Men's Health

This Gun Sprays Stem Cells, Helps Burn Victims Grow Skin in Days Men's Health A revolutionary new technique is enabling burn victims to heal quicker, less painfully, and with more normal skin. And it's all thanks to a gun. The SkinGun sprays stem cells onto wounds and allows patients to grow a new, healthy layer of skin in as ...

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This Gun Sprays Stem Cells, Helps Burn Victims Grow Skin in Days - Men's Health

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FinancialsTrend

Why Neuralstem Inc. (NASDAQ:CUR) can't be predicted? FinancialsTrend NEURALSTEM's patent-protected technology enables, for the first time, the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells into mature ... Which Analysts Are Watching Neuralstem, Inc. (CUR)? - Fiscal ...Fiscal Standard Neuralstem, Inc. (CUR) Under Analyst SpotlightUK Market News all 15 news articles »

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Why Neuralstem Inc. (NASDAQ:CUR) can't be predicted? - FinancialsTrend

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Technology Networks

Stems Cells Could Help Treat Slipped Discs Technology Networks The study on the sick German shepherds was organized as follows: With the permission of the dog owners, neurologist Frank Steffen and his team removed stem cells from the marrow of the pelvic bone of the affected animals. After the cleaning and ... and more »

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Stems Cells Could Help Treat Slipped Discs - Technology Networks

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Fixing broken hearts through tissue engineering Science Daily Menasche has placed engineered heart tissue derived from embryonic stem cell-derived cardiac cells onto the hearts of six heart attack patients in France in an initial safety study for this engineered tissue approach. Wu has used single-cell RNA ...

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So how did they come together? It was less than 3 years ago that Edwards received the toughest news anyone can receive from a doctor.

"I was then diagnosed with leukemia, a rare form of leukemia," said Edwards.

The treatment for this rare form of blood cancer included multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.

"All in all, it was enough toxins to kill a person if you ask me," said Edwards.

Edwards was also hoping to find help from someone else's blood.

"We started the search through Delete Blood Cancer and found a match," said Edwards.

The goal was to find a donor with a similar genetic makeup who could give Edwards their stem cells.

"We tried to match my brother and sister, but unfortunately there were not. So, we kept the search until we could find a match. It was a little nerve-racking, said Edwards.

That's where Halfkann comes in.

"I got a letter that I can be a stem cell donor, and I must go to the clinic in Cologne," said Halfkann.

Halfkann was already previously registered having signed up after one of her coworkers became ill. Although no successful matches were found back in Germany, in Minnesota, Halfkann was exactly who Merissa was looking for.

"Daniela is the only match in the world," said Edwards.

The news that Halfkann could save a stranger's life in the United States delighted the soft-spoken German.

"I'm so happy. I'm grateful," said Halfkann.

The stem cell procedure was pretty simple. Daniela donated blood. The stem cells were filtered out, then sent to Merissa in Minnesota where they were injected.

"There's a lot of complications after the stem cell transplant that could've gone wrong. Fortunately it didn't, which made Daniela an even more perfect match than she already is," said Edwards.

When Edwards heard about the woman who extended her life, she connected with Halfkann online.

"At first we wrote email, and then we connected on Facebook," said Halfkann.

After just a few notes, it was quickly discovered that the two have more in common than the blood running through their veins.

"We like a lot of the same things. Both have 2 children. Both of our husbands are firefighters," said Edwards.

And Edwards continues to successfully battle cancer.

"Right now I am in remission. That doesn't mean that I'll necessarily be cancer-free, but knock on wood...that's the goal...that the cancer will never come back," said Edwards.

There was only one thing left for Edwards to do; meet the woman and family that saved her life. So just a few weeks ago, the pair met for the very first time at Duluth International Airport.

"She is so nice. She is so lovely. I'm so happy we can be here," said Halfkann.

In the ten days together, they and their families created many memories. Halfkann got a glimpse of the life Edwards is now able to hold on to, and it wasn't long before the pair found more in common.

"We seem to like the same things...fruity tea, crafting, sewing, just similar interests in hobbies. Another common interest, shoes," said Edwards.

Both husbands also enjoyed their time together. At the firehouse, Merissa's husband, Dennis, giving Daniela's husband, Stefan, a tour of some of the American rigs and a ride along during an emergency call.

Back at headquarters, the crew made a home-cooked dinner for Halfkann's family and someone else who helped make all of this happen: Amanda Schamper, a representative of the registry that matched Edwards and Halfkann.

"What we try to do is to raise awareness in all communities that this is a problem out there. People are searching for their donor match and can't find one," Schamper.

Schamper also showed everyone just how easy it is to sign up to be a bone marrow and stem cell donor.

"We do have a statistic that nearly 14,000 patients are told that they needed a transplant each year, and less than half can't get one because they can't find a donor match on the registry, said Schamper.

During the visit, Edward's extended family threw a get-together in honor of Halfkann. Edward's sister-in-law Kris Hansen is just as grateful.

"Just to know that she's here and they've met each other, and that she can save a life...it's incredible. It's nice to be able to see her and her family and her two adorable daughters," said Hansen.

Through the countless hugs at the party, family members repeated one phrase that transcends all languages.

"I guess the biggest thing we have to say is Danka Daniella!" said Hansen.

"Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for letting me be a Mom. Thank you for coming here so I can meet you and meet your beautiful children and your husband," Edwards said to Halfkann.

And with thanks, comes gratitude.

"I'll forever be grateful to you. You will always be a part of my family." said Edwards.

And this bond that will last a lifetime.

"We're forever connected," said Edwards.

"Yes. Forever," said Halfkann.

Edwards says she and her family are making plans to visit the Halfkann's in Germany.

If you're interested in signing up to become a bone marrow or stem cell donor, it's free and only takes a few moments. A link to that website can be found here.

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Duluth Woman Meets, Finds Similarities with Stem Cell Donor - WDIO-TV

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Its our goal for this to be a normal NHS procedure, so everyone who has a heart problem [and could benefit from this] will be able to. There are few downsides because theres no rejection as theyre your own stem cells, and every patient who has successfully had this treatment ends up taking less medication.

Jenifer is overjoyed with the progress already made, and knows that Ian would be, too, had he lived to tell his story.

For Ian, the treatment gave him an extra three years of life, but in 2006 he died from heart failure, at the age of 70.

He would be so thrilled, says Jenifer. His concern would be were not doing it quick enough, because for him everything had to be done immediately. But to have achieved this much well, the medical world says weve done it all in a very short space of time.

The couple spent their final years together alternating between their family home in St Johns Wood, north London, and a holiday home in Miami.

They were both each others second spouses, having married in 1980 after a whirlwind romance in Cannes Jenifers first husband had died, while Ian had divorced his wife and did not have children together. But Ian had two children from his first marriage, as well as two young grandchildren who he was able to spend those extra three years with.

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My husband's heart failure inspired a life-saving stem cell therapy - Telegraph.co.uk

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on My husband’s heart failure inspired a life-saving stem cell therapy – Telegraph.co.uk | May 9th, 2017

As we get older, many of us struggle with the harsh reality of our hair turning grey or falling out. But despite how common these problems are, scientists have struggled to identify their underlying biological cause, which means that we've been stuck using quick fixes such as hair dye and toupees to mask the problem.

Now, scientists have finally identified the specific cells that cause hair to grow and develop pigment in mice - a big step towards developing a treatment for grey hair and baldness.

The researchers actually stumbled upon these 'hair progenitor cells' by accident while researching a rare genetic disorder that causes tumours to grow on nerves, called Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

"Although this project was started in an effort to understand how certain kinds of tumours form, we ended up learning why hair turns grey and discovering the identity of the cell that directly gives rise to hair," saidlead researcher Lu Le from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre.

"With this knowledge, we hope in the future to create a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems."

Researchers already knew that skin stem cells contained in the bulge at the bottom of hair follicles were involved in hair growth, but they weren't quite sure what it was made these skin cells turn into hair cells. So they couldn't begin to find a way to target them or stimulate their growth.

But while researching tumour formation on nerve cells, they discovered the protein that sets these cells apart.

Called KROX20, the protein is more commonly associated with nerve development. But in hair follicles in mice the team discovered it switches on in skin cells that will go on to become the hair shaft that makes hair grow.

This protein then causes these cells to produce a protein called stem cell factor (SCF), and when both of these molecules are expressed in a cell, they move up the hair bulb, interact with pigment-producing melanocyte cells, and grow into healthy, coloured hairs.

But if one or the other is missing, the process goes wrong.When the team deleted the KROX20-producing cells, they found that no hair grew and mice became bald.

When they deleted the SCF gene in these hair-progenitor cells, the animal's hair turned white.

To be clear, this research has only been conducted in mice so far. While we have a lot of biological similarities with mice, the study needs to be repeated in humans before we can get too excited.

But Le and his team are already working on a project that will look for KROX20 and SCF in people with greying and thinning hair, in an attempt to work out whether it's associated with male pattern baldness in humans.

The hope is that it might not only teach us about why our hair changes as we get older, but also ageing in general. And the fact that the research could potentially lead to treatments that will help us look younger for longer doesn't hurt either.

The research has been published inGenes & Development.

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Scientists think they've finally found the mechanism behind grey hair and baldness - ScienceAlert

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Californias stem cell agency is on the hunt for a new president and CEO after the surprise announcement this week that C. Randal Mills will be departing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He will leave at the end of June.

Mills, who has headed the agency for three years, will become the next president and CEO of the National Marrow Donor Program. CIRM is replacing him on an interim basis with Maria Millan, M.D., the agencys vice president of therapeutics.

The state agency will soon begin a search for a permanent replacement, said Jonathan Thomas, CIRMs chairman. Millan is a candidate to fill that position, with Mills strong endorsement.

Mills is noted for reorganizing CIRM to provide greater systemic support for translating basic research into clinical science, and to provide quicker and more helpful responses to researchers seeking funding.

His initiative, called CIRM 2.0, was a response to criticism that the agency, funded with $3 billion in California bond money in 2004, has been too slow in getting treatments to patients.

Agency-supported treatments are now being tested in medical centers throughout the state, including San Diego County. Most prominently, CIRM has established an alpha stem cell clinic at UC San Diego. It is the cell therapy arm of UCSDs Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center.

Mills said he decided to leave because the National Marrow Donor Program, which he was familiar with, resonated with his own goals of making personal connections with patients.

Before joining CIRM in 2014, Mills was president and CEO of Osiris Therapeutics, developer of a pediatric stem cell drug called Prochymal, used to treat a complication of bone marrow transplants called graft vs. host disease.

If you look at my office, the walls are covered with pictures of the children that we treated who went through bone marrow transplantation, Mills said. Getting to know them, and getting to know their families that had a tremendous effect.

The unexpected announcement drew surprise and concern from stem cell researchers and observers. As admirers of CIRM 2.0, they expressed uncertainty about what direction the agency would take. And with the $3 billion beginning to run out, looking for a new source of funding will be a top concern of Mills successor.

Confidence

But Mills said Wednesday the agency will do well.

If me leaving CIRM is a problem, then I didnt do a good job at CIRM, Mills said. Whether its because Im going to be the head of the National Marrow Donor Program or I get hit by a car, the success of this organization, or any organization thats healthy and functional, should never pivot on one person, Mills said. Ive assembled a team at CIRM that I have absolute, absolute confidence in.

Mills said he would be surprised if Millan didnt turn out to be the agency boards overwhelming choice to be his permanent successor. She assisted in developing the agencys strategic plan and helped it run smoothly, he said.

In 2015, Mills named Millan as senior director of medical affairs and stem cell centers, one of three appointments to CIRMs leadership team. Before joining CIRM, she was vice president and acting chief medical officer at StemCells, Inc. Before that, Millan was director of the Pediatric Liver and Kidney Transplant Program at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Millan said the agencys strategic plan is working, and taking the agency where it needs to go. That plan was developed to guide researchers, doctors and companies over the predictable hurdles they encounter in translating basic research into therapies testable in the clinic and that companies would want to commercialize.

Weve already done the challenging piece of identifying the how how to get to the mission, which is to accelerate these stem cell treatments to those with unmet medical needs, Millan said. Team members are all aligned in accomplishing these goals One cant help but be more energized and motivated to execute on the strategic plan.

About 30 stem cell clinical trials are under way that the agency has funded at one stage or another in research and development.

Jonathan Thomas, the CIRM chairman, said Mills has done what he promised when joining CIRM, and the agency is operating markedly better, in productivity, speed and efficiency.

He has made it, through CIRM 2.0 and beyond, a humming machine that is operating on all cylinders, Thomas said. In doing that, hes worked extensively and highly collaboratively with Maria (Millan) and the rest of the team. That has made CIRM an even better operation than it ever was. So we are in extremely good shape right now to go forward.

Goals accomplished

Jeanne Loring, a CIRM-funded stem cell scientist at The Scripps Research Institute, said Mills made the agency friendlier and more predictable for the scientists it funds.

The first and most dramatic thing he did was to end the process of independent grants, Loring said. Under that process, each grant proposal was considered on its own, with no consideration for success under a previous grant for an earlier stage of the research.

It was always very troubling to people, I think, that they could do very well with CIRM money on an early-stage grant, and that would earn them nothing in a further application to continue the work, Loring said.

As part of CIRM 2.0, Mills emphasized that once projects were accepted for funding, CIRM would become a partner with the scientists to help them accelerate research and development, and ultimately commercialization.

Loring leads a team researching the use of stem cells for Parkinsons therapy. The cells are collected from the patients to be treated, making them a genetic match. They are then genetically reprogrammed to resemble embryonic stem cells, and then matured into the brain cells destroyed in Parkinsons.

Lorings team was awarded $2.4 million in 2016 from CIRM to advance its research. A next-stage grant to translate the research to a clinically ready approach would need about $7 million, Loring said. The work is part of Summit for Stem Cell, a nonprofit alliance of scientists, doctors, patients and Parkinsons disease community supporters.

Veteran stem cell watcher David Jensen praised Mills on his blog, California Stem Cell Report.

"Dr. Mills made substantial contributions to the agency during his tenure, improving both efficiency of the grant making process and transparency of CIRM's operations, Jensen quoted stem cell observer John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog as saying.

Simpson added that as CIRM draws down the rest of its $3 billion with no new funding in sight, its not surprising that Mills would accept another job.

Paul Knoepfler, a CIRM-funded stem cell scientist and blogger, wrote Tuesday that Mills had a big positive impact on CIRM and helped it go to the next level.

About the only thing I wasnt a fan of in terms of his leadership was my perception of his negativity toward the FDA and toward FDA oversight of stem cells, and how that manifested at CIRM during his time there, Knoepfler wrote. But good people can strongly disagree on policy.

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020

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Amid uncertain future, state's stem cell agency loses transformational leader - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on Amid uncertain future, state’s stem cell agency loses transformational leader – The San Diego Union-Tribune | May 4th, 2017

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is a biotechnology company that was formerly known as Bioheart, Inc. US Stem Cell, headquartered in Sunrise, FL, seeks to discover, develop, and commercialize autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage. The companys current drug candidates include MyoCell, MyoCell SDF-1, and AdipoCell. On April 13, 2017 US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) announced that it had received a commitment to invest up to $5,000,000 from private equity firm General American Capital Partners LLC (GACP) in exchange for up to 63,873,275 shares of common stock.

MyoCell is being developed by US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) as a treatment to improve cardiac function months or years after a patient has experienced heart damage due to a heart attack. The treatment involves the removal of a small amount of muscle from the patients thigh. Muscle stem cells, called myoblasts, are isolated and expanded utilizing a proprietary cell-culturing process. These cells are then injected directly into the hearts scar tissue through an endoventricular needle-injection catheter by a surgeon. The stem cells then populate the area of scar tissue to, hopefully, improve cardiac function. The peer-reviewed American Heart Journal published the results of clinical trial Marvel-1. According to the article, when compared with a placebo, myoblast therapy was associated with sustained (six months) improvements in six-minute walk distance of >90 meters, a clinically meaningful improvement.

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is also developing MyoCell SDF-1. This treatment has recently received approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin human clinical trials. MyoCell SDF-1 is being developed as an improvement to the MyoCell treatment. In preclinical studies, MyoCell SDF-1 provided a 54% improvement of heart function compared to 27% for the original MyoCell composition, while the placebo control treated animals declined by 10%. The preclinical studies also demonstrated that this product candidate can enhance blood vessel formation in damaged hearts.

Lastly, US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is also developing its AdipoCell treatment. Adipose (fat) tissue is readily available and has been shown to be rich in microvascular, myogenic and angiogenic cells. In collaboration with the Regenerative Medicine Institute in Tijuana, Mexico, congestive heart failure patients are being treated in a Phase I/II trial at Hospital Angeles Tijuana. Reportedly, these patients have demonstrated, on average, an absolute improvement of 13% in ejection fraction and an increase of 100 meters in their six-minute walk distance. US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) has recently applied to the FDA to begin trials using adipose derived stem cells or AdipoCell in patients with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy. The therapy involves the use of stem cells derived from the patients own fat (adipose tissue) obtained using liposuction. Transplantation of AdipoCell is accomplished through endocardial implantations with an injection catheter.

I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 96 hours. All information, or data, is provided with no guarantees of accuracy.

About the author: Steve Clark is a 23-year Wall St professional with stints in M&A, risk management, and algorithm trading.

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US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) Receives Institutional Fund ... - StockNewsUnion

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Sacramento Bee

California stem cell agency president steps down as worries mount about its future Sacramento Bee Mills will leave at the end of June to become president of the National Marrow Donor Program in Minneapolis, the world's largest bone marrow donor program. Maria Millan, vice president of therapeutics at the agency, will become its interim president in ... CA Stem Cell Agency Chief Randy Mills to Leave After Three YearsXconomy all 4 news articles »

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California stem cell agency president steps down as worries mount about its future - Sacramento Bee

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Researchers have modified mouse stem cells to combat the kind of inflammation that arthritis and other conditions cause. The stem cells may one day be used in a vaccine that would fight arthritis and other chronic inflammation conditions in humans, a new paper suggests.

Such stem cells, known as SMART cells (Stem cells Modified for Autonomous Regenerative Therapy), develop into cartilage cells that produce a biologic anti-inflammatory drug that, ideally, will replace arthritic cartilage and simultaneously protect joints and other tissues from damage that occurs with chronic inflammation.

Researchers initially worked with skin cells from the tails of mice and converted those cells into stem cells. Then, using the gene-editing tool CRISPR in cells grown in culture, they removed a key gene in the inflammatory process and replaced it with a gene that releases a biologic drug that combats inflammation. The research is availablein the journal Stem Cell Reports.

Our goal is to package the rewired stem cells as a vaccine for arthritis, which would deliver an anti-inflammatory drug to an arthritic joint but only when it is needed, says Farshid Guilak, the papers senior author and a professor of orthopedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. To do this, we needed to create a smart cell.

Many current drugs used to treat arthritisincluding Enbrel, Humira, and Remicadeattack an inflammation-promoting molecule called tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). But the problem with these drugs is that they are given systemically rather than targeted to joints. As a result, they interfere with the immune system throughout the body and can make patients susceptible to side effects such as infections.

We want to use our gene-editing technology as a way to deliver targeted therapy in response to localized inflammation in a joint, as opposed to current drug therapies that can interfere with the inflammatory response through the entire body, says Guilak, also a professor of developmental biology and of biomedical engineering and codirector of Washington Universitys Center of Regenerative Medicine.

If this strategy proves to be successful, the engineered cells only would block inflammation when inflammatory signals are released, such as during an arthritic flare in that joint.

As part of the study, Guilak and his colleagues grew mouse stem cells in a test tube and then used CRISPR technology to replace a critical mediator of inflammation with a TNF-alpha inhibitor.

We hijacked an inflammatory pathway to create cells that produced a protective drug.

Exploiting tools from synthetic biology, we found we could re-code the program that stem cells use to orchestrate their response to inflammation, says Jonathan Brunger, the papers first author and a postdoctoral fellow in cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Over the course of a few days, the team directed the modified stem cells to grow into cartilage cells and produce cartilage tissue. Further experiments by the team showed that the engineered cartilage was protected from inflammation.

We hijacked an inflammatory pathway to create cells that produced a protective drug, Brunger says.

The researchers also encoded the stem/cartilage cells with genes that made the cells light up when responding to inflammation, so the scientists easily could determine when the cells were responding. Recently, Guilaks team has begun testing the engineered stem cells in mouse models of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

If the work can be replicated in animals and then developed into a clinical therapy, the engineered cells or cartilage grown from stem cells would respond to inflammation by releasing a biologic drugthe TNF-alpha inhibitorthat would protect the synthetic cartilage cells that Guilaks team created and the natural cartilage cells in specific joints.

When these cells see TNF-alpha, they rapidly activate a therapy that reduces inflammation, Guilak explains. We believe this strategy also may work for other systems that depend on a feedback loop. In diabetes, for example, its possible we could make stem cells that would sense glucose and turn on insulin in response. We are using pluripotent stem cells, so we can make them into any cell type, and with CRISPR, we can remove or insert genes that have the potential to treat many types of disorders.

With an eye toward further applications of this approach, Brunger adds, The ability to build living tissues from smart stem cells that precisely respond to their environment opens up exciting possibilities for investigation in regenerative medicine.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health supported this work. The Nancy Taylor Foundation for Chronic Diseases; the Arthritis Foundation; the National Science Foundation; and the Collaborative Research Center of the AO Foundation in Davos, Switzerland, provided additional funding.

Authors Farshid Guilak and Vincent Willard have a financial interest in Cytex Therapeutics of Durham, North Carolina, which may choose to license this technology. Cytex is a startup founded by some of the investigators. They could realize financial gain if the technology eventually is approved for clinical use.

Source: Washington University at St. Louis

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How 'smart' stem cells could lead to arthritis vaccine - Futurity: Research News

Skin Stem Cells Comments Off on How ‘smart’ stem cells could lead to arthritis vaccine – Futurity: Research News | May 2nd, 2017

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - May 01, 2017) - VistaGen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation medicines for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced today that its largest institutional stockholder, holding both common stock and substantially all (99.3%) of the Company's outstanding preferred stock, entered into a 6-month lock-up agreement. Under the agreement, the stockholder and its affiliates agreed to not enter into any transaction involving the Company's securities during the term of the agreement, which runs through late-October 2017 and covers approximately 36% of the Company's issued and outstanding equity securities on an as converted basis.

About VistaGen

VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VTGN), is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation medicines for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders. VistaGen's lead CNS product candidate, AV-101, is in Phase 2 development as a new generation oral antidepressant drug candidate for major depressive disorder (MDD). AV-101's mechanism of action is fundamentally differentiated from all FDA-approved antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics used adjunctively to treat MDD, with potential to drive a paradigm shift towards a new generation of safer and faster-acting antidepressants. AV-101 is currently being evaluated by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in a Phase 2 monotherapy study in MDD being fully funded by the NIMH and conducted by Dr. Carlos Zarate Jr., Chief, Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders and Chief of Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the NIMH. VistaGen is preparing to launch a 180-patient Phase 2 study of AV-101 as an adjunctive treatment for MDD patients with inadequate response to standard, FDA-approved antidepressants. Dr. Maurizio Fava of Harvard University will be the Principal Investigator of the Company's Phase 2 adjunctive treatment study. AV-101 may also have the potential to treat multiple CNS disorders and neurodegenerative diseases in addition to MDD, including chronic neuropathic pain, epilepsy, and symptoms of Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, where modulation of the NMDAR, AMPA pathway and/or key active metabolites of AV-101 may achieve therapeutic benefit.

VistaStem Therapeutics is VistaGen's wholly owned subsidiary focused on applying human pluripotent stem cell technology, internally and with collaborators, to discover, rescue, develop and commercialize proprietary new chemical entities (NCEs), including small molecule NCEs with regenerative potential, for CNS and other diseases, and cellular therapies involving stem cell-derived blood, cartilage, heart and liver cells. In December 2016, VistaGen exclusively sublicensed to BlueRock Therapeutics LP, a next generation regenerative medicine company established by Bayer AG and Versant Ventures, rights to certain proprietary technologies relating to the production of cardiac stem cells for the treatment of heart disease.

For more information, please visit http://www.vistagen.com and connect with VistaGen on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements in this press release that are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the successful launch, continuation and results of the NIMH's Phase 2 (monotherapy) and/or the Company's planned Phase 2 (adjunctive therapy) clinical studies of AV-101 in MDD, and other CNS diseases and disorders, protection of its intellectual property, and the availability of substantial additional capital to support its operations, including the Phase 2 clinical development activities described above. These and other risks and uncertainties are identified and described in more detail in VistaGen's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. VistaGen undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

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VistaGen Therapeutics' Largest Stockholder Signs 6-Month Lock-Up Agreement - Marketwired (press release)

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Sat, Apr 29, 2017, 01:00 Updated: Sat, Apr 29, 2017, 10:12

Irish cardiologists have found a way to repair damaged cardiac muscle and reduce the risk of future heart failure by injecting a growth promoter into the hearts of heart attack sufferers. Photograph: Getty Images

A team of Irish cardiologists have shown that injecting an insulin-like growth promoter into the hearts of patients who have suffered a severe heart attack can repair damaged cardiac muscle and reduce the risk of future heart failure.

Prof Noel Caplice, Chair of Cardiovascular Sciences at University College Cork, and his cardiologist colleagues at Cork University Hospital successfully tested the growth factor in a clinical trial involving 47 patients who presented at the Cork hospital after experiencing heart attacks.

Prof Caplice said 20 per cent of people who suffer heart attacks have severe ongoing difficulties because of lasting damage to heart muscle even after the best current therapies.

After you have a heart attack, regardless whether you treat it with a stent or whatever, about 20 per cent of patients go on to have poor remodelling heart muscle cells die, you get scar tissue forming and the heart tends to expand and dilates, a bit like a balloon, and you get thinned-out heart muscle.

With that poor remodelling of the heart, the heart as a structure performs much worse, it doesnt work very well in terms of its function that leads to a substantial number of those patients going on to suffer heart failure with an increased risk of death, he said.

However, 10 years ago, Prof Caplice and his team began looking at using stem cells as a means of repairing damaged tissue and they found a protein within the stem cells, IGF 1, previously used to treat congenital dwarfism and growth problems, was leading to the repair of damaged heart muscle.

IGF 1 acts differently to insulin in that it acts on a different receptor in the body and when we inject it, it gets into the heart tissue and it basically stimulates receptors on the surface of the cardiac cells and in about 30 minutes, it sends a survival signal to the heart muscles cells, he said.

What we discovered from the stem cell study was that the concentration of the factor was extremely low so what we did was that we took the purified factor and in studies with pigs we injected them in the context of a heart attack and we found these major remodelling benefits.

Those animal tests were funded by Science Foundation Ireland but four years ago the Health Research Board came on board and the two bodies provided a 1 million grant to allow the treatment be trialled on humans.

Working with a 25-strong team incorporating cardiologists, radiologists, MRI specialists and nurses, Prof Caplice was able to incorporate the IGF 1 trials into the treatment of patients attending CUH with severe cardiac events and over the past three years have trialled it on 47 patients.

Patients received two different low-dose preparations of insulin-like growth factor or placebo in a randomised double-blinded clinical trial, with results showing those who received the higher dose had improved remodelling of their heart muscle in the two-month follow-up after their heart attack.

Prof Caplice said the CUH trials, the results of which he will present at a European Society of Cardiology conference in Paris on Saturday, were the first use of IGF 1 in human hearts and part of its attractiveness was its low dosage ensuring minimal side effects while improving cardiac structure.

Among the beneficiaries was John Nolan from New Ross who suffered a heart attack in December 2014. I feel I was blessed to be asked to be involved; I had confidence that good would come from it, in terms of how they explained it to me. Looking back on it now, I feel it was the right choice.

For Prof Caplice, the challenge now is to expand the trials to several hundred patients possibly across different countries and different healthcare systems to see if the IGF 1 treatment is globally applicable which, if proven to be the case, could lead to regulatory approval within five years.

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Irish researchers 'cut risk of heart failure with one injection' - Irish Times

Cardiac Stem Cells Comments Off on Irish researchers ‘cut risk of heart failure with one injection’ – Irish Times | April 30th, 2017

Researchers at University of California, Irvine (UCI) have developed a method that can transform human skin cells into brain cells. With this amazing feat, scientists may be able to better understand what role inflammation plays in the progression of Alzheimers disease. And this knowledge could lay the groundwork towards developing more effective treatments and therapies to manage the condition.

Before this breakthrough, scientists relied mostly on mice microglia to study the immunology of Alzheimers. Microglia sometimes referred to as Hortega cells are a special kind of cell that can be found in the human brain and spinal cord. The primary role of these cells is to protect the brain and the spine from infections, disease and any invading microbe. They provide immune support for the entire central nervous system by removing dead cells, damaged cells and other debris.

Along this line, microglial cells also help keep healthy cells from degenerating managing inflammation as well as developing and maintaining the integrity of neural networks which is why they are believed to play a special role in delaying the progression of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimers.

While studying brain cells from mice is useful, studying the real thing is, of course, more preferable. And the method developed by the UCI team is a step in this direction.

Using skin cells donated by UCI Alzheimers Disease Research Center patients, the UCI team led by Edsel Abud, Mathew Blurton-Jones and Wayne Poon made use of a genetic process to reprogram the skin cells and turn them into induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs) adult cells that are modified to act like embryonic stem cells which can turn into any kind of cell or tissue. The iPSCs were then exposed to a series of differentiation factors which mimicked the developmental origin of microglia. This exposure resulted in cells that are pretty much like human microglial cells.

Instead of continuing to rely on mice microglial cells, scientists now have a more realistic model for studying human disease in order to develop new and better therapies. And they have now started on this new path. They are using the microglial-like cells in 3D brain models so they can study how these cells interact with other brain cells and understand how this interaction impacts the progression of Alzheimers and the development of other neurological conditions.

As explained by Professor Blurton-Jones in a statement they issued: Microglia play an important role in Alzheimers and other diseases of the central nervous system. Recent research has revealed that newly discovered Alzheimers-risk genes influence microglia behavior. Using these cells, we can understand the biology of these genes and test potential new therapies.

This latest breakthrough is once again proving how important stem cells are in helping understand biological processes, both under normal conditions and under disease-related conditions. Eventually, scientists are bound to stumble on that ultimate discovery that can hopefully be instrumental in combating diseases right at their source, so we can stop dealing with devastating diseases, especially those that affect the brain and threaten a persons life.

The study was recently published in the journal Neuron.

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Scientists Can Now Turn Human Skin Cells Into Brain Cells - Wall Street Pit

Skin Stem Cells Comments Off on Scientists Can Now Turn Human Skin Cells Into Brain Cells – Wall Street Pit | April 29th, 2017

Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS/Newscom

By Kelly ServickApr. 27, 2017 , 5:00 PM

A research misconduct investigation of a prominent stem cell lab by the Harvard Universityaffiliated Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) in Boston has led to a massive settlement with the U.S. government over allegations of fraudulently obtained federal grants. As Retraction Watch reports, BWH and its parent health care system have agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that former BWH cardiac stem cell scientist Piero Anversa and former lab members Annarosa Leri and Jan Kajstura relied on manipulated and fabricated data in grant applications submitted to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts released today notes that it was BWH itself that shared the allegations against Anversas lab with the government. The hospital had been conducting its own probe into the Anversa lab since at least 2014, when a retraction published in the journal Circulation revealed the ongoing investigation. The hospital has not yet released any findings.

In 2014, Anversa and Leri sued Harvard and BWHalong with BWH President Elizabeth Nabel and Gretchen Brodnicki, Harvards dean for faculty and research integrityfor launching and publicizing the investigation that they claimed wrongfully damaged their careers. In their complaint, they acknowledged fabricated data in the Circulation paper and altered figures in a 2011 paper for whichThe Lancethas published an expression of concern. But they claimed that Kajstura had altered data without their knowledge. (Anversa and Leris recent papers list their institution as Swiss Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Retraction Watch notes.)

In July 2015, a federal district court judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the plaintiffs had to first air their grievances with the federal Office of Research Integrity, which handles misconduct investigations at NIH-funded labs.

Grant fraud cases against universities rarely involve research misconduct, and most are brought by whistleblowers who stand to claim a share of any returned funds. Despite the high penalty, BWH gets praise from the Department of Justice in todays announcement for self-disclosing the allegations and for taking steps to prevent future recurrences of such conduct.

But the result is confusing and potentially discouraging, says Ferric Fang, a microbiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, who has published several analyses of retractions, misconduct, and the scientific enterprise. It sounds as if the researchers themselves were found to have engaged in improper practices, but the institution is on the hook for the settlement. The decision deserves greater clarification, he says, or it could discourage other institutions from being as forthcoming in the future.

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$10 million settlement over alleged misconduct in Boston heart stem cell lab - Science Magazine

Cardiac Stem Cells Comments Off on $10 million settlement over alleged misconduct in Boston heart stem cell lab – Science Magazine | April 28th, 2017

April 25, 2017 Credit: University of California, Irvine

Using human skin cells, University of California, Irvine neurobiologists and their colleagues have created a method to generate one of the principle cell types of the brain called microglia, which play a key role in preserving the function of neural networks and responding to injury and disease.

The finding marks an important step in the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for targeted approaches to better understand and potentially treat neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. These iPS cells are derived from existing adult skin cells and show increasing utility as a promising approach for studying human disease and developing new therapies.

Skin cells were donated from patients at the UCI Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. The study, led by Edsel Abud, Wayne Poon and Mathew Blurton Jones of UCI, used a genetic process to reprogram these cells into a pluripotent state capable of developing into any type of cell or tissue of the body.

The researchers then guided these pluripotent cells to a new state by exposing the cells to a series of differentiation factors which mimicked the developmental origin of microglia. The resulting cells act very much like human microglial cells. Their study appears in the current issue of Neuron.

In the brain, microglia mediate inflammation and the removal of dead cells and debris. These cells make up 10- to 15-percent of brain cells and are needed for the development and maintenance of neural networks.

"Microglia play an important role in Alzheimer's and other diseases of the central nervous system. Recent research has revealed that newly discovered Alzheimer's-risk genes influence microglia behavior. Using these cells, we can understand the biology of these genes and test potential new therapies," said Blurton-Jones, an assistant professor of the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior and Director of the ADRC iPS Core.

"Scientists have had to rely on mouse microglia to study the immunology of AD. This discovery provides a powerful new approach to better model human disease and develop new therapies," added Poon, a UCI MIND associate researcher.

Along those lines, the researchers examined the genetic and physical interactions between Alzheimer's disease pathology and iPS-microglia. They are now using these cells in three-dimensional brain models to understand how microglia interact with other brain cells and influence AD and the development of other neurological diseases.

"Our findings provide a renewable and high-throughput method for understanding the role of inflammation in Alzheimer's disease using human cells," said Abud, an M.D./Ph.D. student. "These translational studies will better inform disease-modulating therapeutic strategies."

Explore further: 'Housekeepers' of the brain renew themselves more quickly than first thought

More information: Edsel M. Abud et al, iPSC-Derived Human Microglia-like Cells to Study Neurological Diseases, Neuron (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.042

A study, led by the University of Southampton and published in Cell Reports, shows that the turnover of the cells, called Microglia, is 10 times faster, allowing the whole population of Microglia cells to be renewed several ...

Immune cells that normally help us fight off bacterial and viral infections may play a far greater role in Alzheimer's disease than originally thought, according to University of California, Irvine neurobiologists with the ...

A characteristic feature of Alzheimer's disease is the presence of so called amyloid plaques in the patient's brain - aggregates of misfolded proteins that clump together and damage nerve cells. Although the body has mechanisms ...

Using a drug compound created to treat cancer, University of California, Irvine neurobiologists have disarmed the brain's response to the distinctive beta-amyloid plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

Clusters of immune cells in the brain previously associated with Alzheimer's actually protect against the disease by containing the spread of damaging amyloid plaques, a new Yale University School of Medicine study shows.

A new study appearing in the Journal of Neuroinflammation suggests that the brain's immune system could potentially be harnessed to help clear the amyloid plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

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Peering into laboratory glassware, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have watched stem-cell-derived nerve cells arising in a specific region of the human brain migrate into another brain region. This process ...

In two independent studies, scientists at the University of Basel have demonstrated that both the structure of the brain and several memory functions are linked to immune system genes. The scientific journals Nature Communications ...

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Skin stem cells used to generate new brain cells

Skin Stem Cells Comments Off on Skin stem cells used to generate new brain cells | April 28th, 2017

The patches may be effective at helping to restore the heart following a myocardial infarction, as the heart isnt able to restore lost cells on its own. The patches may be effective at helping to restore the heart following a myocardial infarction, as the heart isnt able to restore lost cells on its own.

A team of researchers from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Alabama-Birmingham have developed a technique for 3D printing cardiac patches seeded with living cells. The patches may be effective at helping to restore the heart following a myocardial infarction, as the heart isnt able to restore lost cells on its own.

The technology has already been tested on a mouse model following an induced heart attack in which cardiac function wa significantly improved in four weeks following the application of the patch.

The patch is structurally based on how proteins naturally assemble within cardiac tissue. A highly detailed technique called multiphoton-excited 3D printing was used to create an extracellular matrix that was then seeded with about 50,000 cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells obtained from human-induced pluripotent stem cells.

The patch began beating on its own only a day after placing the cells and calcium transients, which are intercellular signaling mechanisms, were detected and increased over the following week.

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3D Printed Patches seeded with cells to repair cardiac tissue after heart attacks - BSA bureau (press release)

Cardiac Stem Cells Comments Off on 3D Printed Patches seeded with cells to repair cardiac tissue after heart attacks – BSA bureau (press release) | April 27th, 2017

April 26, 2017 A mouse tibia that has been rendered transparent with Bone CLARITY. Stem cells appear distributed throughout the bone in red. The ability to see bone stem cell behavior is crucial for testing new osteoporosis treatments. Credit: Science Translational Medicine, Greenbaum, Chan, et al; Gradinaru laboratory/Caltech

Ten years ago, the bones currently in your body did not actually exist. Like skin, bone is constantly renewing itself, shedding old tissue and growing it anew from stem cells in the bone marrow. Now, a new technique developed at Caltech can render intact bones transparent, allowing researchers to observe these stem cells within their environment. The method is a breakthrough for testing new drugs to combat diseases like osteoporosis.

The research was done in the laboratory of Viviana Gradinaru (BS '05), assistant professor of biology and biological engineering and a Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator. It appears in a paper in the April 26 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

In healthy bone, a delicate balance exists between the cells that build bone mass and the cells that break down old bone in a continual remodeling cycle. This process is partially controlled by stem cells in bone marrow, called osteoprogenitors, that develop into osteoblasts or osteocytes, which regulate and maintain the skeleton. To better understand diseases like osteoporosis, which occurs when loss of bone mass leads to a high risk of fractures, it is crucial to study the behavior of stem cells in bone marrow. However, this population is rare and not distributed uniformly throughout the bone.

"Because of the sparsity of the stem cell population in the bone, it is challenging to extrapolate their numbers and positions from just a few slices of bone," says Alon Greenbaum, postdoctoral scholar in biology and biological engineering and co-first author on the paper. "Additionally, slicing into bone causes deterioration and loses the complex and three-dimensional environment of the stem cell inside the bone. So there is a need to see inside intact tissue."

To do this, the team built upon a technique called CLARITY, originally developed for clearing brain tissue during Gradinaru's postgraduate work at Stanford University. CLARITY renders soft tissues, such as brain, transparent by removing opaque molecules called lipids from cells while also providing structural support by an infusion of a clear hydrogel mesh. Gradinaru's group at Caltech later expanded the method to make all of the soft tissue in a mouse's body transparent. The team next set out to develop a way to clear hard tissues, like the bone that makes up our skeleton.

In the work described in the new paper, the team began with bones taken from postmortem transgenic mice. These mice were genetically engineered to have their stem cells fluoresce red so that they could be easily imaged. The team examined the femur and tibia, as well as the bones of the vertebral column; each of the samples was about a few centimeters long. First, the researchers removed calcium from the bones: calcium contributes to opacity, and bone tissue has a much higher amount of calcium than soft tissues. Next, because lipids also provide tissues with structure, the team infused the bone with a hydrogel that locked cellular components like proteins and nucleic acids into place and preserved the architecture of the samples. Finally, a gentle detergent was flowed throughout the bone to wash away the lipids, leaving the bone transparent to the eye. For imaging the cleared bones, the team built a custom light- sheet microscope for fast and high-resolution visualization that would not damage the fluorescent signal. The cleared bones revealed a constellation of red fluorescing stem cells inside.

The group collaborated with researchers at the biotechnology company Amgen to use the method, named Bone CLARITY, to test a new drug developed for treating osteoporosis, which affects millions of Americans per year.

"Our collaborators at Amgen sent us a new therapeutic that increases bone mass," says Ken Chan, graduate student and co-first author of the paper. "However, the effect of these therapeutics on the stem cell population was unclear. We reasoned that they might be increasing the proliferation of stem cells." To test this, the researchers gave one group of mice the treatment and, using Bone CLARITY, compared their vertebral columns with bones from a control group of animals that did not get the drug. "We saw that indeed there was an increase in stem cells with this drug," he says. "Monitoring stem cell responses to these kinds of drugs is crucial because early increases in proliferation are expected while new bone is being built, but long-term proliferation can lead to cancer."

The technique has promising applications for understanding how bones interact with the rest of the body.

"Biologists are beginning to discover that bones are not just structural supports," says Gradinaru, who also serves as the director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech. "For example, hormones from bone send the brain signals to regulate appetite, and studying the interface between the skull and the brain is a vital part of neuroscience. It is our hope that Bone CLARITY will help break new ground in understanding the inner workings of these important organs."

The paper is titled "Bone CLARITY: Clearing, imaging, and computational analysis of osteoprogenitors within intact bone marrow."

Explore further: Growing new bone for more effective injury repair

More information: Alon Greenbaum et al, Bone CLARITY: Clearing, imaging, and computational analysis of osteoprogenitors within intact bone marrow, Science Translational Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6518

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Transparent bones enable researchers to observe the stem cells inside - Medical Xpress

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on Transparent bones enable researchers to observe the stem cells inside – Medical Xpress | April 27th, 2017

Xianmin Zeng/Buck Inst.

Nerve cells derived from human stem cells, in work supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

When California voters approved US$3billion in funding for stem-cell research in 2004, biologists flocked to the state, and citizens dreamed of cures for Parkinsons disease and spinal-cord injuries. Now, the pot of money one of the biggest state investments in science is running dry before treatments have emerged, raising questions about whether Californians will pour billions more into stem-cell research.

If they dont, that could leave hundreds of scientists without support, and strand potentially promising therapies before they reach the market. Its an issue of great concern, says Jonathan Thomas, chair of the board for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in Oakland.

CIRM is now doling out its final $650million, and its leaders are seeking money from the private sector to carry projects beyond 2020, when the money will run out. Advocates are also surveying voters to determine whether a new request for funding stands a chance in state elections next year. But critics argue against this way of funding research.

California voters saw major opportunities for stem cells in 2004 when they passed Proposition 71, which included an agreement to create the corporation that became CIRM. The move was a reaction to then-US president George W. Bushs decision in 2001 to restrict federal funds for work on human embryonic stem cells.

Since CIRM rolled out its first grants in 2006, it has funded more than 750 projects and reported alluring results from clinical trials. In March, a trial partially funded by CIRM showed that nine out of ten children born with severe combined immunodeficiency or bubble-boy disease a potentially lethal condition in which a persons immune system does not function properly, were doing well up to eight years after treatment (K.L.Shaw etal. J. Clin. Invest. http://doi.org/b6bp; 2017). They no longer need injections to be able to go to school, play outside or survive colds and other inevitable infections.

A dozen facilities constructed by CIRM have helped to push California to the forefront of research on ageing and regenerative medicine. Many grant recipients were early-career academics who had not been able to enter the stem-cell field previously because of the federal restrictions which were loosened in 2009 and the high cost of getting started in this kind of work. That barrier makes it difficult for researchers to gather the preliminary data typically required to win grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

To milk its remaining $650 million, CIRM partnered last year with the contract-research organization QuintilesIMS in Durham, North Carolina, to carry out clinical trials. CIRM leaders hope that this move will help to guide 40 novel therapies into trials by 2020.

Bob Klein, the property developer who put Proposition 71 on the ballot and established CIRM, isnt waiting for the money to run out. He leads an advocacy group, Americans for Cures, which will soon poll voters to see whether they would approve another $5 billion in funding. If it looks like at least 70% of Californians support that plan, hell start a campaign to put another initiative on the ballot in 2018.

Klein hopes that Californians will rise in support of science at a time when the Trump administration has proposed drastic cuts to the NIH budget. If public enthusiasm is not so strong, Klein says, hell aim for the 2020 elections, when voter turnout should be higher because it will coincide with the next presidential race.

Currently, CIRMs leaders are seeking other sources of support. The majority of our projects will not be ripe for interest from big pharma and the venture-capitalist community by the time we run out of funds, Thomas says. He has been courting large philanthropic foundations and wealthy individuals to raise money to continue the work.

John Simpson, who directs stem-cell oversight work at the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog in Washington DC, plans to oppose any effort to extend CIRM. I acknowledge their scientific advances, but we should not let a flawed process go further, he says. Simpson dislikes the model of using a vote to secure research funding through public bonds, because then the state lacks budgetary control.

Oversight of CIRM has been a problem in the past. In 2012, the US Institute of Medicine found that some scientists vetting grant proposals for CIRM had conflicts of interest. In response, CIRM altered its procedures but the public still felt betrayed. Jim Lott, a member of the state board that oversees CIRMs finances, says that he is not satisfied with the changes. He also argues that CIRM may not have been strategic enough in directing research. Some people say if they had a better focus, they might have achieved cures.

But researchers argue that expectations for cures after only a decade are unrealistic, given the typical pace of drug development. It would be a catastrophe for California if people say CIRM did not do what it was expected to do, says Eric Verdin, president of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. Theyve built the foundation for the field and attracted people from around the world you cant just now pull the plug.

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California's $3-billion bet on stem cells faces final test : Nature News ... - Nature.com

Spinal Cord Stem Cells Comments Off on California’s $3-billion bet on stem cells faces final test : Nature News … – Nature.com | April 26th, 2017

A research team at the University of Minnesota found a way to heal broken hearts.

Researchers used a 3D printer to create protein patches that mimic heart tissue to treat post-heart attack scars. The research is in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Brenda Ogle, a University biomedical engineering professor and lead researcher for the project, said she and her team have investigated proteins that surround cells in the body for 15 years. The team has been studying how the proteins also called the extracellular matrix influence stem cell behavior.

For many years, weve been trying to develop optimum formulation that can support stem cells in new cardiac [cell] types, Ogle said, adding that theyve focused on cardiac cell types to figure out a way to strengthen them after the muscle cells are damaged and die during a heart attack. Its one of the cell types in the body that cant be recovered.

The team successfully treated mice with the patches and is now planning to test the method on larger animals.

Molly Kupfer, a doctoral student who is part of Ogles team, said a heart attack occurs when there is a blockage in a primary blood vessel that delivers oxygen and nutrients to the heart.

When that happens, you have cell death in the area of the heart that doesnt receive the appropriate oxygen and nutrients, Kupfer said. Those cells that die arent able to recover."

Typically, after a heart attack, the blood clot in the heart is removed at a hospital, and if the heart has not been damaged too badly, doctors monitor the heart long-term, prescribe medicine and regularly check for signs of heart failure, Ogle said.

What you get instead after a heart attack is scar tissue forming, and that scar tissue ultimately fails, Ogle said.

Associate Professor Brenda Ogle places a 3D printed biopatch on a mouse heart in Nils Hasselmo Hall on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Her research team induces heart attacks in mice, which causes a dead area of cardiac cells. The patch is placed in this dead zone and mimics the cells of the native heart that aren't able to be replenished on their own.

Kupfer said she worked with Paul Campagnola and his lab at the University of Wisconsin to print the patches; the cells were prepared at the University of Minnesota.

Campagnola, a biomedical engineering professor, said he initially developed the underlying printing technology in 2000.

"The idea of the patch is it could actually behave like native cardiac tissue and assist the function of the heart, Kupfer said, adding that the method used to print the patches results in extremely high resolution structures.

Ogle said before applying the patch to the animal hearts theyre currently testing on, they take a scan of the scarred tissue and create a digital template for the 3D-printer to follow and print the proteins in the same pattern.

Campagnola said the patch provides a stable space for cells to grow and be implanted in damaged areas.

Cardiac cells are also added to the patch when it covers a damaged area. Ogle said it not only provides a support structure, but transplants healthy cells that will eventually become integrated into the heart, stabling it structurally and functionally.

A huge aha moment was when [the cardiac cells] started to beat on this patch synchronously and spontaneously, she said. When that happened, we realized that this could be a viable therapy for the heart, a way to replace those lost muscle cells.

Through the research group at the University of Alabama, Ogle said a study was conducted where the patch was tested on dead or dying tissue in mice hearts and the group saw improvement in the mice after four weeks.

The project was funded through a series of grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation with support from the University, she said.

The group has since received larger funds from the NIH to run a study using the patch on larger animals within the next year.

Ogle said it would take about 10 years until the patch can be used on human patients in a clinical setting.

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UMN research team fixes broken hearts with 3D-printed tissue patch - Minnesota Daily

Cardiac Stem Cells Comments Off on UMN research team fixes broken hearts with 3D-printed tissue patch – Minnesota Daily | April 26th, 2017