Stem Cells News and Research

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Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Health Canada approves Osiris’ Prochymal to treat acute GvHD in children

Osiris Therapeutics Inc. announced today it has received market authorization from Health Canada to market its stem cell therapy Prochymal (remestemcel-L), for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children.

18 May 2012

Abbott announces inaugural funding for nutrition and cognition research

The Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory, a collaboration between Abbott’s nutrition businesses and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), announced today the inaugural funding recipients of the Center’s annual research challenge.

18 May 2012

ScreenCell, Affymetrix partner to distribute CTC platform

Affymetrix, Inc. and ScreenCell, a privately-held company, today announced the signing of a worldwide distribution agreement for ScreenCell's isolation devices and dilution buffers, designed for the collection of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood.

18 May 2012

Lenalidomide following stem cell transplant can halt progression of blood cancer

Multiple myeloma patients are better equipped to halt progression of this blood cancer if treated with lenalidomide, or Revlimid-, following a stem cell transplant, according to a study co-authored by a physician with the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute.

17 May 2012

Breast cancer cell surface protein blows cover of potent tumor-generating cells

Breast cancer stem cells wear a cell surface protein that is part nametag and part bull's eye, identifying them as potent tumor-generating cells and flagging their vulnerability to a drug, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

17 May 2012

Mary Ann Liebert releases BioResearch Open Access journal

The inaugural issue of BioResearch Open Access, a new bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal, was released today by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including but not limited to molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience.

17 May 2012

Updated results from Amgen’s blinatumomab Phase 2 study on ALL

Amgen today announced updated results from a Phase 2 study that showed treatment with blinatumomab (AMG 103) helped achieve a high-rate of complete response (CR) in 72 percent of adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated in the study.

17 May 2012

Ibrutinib shows promise against CLL in the elderly

The experimental drug ibrutinib (PCI-32765) shows great promise for the treatment of elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to interim findings from a clinical trial.

17 May 2012

Specific populations of tumor cells have different roles

A study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers suggests that specific populations of tumor cells have different roles in the process by which tumors make new copies of themselves and grow.

16 May 2012

Nerve transfer procedure helps patients recover movement in hands and extremities

San Diego based neurosurgeon, Dr. Justin M. Brown, M.D., Director of the Neurosurgery Peripheral Nerve Program at UCSD School of Medicine, has implemented a procedure that helps patients recover movement in their hands and extremities after spinal cord and brain injuries, strokes, and other forms of paralysis.

16 May 2012

Intriguing links between Snf2l gene and brain developmental disorders

Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) have discovered that mice that lack a gene called Snf2l have brains that are 35 per cent larger than normal.

16 May 2012

Mass. Eye and Ear announces recipients of 2012 Curing Kids Fund grants

The Mass. Eye and Ear Curing Kids fund has awarded grants for research projects that aim to help the brain locate sound, identify genes that cause congenital blindness, cure deafness through hair cell regeneration, and improve treatment for childhood eye cancer.

16 May 2012

Juventas begins enrollment in JVS-100 Phase IIa study for Rutherford Class 4 or 5 CLI

Juventas Therapeutics, a privately-held, clinical-stage company developing novel regenerative therapies for treatment of cardiovascular disease, is pleased to report that it is actively enrolling patients in a placebo-controlled, randomized double-blinded Phase IIa study evaluating the safety and efficacy for JVS-100 in patients with Rutherford Class 4 or 5 critical limb ischemia.

16 May 2012

Novelos completes I-131-CLR1404 Phase 1b trial on advanced solid tumors

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer, today announced that it has successfully completed the first cohort in a U.S. multi-center Phase 1b dose-escalation trial of its cancer-targeted molecular radiotherapeutic compound I-131-CLR1404 (HOT) in cancer patients with advanced solid tumors.

16 May 2012

Significant breakthrough in understanding the cause of bile duct cancer

A team of international scientists has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the cause of bile duct cancer, a deadly type of liver cancer. By identifying several new genes frequently mutated in bile duct cancers, researchers are paving the way for better understanding of how bile duct cancers develop. Their discovery is published online in Nature Genetics.

15 May 2012

Human embryonic stem cells can be used to grow bone tissue grafts

Dr. Darja Marolt, an Investigator at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory, is lead author on a study showing that human embryonic stem cells can be used to grow bone tissue grafts for use in research and potential therapeutic application. Dr. Marolt conducted this research as a post-doctoral NYSCF - Druckenmiller Fellow at Columbia University in the laboratory of Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic.

15 May 2012

Paediatric brain tumours preserve specific characteristics of normal cells from which they originate

Paediatric brain tumours preserve specific characteristics of the normal cells from which they originate - a previously unknown circumstance with ramifications for how tumour cells respond to treatment.

15 May 2012

Study identifies how skeletal muscle stem cells respond to muscle injury

A study conducted by Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland scientists identifies how skeletal muscle stem cells respond to muscle injury and may be stimulated to improve muscle repair in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a severe inherited disease of muscle that causes weakness, disability and, ultimately, heart and respiratory failure.

15 May 2012

HyStem-C effective in transplantation of heart muscle-derived cells for heart disease

BioTime, Inc. announced today the publication of a scientific paper demonstrating the effectiveness of HyStem-C in the transplantation of heart muscle-derived cells in an animal model of heart disease.

14 May 2012

Lenalidomide delays progression of multiple myeloma after stem cell transplant

Multiple myeloma is a form of cancer where the plasma cells in the bone marrow grow out of control, causing damage to bones as well as predisposing patients to anemia, infection and kidney failure. A medical procedure called autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, commonly known as a stem cell transplant, is frequently an important treatment option for many patients.

14 May 2012