Archive for February, 2012

29-02-2012 10:12 I am a senior undergraduate student majoring in biotechnology. Although I am an undergraduate, I am quite familiar with the works of life science, especially on biochemistry and molecular biology with my undergraduate GPA is 3.81. I have undertaken various and relevant work experience, in both Cooperative Demonstration Laboratory of Centrifuge Technique and Beckman Coulter Ltd. Co., Nanjing Agricultural University. My commitment to research has earned me co-authorship of five papers published, and two manuscripts in preparation. I have also assist my professor to translate the book Cytology and Genetics. This video introduces my research area and my social works, brief and interesting. I think you will like it. Now I am applying the scholarship administered by the Chinese Scholarship Council which will cover my most expenses. Hopefully one day, I will be your student, work with you together on our shared dream and please feel free to write or call me. fjfnjau@foxmail.com; fjfnjau@gmail.com.

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Research Proposal on life science by Jianfei Feng (Hoping to pursue the possible PhD position).mp4 - Video

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Zoo officials are mourning the death of "Gene," a 41-year-old black rhinoceros who's been a popular figure at the zoo since 1978.

Zoo officials, who described Gene as gentle and friendly, said he died of kidney failure on Monday.

The zoo's animal care and veterinary staff had been keeping an eye on Gene because his appetite had dropped and he was lethargic, according to zoo officials.

After a recent blood sample indicated that Gene had kidney failure, zoo staff focused on keeping him comfortable for the remainder of his life.

Gene was named after the late Eugene Friend, who served on the Recreation and Park Commission for 24 years, zoo officials said.

Gene was born in Kenya and came to the San Francisco Zoo in 1978 at the age of seven.

During his time at the zoo, Gene fathered five offspring, three of which are now living at other accredited zoos, zoo officials said.

Gene's animal keeper, Julie McGilvray, said he had a good disposition and was very friendly.

"We nicknamed him Big Dog because he loved to be rubbed, either by hand or with a scrub brush, and oftentimes he would lie down and absorb the soothing experience," McGilvray said in a statement.

Zoo officials said black rhinos are a critically endangered species because they are targeted by poachers who covet their valuable horns.

Originally posted here:
41-year-old black rhino 'Gene' dies of kidney failure

Celltex hosts the largest stem-cell bank in the United States.

TYLER RUDICK

With Texas pouring millions of dollars into developing adult stem-cell treatments, doctors there are already injecting paying customers with unproven preparations, supplied by an ambitious new company.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any such stem-cell treatment for routine clinical use, although it does sanction them for patients enrolled in registered clinical trials. Some advocates of the treatments argue, however, that preparations based on a patient's own cells should not be classed as drugs, and should not therefore fall under the FDA's jurisdiction.

There are certainly plenty of people eager to have the treatments. Texas governor Rick Perry, for instance, has had stem-cell injections to treat a back complaint1, and has supported legislation to help create banks to store patients' harvested stem cells.

One company that has benefited from this buoyant climate is Celltex Therapeutics, which multiplies and banks stem cells derived from people's abdominal fat, according to chairman and chief executive David Eller. Its facility in Sugar Land, just outside Houston, opened in December 2011 and houses the largest stem-cell bank in the United States.

Celltex was founded by Eller and Stanley Jones, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed Perry's procedure, and it uses technology licensed from RNL Bio in Seoul. Because clinical use of adult-stem-cell treatments are illegal in South Korea, RNL has since 2006 sent more than 10,000 patients to clinics in Japan and China to receive injections.

Celltex says that although it processes and banks cells, it does not carry out stem-cell injections. It declined to answer Nature's questions about whether its cells have been used in patients. But there is evidence that the company is involved in the clinical use of the cells on US soil, which the FDA has viewed as illegal in other cases.

In addition to the publicity surrounding Perry's treatment, a woman named Debbie Bertrand has been blogging about her experiences during a five-injection treatment with cells prepared at Celltex. Her blog (http://debbiebertrand.blogspot.com) hosts photographs of herself alongside Jones; Jennifer Novak, a Celltex nurse; Jeong Chan Ra, chief executive of RNL Bio; and her doctor, Jamshid Lotfi, a neurologist who works for the United Neurology clinic in Houston. Another photo is captioned: My cells are being processed in here for my next infusion!!! A third shows Bertrand, Lotfi and a physician called Matthew Daneshmand, who is, according to the caption, injecting Bertrand's stem cells into an intravenous drip, ready for the infusion. Nature has been unable to contact Bertrand.

Lotfi says that he has administered cells processed by Celltex to more than 20 people. Five or six including Bertrand have multiple sclerosis and four or five have Parkinson's disease, he says. Lotfi explains that patients sign up for treatment by contacting Novak, and that cells are prepared by removing about five grams of fat containing roughly 100,000 mesenchymal stem cells from the patient's abdomen. Over a three-week period, the cells are cultured until they reach about 800 million cells. Lotfi says that patients get at least three injections of 200 million cells each, and that the cells do not take effect for a few months. According to Lotfi, Celltex charges US$7,000 per 200 million cells, and pays Lotfi $500 per injection.

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Stem-cell therapy takes off in Texas

ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2012) MIT neuroscientists have shown that an enzyme overproduced in the brains of Alzheimer's patients creates a blockade that shuts off genes necessary to form new memories. Furthermore, by inhibiting that enzyme in mice, the researchers were able to reverse Alzheimer's symptoms.

The finding suggests that drugs targeting the enzyme, known as HDAC2, could be a promising new approach to treating the disease, which affects 5.4 million Americans. The number of Alzheimer's victims worldwide is expected to double every 20 years, and President Barack Obama recently set a target date of 2025 to find an effective treatment.

Li-Huei Tsai, leader of the research team, says that HDAC2 inhibitors could help achieve that goal, though it would likely take at least 10 years to develop and test such drugs.

"I would really strongly advocate for an active program to develop agents that can contain HDAC2 activity," says Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. "The disease is so devastating and affects so many people, so I would encourage more people to think about this."

Tsai and her colleagues report the findings in the Feb. 29 online edition of Nature. Lead author of the paper is Johannes Grff, a postdoc at the Picower Institute.

Genome modification

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a family of 11 enzymes that control gene regulation by modifying histones -- proteins around which DNA is spooled, forming a structure called chromatin. When HDACs alter a histone through a process called deacetylation, chromatin becomes more tightly packaged, making genes in that region less likely to be expressed.

HDAC inhibitors can reverse this effect, opening up the DNA and allowing it to be transcribed.

In previous studies, Tsai had shown that HDAC2 is a key regulator of learning and memory. In the new study, her team discovered that inhibiting HDAC2 can reverse Alzheimer's symptoms in mice.

The researchers found that in mice with Alzheimer's symptoms, HDAC2 (but not other HDACs) is overly abundant in the hippocampus, where new memories are formed. HDAC2 was most commonly found clinging to genes involved in synaptic plasticity -- the brain's ability to strengthen and weaken connections between neurons in response to new information, which is critical to forming memories. In the affected mice, those genes also had much lower levels of acetylation and expression.

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Reversing Alzheimer's gene 'blockade' can restore memory, other cognitive functions

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/30dc32/the_ah_receptor_in) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "The AH Receptor in Biology and Toxicology" to their offering.

This book provides a thorough and up-to-date overview of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and its unique dual role in toxicology and biology. The coverage includes epigenetic mechanisms, gene expression, reproductive and developmental toxicity, signal transduction, and transgenic animal models. Featuring an internationally recognized team of authors at the forefront of AHR research, this resource provides a comprehensive reference for readers interested in understanding the full spectrum of AHR, from basic concepts, toxicology analysis, and models to polymorphism and related diseases.

Key Topics Covered:

AHR as a ligand-activated transcription factor.

AHR as a mediator of xenobiotic toxicities: dioxins as a key example.

AHR as a physiological regulator.

Author: Raimo Pohjanvirta.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/30dc32/the_ah_receptor_in

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Research and Markets: The AH Receptor in Biology and Toxicology

SAN FRANCISCO --San Francisco zoo officials are mourning the death of "Gene," a 41-year-old black rhinoceros who's been a popular figure at the zoo since 1978.

Zoo officials, who described Gene as gentle and friendly, said he died of kidney failure on Monday.

The zoo's animal care and veterinary staff had been keeping an eye on Gene because his appetite had dropped and he was lethargic, according to zoo officials.

After a recent blood sample indicated that Gene had kidney failure, zoo staff focused on keeping him comfortable for the remainder of his life.

Gene was named after the late Eugene Friend, who served on the Recreation and Park Commission for 24 years, zoo officials said.

Gene was born in Kenya and came to the San Francisco Zoo in 1978 at the age of seven.

During his time at the zoo, Gene fathered five offspring, three of which are now living at other accredited zoos, zoo officials said.

Gene's animal keeper, Julie McGilvray, said he had a good disposition and was very friendly.

"We nicknamed him Big Dog because he loved to be rubbed, either by hand or with a scrub brush, and oftentimes he would lie down and absorb the soothing experience," McGilvray said in a statement.

Zoo officials said black rhinos are a critically endangered species because they are targeted by poachers who covet their valuable horns.

See the original post here:
San Francisco: 41-year-old black rhino 'Gene' dies zoo

Public release date: 29-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cathia Falvey cfalvey@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle -- Inhaled interferon-gamma may be an effective treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic and progressive form of lung disease caused by excessive formation of fibrotic, or scar tissue, in the lungs, according to an article published in Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery (http://www.liebertpub.com/jamp), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com) The article on inhaled interferon-gamma (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jamp.2011.0919) is available free online at the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery website.

Normally, systemic delivery of interferon-gamma can cause substantial side effects; however, delivery of aerosolized interferon-gamma directly into the lungs was shown to be safe and was associated with significantly reduced levels of profibrotic regulatory proteins. Keith Diaz, MD, Shibu Skaria, MD, Keith Harris, MD, Mario Solomita, DO, Stephanie Lau, MD, Kristy Bauer, MD, Gerald Smaldone, MD, PhD, and Rany Condos, MD, State University of New York, Stony Brook and New York University School of Medicine, NYC, show that inhalation of interferon-gamma in aerosol form three times a week for at least 80 weeks was well-tolerated by patients, with no systemic side effects.

The authors verified the presence of the drug in the material collected on lung washes and documented no change in the level of interferon-gamma in the blood during the treatment period. The report shows the results of pulmonary function tests, including forced vital capacity (FVC) and total lung capacity (TLC), and the effects of treatment on a six-minute walk test in the article entitled "Delivery and Safety of Inhaled Interferon-gamma in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis." (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jamp.2011.0919)

"There is no treatment for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a disease usually fatal within 3-5 years," says Gerald C. Smaldone, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and a coauthor of this article, and Professor and Chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at SUNY-Stony Brook. "The scientific community expected the injected form of interferon-gamma to help, but those studies failed. We have shown that inhaled interferon is safe with very high levels in the lungs. Now is the time to repeat the clinical trials with the inhaled form of this therapy."

###

About the Journal

Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery (http://www.liebertpub.com/jamp) is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online. It is the Official Publication of the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (www.isam.org). The Journal is the only authoritative publication delivering innovative articles on the health effects of inhaled aerosols and delivery of drugs through the pulmonary system. Topics covered include airway reactivity and asthma treatment, inhalation of particles and gases in the respiratory tract, toxic effects of inhaled agents, and aerosols as tools for studying basic physiologic phenomena. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery (http://www.liebertpub.com/jamp) website.

About the Company

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New treatment using inhaled interferon may improve lung function in pulmonary fibrosis

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A $120 million complex is putting Port St. Lucie on the map as a bio-tech hub.

Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, or VGTI, is finally in their new home.The grand opening ceremony was held Wednesday and attracted hundreds of local and state leaders who made the center for innovation a reality.

The state and the city of Port St. Lucie gave $120 million in incentives to attract VGTI, right next to the other bio-tech giant, Torrey Pines Molecular Research Institute.

VGTI, while perhaps not well-known in the public, in the international medical field is showing the most promising research to treat cancer, and even cure HIV.

"For HIV, it's hard to predict when we will find the cure, but we are moving as fast as we can and we're getting closer," said Dr. Jay Nelson, VP of VTGI.

Researchers are giving local people access to clinical trials for HIV and Hepatitis C.So far VGTI is the only researcher showing positive results with an HIV Vaccine.

The research complex will create 200 jobs and attract researchers from around the world.They currently are hiring 125 positions in research and science and promise more positions will be created as the development out here will come.

Visit link:
Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute opens in Port St. Lucie

Image: Erinn Muller/Mote Marine Laboratory

Editor's note: Climate Query is a semi-weekly feature offered by Daily Climate, presenting short Q&A's with players large and small in the climate arena. Read others in the series at http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/query/climate-queries.

Kim Ritchie fell into coral research as an undergraduate, got a Ph.D. in genetics and was doing post-doctoral research in Panama when she lost her funding. With the ideal training for biotech, however, she slipped right into a startup. But when the company went bankrupt, she jumped back into research.

Today she manages the microbiology program at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., a nonprofit research center dedicated to studying marine and estuarine ecosystems. Ritchie is taking a novel approach to reviving stressed coral reefs, looking at the role bacteria can play in coral health. She is tinkering with gene therapy primarily DNA swapping to restore coral reefs by fostering beneficial bacterial growth.

Ritchie earned her doctorate in genetics from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and did post-doctoral research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Foundation in Panama. Ritchie has two grown daughters Emily and Jillian two cats and two dogs, loves watersports and enjoys cooking Mediterranean food in her spare time.

Why are reefs important? Many reasons. They are storm breaks, essentially. They're also habitat to many commercially important species and fisheries. Coral reefs, while they make up a small percentage of the oceans, harbor a diverse assemblage of organisms.

Coral reefs face at least three threats pollution, overfishing and climate change. What has had the most impact? All three have had an effect but climate change, with its increasing temperatures and changing ocean pH, is the most detrimental because it is most closely linked with coral disease and death worldwide.

There are signs out of Australia that corals are tougher than expected. How do we know coral reefs won't just adapt? Its not surprising and it is hopeful. There are subpopulations that dont die off. Perhaps they can reseed the coral reefs and everything becomes more resilient.

Australians are also freezing polyps and coral embryos in the hopes of recreating the Great Barrier Reef in some future era.

If the things they are saving arent resistant to whatever the change is, that might not be a good solution.

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Gene Therapy Could Help Corals Survive Climate Change

A long-held belief about women and fertility is that each woman has a set amount of eggs in her lifetime and that when those eggs are depleted at menopause, so are her chances at having a biological child. However, research out of Massachusetts General Hospital questioning that view. Using stem cells taken from human ovaries, scientists have produced early-stage eggs, which brings up all sorts of questions about possible new methods for treating infertility.Nicholas Wade, writing in the New York Times, adds, "The ability to isolate stem cells from which eggs could be cultivated would help not only with fertility but also with biologists understanding of how drugs and nutrition affect the egg cells."

RELATED: Gecko Foot Glue; When Alcohol Is a Health Food

Jonathan Tilly, the director of Mass General's Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology and leader of the new research, had reported in 2004 that ovarian stem cells in mice could create new eggs "similar to how stem cells in male testes produce sperm throughout a mans life."His new study attempted to prove this with humans. Researchers took healthy ovaries from patients having sex reassignment surgery, and injected stem cells from the ovaries into human ovarian tissue grafted under the skin of mice: "Within two weeks, early stage human follicles with oocytes had formed."Ryan Flinnwrites in Bloomberg Businessweek that this could potentially point at "new ways to aid fertility by delaying when the ovaries stop functioning."

RELATED: The Super Discriminating Powers of Ovulating Women

Dr. Tilly has long been a proponent of the belief that women might be able to produce new eggs, and has said the 50-year belief otherwise is based on lack of evidence rather than on data proving that it's impossible. In 2005, he reported that women have a "hiddenreserve of cells in the bone marrow that constantly replenish the ovaries with new eggs," though other researchers have not been able to confirm his finding.

RELATED: Richard Dawkins Gets into a Comments War with Feminists

Along with opening new doors to understanding the incredibly complex human egg cell, this new research could eventually have very practical implications for the 10 percent of child-bearing age women in the U.S. who have fertility problems. More philosophically, it opens up a new way of thinking about the hard-stop in women's lives for having kids. While fertility technologies like in-vitro and egg freezing are happening to some extent, Tilly's team is exploring the way this new knowledge could improve in-vitro -- IVF involves a limited number of eggs -- and also looking into possibility of developing an ovarian stem-cell bank with eggs that could be "cryogenically frozen and thawed without damage, unlike human eggs."

The problem we face with IVF is we dont have many eggs to work with, said Tilly. These cells are renewable. If we are successful -- and its a big if -- in generating functioning eggs from these cells, we can generate as many eggs as we need to on a per patient basis.

Researchers warn that there's a ways to go before there are any real applications to this, if ever. Female reproduction expertDavid Albertini said it's still unclear whether the egg cells yielded actually could be used in human fertility. Cells grown in laboratories are more likely to develop abnormalities; even if they are proven viable,it's a given that there will be numerous social and political aspects that factor in down the road. Nonetheless, evidence that women's eggs may not be the finite commodity we all thought they were seems poised to make a huge impact across many aspects of contemporary life. What would if mean, for instance, if the old ticking "biological clock" no longer applied -- or applied to women and men more equivalently?

RELATED: Your Daughter's Science Role Model: A Cartoon Space Chimp

More:
New Stem Cell Research Could End the Hard Stop of Female Fertility

London, Feb 29 (IANS) Children shot with their own stem cells, for the very first time in a rare immune disorder, have shown improvement.

The condition, known as X-CGD, is caused by faulty genes. Doctors were able to take a sample of the children's stem cells, manipulate them in the lab and reintroduce them. This gave the children a working copy of the faulty gene and their condition improved, enabling them to temporarily fight off infections.

It is the third immune disorder that doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital have successfully tackled. The others were the life-threatening conditions, X-SCID and ada-SCID, and 90 percent of treated children have improved, with some showing signs that their immune system has been normalised for good.

Remy Helbawi, 16, from South London, was the first child with X-CGD to be treated. The condition only affects boys and means that while his body produces the white blood cells to fight viruses it does not have the correct cells to fight off bacterial or fungal infections, The Telegraph reports.

The resulting infections can be life-threatening. Up until now the only treatment has been a bone marrow transplant which would offer a permanent cure.

Remy's brother who also had the disease was found a bone marrow match and was successfully treated that way but no match has been found for Remy and a serious lung infection was threatening his life.

Remy said: "Until I was 10 I had the same life as anyone else, except I had eczema a lot of the time. I didn't have a fungal infection until about ten, but when I got my first fungal infection my life changed. I missed a lot of school, I had lots of tests and was in hospital. I would get exhausted after climbing stairs."

Before undergoing the gene therapy, Remy had to have chemotherapy which made his hair fall out and he was kept in isolation for a month.

Remy's nurse Helen Braggins said: "Remy had been unwell for last two years and began to miss school. He had significant fungal lung disease in January of last year, which was getting worse. Without some radical treatment intervention, Remy would not have survived and was becoming increasingly short of breath."

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Children improve in rare disorder with own stem cells

Scientists are growing living brain cells from skin samples which could help research into treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh are growing the cells from skin samples taken from families known to carry faulty genes, which are believed to cause mental illness.

The project, which has received 1 million in funding from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), aims to develop brain stem cells that could be used to test and screen drugs.

Scientists said it is not easy to understand the diseases using animal models and it is difficult to predict if possible new treatments will work.

They hope using cell-based systems derived from the skin or hair of affected patients will enable researchers to create tests that are more relevant to the disease in humans, and will reduce the dependence on animal models.

Andrew McIntosh, professor of biological psychiatry, said: "We are making different types of brain cells out of skin samples from people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

"Once we have grown these in the laboratory we can then study the cells' neurological function and see how they respond to standard psychiatric treatments. Following this, we hope to be able to screen new medicines."

In the past, researchers used brain tissue from people with schizophrenia and bipolar depression from deceased donors to gain insight into these brain conditions. Scientists said that access to the living brain cells is an exciting development in studying mental illness.

The university said that between 1% and 4% of the world's population is diagnosed with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, for which there are few highly effective treatments. Little is known about the causes of these conditions but a genetic component is involved as it can run in families.

Well over a million people in the UK are said to be affected by these conditions.

Link:
Living brain cells used in research

Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation will present "Stem-Cell Therapy: Defeating the Aging Process" from 6 to 8 p.m. March 13 in the William & Grayce Walker conference Room at Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation, Charles and Mary Lou Young Non-Profit Center, 1 Acee Drive, Natrona Heights.

Guest speaker will be Dr. Valerie Donaldson of the Individualized Advanced Medical Center of Pittsburgh. She is active in destressing the body and focusing on the anti-aging process.

Donaldson completed her undergraduate education at Colorado College where she earned a bachelor's degree in biology and obtained her doctorate at Rush Medical College in Chicago.

Registration is requested. Call 724-294-3157. Admission is free.

The seminar is sponsored through the Dr. H.W. Fraley Health and Wellness Fund.

Programs set at Destination Wellness

Upcoming programs at Allegheny Valley Hospital's Destination Wellness at Pittsburgh Mills, Frazer, include:

Pittsburgh North Restless Legs Syndrome Support Group will meet from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. Dr. Avinash Aggarwal will discuss "Is it RLS or Something Else?" To register, call Destination Wellness at 724-274-5202.

Heartsaver First Aid, part one will be from 9 a.m. to noon March 10 and is the basic first-aid course. A two-year certification card will be given after completion of skills and written testing. Fee is $35 per part and includes a required student manual. Call 724-274-5202 to register. Space is limited to eight participants.

Heartsaver AED/CPR, part two will be from 1 to 4 p.m. March 10 and includes adult, child and infant CPR and automated external defibrillator use. A two-year certification card will be given after completion of skills and written testing. Fee is $35 per part and includes required student manual. Call 724-274-5202 to register. Space is limited to eight participants.

Read more here:
Program looks at stem-cell therapy to defeat aging

Florida-Based Biotech Cluster Now One of The Fastest Growing Immunology Research Hubs

Tradition, FL (PRWEB) February 29, 2012

As a pioneer in translating scientific discoveries into the clinic, VGTI Florida brings a wealth of knowledge and prestige to TCIs rapidly expanding biocluster. The facility, which is mainly composed of scientific space, resides next to the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. Together, the two anchor members have collaborated efforts to take their discoveries from the bench to bedside with the help of fellow anchor member, Martin Health Systems nationally recognized clinical program.

Having the opportunity to expand our portfolio and work alongside leading institutes, such as Torrey Pines, solidified our decision to expand to Florida and house our new facility at TCI, said VGTI CEO, Mel Rothberg. We are thankful for the support from our fellow anchor members at TCI and the city of Port St. Lucie and look forward to being a part of the community.

Since TCIs first anchor member, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, expanded its San Diegobased facility to Tradition in 2006, TCI has brought an estimated 170 new jobs to the community and created an estimated 1,000 construction jobs. In addition, business service companies that provide life science products such as cylinder gas, biological reagents, gowning, IT, office furniture, scientific equipment and others, have all seen tremendous increases in sales.

Each and every one of TCIs anchor members have played a pivotal role in the development of this park, said Andrew Favata, Vice President of Mann Research Center. The opening of VGTIs Florida facility further demonstrates TCIs position as one of the only bioclusters focused on translating immunology and cancer research.

TCIs anchor members include, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, VGTI Florida, Mann Research Center and Martin Health System, which is set to brake ground on its 82-bed acute care and clinical trials hospital on March 14. Construction on Mann Research Centers 60,000 square foot medical office facility will begin in August 2012.

About Tradition Center for Innovation

Located in the heart of Florida's Research Coast, the Tradition Center for Innovation (TCI) at Tradition in Port St. Lucie is a 150-acre research park featuring a fast-growing roster of innovative, world-class biotech, life science, and research organizations. For more information, visit http://www.tciflorida.com and http://www.twitter.com/tciflorida

About VGTI Florida

The rest is here:
VGTI Florida Opens 100,000 Square Foot Facility at The Tradition Center for Innovation

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) February 29, 2012

Centerstone, the nation's largest provider of community-based behavioral healthcare, and Genomind, a company focused on neuropsychiatric personalized medicine, today announced that they have begun a pilot study examining the use of a proprietary genetic test in assisting clinicians with treatment selections for patients with major depressive disorder. The test, the Genecept Assay, analyzes 20 genetic variants in 10 different genes that can provide information regarding how a patient will respond to antidepressant medications.

For decades, psychiatrists have looked for clues in the clinical symptomatology of depressed patients to help us select the antidepressant that is most likely to be effective, said Karen Rhea, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Centerstone. But matching an individual to one of the many antidepressants available based on symptoms alone can be difficult. In fact, research has shown that many of the antidepressants on the market work on only about half of the people who try them. Recently discovered genetic links to drug response holds great potential in helping us to better match individuals to the right antidepressants for them. Centerstone is so excited to partner with Genomind on this study and to be at the cutting-edge interface between psychiatry and personalized medicine.

The Centerstone and Genomind study will involve 200 outpatient adults in Tennessee who have depression. Half of the participants will have their treatment guided by the Genecept Assay, and half will receive treatment as usual. The study will compare improvement in depressive symptoms among both groups over a 6-month period as well as examine secondary endpoints including changes in clinician behavior and decreases in treatment costs. For further information about other studies involving the Genecept Assay, see ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=page-1).

We are pleased to partner with Centerstone, a leader who shares our vision of bringing the best of science to patients suffering from mental illness, said Ronald I. Dozoretz, MD, Chairman and Co-Founder, Genomind. Studies and data collection are essential to helping the mental health profession transform scientific discovery into clinical practice with the patient in mind.

The Genecept Assay is simple and saliva-based. The treating clinician receives an analytic report within several days and can also take advantage of psychopharmacology expertise from Genomind.

David Ayer, Ph.D., Director of Clinical Research for Centerstone Research Institute, will serve as the principal investigator of the Tennessee pilot study. Recruitment for the study is underway.

About Genomind: Genomind is a company specializing in neuropsychiatric personalized medicine and was formed to facilitate the adoption of personalized medicine into psychiatry by providing genetic information for clinicians to better understand the patient. Genomind was founded by Ronald I. Dozoretz, MD, a psychiatrist who has devoted his career to improving mental health and bringing innovations in science, delivery, and access to mental health patients. Jay Lombard, DO, a neurologist, is co-founder of Genomind and is a critically acclaimed author and nationally recognized thought leader in neuropsychiatry practice and research. Learn more at http://www.genomind.com.

About Centerstone: Centerstone, a not-for-profit organization, is the nation's largest provider of community-based behavioral healthcare. It provides a full range of mental health, addiction and related educational services to more than 75,000 individuals of all ages each year. The organization has nearly 130 facilities and 220 partnership locations throughout Indiana and Tennessee. It also operates the Centerstone Foundation, the Centerstone Research Institute (CRI), which is improving mental healthcare through innovative research and information technology, and Advantage Behavioral Health, a behavioral health administrative management organization. For more information about Centerstone, please visit http://www.centerstone.org.

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Centerstone And Genomind Begin New Study On Genetic Test For Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Complete Genomics Inc. (Nasdaq:GNOM - News), the whole human genome sequencing company, today announced the formation of its Genomic Medicine Advisory Board (GMAB). The GMAB will provide insight and guidance on the best ways for the company to provide sequencing services to healthcare organizations and physicians interested in implementing genomic medicine in their practice.

Inaugural board members include distinguished physicians and scientists. Robert Nussbaum, MD, Holly Smith Professor of Medicine, chief of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Medicine, and director of the Cancer Risk and Cardiovascular Genetics Programs at the University of California, San Francisco, will serve as GMAB chairman.

"There are a number of major challenges to deploying whole genome sequencing in the clinic," said Dr. Nussbaum. "The Complete Genomics GMAB is a wonderful opportunity to assemble thought leaders in genomic medicine to begin to define the 'clinical genome' and how to make it most useful and accessible to clinicians, establish technical and ethical standards, and address some of the regulatory and reimbursement obstacles that exist in this rapidly-evolving field. Complete Genomics is committed to doing this right."

Founding members of the Complete Genomics GMAB include the following:

"Whole genome sequencing data will be used by physicians to make treatment decisions for their patients. We're working hard to make sure we can provide them with the information they need in the most accessible and actionable format," said Complete Genomics Chairman, President and CEO Dr. Clifford Reid. "A key step for us is putting together an advisory board like this that includes leaders and visionaries in medical genetics, clinical pathology, oncology, pediatrics, clinical laboratory science, health information technology, healthcare delivery, ethics, and regulatory and reimbursement policy."

The GMAB plans to meet annually to discuss scientific and policy issues and provide feedback on the company's ongoing projects and advice on future direction.

About Complete Genomics

Complete Genomics is the whole human genome sequencing company that has developed and commercialized an innovative DNA sequencing platform. The Complete Genomics Analysis Platform (CGA(TM) Platform) combines Complete Genomics' proprietary human genome sequencing technology with advanced informatics and data management software. Additional information can be found at http://www.completegenomics.com.

The Complete Genomics logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8216

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Complete Genomics Announces Formation of Genomic Medicine Advisory Board

Embargoed for Release Wednesday, February 29, 2012 9 a.m. EST

An online tool launched today by the National Institutes of Health will make it easier to navigate the rapidly changing landscape of genetic tests. The free resource, called the Genetic Testing Registry (GTR), is available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gtr/.

"Im delighted that NIH has created this powerful, new tool. It is a tremendous resource for all who are struggling to make sense of the complex world of genetic testing," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., who unveiled GTR at NIH's observance of international Rare Disease Day. "This registry will help a lot of people from health care professionals looking for answers to their patients diseases to researchers seeking to identify gaps in scientific knowledge."

Genetic tests currently exist for about 2,500 diseases, and the field continues to grow at an astonishing rate. To keep pace, GTR will be updated frequently, using data voluntarily submitted by genetic test providers. Such information will include the purpose of each genetic test and its limitations; the name and location of the test provider; whether it is a clinical or research test; what methods are used; and what is measured. GTR will contain no confidential information about people who receive genetic tests or individual test results.

Genetic tests that the Food and Drug Administration has cleared or approved as safe and effective are identified in the GTR. However, most laboratory developed tests currently do not require FDA premarket review. Genetic test providers will be solely responsible for the content and quality of the data they submit to GTR. NIH will not verify the content, but will require submitters to agree to a code of conduct that stipulates that the information they provide is accurate and updated on an annual basis. If submitters do not adhere to this code, NIH can take action, including requiring submitters to correct any inaccuracies or to remove such information from GTR.

In addition to basic facts, GTR will offer detailed information on analytic validity, which assesses how accurately and reliably the test measures the genetic target; clinical validity, which assesses how consistently and accurately the test detects or predicts the outcome of interest; and information relating to the tests clinical utility, or how likely the test is to improve patient outcomes.

"Our new registry features a versatile search interface that allows users to search by tests, conditions, genes, genetic mutations and laboratories," said Wendy Rubinstein, M.D., Ph.D., director of GTR. "What's more, we designed this tool to serve as a portal to other medical genetics information, with context-specific links to practice guidelines and a variety of genetic, scientific and literature resources available through the National Library of Medicine at NIH."

GTR is built upon data pulled from the laboratory directory of GeneTests, a pioneering NIH-funded resource that will be phased out over the coming year. GTR is designed to contain more detailed information than its predecessor, as well as to encompass a much broader range of testing approaches, such as complex tests for genetic variations associated with common diseases and with differing responses to drugs. GeneReviews, which is the section of GeneTests that contains peer-reviewed, clinical descriptions of more than 500 conditions, is also now available through GTR.

The GTR database was developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of NIHs National Library of Medicine, under the oversight of the NIH Office of the Director and with extensive input from researchers, testing labs, health care providers, patients and other stakeholders. To view video tutorials on how to use GTR, go to http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1C4A2AFF811F6F0B.

The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.

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Confused by genetic tests? NIH’s new online tool may help

By a GenomeWeb staff reporter

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) The National Institutes of Health has launched a new web resource aimed at providing consumers and healthcare providers with information about all of the genetic tests that are currently on the market.

The Genetic Testing Registry, unveiled today international Rare Disease Day was developed to serve as an encyclopedia of the genetic tests that currently exist for around 2,500 genetic diseases, one which will be updated as new tests and applications come on the market.

The goal was to create a resource that would help healthcare providers and consumers sort through information about the available tests, because most do not require premarket review by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The GTR entries will cover information on the purpose of the test, its limitations, the name and location of the providers, whether it is for clinical or research use, what methods are used, and how the results are measured. NIH will not verify the content of the entries provided by the testing providers, but it will require that they agree to a code of conduct for accuracy that will enable NIH to require submitters to correct inaccuracies or to remove such information from the resource.

On top of the basic information, the voluntary GTR will provide details about a test's analytic validity, clinical validity, and clinical utility.

"I'm delighted that NIH has created this powerful, new tool. It is a tremendous resource for all who are struggling to make sense of the complex world of genetic testing," NIH Director Francis Collins said in a statement.

"This registry will help a lot of people from healthcare professionals looking for answers to their patients' diseases to researchers seeking to identify gaps in scientific knowledge."

"Our new registry features a versatile search interface that allows users to search by tests, conditions, genes, genetic mutations, and laboratories," said GTR Director Wendy Rubinstein. "What's more, we designed this tool to serve as a portal to other medical genetics information, with context-specific links to practice guidelines and a variety of genetic, scientific and literature resources available through the National Library of Medicine at NIH."

The registry was developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, with input from a range of stakeholders, including testing labs, healthcare providers, patients, and researchers, through a public comment period and public meetings.

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NIH Launches Genetic Testing Registry

Public release date: 28-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Barlow jebarlow@uoregon.edu 541-346-3481 University of Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Feb. 29, 2012) -- A rare and endangered monkey in an African equatorial rainforest is providing a look into our climatic future through its DNA. Its genes show that wild drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus), already an overhunted species, may see a dramatic population decline if the forest dries out and vegetation becomes sparser amid warming temperatures, researchers report.

Looking for clues amid 2,076 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA -- genes passed down along female lineages -- researchers discovered genetic signs that coincide with the conditions that mirror current climate projections for the equator around the globe in the next 100 years. Also examined were the region's fossil and pollen records.

"The drills went through a large population collapse -- as much as 15-fold," said Nelson Ting, a professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon. Ting is the lead author of a study placed online ahead of regular publication in the journal Ecology and Evolution. "This occurred sometime around the mid-Holocene, which was about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago."

Ting and 10 other researchers -- representing institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Nigeria and Germany -- gathered feces of drills in the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko Coastal forests that stretch across portions of Nigeria, Bioko Island (Equatorial Guinea) and Cameroon. The extracted DNA provided the first genetic information from this species, which is found only in that region.

The species also is struggling for survival because of poaching and by habitat loss due to logging and cultivation activities. Drill meat also is a valued food; hunters often shoot them en masse. Protecting drill populations was the top priority of the African Primate Conservation Action Plan developed in 1996 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Despite the designation, Ting said, "hunting continues and is the much more immediate danger facing the drill."

The base pairs examined came from 54 samples of DNA. Base pairs are made up of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. While DNA is the blueprint for life, examining the sequences of these chemicals also provides a roadmap into any organism's past. "Looking at its modern genetic diversity, you can infer changes in past population size," Ting said.

In the mid-Holocene, temperatures across equatorial Africa were hotter and dryer, with a reduction of forest cover that the drill need for survival. The ecology of the region also includes multiple other species found only there. The research, Ting said, is among emerging work focusing on past climate conditions in equatorial areas. Many studies have been done on conditions in both temperate and arctic regions.

The findings carry conservation implications, Ting said. "We could see many of these equatorial forests becoming very arid. Forest will be lost as vegetation changes to adapt to dryer conditions. Our findings show that this type of animal, which already is very much endangered because of hunters, would not be able to deal with the level of climate changes that could be coming."

Continued here:
Genetics of endangered African monkey suggest troubles from warming climate

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. & BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ambry Genetics, a global leader in genetic services with a focus on clinical diagnostics and genomics, announces specific results from one of three recent diagnoses using its proprietary new Clinical Diagnostic Exome. Four individuals with rare genetic conditions for which the cause could not previously be identified were successfully diagnosed, three at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and one at a large, Ivy League-affiliated university hospital in New York City.

One of the cases at Kennedy Krieger Institute involves two brothers, ages 22 and 24, with profound intellectual disability and autism. The actual cause of their condition was unknown for over 20 years. Ambry Genetics Clinical Diagnostic Exome test revealed that their condition is a form of autosomal recessive intellectual disability precisely caused by mutations in the ELP2 gene. Because this gene was only recently discovered and routine testing was not available, this diagnosis would have been impossible to identify without exome sequencing.

The majority of genetic diseases are caused by mutations located in the exons, which are the regions of genes that code for protein. Exons make up about 1.5% of the genome, which in total consists of over 20,000 genes. Traditional genetic testing analyzes only one or a few specific genes at a time. In contrast, exome sequencing is a much broader test targeting the exons of nearly all genes. Ambry Genetics believes that exome sequencing will be much more useful in quickly identifying the causes of a wide range of genetic disorders that previously have gone undiagnosed.

We are the first CLIA-certified lab to offer whole exome sequencing, and moreover are the first to deliver actionable results from an exome test, as demonstrated with these results, said Charles Dunlop, chief executive officer of Ambry Genetics. However, this is just the beginning. We stand ready to solve medical mysteries for clinicians, and to bring relief to patients and their caregivers who may be suffering from conditions of unknown cause and origin. Our Clinical Diagnostic Exome test is now available to clinicians and their patients across the country, and is already covered by some national health insurance carriers. Having helped three families in these initial cases, we are eagerly anticipating helping many more.

We are most pleased to be able to share these patient-specific results from the Clinical Diagnostic Exome, said Elizabeth Chao, M.D., assistant medical director of Ambry Genetics. We are looking forward to documenting them, further, and conducting additional Clinical Diagnostic Exome tests, in coming months.

It was extremely rewarding and exciting to share these results with the families, added Julie Cohen, Sc.M., C.G.C, genetic counselor at Kennedy Krieger Institute. This is a great leap forward for clinical diagnostics and opens the door to hopefully help many clinicians find answers for the patients and caregivers who desperately need them.

About the Ambry Genetics Clinical Diagnostic Exome

Ambry Genetics is the first CLIA-certified laboratory to offer whole exome sequencing for clinical diagnostics. To date, underlying causative genes have been discovered for fewer than half of all monogenic disorders, making the Clinical Diagnostic Exome a powerful tool to help diagnose affected patients whose conditions have eluded traditional diagnostic approaches. Exome sequencing also provides a highly effective, cost- and time-saving method to diagnosis genetic diseases that are associated with multiple genes for which limited testing and/or no comprehensive panels are available. More information is available at http://www.ambrygen.com/clinical-diagnostic-exome.

About Ambry Genetics

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Ambry Genetics Reports Specific Results from Clinical Diagnostic Exome™ Testing of Patients at Kennedy Krieger Institute

29 February 2012 Last updated at 10:39 ET

Treatment which aims to correct a rare inherited genetic defect has helped a patient at risk from serious infection, a leading hospital is reporting.

The use of gene therapy against chronic granulomatous disorder (CGD) is a third success for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Patients with CGD cannot make cells to fight bacterial and fungal infection.

Scientists used a virus to deliver a functioning version of the faulty gene which causes the disease.

Clinical trials at Great Ormond Street and its linked research centre, the Institute for Child Health at University College London, have focused on rare immune conditions caused by a single gene defect.

Early trials in 16 patients with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (x-SCID) and Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency causing Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (ada-SCID), who previously were so vulnerable to infection they needed to live in sterile conditions, have worked well, allowing most of them to start enjoying normal lives.

The decision was taken to use a similar technique on a teenage CGD patient who had fallen prey to a serious fungal lung infection, and was not expected to survive more than a year.

One in 150,000 children has the gene defect which causes CGD, and there is only one way to cure it - with a bone marrow transplant.

In the case of the teenage patient, no matching donor was available.

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Therapy 'aiding immune disease'

SILVER SPRING, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Nuvilex, Inc. (OTCQB:NVLX), an emerging biotechnology provider of cell and gene therapy solutions, announced today Goldman Small Cap Research has reissued its buy recommendation on Nuvilex with a short term price target of $0.50 per share.

According to the research report prepared by Goldman, The current share price represents but a fraction of its true value, in our view. With recently increased interest and valuation in the pancreatic cancer treatment arena, we believe that Nuvilex is worth $0.20 just on the oncology therapies alone and that the shares will reach $0.50 in the next six months. Looking ahead, as milestone events occur, $1.00 per share is within reach over the next 12-18 months.

Goldman bases this value projection, in part, on the pending acquisition of SG Austria assets, and with it complete control over the cell encapsulation technology that forms the backbone of Nuvilexs planned biotechnology development. The report states in part the following:

Following execution of the SG Austria asset acquisition, we expect to see a flurry of events and progress on the development side which will serve as catalysts, including when management submits its protocol for the next stage pancreatic cancer trial. We would not be surprised to see the stock break through the $0.50 price on such news as well as progress on the next stage of trials for other therapies.

One reason we are so convinced of the great buying opportunity is the fact that pancreatic cancer treatments are currently at the forefront of the biotech space and are enjoying very high valuations. Although Nuvilex is a not a drug producer, but an existing therapy enhancer through the use of its live cell encapsulation enhancement platform, the timing of these milestone events could not be better for Nuvilex and a re-valuation of its offering.

The Goldman report also compares alternative oncology therapies, including Gemzar from Threshold Pharmaceuticals and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals drug encapsulation technology, noting that, contrary to these treatments, the Nuvilex live-cell encapsulation technology is not limited to one specific use, but can be adapted to use for a host of cell types. The report states, Its difficult to compare apples-to-apples in this space as Nuvilex is the only firm utilizing live-cell encapsulation therapy for cancer, while all the other treatments are based upon a particular drug usage. Contrasting the results of different Phase II clinical trials, the Goldman report comments that the pancreatic cancer therapy, based on completed Phase 1/2 data, appears to have yielded statistically greater results than competing technologies.

Commenting on The Goldman Report, Nuvilex Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Robert Ryan, stated, The report did an excellent job highlighting the value and capabilities of our cell encapsulation technology, not just for cancer therapy, but also for the vast array of treatments where live-cell encapsulation can aid multiple diseases. In the case of the completed cancer trials, it generated superior results with lower drug dosages, and reduced chemotherapeutic side effects. As we move forward with diabetes and stem cell therapy treatments, we are confident our success will, as Goldman predicts prompt leaders in multiple treatment segments to partner with Nuvilex in order to maintain their respective market shares.

Investors are recommended to study the Goldman Research Report for a detailed review and valuation methodology regarding Nuvilex.

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Nuvilex Reveals Goldman Small Cap Research Cites Groundbreaking Cancer Therapy in Updating Buy Recommendation

A long-held belief about women and fertility is that each woman has a set amount of eggs in her lifetime and that when those eggs are depleted at menopause, so are her chances at having a biological child. However, research out of Massachusetts General Hospital questioning that view. Using stem cells taken from human ovaries, scientists have produced early-stage eggs, which brings up all sorts of questions about possible new methods for treating infertility.Nicholas Wade, writing in the New York Times, adds, "The ability to isolate stem cells from which eggs could be cultivated would help not only with fertility but also with biologists understanding of how drugs and nutrition affect the egg cells."

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Jonathan Tilly, the director of Mass General's Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology and leader of the new research, had reported in 2004 that ovarian stem cells in mice could create new eggs "similar to how stem cells in male testes produce sperm throughout a mans life."His new study attempted to prove this with humans. Researchers took healthy ovaries from patients having sex reassignment surgery, and injected stem cells from the ovaries into human ovarian tissue grafted under the skin of mice: "Within two weeks, early stage human follicles with oocytes had formed."Ryan Flinnwrites in Bloomberg Businessweek that this could potentially point at "new ways to aid fertility by delaying when the ovaries stop functioning."

RELATED: The Super Discriminating Powers of Ovulating Women

Dr. Tilly has long been a proponent of the belief that women might be able to produce new eggs, and has said the 50-year belief otherwise is based on lack of evidence rather than on data proving that it's impossible. In 2005, he reported that women have a "hiddenreserve of cells in the bone marrow that constantly replenish the ovaries with new eggs," though other researchers have not been able to confirm his finding.

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Along with opening new doors to understanding the incredibly complex human egg cell, this new research could eventually have very practical implications for the 10 percent of child-bearing age women in the U.S. who have fertility problems. More philosophically, it opens up a new way of thinking about the hard-stop in women's lives for having kids. While fertility technologies like in-vitro and egg freezing are happening to some extent, Tilly's team is exploring the way this new knowledge could improve in-vitro -- IVF involves a limited number of eggs -- and also looking into possibility of developing an ovarian stem-cell bank with eggs that could be "cryogenically frozen and thawed without damage, unlike human eggs."

The problem we face with IVF is we dont have many eggs to work with, said Tilly. These cells are renewable. If we are successful -- and its a big if -- in generating functioning eggs from these cells, we can generate as many eggs as we need to on a per patient basis.

Researchers warn that there's a ways to go before there are any real applications to this, if ever. Female reproduction expertDavid Albertini said it's still unclear whether the egg cells yielded actually could be used in human fertility. Cells grown in laboratories are more likely to develop abnormalities; even if they are proven viable,it's a given that there will be numerous social and political aspects that factor in down the road. Nonetheless, evidence that women's eggs may not be the finite commodity we all thought they were seems poised to make a huge impact across many aspects of contemporary life. What would if mean, for instance, if the old ticking "biological clock" no longer applied -- or applied to women and men more equivalently?

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New Stem Cell Research Could End the Hard Stop of Female Fertility

For 60 years, doctors have believed women were born with all the eggs they'll ever have. Now Harvard scientists are challenging that dogma, saying they've discovered the ovaries of young women harbor very rare stem cells capable of producing new eggs.

If Sunday's report is confirmed, harnessing those stem cells might one day lead to better treatments for women left infertile because of disease or simply because they're getting older.

"Our current views of ovarian aging are incomplete. There's much more to the story than simply the trickling away of a fixed pool of eggs," said lead researcher Jonathan Tilly of Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital, who has long hunted these cells in a series of controversial studies.

Tilly's previous work drew fierce skepticism, and independent experts urged caution about the latest findings.

A key next step is to see whether other laboratories can verify the work. If so, then it would take years of additional research to learn how to use the cells, said Teresa Woodruff, fertility preservation chief at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

Still, even a leading critic said such research may help dispel some of the enduring mystery surrounding how human eggs are born and mature.

"This is going to spark renewed interest, and more than anything else it's giving us some new directions to work in," said David Albertini, director of the University of Kansas' Center for Reproductive Sciences. While he has plenty of questions about the latest work, "I'm less skeptical," he said.

Scientists have long taught that all female mammals are born with a finite supply of egg cells, called ooctyes, that runs out in middle age. Tilly, Mass General's reproductive biology director, first challenged that notion in 2004, reporting that the ovaries of adult mice harbor some egg-producing stem cells. Recently, Tilly noted, a lab in China and another in the U.S. also have reported finding those rare cells in mice.

But do they exist in women? Enter the new work, reported Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine.

First Tilly had to find healthy human ovaries to study. He collaborated with scientists at Japan's Saitama Medical University, who were freezing ovaries donated for research by healthy 20-somethings who underwent a sex-change operation.

Continued here:
Women Have Egg-Producing Stem Cells

These human eggs (oocytes) can now be made from adult ovaries; Credit: Shutterstock

Yvonne A R White, Dori C Woods, Yasushi Takai, Hiroyuki Seki and Jonathan L Tilly worked hard in 2004. When this intrepid team revealed that some mammals (eg. mice) can produce eggs into their adult life, there was hope that stem cells could now become a staple of medical ideas. That hope has been fully justified. Published in the March issue of Nature Medicine, the same team have explored human female ovary capabilities and performed what was thought the impossible.

We may all know that female babies are born with their full and finite complement of oocytes or eggs, but we are only partly correct. Now the possibilities have enlarged. The proof that you could find egg-producing stem cells in the ovary of adult women was paramount for this team of scientists.

Dr. Jonathan Tilly directs the Vincent Center in Massachusetts General Hospital: "The discovery of oocyte precursor cells in adult human ovaries, coupled with the fact that these cells share the same characteristic features of their mouse counterparts that produce fully functional eggs, opens the door for development of unprecedented technologies to overcome infertility in women and perhaps even delay the timing of ovarian failure." Presumably, stem cell researchers will read much more into this.

Shanghai mouse research provided support with proof of egg-producing stem cells in 2009 and then the Vincent team developed a more precise green fluorescence-activated cell-sorting technique(GFP), whereby no possibility of contamination from other cells was possible. The verified eggs they produced could then be fertilised and developed into blastocysts. Now for human tissues. The resultant oocytes (eggs) not only looked like and grew like those in human ovaries, but some had the required haploid number of chromosomes, presumably after meiosis (all true eggs of course have to double up their DNA later, when fertilised.)

This cross-section of a human ovary shows potential areas for stem cells -which can now be converted to oocytes - even in adult women; Credit: Shutterstock

The final step, to date, involved using mouse recipients for the human tissue. Immature human follicles and oocytes were found after 7-14 days, and possibly were present before the mouse skin graft. Dr. Tilly and the team are now exploring the freezing of these cells in human OSC banks, as human eggs cannot be frozen and thawed without damage.

Likewise, factors such as hormones that influence the marvellous transformation from OSC to oocyte need to be identified with IVF and other infertility possibilities become let us say, "improved" spectacularly by these discoveries. Women's health generally could also be improved by maintaining some functions in the ovary throughout life. Let us be clear that with even more from these particular stem cells, a fascinating transformation of the whole of medicine lies ahead.

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Eggs from Stem Cells excite the imagination