Genetic modification strains old food and drug laws Los Angeles Times Some feel this talk of a fish that's a drug and corn that's a pest does little to instill confidence in consumers, many of whom are deeply suspicious of genetic engineering to begin with. "This convolution makes people lose faith in the system," Kuzma ... and more »

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Leukemia is never an easy disease to beat back, but adults with relapsed B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or B-ALL, have especially grim prospects. This particular kind of blood cancer progresses quickly, and has only a 30 to 40 percent cure rate in adults. Chemotherapy drugs can sometimes clear out the cancer the first time around, but some patients relapse, requiring another round of chemotherapy, then a bone marrow transplant. But this second round can sometimes fail because the recurring leukemia proves resistant to the drugs.

Now, in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, scientists have successfully treated B-ALL patients by inserting new genetic material into some of their T cells. The cell therapy allows the patients immune system to find and destroy the places where the blood cancer is hiding out.

In one case, the treatment cleared up a patients leukemia in a little more than a week.

We had hoped, but couldnt have predicted that the response would be so profound and rapid, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center researcher Renier J. Brentjens told the New York Times.

Brentjens and his colleagues treated five B-ALL patients with some of their own T cells, which were genetically programmed to recognize a particular protein on the surface of B cells, the immune system cells that are affected by this kind of leukemia. The reengineered T cells then lay waste to all of the patients B cells, healthy and cancerous alike (the loss of healthy B cells can be treated later).

Were creating living drugs, senior author Michel Sadelain told the New York Times. Its an exciting story thats just beginning.

Still, the treatment is far from 100 percent perfect. Three of the five patients in the study have been in remission for anywhere between five months and two years. Another patient died of a blood clot after going in to remission, and another relapsed again possibly because a steroid treatment meant to control a side effect of the cell therapy may have wiped out the souped-up T cells before they could attack the B cells. The three survivors may yet relapse again.

And there are risks associated with the cell therapy. The T cells offensive onslaught can create whats called a cytokine storm, a potentially fatal immune chain reaction that usually induces an extremely high fever.

"This is very early in development," University of Pennsylvania researcher David Porter, who was not involved with the study, told US News & World Report. "We are just starting to learn about the short-term side effects, and we don't know about the long-term effectiveness or safety."

At the moment, this kind of cell therapy is being used as a lead-in to a bone marrow transplant. But in the future, doctors may be able to just use immunotherapy by itself.

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Cell Therapy For Aggressive Leukemia Uses Patient's Own T Cells, Has Very Promising Results

Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Lymphoma / Leukemia / Myeloma Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 21 Mar 2013 - 12:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Cell Therapy Shows Promise For Advanced Leukemia In Adults

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Similar immune-system therapy has proven effective in children with this cancer as well as in adults with a similar type of leukemia, however, this is the first time this specific therapy has worked in adults.

The findings of the current study were based on five patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). T cells were extracted from the patient and modified to express a receptor for protein on other immune cells - called B cells - that are found in both cancerous and healthy tissues.

ALL is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow which progresses quickly - if left untreated, patients sometimes die within weeks. The first treatment is generally three phases of chemotherapy drugs.

For most patients, this puts the cancer in remission. However, it often comes back. The second treatment agenda is usually another round of chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant.

The authors point out that when the cancer returns, it is often immune to many chemotherapy drugs. Therefore, Dr. Renier Brentjens, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and his colleagues set out to test a different approach.

The five participating patients received infusions of their altered T cells after undergoing standard chemotherapy. All five patients saw a total remission - for one patient this occured within just eight days, according to the researchers.

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Cell Therapy Shows Promise For Advanced Leukemia In Adults

The Department of Health (DOH) has restricted hospitals and other facilities from using genetically-altered cells and tissues of human in carrying out stem-cell therapy and treatments in the country. Health secretary Enrique Ona added that their department also prohibits the use of umbilical cord, fat-derived human stem cells, and live animal stem cells for the conduct of the procedure locally. On Wednesday, DOH released Administrative Order (AO) 2013-0012 which seeks to ensure the safety of people who want to undergo human stem cell and cell-based therapies.

The AO also prohibits for human treatment and research the creation of human embryos and their derivatives, the use of aborted human fetal stem cells and their derivatives, and plant parts labeled as stem cells, the order stated. Ona hopes AO will make effective and ethical stem cell modalities and practices that will be at par with emerging international and global standards on the very complex nature of this therapy. He explained the AO also hopes to prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases by ensuring a minimum quality of service and staff qualification rendered by hospitals and other health facilities capable of utilizing human stem cell preparations and cell-based therapies. These guidelines will classify which stem cell preparations and therapies will be registered and allowed with certain restrictions, Ona said in a statement. Preparations that will be allowed include those with adult human stem cells, human umbilical cord stem cells, and human organ-specific cells, he noted. He explained that health facilities utilizing stem cell preparations and cell-based or cellular therapies will be mandated to comply with the guidelines set by DOHs Bioethics Advisory Board. The Borad, Ona notes, will ensure that ethical and professional standards are upheld and that contentious scientific, ethical and legal issues are addressed. He said charges and complaints shall be addressed to the DOH Bureau of Health Facilities & Services and the Philippine Food and Drug Agency. Stem cell therapy and treatments are medical procedures where doctors replace malignant cells with healthier cells in an effort to cure or address ailments like cancer. Some facilities also use the procedure for cosmetic purposes, targeting components of the skin like collagen to make patients look younger and healthy.

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DOH restricts hospitals amid stem- cell therapy craze

NEW YORK, March 18, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeoStem, Inc. (NYSE MKT:NBS) ("NeoStem" or the "Company"), a leader in the emerging cellular therapy market, today announced that the Company's contract development and manufacturing ("CDMO") subsidiary, Progenitor Cell Therapy ("PCT"), has launched a new service offering, using a custom developed Internet/Web application to further its position as a technology leader for cell therapy. The new service, an automated software system called "PCTFORME.COM", resides in a highly secure, cloud based computing environment, available 24/7, and serves to enhance PCT's service offering to its growing client base. This service has been launched for a major client and is now available for all of PCT's existing and future stem cell clients.

PCTFORME allows PCT's clients to securely access patient details on-line and provides for real time product ordering, processing and retrieval via automated communications between PCT's clients and laboratory staff. The system is expected to significantly enhance communication by enabling easy tracking of current processing, increasing PCT's efficiencies and streamlining the process for the ordering of patient cells for infusion. PCTFORME is HIPAA compliant and built on a proven Microsoft software platform and supporting cloud based hardware infrastructure.

Robert A. Preti, PhD, President and Chief Scientific Officer of PCT, said, "The need to service the demand, in both volume and variety of procedures, continues to grow as PCT serves our client base. The efficiencies gained in order entry, cell product inventory management, and real time procedure result reporting is expected to improve patient care through enhanced communication, control and transparency. In this regard, PCTFORME represents a patient product management breakthrough in stem cell processing."

"As the field of cell therapy continues to emerge, we believe technology will enable us to reduce costs, better service our clients and build scalable operations to be ready for the future when cell therapy becomes standard of care in medical practice," said Dr. Robin L. Smith, Chairman and CEO of NeoStem. "Our management is focused on evaluating, developing and incorporating such technologies into our state-of-the-art contract development and manufacturing business to assist our clients, as well as our clinical development subsidiaries, with their cell therapy product development, and in preparation to launch them into the clinic."

About NeoStem, Inc.

NeoStem, Inc. ("NeoStem" or the "Company") is a leader in the emerging cellular therapy industry. Our business model includes the development of novel proprietary cell therapy products as well as operating a contract development and manufacturing organization ("CDMO") providing services to others in the regenerative medicine industry. The combination of a therapeutic development business and revenue-generating service provider business provides the Company with capabilities for cost effective in-house product development and immediate revenue and cash flow generation. http://www.neostem.com

About Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC ("PCT")

PCT, a wholly owned subsidiary of NeoStem, Inc., is a leading CDMO in the cellular therapy industry. Since its inception in 1997, PCT has provided pre-clinical and clinical current Good Manufacturing Practice ("cGMP") development and manufacturing services to over 100 clients advancing regenerative medicine product candidates through rigorous quality standards all the way through to human testing. PCT has two cGMP, state-of-the art cell therapy research, development, and manufacturing facilities in New Jersey and California, serving the cell therapy community with integrated and regulatory compliant distribution capabilities. Its core competencies in the cellular therapy industry include manufacturing of cell therapy-based products, product and process development, cell and tissue processing, regulatory support, storage, distribution and delivery and consulting services. http://www.pctcelltherapy.com

Forward-Looking Statements for NeoStem, Inc.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements herein with respect to the successful execution of the Company's business strategy, including with respect to the Company's or its partners' successful development of AMR-001 and other cell therapeutics, the size of the market for such products, its competitive position in such markets, the Company's ability to successfully penetrate such markets and the market for its contract development and manufacturing business, and the efficacy of protection from its patent portfolio, as well as the future of the cell therapeutics industry in general, including the rate at which such industry may grow. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward- looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to matters described under the "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2013 and in the Company's other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available on its website. The Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. The Company's further development is highly dependent on future medical and research developments and market acceptance, which is outside its control.

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NeoStem's Subsidiary, Progenitor Cell Therapy , Launches Web-Based Service for Real-Time Cell Therapy Product Tracking

Stem cell therapy has been found useful in over 60 per cent of the patients due for liver transplant, as per a paper submitted by doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi recently. Not only is the treatment less cumbersome and risky, its cost is also comparatively very reasonable.

According to the papers principal author and chairman of the Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases at the Hospital, Dr. Anil Arora, a large number of patients requiring liver transplantation cannot afford it for two reasons cost and donor availability.

A living donor is needed in such plantation cases with a matching blood group and he or she also has to be a family member or a first or second degree relative. They have to donate the liver. Since Rs.20 lakh is the average cost of liver transplantation, a majority of liver cirrhosis patients can not afford it. Many times they also do not have a donor, he said.

In view of the logistical problems faced by such patients, Dr. Arora said: We started looking at the feasibility of alternative methods like using reserve cells in the body called stem cells for such treatment as it costs even less than Rs.50,000. Some of these cells can be mobilised from the bone marrow as it has the capacity to regenerate the cells. So we stimulate the bone marrow by an injection.

This injection is given for five days and it mobilises the bone marrow and some of the cells. They then come into the blood circulation. In the study we tried to filter these cells from the blood marrow using a specialised filtering machine and the concentrate of these cells. About 5 ml to 10 ml of the blood containing these concentrated group of cells was then injected into the hepatic artery, which supplies blood to the liver, explained Dr. Arora. He said this process was carried out by a number of different mechanisms and it proved quite successful. We started about two years ago and finished last year. Then these patients were followed up for another one year and we were happy to see a significant proportion of the patients having substantial improvement in the liver functions as assessed by a score called Child score.

Dr. Arora said, All patients tolerated the treatment well without any side effects. Of the 10 patients, six to seven benefited. So we believe that more frequent administration of the stem cells in large number might have a more beneficial impact.

While the study by the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital team was published this year and was approved by the Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, Dr. Arora said there is also other published data now which calls for stimulating the bone marrow and letting the cells automatically go into the liver. By this, he said, you avoid filtering and putting the blood with the stem cells into the liver. This is also equally beneficial.

Dr. Arora said stem cell therapy might act as a bridge for liver transplant and can provide some time to the patients to arrange for treatment. But just like a damaged car tyre, he said, a damaged liver after minor repairs has to be replaced. However, if a person stops taking liquor or if the therapy goes on well, then a patient can lead a healthy life for many more years.

Read the rest here:
Stem cell therapy is new hope for liver transplant patients

Egypt Independent

Biotechnology Report: 1000 hectares of genetically modified maize grows in Egypt Egypt Independent An international organization that promotes the use of agricultural biotechnology ranked Egypt third in terms of the commercialization of genetically modified crops in Africa, in its 2012 annual report on the use of biotech crops worldwide. The ... Seedy 40 Ton GMO Shipment in Egypt Shrouded in MysteryGreen Prophet all 2 news articles »

Source:
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Cytos Biotechnology soars on results of asthma-drug study FierceBiotech After closing out a failed Novartis partnership in January, Cytos Biotechnology has registered some upbeat data from a mid-stage study of its lead drug against allergic asthma. On the news, Zurich-based Cytos' shares jumped 14% as of early this morning ... The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Publishes Phase 2a Study ...PR Newswire (press release) all 3 news articles »

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Nanowerk LLC

Bootstrapping biotechnology: Engineers cooperate to realize precision grammar ... Nanowerk LLC Researchers at the International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology (aka, BIOFAB) have just announced that they have, in effect, established rules for the first language for engineering gene expression, the layer between the genome and all the ... and more »

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Marine Bio-Technologies Center director named Carolinacoastonline Dr. Carter completed two post-doctoral appointments related to molecular genetics and cell biology of cancer, including development of novel live-cell imaging methods. He received an undergraduate degree in applied biochemistry from Liverpool ...

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ASCO Honors CHOP Expert Garrett Brodeur with Pediatric Oncology Award and ... Newswise (press release) Before arriving at CHOP, Brodeur did his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at St. Jude's Children's Research Center and a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he ... and more »

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Brandeis University

UCLA's Gordon Fain wins Pepose Award from Brandeis Brandeis University Gordon Fain, whose pioneering research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) employs molecular genetics and physiology to better understand rod and cone phototransduction, will receive the fourth annual Jay Pepose '75 Award in Vision ...

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Women in Science Series set Beloit Daily News Paula Traktman, Ph.D., Walter Schroeder Professor and Chair of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at MCW, will explain the intricate nature of viruses and how some can peacefully co-exist with humans, while others wreak havoc and cause devastating ... and more »

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Tiny Piece of RNA Keeps 'Clock' Running in Earliest Stages of Life Science Daily (press release) "It's a big deal to find that a single interaction between a microRNA and its target has this very profound effect when you interfere with its function," said Susan Cole, associate professor of molecular genetics at The Ohio State University and lead ... and more »

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A child born to an HIV-infected mother in Mississippi may be cured after a swiftly administered course of drugs. A number of factors make the child’s case unique, however, and clinicians caution that we have not discovered a general cure for HIV yet. Still, the medical first may hint at ways to fight the AIDS-causing virus .

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Editor’s Note: Excerpted from Shouting Won’t Help: Why I--and 50 Million Other Americans--Can’t Hear You , by Katherine Bouton, published by Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 2013 Katherine Bouton. All rights reserved.

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California's $3 billion stem cell
agency has performed a well-done makeover on its most important
public face – its web site, which is chock-a-block full of useful
information for researchers and the unwashed alike.

“We're up about 25 percent year over
year in unique viewers to the site. A lot of that growth comes from
search, and the rest is from traffic driven through our blog and
Facebook.” 

“I've had people inside CIRM (who
have been beta testing this site) tell me that they are finding
content they'd never seen before because the site is so much easier
to navigate.”

 “Now people can not only
read about what our grantees are hoping to accomplish, they can read
about what has actually been accomplished with our funding.”

“Most places on the site where you
see tables, you can now download those tables to Excel. You'll notice
the small Excel icon at the lower left of the table. This feature has
long been available for the searchable grants table. Now you'll see
it on all the tables of review reports (see here for
example http://www.cirm.ca.gov/application-reviews/10877)
on the disease fact sheets (see
here http://www.cirm.ca.gov/about-stem-cells/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet)
and other places throughout the site. This is part of an effort to
make our funding records more publicly available.”

“A unique visitor is Google's
definition (it's one of the metrics they provide). It's a visit from
a unique IP (internet protocol) address. So, if you visit our site
multiple times from one IP address during a day, you count as a
single unique visitor. (Editor's note: It is possible to have
more than one visitor from the same IP address.)

“We get ~23,000-25,000 visits per
month, or ~16,000-18,000 unique visitors. Page views are on the order
of 65,000 a month.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/1OuvEMC2aTs/cyberspace-makeover-at-california-stem.html

Directors of the California stem cell
agency will meet March 19 in Burlingame to complete action on
their response to blue-ribbon recommendations for sweeping changes at
the eight-year-old research enterprise.

Source:
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The $3 billion California stem cell
agency hit it big in San Diego today, finally scoring an editorial
that said “arguably” the agency's largess has made the state “the
world leader in medical research.”

“There
remains a residue of cynicism about CIRM. Critics say the agency
board did the minimum necessary to avoid an intervention by the
Legislature – and also acted to buff the agency’s image should it
seek more bond funding from California voters before its present
funding runs out in 2017, as is now projected.

“These views
may have some merit. But on balance, we think the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine has – at long last –
responded properly to the fair criticism it faced. Instead of being
exasperated by CIRM, more people should be excited about the great
work it is doing.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/WHLDfisWzQI/san-diego-newspaper-hails-stem-cell.html

Local View: Governor's support for SCID screening critical Lincoln Journal Star Research in 2011 by Chan et al. in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism found SCID screening was cost effective and would save 880 life years for each year of screening in the United States. But Samantha didn't have access to SCID screening and, ...

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