug, cenderitide, in order to focus on cell and exosome-based therapeutics. And then in May, it faced problems with CAP-1002 in the ALLSTAR Phase 1/2 trial. These topline results showed that CAP-1002 had only a small chance of meeting the primary endpoint of significantly reducing cardiac scarring in adults who had had a major heart attack. This resulted in a reduction in the scope of the company's options, including its workforce size.

The focus for this product, which is manufactured from donated heart tissue, is now in young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy-associated cardiomyopathy, and the HOPE Phase 1/2 trial is ongoing. Six-month results were presented late last month at the 2017 Patient Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) Annual Connect Conference, showing improved cardiac systolic wall thickening, and improved performance of upper limb in treated patients.

"We discussed potential product registration strategies for this indication at our recent meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. We expect to commence a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of repeat administrations of intravenous CAP-1002 in boys and young men with DMD in the second half of this year, subject to regulatory approval," said Marbn.

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J&J drops stem cell partner Capricor - BioPharma Dive

Countries should unite to tackle unscrupulous advertising of unproven therapies involving stem cells, experts say.

An international group of leading experts has called for tighter regulation of so-called stem cell tourism. This involves patients travelling to other countries, where medical regulations are less strict, for treatment with potentially unsafe therapies.

Hundreds of medical centres around the world are offering therapies that involve transplantation of so-called stem cells -- which they claim have the ability to repair damaged tissues. Clinics are marketing the treatment for a range of conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

Often these therapies are advertised directly to patients with the promise of a cure. But experts say there is often no evidence to show that the treatments will help anyone, or will not cause harm.

Researchers say the practice risks undermining the development of rigorously tested, validated therapies and puts lives at risk.

Writing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the group has called for coordinated global action to tackle the problem.

They say tighter regulations on advertising stem cell therapies are needed, so that unsupported claims about potential clinical benefits do not go unchallenged.

Global regulatory authorities should agree international standards for the manufacture and testing of cell and tissue-based therapies, they add.

The group -- which includes experts from the University of Edinburgh -- also calls for the World Health Organization to help guide responsible clinical use of cells and tissues, as it does for medicines and medicinal devices.

Their appeal follows the deaths of two children at a clinic in Germany in 2010, which exploited a legal loophole to offer untested treatments. The clinic has since been closed.

Dr. Sarah Chan, a Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Many patients feel that potential cures are being held back by red tape and lengthy approval processes. Although this can be frustrating, these procedures are there to protect patients from undergoing needless treatments that could put their lives at risk.

"Stem cell therapies hold a lot of promise but we need rigorous clinical trials and regulatory processes to determine whether a proposed treatment is safe, effective and better than existing treatments."

Some types of stem cell transplantation - mainly blood and skin stem cells -- have been approved to treat certain types of cancer and to grow skin grafts for patients with severe burns. These treatments have been rigorously tested in clinical trials.

SOURCE: University of Edinburgh

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Medical Tourism in Spotlight as Experts Call for Tighter Regulation - Bioscience Technology

A father of two has taken the decision to undergo chemotherapy, despite not having cancer.

Roy Palmer lost the use of his legs 12 years ago as a result of his multiple sclerosis and has been seeking successful treatment ever since.

But it was while watching Panorama that the 48-year-old realised a combination of stem cell treatment and chemotherapy could be the answer he was looking for, GloucestershireLive reports.

The latter is strongly associated with cancer treatment , but its properties in rendering the body's immune system almost useless are a key part of the stem cell programme Roy hopes will see him up and about again.

He and his wife Helen decided they needed to make some calls and get appointments organised to be able to try and get this pioneering treatment going.

The onset of MS in Roy's case had been swift. In less than a week what began as pins and needles ended with him having no use of his legs.

Even with intense physiotherapy and a combination of steroids and drugs Roy relapsed several times and has been off his feet for 12 years. However when he saw the treatment that is out there, in a Panorama documentary, he and his wife cried.

Roy, 48, said: I just couldnt believe what I was seeing, the stories that I saw on the programme about how well people have been doing and the stem cell treatment actually worked.

I am really pleased that I am going to be able to start the treatment. I lost the use of my legs in 2005. I was encouraged by another woman that has been through it and she was in a wheelchair and now walking.

In the process to have treatment Ive had so many knockbacks being told that I did not fit the criteria but now I am finally getting the treatment.

His treatment will see him travel to the Imperial College Hospital in Hammersmith where a course of drugs will be administered to draw stem cells from Roy's bones into his bloodstream. Over a course of time, those stem cells will then transfer to a pack similar to a blood transfusion bag and be frozen.

It is then that Roy will undergo an intensive course of chemotherapy to render his immune system virtually useless - so much so he will live in isolation for four to six weeks to minimise risk of infection.

The treatment is called HSCT. The MS Society website states that: HSCT aims to 'reset' the immune system to stop it attacking the central nervous system. It uses chemotherapy to remove the harmful immune cells and then rebuild the immune system using a type of stem cell found in your bone marrow.

Roy's wife Helen, 45, said: After the chemo they will reintroduce the stem cells, and because his body will be at zero, it will be rebooted and the MS stopped in its tracks.

Roy has been on lots of different drugs over the years and his body has gradually got used to them and they stop working.

Roy has suffered with his hands not working properly and blurred vision which they call a brain fog. His legs ceasing to work has been a huge set-back for Roy as he used to work as a courier.

Roy said: I want to be able to get out the door without having to use the ramp, it is not a huge deal to anyone else but it is to me.

My goal now is to be able to reach the end point and be able to walk again.

Roy and Helen have two children Jack, 21 and Abigail, 12, and they are fully supportive of their fathers treatment.

Helen said: I am really pleased that we went to see the GP to get this going. Roy was desperate for this treatment.

It is difficult and my father is travelling from Wales to come and look after the children and I am really grateful to that.

The children are really supportive of their dads treatment and look forward to him coming out the other side.

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Dad set to undergo gruelling chemotherapy to kill his immune system despite not having cancer in bid walk again - Mirror.co.uk

Heres an interesting project: somebody has been growing a human hand in a lab and displaying it for the world to see.

We live in a time where the meaning of impossible needs to be updated.

As we make new discoveries, new possibilities open up to us. And if you want a good example of that, just look at how advanced prosthetics have become in the last decade. Soon, you might be able to grow a humanhand like a Chia pet.

Or take a look at Dr. Sergio Canavero, who plans to perform a full-on head transplant later this year.

But that example may be a little extreme.

See, theres something miraculous about giving something vital like a limb or an organ to someone to needs it. In the past, it couldnt be done, but with the future in sight, were slowly changing our minds on that.

So, the future can be full of hope. And when one of us loses a hand, possibly due to someone we have only just learned is our father, we wont have to worry too hard.

Ok, heres a better example of the kind of future Im talking about.

Artist Amy Karle has an interesting new project that combines 3D printing with stem cell research. The idea is to grow a functional human hand, and if it works she wants to make the design free and open source.

And trust me, that will be one weird-yet-cool day for the people who frequent Instructables.com.

Karle may be an artist, but shes no amateur. She works with nonprofit groups that design 3D printed prosthetic arms, and she has help from a team of scientists.

The project is called Regenerative Reliquary, and it is being displayed in San Franciscos Pier 9 space while it grows. Or, to be more accurate, while part of it grows.

Karle has designed a 3D printed trellis in CAD which was printed using a cellular growth medium called pegda. Over several weeks, the pegda trellis was grown in a bioreactor on display. The next step will be to grow a cell line on the trellis, something Karle is culturing stem cells for now.

The team is using stem cells extracted from bone marrow, and with any luck, the idea will bear fruit and be released to the public.

I like the sound of an open source prosthetic design, especially considering how much more of an option 3D printing is these days. Lose a limb, and you may one day be able to make a replacement within the comfort of your own garage.

For now, though, were still waiting to see if Karles project will work. According to the artist, Well see if the cells have a mind of their own. I like to step back and let the artwork take over.

Now you know how Karle plans to grow a human hand. Lets rewind a bit, back to where I mentioned Dr. Canavero and his upcoming head transplant.

As crazy as it sounds, if Canaveros plan works science will have taken a big step toward manipulating the central nervous system. And thats really, really important. If scientists can connect a head to a spine, and they can grow a limb in a tank, it follows that they may one day be able to attach that limb as a replacement.

And that doesnt just apply to limbs, either. Scientists have been looking into growing replacement organs for years, just look at this article from way back in 2014.

We may be on the verge of the ability to reproduce and replace parts of the human body. And at this rate, who knows what kind of effect this can have on the survivability rate of human beings in the future.

Im sure well never resurrect the dead or anything, but I think the fictional Dr. Frankenstein would be proud.

Creating replacement body parts is something that has been a mainstay of science fiction, and it isnt crazy any longer to think that it may become a reality. So, like I said earlier, we may need to push the goal posts back on the word impossible.

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How to Grow a Human Hand - Edgy Labs (blog)

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LONDON Stem-cell tourism involving patients who travel to developing countries for treatment with unproven and potentially risky therapies should be more tightly regulated, international health experts said on Wednesday.

With hundreds of medical centers around the world claiming to be able to repair damaged tissue in conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, tackling unscrupulous advertising of such procedures is crucial.

These therapies are advertised directly to patients with the promise of a cure, but there is often little or no evidence to show they will help, or that they will not cause harm, the 15 experts wrote in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Some types of stem cell transplant mainly using blood and skin stem cells have been approved by regulators after full clinical trials found they could treat certain types of cancer and grow skin grafts for burns patients.

But many other potential therapies are only in the earliest stages of development and have not been approved by international regulators.

"Stem cell therapies hold a lot of promise, but we need rigorous clinical trials and regulatory processes to determine whether a proposed treatment is safe, effective and better than existing treatments," said one of the 15, Sarah Chan of Britain's University of Edinburgh.

The experts called for global action, led by the World Health Organization, to introduce controls on advertising and agree international standards for the manufacture and testing of cell and tissue-based therapies.

"The globalization of health markets and the specific tensions surrounding stem cell research and its applications

have made this a difficult challenge," they wrote. "However, the stakes are too high not to take a united stance."

(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by John Stonestreet)

ZURICH Novartis said that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has approved a label update for Cosentyx (secukinumab), the first interleukin-17A (IL-17A) approved to treat psoriasis.

(Reuters Health) - After weight-loss surgery, people who get cosmetic procedures to remove excess tissue may have a better quality of life than those who don't get this additional work done, a recent study suggests.

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'Stem-cell tourism' needs tighter controls, say medical experts ... - Reuters

Zhongju Shi,1,2 Hongyun Huang,3 Shiqing Feng1,2

1Department of Orthopaedics, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 2Institute of Neurology, Key Laboratory of Post-Neuroinjury Neuro-Repair and Regeneration in Central Nervous System, Ministry of Education, Tianjin City, Tianjin, 3Institute of Neurorestoratology, General Hospital of Armed Police Forces, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China

Abstract: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition and major burden on society and individuals. Currently, neurorestorative strategies, including stem cell therapy products or mature/functionally differentiated cell-derived cell therapy products, can restore patients with chronic complete SCI to some degree of neurological functions. The stem cells for neurorestoration include neural stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, etc. A better understanding of the merits, demerits and precise function of different stem cells in the treatment of SCI may aid in the development of neurorestorative strategies. However, the efficacy, safety and ethical concerns of stem cell-based therapy continue to be challenged. Nonetheless, stem cell-based therapies hold promise of widespread applications, particularly in areas of SCI, and have the potential to be novel therapeutics, which contributes to the repair of SCI. This review mainly focused on recent advances regarding the stem cell-based therapies in the treatment of SCI and discussed future perspectives in this field.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, neural stem cells, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, adipose-derived stem cells, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Stem cell-based therapies to treat spinal cord injury: a review - Dove Medical Press

Cells destined to become nerve cells in developing mouse embryos use two different signals spreading from opposite sides of the spinal cord the back and belly side to measure their position accurately. Based on this map, they turn into the appropriate nerve cell type.

These are the findings from a new a study by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the Institute of Science and Technology and Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne. The results could give insight into regenerative medicine.

As embryos grow and develop they need the right cell types to end up in the right places inside forming organs. This is particularly important in the spinal cord where different nerve cell types must be accurately positioned so that circuits can assemble properly to control muscle movement.

But until now the mechanism underlying nerve cell organization in the spinal cord has remained poorly understood.

The team of biologists, physicists and engineers found that the amounts of the two signals originating from the back and belly sides of the body affect gene activity in developing nerve cells. Based on this gene activity in early development, the cells turn into the appropriate nerve cell type for that position in the spinal cord.

Weve made an important step in understanding how the diverse cell types in the spinal cord of a developing embryo are organised in a precise spatial pattern. The quantitative measurements and new experimental techniques we used, as well as the combined effort of biologists, physicists and engineers were key. This allowed us to gain new insight into the exquisite accuracy of embryonic development and revealed that cells have remarkable ability of to orchestrate precise tissue development,

says Anna Kicheva, Group Leader at IST Austria.

We have shed light on the long-standing question of how developing tissues produce the right cells in the right place in the right numbers. Its likely that similar strategies are used in other developing tissues and our findings might be relevant to these cases. In the long run this will help inform the use of stem cells in approaches such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, there is still much more to learn and we need to continue developing these interdisciplinary collaborations to further our biological understanding,

says James Briscoe, Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.

Image: normal developing spinal cord (left) showing precise patterns of gene activity (red, blue, green demarcating different types of cells). In a spinal cord in which one of the signals is disrupted (right) the accuracy of gene activity has been lost. Credit: Anna Kicheva

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Spinal Cord Nerve Cells Positional Decoding In Development - ReliaWire

Says most American procreation will begin by selecting from a range of embryos created with the parents DNA in a lab

This computer reconstruction of an embryo developing in the womb shows the foetus at eight weeks. PHOTO: File

It doesnt take long for seemingly outlandish ideas to become normalized. Today, Stanford University professor Hank Greelys assertion that Americans will stop having sex to procreate sounds absurd. But in a couple of decades, he predicts, that will be the accepted reality.

Greely, director of Stanford Law Schools Center for Law and the Biosciences, believes that were 20 to 30 years away from a time when most American procreation will begin by selecting from a range of embryos created with the parents DNA in a lab.

This already happens on a limited basis for disease prevention and occasionally sex selection, but he argues it will become far cheaper and widely available thanks to stem cell technology that will allow couples to make eggs and sperm out of stem cells from their skin.

Scientists create first artificial mouse embryo from stem cells

Prospective parents will start by screening those embryos for genetic diseases such as Huntingtons, but quickly expand to other traits, he predicts. Perhaps theyll weed out the BRAC1 gene for breast cancer, predispositions for Alzheimers, or theyll be able to select cosmetic features such as hair and eye color, and even more complex traits such as intelligence.

I dont think were going to be able to say this embryo will get a 1550 on its two-part SAT, Greely said this week at Aspen Ideas Festival. But, this embryo has a 60 per cent chance of being in the top half, this embryo has a 13 per centchance of being in the top 10 per cent I think thats really possible.

And, though he recognises that there are ethical issues, Greely views this scenario as far from dystopian. People say, How can we let this happen? I think we will, he said.

At times, he sounded flippant about the prospect. I think one of the hardest things about this will be all the divorces that come about when she wants embryo number 15 and he wants embryo number 64, he said. I think the decision making will be a real challenge for people. How do you weigh a slightly higher chance of diabetes with slightly lower risk of schizophrenia against better musical ability and a much lower risk of colon cancer? Good luck.

Indias RSS promises couples customised, fair super babies

Greely brushed aside the concern that what hes describing meddles too much with nature. This is not designer babies or super babies, he said. This is selecting embryos. You take two people, all you can get out of a baby is what those two people have.

There are already concerns that CRISPR, the tool that scientists use to edit DNA, will be put to use to create perfect embryos. But Greely dismisses this as unlikely. He argues that the embryo selection process will simply begin as an infertility treatment before expanding. People, particularly where I live in Silicon Valley, will want to do it to get their perfect egg, he added.

Greely acknowledges that ethical issues will likely arise around safety, coercion, fairness, and family structure, but does not see any of these as obstacles that will halt the development of this practice.

And what of a world where the elites have perfectly selected children while those less well off are left to deal with the diseases and imperfections that no longer affect the wealthy? Greely has the answer: The whole thing will be free. The parents wont be charged.

The key is the health care cost savings, he said, pointing out that, should it cost $10,000 to make a baby this way, then 100 babies would cost $1 million dollars. Meanwhile, the cost of caring for a truly sick baby is so great, Greely said the births of just 0.3 sick babies would need to be avoided to save $1 million.

Scientists achieve milestone in quest to produce blood cells

Greelys scenario could well prove overly optimistic in the US, and it certainly doesnt apply internationally. I think different cultures will pick it up at different rates. I think the US will be relatively accepting, Germany with its history is very anti any genetic interventions and I think theyre going to be slow, said Greely.

Should his vision come to pass, wealthy nations such as the US and China could begin this practice long before Somalia, for example. And so it seems almost inevitable that the world would become genetically divided between those who can breed out the flaws, and those who cannot.

Greely foresees a scenario where future generations will be much healthier, and possibly a little taller and smarter. From his telling, this unnerving prophesy sounds almost normal which is the most terrifying prospect of all.

This article originally appeared on Quartz.

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Stanford professor believes in the future we won't have sex to procreate - The Express Tribune

Bareilly: Dog owners from across the country, including Delhi and Gujarat, are turning up with their paralytic pets at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) here for stem cell therapy. Scientists treat a paralyzed dog by transplanting stem cells from healthy dogs. IVRI is the second institute in the country to offer this treatment, after Madras Veterinary College, Chennai.

According to scientists, no research has been conducted to determine the number of dogs who suffer from paralysis every year in India. However, the institute receives at least four cases every week of spinal trauma which causes paralysis in dogs. IVRI recorded 143 cases of posterior paralysis in 2016. These were treated with stem cell therapy and medicines.

If dogs are treated only with medicines, recovery is witnessed only in a few cases, said Amarpal (who goes by his first name), head and principal scientist, division of surgery, IVRI. On an average, 17% recovery rate was noted among dogs administered only medicines.

However, the best response was recorded among severely affected dogs when they were treated using stem cells, where almost all the patients responded to treatment to variable extent, said the scientist. Though we have cases where recovery was 100%, the average recovery rate is about 50%. The experiment proved the efficacy of stem cell therapy in cases of paralysis due to spinal trauma, said Amarpal.

The paralytic dog is first administered anesthesia before the stem cells are injected into its spinal cord. It takes only one session for a dog to undergo the therapy and it is discharged the same day.. After this, the owner has to bring his pet for check-ups for two or more times so that vets can monitor how the animal is responding to the treatment and if it is suffering from any reaction, said Amarpal.

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Stem cell therapy to treat paralytic dogs draws pet owners from across country to IVRI - Times of India

References

1. F.T. Moutos et al., Anatomically shaped tissue-engineered cartilage with tunable and inducible anticytokine delivery for biological joint resurfacing, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 (31) E4513E4522, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1601639113.

2. B. Zhang et al., Biodegradable scaffold with built-in vasculature for organ-on-a-chip engineering and direct surgical anastomosis, Nat. Materials 15, 669678 (2016), doi:10.1038/nmat4570.

3. S. Shukla et al., Progenitor T-cell differentiation from hematopoietic stem cells using Delta-like-4 and VCAM-1, Nat. Methods 14(5), 531-538 (May 2017),doi: 10.1038/nmeth.4258. Epub Apr 10, 2017.

4. M.M. Pakulska, S. Miersch, and M.S. Shoichet, Designer protein delivery: from natural occurring to engineered affinity controlled release systems, Science 351(6279):aac4750, doi: 10.1126/science.aac4750.

5. M.M. Pakulska, C.H. Tator, and M.S. Shoichet, Local delivery of chondroitinase ABC with or without stromal cell-derived factor 1 promotes functional repair in the injured rat spinal cord, Biomaterials (accepted April 2017).

6. TissueGene, TissueGene to Highlight Invossa, the Worlds First Cell-Mediated Gene Therapy for Degenerative Osteoarthritis, at JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Press Release,accessed June 12, 2017.

7. O.J.L. Rackham et al., A predictive computational framework for direct reprogramming between human cell types, Nat. Genetics 48, 331335 (2016), doi:10.1038/ng.3487.

8. D.B. Kolesky et al., Three-dimensional bioprinting of thick vascularized tissue, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 (12), 31793184, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1521342113.

9. M.M. Laronda et al., A Bioprosthetic Ovary Created Using 3D Printed Microporous Scaffolds Restores Ovarian Function in Sterilized Mice, Nat. Commun. 8, 15261 (May 16, 2017).

10. I. Sagi et al., Derivation and differentiation of haploid human embryonic stem cells, Nature 532, 107111 (April 7, 2016), doi:10.1038/nature17408.

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GEN Roundup: Top Trends in Tissue Engineering - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Updated: Jul 1, 2017 - 6:08 AM

BOSTON - Its been nearly four years since a bone marrow donation saved Mandy Manocchios life, but the anticipation of the last few hours before she met the donor seemed like they took forever.

"When you hear that you have less than a year to live and your life's basically laying on the line and if I didn't find a donor it would've been catastrophic, but she's my angel, she said.

At Brigham and Women's Hospital in November 2013, Mandy had a bone marrow transplant to treat acute myeloid leukemia - on Friday night at The Harp in Boston she finally got to meet Magdelena Kruger, the woman who saved her life.

"She allowed me to watch my children grow up and have another, Mandy said.

Kruger had just landed after an 11-hour flight from Germany. When the two women saw each other there was no need for words.

Stem cells from Kruger were carried 4,000 miles from Germany. Through a translator, she said it was the first time shed ever donated.

I just wanted to help somebody who's sick and needs help, she said.

Now both women are advocates for bone marrow donations. They say the process is relatively simple and life-changing on both ends.

"It's so rewarding to see that immediate result of how you can help somebody, Kruger said.

To learn more about bone marrow donation or to register as a bone marrow donor, please visit dkms.org.

2017 Cox Media Group.

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Embrace expresses more than words for marrow donor who saved woman's life - My Fox Boston

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) Theres a new science on the horizon thats so controversial three experts including one from Brown University have been tasked with studying the ethics of that technology.

The technology has a cumbersome name: in vitro gametogenesis (IVG). But,Brown University professor Dr. Eli Adashi, the schools former dean of medicine and one of the three experts, said itsunlike anything hes seen.

Its mind-boggling, Adashi said. I still feel that way whenever I talk about it.

Right now, IVG is being studied on rodents in Japan and the United Kingdom. The technology reprograms one kind of cell into a different kind of cell.

Of course, everybody who is interested in stem cells is hoping that we will create lungs so that we can replace lung tissue, create hearts so that we can replace heart tissue, said Adashi.

So far, scientists have reported successes in creating egg and sperm cells from non-reproductive cells, like skin.If researchers are successful, this technology could one day eliminate the need for male and female reproductive organs for the creation of life.

Dr. Adashi told Eyewitness News that theres a real possibility this discovery could be adapted for humans, but that a legal, ethical, and political conversation should happen now, before the technology advances any further.

Now is the time to have a conversation, Adashi said. Not against a backdrop of a technology that is already here.

He said a possible advantage of the research would be for people unable to have children, to have an option to do so.

If you could take a skin cell from the individuals and create eggs and sperm that they no longer have intrinsically, you could potentially allow victims of cancer build a family, he said.

He added that the technology could be used for a variety of other benefits such as creating nerve cells to bypass paralysis of the spinal cord.

The ethical evaluation of such a scientific development includes concerns over egg harvesting.

You move from the normal situation where women ovulate a single egg every cycle or [with] in vitro [fertilization] where at the most you would secure 15- 20 eggs, Adashi said. Here you end up with potentially thousands of eggs and you have to ask yourself if this is something we want to get into as a people.

There is no time table for when the research could move from mice to humans. The findings, however, are being increasingly noticed around the world.

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The ethics of experimentation: Brown U. prof analyzes controversial science - WPRI 12 Eyewitness News

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: BLCM) was at its volatile best all this week. After a 14-percent gain Monday, the stock pulled back slightly Tuesday and retreated by less than 2 percent Wednesday.

It rallied over 10 percent Thursday, only to slip by about 7 percent Friday amid the Bellicum's presentation at the European Hematology Association conference, in Spain.

Bellicum Pharma is into the business of developing cellular immunotherapies for various forms of cancer, including both hematological and solid tumors, as well as orphan inherited blood disorder.

Following Bellicum's update at the EHA meeting, Cantor Fitzgerald said the company announced additional data from its ongoing phase 1/2 study with BPX-501 in patients receiving blood stem cell transplant due to malignant and non-malignant blood diseases. The data provided in the update was from 98 patients at 180-days of follow up or greater, as opposed to the 81 number reported previously in the abstract.

Giving the key takeaways, analysts Elemer Piros and Justin Kim said:

GvHD occurs after the transplant of a bone marrow or stem cell belonging to another individual, as the transplanted cells treat the recipient's body as foreign and attack it.

Detailing the data, Cantor Fitzgerald said BPX-501 treatment led to a 5-percent rate of transplant-related mortality, with a 3-percent non-relapse mortality and 15-percent disease relapse rate among malignant disease patients. The performance of the patients, according to the firm, was well above historical matched unrelated donor, or MUD, publications. The results of the study showed 6878 percent 1-year overall survival.

Source: Bellicum Pharma

The firm reminded that the E.U. primary endpoint of the study would assess event-free survival composite of death, GvHD and infection at six months compared with approximately 40 matched MUD patients.

"We expect the observation MUD study, which is in the process of being initiated, to provide relevant context for BPX-501," the firm said.

The firm estimates that an additional $100 million in capital is required to reach commercialization, which it thinks could be sourced from potential licensing fees or from issuing new equity.

A such, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its Overweight rating on the shares of Bellicum and the $35 price target it has for its shares.

At time of writing, Bellicum shares were down a steep 7.33 percent at $12.95.

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Despite A Volatile Trading Week, Bellicum's EHA Presentation Merits A Second Look - Benzinga