TOP STORY |
Human Embryonic Stem Cells Could Help to Treat Deafness Researchers have developed a method to turn human embryonic stem cells into ear cells. They then transplanted them into deaf gerbils, obtaining a functional recovery that, on average, was of around 46 per cent. [Press release from The University of Sheffield discussing online prepublication in Nature] Press Release | Abstract
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PUBLICATIONS (Ranked by impact factor of the journal) |
Long-Distance Growth and Connectivity of Neural Stem Cells after Severe Spinal Cord Injury Neural stem cells expressing GFP were embedded into fibrin matrices containing growth factor cocktails and grafted to sites of severe spinal cord injury. Grafted cells differentiated into multiple cellular phenotypes, including neurons, which extended large numbers of axons over remarkable distances. Grafted neurons supported formation of electrophysiological relays across sites of complete spinal transection, resulting in functional recovery. [Cell] Abstract | Press Release | Graphical Abstract
Adipose Tissue Invariant NKT Cells Protect against Diet-Induced Obesity and Metabolic Disorder through Regulatory Cytokine Production Adoptive transfer of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells into obese mice or in vivo activation of iNKT cells via their lipid ligand, alpha-galactocylceramide, decreased body fat, triglyceride levels, leptin, and fatty liver and improved insulin sensitivity through anti-inflammatory cytokine production by adipose-derived iNKT cells. [Immunity] Abstract | Press Release
A Strong Regenerative Ability of Cardiac Stem Cells Derived from Neonatal Hearts When transplanted into infarcted myocardium, neonatal-derived cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) had a significantly higher ability to preserve myocardial function, prevent adverse remodeling, and enhance blood vessel preservation and/or formation when compared with adult-derived CDCs. [Circulation] Abstract | Press Release
MicroRNA-145 Targeted Therapy Reduces Atherosclerosis Lentiviral delivery of microRNA-145 resulted in reduced KLF4 and elevated myocardin expression in aortas from apolipoprotein E knockout mice, consistent with an effect of microRNA-145 to promote a contractile phenotype in vascular smooth muscle cells. [Circulation] Abstract | Press Release
Gene Therapy for Adenosine Deaminase-Deficient Severe Combined Immune Deficiency: Clinical Comparison of Retroviral Vectors and Treatment Plans Researchers conducted a gene therapy trial in ten patients with adenosine deaminase-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency using two slightly different retroviral vectors for the transduction of patients’ bone marrow CD34+ cells. [Blood] Abstract | Press Release
T Cells Engineered with a T Cell Receptor against the Prostate Antigen TARP Specifically Kill HLA-A2+ Prostate and Breast Cancer Cells To produce genetically engineered T cells directed against prostate and breast cancer cells, researchers cloned the T-cell receptor recognizing the HLA-A2-restricted T-cell receptor γ-chain alternate reading-frame protein (TARP)4-13 epitope. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract | Press Release
MHC Mismatch Results in Neural Progenitor Cell Rejection following Spinal Cord Transplantation in a Model of Viral-Induced Demyelination Researchers used the JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus-induced demyelination model to evaluate the antigenicity of transplanted allogeneic neural progenitor cells within the central nervous system of mice with established immune-mediated demyelination. [Stem Cells] Abstract
Oxygen Sensing Mesenchymal Progenitors Promote Neo-Vasculogenesis in a Humanized Mouse Model In Vivo Results demonstrated that endothelial colony forming progenitor cells require hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-competent vessel wall progenitors to initiate vasculogenesis in vivo and to bypass hypoxia-induced apoptosis. [PLoS One] Full Article
Inhibition of TGF-β Signaling in Genetically Engineered Tumor Antigen-Reactive T Cells Significantly Enhances Tumor Treatment Efficacy Investigators sought to enhance tumor immunotherapy using genetically modified antigen-specific T cells by interfering with transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling. [Gene Ther] Abstract
Feeder-Free Derivation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Messenger RNA Researchers accelerated the messenger RNA reprogramming process through stepwise optimization of the reprogramming factor cocktail and leveraged these kinetic gains to establish a feeder-free, xeno-free protocol which slashes the time, cost and effort involved in induced pluripotent stem cells derivation. [Sci Rep] Full Article | Press Release
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BUSINESS |
NIH Awards $12 Million for Gene Therapy Work Seattle Children’s Research Institute and partner organizations have been awarded more than $12 million over the next five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to develop foamy virus gene replacement therapy for patients who suffer from Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. [Seattle Children’s Hospital, Research and Foundation] Press Release
$8.7 Million Awarded to Stem Cell Researchers in Clinical & Basic Biology Grants from the State Stem Cell Agency Nelson’s Early Translational award and the two Basic Biology IV grants, totaling $8.7 million, continue efforts by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to support research designed to take stem cell science from the laboratory to the clinic. [Eli and Edythe Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA] Press Release
California’s Stem Cell Agency Boosts Heart Disease Research at Sanford-Burnham The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has awarded a $1.58 million grant to Huei-Sheng Vincent Chen, PhD, associate professor at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham). This new funding will allow Chen and his team to develop personalized models of inherited heart conditions using stem cells derived from patients’ own skin cells. They will also use these models to develop new therapies. [EurekAlert!] Press Release
Funding for Stem Cell Treatment of Compartment Syndrome America Stem Cell won an Advanced Technology Small Business Technology Transfer Research grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to evaluate the use of its ASC-101 stem technology in combination with the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine’s amniotic fluid-derived stem cells in an experimental model of compartment syndrome. [Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News] Press Release
Multicenter Investigator-Sponsored Cell Therapy Study for Peripheral Artery Disease Approved in Japan Cytori Therapeutics announced that a 40-patient, multi-center investigator-sponsored and funded clinical study in Japan using the Celution® System has been approved under the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Guidelines on Clinical Research Using Human Stem Cells. The study will investigate the use of patients’ own adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells processed by the Celution® System for peripheral artery disease or arteriosclerosis obliterans. [Cytori Therapeutics, Inc.] Press Release
Opexa Initiates Late Stage Clinical Study of Tcelna in Patients with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SPMS) Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing Tcelna™, a novel T-cell therapy for multiple sclerosis, announced the initiation of a Phase IIb clinical trial of Tcelna in patients with SPMS. [Opexa Therapeutics, Inc.] Press Release
ReNeuron Files Two New Clinical Trial Applications Ahead of Plan in Stroke and Critical Limb Ischemia as Its Stem Cell Programs Advance ReNeuron reported that it has submitted an application to the UK regulatory authority to commence a multi-site Phase II clinical trial to examine the efficacy of its ReN001 stem cell therapy in patients disabled by an ischemic stroke. [ReNeuron Group plc] Press Release
NeoStem Subsidiary, Amorcyte, Announces Significant Expansion in Its Claims Granted to Protect the Use of CD34+ Cells Amorcyte, LLC, a subsidiary of NeoStem, Inc., announced a significant expansion in its claims granted to protect the use of CD34+ cells, acquired from blood or bone marrow, to impart a therapeutic benefit to tissue sustaining an ischemic injury. [NeoStem, Inc.] Press Release
Coronado Biosciences Granted First U.S. Patent Covering CNDO-109 Coronado Biosciences, Inc. announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a key patent for CNDO-109, licensed by Coronado Biosciences from the University College London Business PLC, for its natural killer cell therapy program. [Coronado Biosciences, Inc.] Press Release
Pearl Meister Greengard Prize to be Awarded to Pioneering RNA Researcher Joan Steitz Joan A. Steitz, a pioneer in the field of RNA biology whose discoveries involved patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases, will be awarded the 2012 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University. [The Rockefeller University] Press Release |
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