Archive for May, 2012

OLDSMAR, Fla., May 3, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Cryo-Cell International, Inc. announced the appointment of Linda Kelley, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Dr. Kelley is responsible for overseeing Cryo-Cells state-of-the art laboratory, translational medicine initiatives and quality assurance program at its stem cell and cord blood banking facility in Oldsmar, Florida. She joins the company from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard, where she was the director of the Connell OReilly Cell Manipulation Core Facility.

Dr. Kelley is an internationally recognized, cord blood stem cell scientist whose accomplishments have helped expand the scope of stem cell therapies from bone marrow transplantation to the treatment of heart, kidney, brain and other degenerative diseases. She was a member of the board of trustees of the Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy and chaired its Standards Committee. Dr. Kelley was one of 12 scientists selected by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science to serve on the panel that advised Congress on how to allocate $80 million in funding to optimally structure a national cord blood stem cell program.

While director of the Cell Therapy Facility at the University of Utah, she established that states first umbilical cord blood collection program that enabled families to donate their childrens cord blood to the national inventory. Dr. Kelley earned graduate and post-doctoral degrees in hematology and immunology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where she also served as assistant professor in the Department of Medicine.

As a leader in our field, Cryo-Cell is delighted to have someone of Dr. Kelleys caliber directing our laboratory and translational medicine initiatives. Her expertise will ensure that we continue to exceed the industrys quality standards and maintain our tradition of offering clients the absolute best in cord blood, cord tissue, and menstrual stem cell cryopreservation services, said David Portnoy, chairman and co-CEO at Cryo-Cell. Under her guidance, Cryo-Cell will be propelled to the forefront of regenerative medicine.

Kelley replaces Julie Allickson, Ph.D., who is joining the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), where she will manage translational research. WFIRM is led by Anthony Atala, M.D., a Cryo-Cell board member and preeminent stem cell scientist.

The opportunity to work in a cutting-edge facility with a staff that is exceptionally well trained was very attractive to me, said Dr. Kelley. But equally important in my decision to join Cryo-Cell, was the commitment that co-CEOs David and Mark Portnoy have made to support the advancement of regenerative medicine through partnerships with Stanford University and private research facilities. Cryo-Cell is unique among stem cell cryopreservation firms in that regard.

About Cryo-Cell International, Inc. Cryo-Cell International, Inc. was founded in 1989. In 1992, it became the first private cord blood bank in the world to separate and store stem cells. Today, Cryo-Cell has over 240,000 clients worldwide from 87 countries. Cryo-Cell's mission is to provide clients with state-of-the-art stem cell cryopreservation services and support the advancement of regenerative medicine. Cryo-Cell operates in a facility that is compliant with Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Tissue Practice (cGMP/cGTP). It is ISO 9001:2008 certified and accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks. Cryo-Cell is a publicly traded company, OTC:QB Markets Group Symbol: CCEL. Expectant parents or healthcare professionals who wish to learn more about cord blood banking and cord blood banking prices may call 1-800-STOR-CELL (1-800-786-7235) or visit http://www.cryo-cell.com/.

Forward-Looking Statement Statements wherein the terms "believes", "intends", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", and similar expressions as used are intended to reflect "forward-looking statements" of the Company. The information contained herein is subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in such forward-looking statements or paragraphs, many of which are outside the control of the Company. These uncertainties and other factors include the success of the Company's global expansion initiatives and product diversification, the Company's actual future ownership stake in future therapies emerging from its collaborative research partnerships, the success related to its IP portfolio, the Company's future competitive position in stem cell innovation, future success of its core business and the competitive impact of public cord blood banking on the Company's business, the Company's ability to minimize future costs to the Company related to R&D initiatives and collaborations and the success of such initiatives and collaborations, the success and enforceability of the Company's menstrual stem cell technology license agreements and umbilical cord blood license agreements and their ability to provide the Company with royalty fees, the ability of the reproductive tissue storage to generate new revenues for the Company and those risks and uncertainties contained in risk factors described in documents the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K filed by the Company. The Company disclaims any obligations to subsequently revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

Contact: David Portnoy Cryo-Cell International, Inc. 813-749-2100 dportnoy(at)cryo-cell(dot)com

This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9469228.htm

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Cryo-Cell International Taps Leader in Stem Cell Therapy to Serve as Chief Scientific Officer

Every year in the US, about 1.3 million people undergo bone graft surgeries to repair defects left by accidents or disease. While natural bone tissue is the ideal choice for grafts, using a patient's own bone means additional surgery and risks, and donor bone grafts can be rejected.

Engineered grafts that use ceramic, glass or even metal to provide a scaffold for new bone cells to grow are thought to be a promising alternative to natural bone. Some researchers are looking to a more unexpected source of material for bone grafts - the larva of Bombyx mori, also known as the the domesticated silkworm.

Silk is a promising material for bone grafts because it is the strongest naturally occurring fiber, according to David Kaplan, a Tufts University biomedical engineer. A strand of spider silk is five times stronger than a steel fiber of the same diameter, and almost as strong as Kevlar, one of the strongest manmade fibers.

The material is also easy to sterilize, and researchers can also control how quickly the silk graft degrades. But while a sponge-shaped silk matrix allows bone cells to grow, it isn't strong enough to endure the stresses of movement and compression.

"It supports the biology, but not the mechanics," said Kaplan.

Usually researchers have attempted to shore up a silk matrix with other materials like collagen, but this often means sacrificing either strength or flexibility in the final graft, according to Kaplan.

Now, Kaplan and a group of international colleagues say they've been able to strengthen the silk matrix by using tiny silk fibers scattered throughout the walls of the silk "sponge", akin to how a length of steel bar is used to reinforce a concrete structure .

They described their results in a paper that appeared Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Kaplan and his colleagues used a new method to create the tiny tendrils of silk to reinforce the matrix: they washed silk fibers with water and lye, producing tiny fibrils with a length between 10 and 20 micrometers - about one two-thousandth of an inch - within one minute. Conventional silk processing methods produce a much longer fiber of more than 100 micrometers after 12 minutes, according to the authors.

Those tiny fibers, strewn about within the walls of the silk matrix, make a big difference. In addition to being stronger than the unenhanced silk matrix, the composite material also mimicked a number of the features of natural bone in terms of stiffness and roughness.

Continued here:
Strengthening Silk Bone Grafts: Scientists Work To Harness World’s Strongest Natural Fiber

Daniel Dudek suffered a spinal cord injury five years ago while serving in Iraq, so sports quickly took a backseat to survival. He was paralyzed below both of his knees as a result of an improvised explosive device that hit him in the back, killing one of his comrades.

At first, Dudek, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, could walk with crutches. Then he was confined to a wheelchair. Then came spells of never-ending pain, especially in his nerves.

When Dudek swung a golf club and muscled out a few shots, he started living again. A lot of the obstacles in front of me were just illusions I had put in front of myself, he said.

Accelerating the recovery process through the benefit of sports is the point of the Warrior Games, the third annual event for 200-plus wounded, injured and ill service members and veterans from all five branches of the U.S. military that kicked off Tuesday at Air Force.

PHOTO GALLERY: DAY 1 OF THE WARRIOR GAMES

RAMSEY: Marine competes, lives with courage

The Army-operated Warrior Transition Command features 10,000 soldiers at 29 locations across the country, most of whom are involved in adaptive sports during six-plus months of rehabilitation. Since 2007, there have been 22,000 soldiers sent back to the Army, with a majority having recovered from traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Warrior Transition Command head Darryl Williams, a brigadier general in the Army, tells recovering soldiers, Your life is upside down, but you need to get off the couch and get after it and focus on your ability. Williams dubbed the Warrior Games not some sorry story thats happening this week. This isnt a bad-news story. None of these soldiers want anybody feeling sorry for them. This is about them seizing the day and celebrating and being the best. They signed up to be Army soldiers, and they are still Army soldiers.

A Warrior Transition Command branch chief in charge of plans, policy and procedures, Dudek is competing in swimming and track and field at the Warrior Games, and he also has dabbled in cycling, skiing and triathlon. A lot of things that I used to do, I could still do, Dudek said. I could just do with an adaptive piece of equipment. Plus, Dudek has regained his confidence. We want everybody to excel with whatever injury they have, he said. But when theyre in the pool against me, its me who is going to get the gold.

Adaptive sports initially werent attractive for Jasmine Perry, an Army specialist whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2006 following a 2005 training accident at Fort Carson. The word adaptive makes me feel different, and I didnt want to feel like I was different than my friends, said Perry, now stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

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Warrior Games a platform for disabled military to speed up recovery

Posted by J. Robert DavisMay 01, 2012 11:06 PM

When I was a baby lawyer, cutting my teeth on brand spanking new Texas tort reform (texaswatch.org) in the mid-nineties, I ended up mostly with the cases and clients no self-respecting lawyer would stoop to represent. I didnt mind. One of my proudest achievements as a trial lawyer was a $1,600.00 dollar jury verdict taken with a client nobody cared about. My client thought it was a pretty good verdict too.

Those were hungry years and when a fellow trial lawyer called me one day about some work I was all ears. But he didnt want my baby trial lawyer skills, which were meager at best. He asked if I could write an outline for him on the questions to ask a doctor in deposition. Well I was flattered but quick to point out that I had taken maybe only 10 or so doctor depositions at that point in my illustrious young career. Heck, he knew more than I did about deposing doctors.

Not just any doctor and not just a simple outline, he said. I have a huge case and my client is permanently paralyzed from the waist down and I want to depose his Physiatrist (aapmr.org). I want an outline that is so detailed and complete that it delves into even the smallest nuances of life with a spinal cord injury. I want to know things and ask questions that only a person with a spinal cord injury would know to ask, he said. I want to ask questions that make the corporate defense attorneys cringe when they hear the answers.

I asked him about his clients injury. He is a T-4, he said. That is not an injury from the waist down, I reminded him, the 4th thoracic vertebrae is mid chest. First you need to know the basic science of a spinal cord injury (www.spinalcord.org). A cervical injury affects arm and hand function and causes quadriplegia. An injury below the cervical level, T-1 down through the lumbar and sacral levels causes paraplegia. If your client is injured from the waist down, their lesion likely occurred at the very lowest thoracic level or at the lumbar or sacral level. Although both are paraplegics, for example, there are significant differences in the level of function between a T-2 and T-12.

It was my first and only work as a consulting expert witness. The outline was 18 pages in length and contained the most grim and dark aspects of caring for a spinal cord injury. The trial lawyer called me after the deposition. He said his clients Physiatrist was very impressed with his knowledge of SCI and really warmed to the task of answering even the toughest questions. The defense attorney pulled him aside afterward and asked how the heck he knew all that stuff about SCI!

He settled the case not soon after the treating physiatrist deposition. A few years later I was privileged to represent my first client with a spinal cord injury. I discovered that I had misplaced the outline while preparing for the Physiatrist deposition. I never could find that thing. But it didnt matter. I know it all by heart.

The rest is here:
When you need an attorney AND an expert on spinal cord injury!

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tengion, Inc. (TNGN), a leader in regenerative medicine, today announced it will host a conference call and live audio webcast on Monday, May 7, 2012, at 5:00 p.m. EDT to provide a business update and discuss its first quarter 2012 financial results.

To participate in the call, please dial 866-356-4281 (domestic) or 617-597-5395 (international) and reference access code 33248660.

The conference call can be accessed from the Investors section of the Company's website or directly at http://www.media-server.com/m/p/rf5nyqx7. The webcast will also be archived on the website.

About Tengion

Tengion, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, is focused on developing its Organ Regeneration Platform, to harness the intrinsic regenerative pathways of the body to regenerate a range of native-like organs and tissues and delay or eliminate the need for chronic disease therapies, organ transplantation, and the administration of anti-rejection medications. An initial clinical trial is ongoing for the Company's lead product candidate, the Neo-Urinary Conduit, an autologous implant that is intended to catalyze regeneration of native-like urinary tissue for bladder cancer patients requiring a urinary diversion following bladder removal. The Company's lead preclinical candidate is the Neo-Kidney Augment, which is designed to prevent or delay dialysis kidney transplantation by increasing renal function in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. Tengion has worldwide rights to its product candidates.

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Tengion to Host Conference Call to Provide a Business Update and Report First Quarter 2012 Financial Results on May 7 ...

RED BANK, NJ--(Marketwire -04/30/12)- American CryoStem Corporation (CRYO.PK - News) announced the launch of its new adipose tissue and adult stem cell testing services to assist physicians involved in tissue engraftment, regenerative medicine procedures and cellular therapies utilizing adult adipose derived stem cells. The new testing services provide physicians an affordable method for self assessment of their procedures and methods to better understand the relationship between tissue quality and engraftment success.

American CryoStem recognizes the need for independent testing services as reinforced by the increasing focus and scrutiny of physician office based tissue laboratories by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The menu of testing services includes full 14 day sterility testing, viability testing, growth assay and additional tests for each selected service. The tests can be ordered individually or in multiples over time and are designed to allow physicians to self evaluate their current methods and performance, or to assess new methods or devices designed to improve procedure and tissue quality. Long term and customized programs are available upon request. Physicians enrolled as a provider of the Company's stem cell storage services can obtain discounts for individual and multi test programs.

"We are very excited about rolling these new services out to our existing providers and all participants in the tissue engraftment, regenerative medicine and cellular therapy markets. We believe that this is the first such program offered commercially and meets a critical need for the advancement of the regenerative and cellular therapy markets," said Anthony Dudzinski, the Company's COO. "Now there is a way for physicians to assess their own performance without the need to overcome the significant costs of purchasing and maintaining their own testing facilities."

The new testing services are offered by ACS Laboratories reflects the Company's increasing branding and commercialization of products and services developed around its proprietary clinical tissue processing and storage methodologies. ACS Laboratory incorporates its proprietary cGMP/cGTP aseptic methods and FDA guidance's into these services to ensure the highest quality and most useful information for physicians.

About American CryoStem: American CryoStem Corporation (CRYO.PK - News) markets clinical processing services and patented products for Adipose (fat) Tissue and Adipose Derived Adult Stem Cells. The Company's clinical processing, patented cell culture media products and cellular preservation platform supports the science and regenerative medicine applications being developed globally. The Company provides the highest quality, clinically processed cells assuring their purity, viability and growth capabilities, while at the same time developing cutting edge applications, therapies and patented laboratory products and services for consumer and commercial applications.

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American CryoStem Announces ACS Laboratories Adipose Tissue and Adult Stem Cell Testing Services

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire -04/30/12)- With a shared goal of supporting development projects that will boost innovation in the growing field of stem cells and biomaterials-based products, Pfizer Canada and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) have established the Pfizer-CCRM Innovation Fund to accelerate regenerative medicine (RM) technologies for drug screening and therapeutic applications. The announcement is being made at the first annual Till & McCulloch Meetings (April 30-May 2), Canada's premier stem cell meeting, jointly hosted by the Stem Cell Network and CCRM.

"CCRM was created on the premise that it would work with academia and industry on projects that will hopefully move RM technologies and innovations from the bench to the bedside," says Michael May, CEO of CCRM. "Canada is already a leader in this field and additional funding to advance novel research through early product development will only make us stronger. We're very pleased to be partnering with Pfizer Canada and appreciate their confidence in joining with us."

"Pfizer Canada is pleased to contribute to this new fund which will support important research here in Canada," explains Dr. Bernard Prigent, Vice-President and Medical Director, Pfizer Canada. "With the novel resources offered through CCRM's development capabilities, we hope to help advance the RM field in this country."

Pfizer Canada has contributed a total of $500,000 to the Pfizer-CCRM Innovation Fund and CCRM will contribute matching dollars to any approved projects undertaken in the duration of this fund.

About Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM)

CCRM, a Canadian not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence program and six institutional partners, supports the development of technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based technologies and therapies. A network of academics, industry and entrepreneurs, CCRM translates scientific discoveries into marketable products for patients. CCRM launched in Toronto's Discovery District on June 14, 2011.

About Pfizer Canada

Pfizer Canada Inc. is the Canadian operation of Pfizer Inc., the world's leading biopharmaceutical company. Pfizer discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines for humans and animals. Pfizer Inc. invests more than US$7 billion annually in R&D to discover and develop innovative life-saving and life-enhancing medicines in a wide range of therapeutic areas. Our diversified health care portfolio includes human and animal biologic and small molecule medicines and vaccines, as well as nutritional products and many of the world's best-known consumer products. For more information, visit http://www.pfizer.ca

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New Fund Established to Stimulate Regenerative Medicine Industry

South Korea's government is focused on boosting funds for stem-cell research this year.

Jo Yong Hak/Reuters

The South Korean health ministry announced last month that research into stem cells and regenerative medicine will receive a funding boost of 33 billion won (US$29 million) in 2012, four times that given in 2011. Overall, six different ministries will invest 100 billion won in stem-cell research this year.

Until last year, public investment in stem cells in South Korea was relatively low and targeted mainly at basic research. But the country's Ministry of Health and Welfare is now expanding its support for clinical research on stem cells, with the money being used to link basic research to intermediate or clinical studies. The aim is to commercialize the research at an early stage.

"From the current research atmosphere and infrastructure, the government has judged that stem-cell studies are now maturing," says Hyung Min Chung, president of Seoul-based biotechnology firm Cha Bio and Diostech and an adviser on the budget plan. He adds that his company is particularly pleased that government investment decisions on developing stem-cell therapies will be made more quickly.

The government money will be allocated to two areas: rare or incurable diseases for which there is little incentive for private investment, such as spinal cord damage; and common chronic conditions, such as arthritis, for which the aim is to help South Korean companies to capture part of the large potential market for treatments.

South Korea has been trying to restore its tarnished image in the field after the fall of one of its stellar stem-cell scientists, Woo Suk Hwang, who was convicted in 2009 for embezzlement and bioethics violations after falsifying results. The country has begun to regain confidence from a series of successful research projects, and is ranked in the world's top ten for stem-cell and regenerative medicine research in terms of number and quality of publications. The South Korean government thinks that the country can be a top global competitor if the field is given enough support.

In the past year, the South Korean Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the worlds first three stem-cell treatments Hearticellgram-AMI, Cupistem and Cartistem which followed on the heels of clinical tests for human embryonic stem-cell therapies approved in 2010, according to the health ministry.

But many are still wary of those therapies. Clearly, there has been increased international focus on what is going on in the Korean regenerative industry since the approval of three stem-cell products in the past year, which I think caught many industry observers off guard, says Douglas Sipp, who works on stem-cell policy and ethics at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan. "It appears that the Korean FDA has been focusing on fast-tracking products through the approval pathway, he says, adding that it will be interesting to see what other regulatory authorities think about these products.

Dong Wook Han, a professor of stem-cell biology at Konkuk University in Seoul, is worried about how the country regulates clinical research on stem cells. "Compared to a country like Germany, where I studied and where the regulations on embryonic stem cells are much stricter, South Korea has more freedom in regulation, which means it can explore more opportunities in clinical research. However, he emphasizes that instead of moving too quickly, South Korea needs to adopt the stricter regulations from other countries to test safety and efficacy.

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South Korea steps up stem-cell work