With the Paralympics in full swing in London this week, it's interesting to see the extraordinary advances being made in prosthetic limb technology.

Today, An Do at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California and a few pals say they've built and tested a prosthetic lower limb that can be controlled in real time by EEG (electroencephalogram) signals fed into a computer.

Do and co have been tackling this problem for some time. In previous work, they developed a way of using EEG signals to control the walking motion of an avatar in a virtual environment.

The system works well both for able-bodied subjects and those with spinal cord injury who are unable to walk.

Now they've taken the obvious next step and connected their mind-computer interface to a robotic leg.

Do and co tested the system using an able-bodied subject who mastered the system in just 10 minutes (although he previously had 5 hours of practice with the virtual avatar system).

An important measure of success is the number of false positive signals the system generates, since unintended steps are potentially life threatening for the user. (Imagine waiting for a train or to cross a road.)

Do and co say the system had 100 per cent response rate with no unintended steps. "By the end of the experiment, the subject had no false alarms," they say.

That's a significant development. The team points out that individuals with paraplegia due to spinal cord injury are unable to walk and most are wheelchair bound. This inactivity causes untold health problems, such as metabolic disfunction, heart disease and osteoporosis.

Clearly, brain-controlled prostheses could make a significant difference.

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First Mind-Controlled Robotic Leg Put Through Its Paces

Recommendation and review posted by sam

(RTTNews.com) - StemCells Inc. (STEM) announced that interim six-month data from the first patient cohort in the company's Phase I/II clinical trial of its proprietary HuCNS-SC product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) for chronic spinal cord injury continues to demonstrate a favorable safety profile, and shows considerable gains in sensory function in two of the three patients compared to pre-transplant baselines. The third patient remains stable.

The trial represents the first time that neural stem cells have been transplanted as a potential therapeutic agent for spinal cord injury.

The company stated that Patients in the study's first cohort all suffered a complete injury to the thoracic (chest-level) spinal cord. In a complete injury, there is no neurological function below the level of injury. All three patients were transplanted four to nine months after injury with a dose of 20 million cells at the site of injury. The surgery, immunosuppression and the cell transplants have been well tolerated by all the patients.

There were no abnormal clinical, electrophysiological or radiological responses to the cells, and all the patients were neurologically stable through the first six months following transplantation. Changes in sensitivity to touch, heat and electrical stimuli were observed in well-defined and consistent areas below the level of injury in two of the patients, while no changes were observed in the third patient, the company said.

Importantly, tests of perception of different sensory stimuli as well as measures of electrical impulse transmission across the site of injury correlate with the clinical examination, providing independent and objective confirmation of the changes in sensory function.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

Here is the original post:
StemCells Announces Positive Interim Data From Spinal Cord Injury Trial

Recommendation and review posted by sam

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/h4vsbr/spinal_cord_injury) has announced the addition of Global Markets Direct's new report "Spinal Cord Injury - Pipeline Review, H2 2012" to their offering.

Global Markets Direct's, 'Spinal Cord Injury - Pipeline Review, H2 2012', provides an overview of the Spinal Cord Injury therapeutic pipeline. This report provides information on the therapeutic development for Spinal Cord Injury, complete with latest updates, and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Spinal Cord Injury. 'Spinal Cord Injury - Pipeline Review, H2 2012' is built using data and information sourced from Global Markets Direct's proprietary databases, Company/University websites, SEC filings, investor presentations and featured press releases from company/university sites and industry-specific third party sources, put together by Global Markets Direct's team.

Scope

- A snapshot of the global therapeutic scenario for Spinal Cord Injury.

- A review of the Spinal Cord Injury products under development by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources.

- Coverage of products based on various stages of development ranging from discovery till registration stages.

- A feature on pipeline projects on the basis of monotherapy and combined therapeutics.

- Coverage of the Spinal Cord Injury pipeline on the basis of route of administration and molecule type.

- Profiles of late-stage pipeline products featuring sections on product description, mechanism of action and research & development progress.

Follow this link:
Research and Markets: Spinal Cord Injury - Pipeline Review, H2 2012

Recommendation and review posted by sam

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/55tpk9/cardiovascular_dru) has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Cardiovascular Drug Delivery - Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

Drug delivery to the cardiovascular system is different from delivery to other systems because of the anatomy and physiology of the vascular system; it supplies blood and nutrients to all organs of the body. Drugs can be introduced into the vascular system for systemic effects or targeted to an organ via the regional blood supply. In addition to the usual formulations of drugs such as controlled release, devices are used as well. This report starts with an introduction to molecular cardiology and discusses its relationship to biotechnology and drug delivery systems.

Drug delivery to the cardiovascular system is approached at three levels: (1) routes of drug delivery; (2) formulations; and finally (3) applications to various diseases. Formulations for drug delivery to the cardiovascular system range from controlled release preparations to delivery of proteins and peptides. Cell and gene therapies, including antisense and RNA interference, are described in full chapters as they are the most innovative methods of delivery of therapeutics. Various methods of improving systemic administration of drugs for cardiovascular disorders are described including use of nanotechnology.

Cell-selective targeted drug delivery has emerged as one of the most significant areas of biomedical engineering research, to optimize the therapeutic efficacy of a drug by strictly localizing its pharmacological activity to a pathophysiologically relevant tissue system. These concepts have been applied to targeted drug delivery to the cardiovascular system. Devices for drug delivery to the cardiovascular system are also described.

Role of drug delivery in various cardiovascular disorders such as myocardial ischemia, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia is discussed. Cardioprotection is also discussed. Some of the preparations and technologies are also applicable to peripheral arterial diseases. Controlled release systems are based on chronopharmacology, which deals with the effects of circadian biological rhythms on drug actions.A full chapter is devoted to drug-eluting stents as treatment for restenosis following stenting of coronary arteries.Fifteen companies are involved in drug-eluting stents.

New cell-based therapeutic strategies are being developed in response to the shortcomings of available treatments for heart disease. Potential repair by cell grafting or mobilizing endogenous cells holds particular attraction in heart disease, where the meager capacity for cardiomyocyte proliferation likely contributes to the irreversibility of heart failure. Cell therapy approaches include attempts to reinitiate cardiomyocyte proliferation in the adult, conversion of fibroblasts to contractile myocytes, conversion of bone marrow stem cells into cardiomyocytes, and transplantation of myocytes or other cells into injured myocardium.

Advances in molecular pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases have brought gene therapy within the realm of possibility as a novel approach to treatment of these diseases. It is hoped that gene therapy will be less expensive and affordable because the techniques involved are simpler than those involved in cardiac bypass surgery, heart transplantation and stent implantation. Gene therapy would be a more physiologic approach to deliver vasoprotective molecules to the site of vascular lesion. Gene therapy is not only a sophisticated method of drug delivery; it may at time need drug delivery devices such as catheters for transfer of genes to various parts of the cardiovascular system.

The cardiovascular drug delivery markets are estimated for the years 2011 to 2021 on the basis of epidemiology and total markets for cardiovascular therapeutics. The estimates take into consideration the anticipated advances and availability of various technologies, particularly drug delivery devices in the future. Markets for drug-eluting stents are calculated separately. Role of drug delivery in developing cardiovascular markets is defined and unmet needs in cardiovascular drug delivery technologies are identified.

Selected 80 companies that either develop technologies for drug delivery to the cardiovascular system or products using these technologies are profiled and 77 collaborations between companies are tabulated. The bibliography includes 200 selected references from recent literature on this topic. The report is supplemented with 27 tables and 7 figures.

Original post:
Research and Markets: Cardiovascular Drug Delivery - Technologies, Markets and Companies - Updated 2012 Report

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

LONDON (ShareCast) - Tuesday has a bit of an agricultural feel to it, with animal genetics company Genus (Xetra: 762548 - news) and veterinary health-care company Dechra Pharmaceuticals set to update the market.

Peel Hunt says emerging markets growth should be offsetting higher feed prices at Genus. It is forecasting a 15% improvement in profits, with strong growth across a number of emerging markets.

The key issue currently is the rise in feed prices, Peel Hunt believes. "This will have a direct impact on Genus's feed costs of around 1m, but it will also affect its customers. Some customers may well struggle in the short term, but generally higher feed prices are good news for Genus as it accelerates the trend to industrialisation of the industry and reinforces the benefits of genetics in improving feed conversion," the broker predicts.

"We expect to hear more about plans in China, particularly with the announcement of the major JV [joint venture] with Besun, which will deliver genetics to 10m slaughter pigs when in full operation," the broker added.

As for Dechra, the market is expecting profit before tax of 31.1m on revenue of 420.2m. Earnings per share are tipped to rise 19% to 37.03p, paving the way for the full-year dividend to be upped to around 12.16p from 10.97p last year.

US health-care software developer Craneware (Other OTC: CRWRF.PK - news) issued a profit warning in July which does not seem to have done the share price any long term harm, possibly because the group said that the lowering of earnings guidance was because of deal slippage. Analysts will be looking to see if there has been any more signs since then of customers delaying putting pen to paper on new deals.

Abbot ale brewer Greene King (Other OTC: GRKGF.PK - news) issues an interim management statement, and Panmure Gordon thinks the pubs group will have made a robust start to the new financial year, despite the wettest summer since 1912 in the UK.

"We forecast 3.5% LFL [like-for-like] sales growth in managed pubs and 2.5% growth in average EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] in its tenanted pubs," the broker revealed.

"Core (Berlin: LJ1.BE - news) brand brewing volumes should be broadly flat," Panmure Gordon added.

Sticking with the boozy theme, pubs group Spirit Pub Company issues a pre-close interim management statement and Panmure Gordon expects the group to reiterate it is comfortable with market expectations of full-year profit before tax of 51.5m.

More here:
Tuesday preview: Genus, Dechra, Greene King

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Scientists restored sense of smell to mice bred to have human genetic disorder Has potential to help patients with dementia, which has been linked to loss of smell

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 03:52 EST, 3 September 2012 | UPDATED: 06:01 EST, 3 September 2012

People born without a sense of smell could enjoy their first aromas, after a scientific breakthrough.

Researchers managed to reverse the problem in mice bred to have the human genetic disorder called congenital anosmia.

They may be able to adapt the procedure to reverse loss of smell caused by ageing or disease.

Floral scent: A new technique could restore the sense of smell

The technique regrows parts of cells known as cilia that are essential for olfactory function, according to a study published online in Mature Medicine.

Dr James Battey, director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD) in the US, said: 'These results could lead to one of the first therapeutic options for treating people with congenital anosmia.

'They also set the stage for therapeutic approaches to treating diseases that involve cilia dysfunction in other organ systems, many of which can be fatal if left untreated.'

Go here to read the rest:
Anosmia: Gene therapy offers new hope after restoring sense in mice

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2012) UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the "missing link" between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The studies were done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during postnatal life.

"We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow," said study senior author Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and a co-director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of postnatal life."

The research team was "intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life," said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, or cancers of the blood.

The study appears Sept. 2 in the early online edition of Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages like red blood cells or platelets. Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

"Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them we needed to find the needle in the haystack." said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author in the paper.

Previous work had found a fairly mature type of lymphocyte progenitor with a limited ability to differentiate, but the new work describes a more primitive type of progenitor primed to produce the entire immune system, Kohn said

Once the lymphoid primed progenitor had been identified, Crooks and her team studied how gene expression changed during the earliest stages of its production from stem cells.

Originally posted here:
'Missing link' between stem cells and the immune system

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 2-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the "missing link" between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The studies were done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during postnatal life.

"We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow," said study senior author Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and a co-director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of postnatal life."

The research team was "intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life," said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, or cancers of the blood.

The study appears Sept. 2 in the early online edition of Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages like red blood cells or platelets. Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

"Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them we needed to find the needle in the haystack." said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author in the paper.

See the rest here:
UCLA researchers discover missing link between stem cells and immune system

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 2-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Emmanouil Dermitzakis emmanouil.dermitzakis@unige.ch 41-223-795-483 Universit de Genve

Genetic disease risk differences between one individual and another are based on complex aetiology. Indeed, they may reflect differences in the genes themselves, or else differences at the heart of the regions involved in the regulation of these same genes.

By gene regulation we mean the decision that the cell makes as to when, where and at what level to activate or suppress the expression of a gene. In theory, two people could thus share a gene that is perfectly identical and yet show differences in their predisposition to a disease due to genetic differences concerning the regulation (overexpression or underexpression) of this same gene.

Numerous teams are currently trying to draw up a map of regions involved in gene regulation. Not an easy task, but invaluable since it allows us to understand all the genetic causes that can explain the predisposition to certain diseases.

Working with twins

Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Louis-Jeantet Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and member of the NCCR Frontiers in Genetics and the Institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva (IGE3), is a specialist in what is called the genetics of complex traits. With an international team co-led by Professor Tim Spector (Kings College), Professor Mark McCarthy (Oxford University) and Dr. Panos Deloukas (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute), he publishes a study highlighting thousands of these genetic variants that seem to explain individual differences in gene expression.

For this work, the researchers used samples of three different tissue types (adipose tissue, skin and blood cells) collected from more than 800 homozygotic (identical) and dizygotic twins.

"Identifying variants which control the activity of many genes is a greater challenge than we anticipated but we are developing appropriate tools to uncover them and understand their contribution to disease," comments Panos Deloukas. "Modern human genetics combined with samples donated by the participants in studies such as TwinsUK is making great strides towards finding the genetic culprits behind human disease."

The method researchers followed allowed them to uncover nearly 358 variants apparently involved in the predisposition to certain diseases including quantifying the contribution of rare regulatory variants that was previously not possible to identify by conventional analysis methods.

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A new light shed on genetic regulation's role in the predisposition to common diseases

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 2-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robin Latham lathamr@nidcd.nih.gov 301-496-7243 NIH/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have restored the ability to smell in a mouse model of a human genetic disorder that causes congenital anosmiathe inability to smell from birth. The approach uses gene therapy to regrow cilia, cell structures that are essential for olfactory function. The study was funded by four parts of NIH: the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD), the National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Eye Institute (NEI). It was published online in the September 2, 2012, issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

"These results could lead to one of the first therapeutic options for treating people with congenital anosmia," said James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of NIDCD. "They also set the stage for therapeutic approaches to treating diseases that involve cilia dysfunction in other organ systems, many of which can be fatal if left untreated."

Olfactory dysfunction can be a symptom of a newly recognized class of genetic disorders, known as ciliopathies, which include diseases as diverse as polycystic kidney disease and retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment and blindness. The disorders are caused by defects in cilia, antenna-like projections on cells that help them sense their environment. Scientists believe that nearly every cell in the body has the capacity to grow one or more cilia. In the olfactory system, multiple cilia project from olfactory sensory neurons, sensory cells that are found in the olfactory epithelium, tissue high up in the nasal cavity. Receptors that bind odorants are localized on the cilia, which is why a loss of cilia results in a loss in the ability to smell.

The team of researchers, led by Jeffrey R. Martens, Ph.D., at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Jeremy C. McIntyre, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow in Martens' laboratory, worked with a mouse model carrying a mutation in the IFT88 gene. The mutation causes a decrease in the IFT88 protein, which leads to a dramatic reduction in cilia function in several different organ systems, including the olfactory system.

The researchers used an adenovirus to introduce a healthy copy of the gene as a way to restore IFT88 protein levels in the mice. They wanted to see if the reintroduction of the lost protein could restore cilia to the olfactory sensory neurons and return the ability to smell. For three consecutive days, the mice received intranasal gene delivery therapy and then were allowed 10 days for the infected sensory neurons to express the viral-encoded IFT88 protein. After that time, the mice were tested with increasing concentrations of an odorant (amyl acetate). Their responses were measured at the cellular, tissue, and synaptic levels, which all indicated that the mice had regained olfactory function.

"By restoring the protein back into the olfactory neurons, we could give the cell the ability to regrow and extend cilia off the dendrite knob, which is what the olfactory neuron needs to detect odorants," said McIntyre.

The change in olfactory function also has implications in the feeding behavior of the mice. The mouse model the scientists used is born underweight and its anosmia interferes with the motivation to eat, which in many mammals, including humans, is driven by smell. Treatment with adenovirus therapy increased bodyweight by 60 percent in treated compared to untreated mice, indicating that the restored olfactory function was motivating feeding.

The researchers plan to continue their work by developing another mouse model to look at the impact on olfactory function and the potential for restoring function when the IFT88 gene is completely missing, rather than just mutated. Future studies could begin to plot a way to bring this therapeutic tactic to human study volunteers, which could eventually restore the sense of smell, and a better quality of life, to people who are born with anosmia. Further research could also advance the treatments for other ciliopathies, as these findings show that gene therapy is a viable option for the functional rescue of cilia in established, already differentiated cells.

See more here:
NIH-funded researchers restore sense of smell in mice using genetic technique

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2012) Scientists have restored the sense of smell in mice through gene therapy for the first time -- a hopeful sign for people who can't smell anything from birth or lose it due to disease.

The achievement in curing congenital anosmia -- the medical term for lifelong inability to detect odors -- may also aid research on other conditions that also stem from problems with the cilia. Those tiny hair-shaped structures on the surfaces of cells throughout the body are involved in many diseases, from the kidneys to the eyes.

The new findings, published online in Nature Medicine, come from a team at the University of Michigan Medical School and their colleagues at several other institutions.

The researchers caution that it will take time for their work to affect human treatment, and that it will be most important for people who have lost their sense of smell due to a genetic disorder, rather than those who lose it due to aging, head trauma, or chronic sinus problems. But their work paves the way for a better understanding of anosmia at the cellular level.

"Using gene therapy in a mouse model of cilia dysfunction, we were able to rescue and restore olfactory function, or sense of smell," says senior author Jeffrey Martens, Ph.D., an associate professor of pharmacology at U-M. "Essentially, we induced the neurons that transmit the sense of smell to regrow the cilia they'd lost."

The mice in the study all had a severe genetic defect that affected a protein called IFT88, causing a lack of cilia throughout their bodies. Such mice are prone to poor feeding and to early death as a result. In humans, the same genetic defect is fatal.

The researchers were able to insert normal IFT88 genes into the cells of the mice by giving them a common cold virus loaded with the normal DNA sequence, and allowing the virus to infect them and insert the DNA into the mouse's own cells. They then monitored cilia growth, feeding habits, and well as signals within and between the nerve cells, called neurons, that are involved in the sense of smell.

Only 14 days after the three-day treatment, the mice had a 60 percent increase in their body weight, an indication they were likely eating more. Cell-level indicators showed that neurons involved in smelling were firing correctly when the mice were exposed to amyl acetate, a strong-smelling chemical also called banana oil.

"At the molecular level, function that had been absent was restored," says Martens.

"By restoring the protein back into the olfactory neurons, we could give the cell the ability to regrow and extend cilia off the dendrite knob, which is what the olfactory neuron needs to detect odorants," says postdoctoral fellow and first author Jeremy McIntyre, Ph.D.

Read the original:
Can’t smell anything? Discovery may give you hope

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

2 September 2012 Last updated at 21:22 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

Gene therapy has been used to give mice born without a sense of smell the ability to sniff their surroundings, an international team of researchers say.

The mice had a genetic disease which affected microscopic hairs in their body - called cilia - which can detect chemicals in the air.

Researchers hope their findings will lead to treatments for diseased cilia, which can cause blindness, deafness and kidney disease in people.

The study is in Nature Medicine.

Microscopic cilia stick out from many cells in the body. A range of genetic disorders called ciliopathies result in damaged cilia which can be fatal or severely debilitating. One symptom can be a lifetime without a sense of smell, called congenital anosmia.

A groups of researchers, lead by the University of Michigan, looked at mice with a mutation in their Ift88 gene, which meant they struggled to produce cilia and could not smell.

The group created a virus which was capable of infecting cells with a working version of the Ift88 gene. This was injected into the nose on three consecutive days. This was able to restore the cilia and a sense of smell.

Prof Philip Beales from University College London was involved in the study. He told the BBC: "It is a proof of concept that has shown we can get that gene back into these cells, produce the right protein, produce cilia and function as expected.

He said the mice were then able to use their sense of smell to seek out food. However, it is hoped a similar approach could be used for other symptoms of the disorders.

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Mice 'smell again' after therapy

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 2-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kara Gavin kegavin@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Scientists have restored the sense of smell in mice through gene therapy for the first time -- a hopeful sign for people who can't smell anything from birth or lose it due to disease.

The achievement in curing congenital anosmia -- the medical term for lifelong inability to detect odors -- may also aid research on other conditions that also stem from problems with the cilia. Those tiny hair-shaped structures on the surfaces of cells throughout the body are involved in many diseases, from the kidneys to the eyes.

The new findings, published online in Nature Medicine, come from a team at the University of Michigan Medical School and their colleagues at several other institutions.

The researchers caution that it will take time for their work to affect human treatment, and that it will be most important for people who have lost their sense of smell due to a genetic disorder, rather than those who lose it due to aging, head trauma, or chronic sinus problems. But their work paves the way for a better understanding of anosmia at the cellular level.

"Using gene therapy in a mouse model of cilia dysfunction, we were able to rescue and restore olfactory function, or sense of smell," says senior author Jeffrey Martens, Ph.D., an associate professor of pharmacology at U-M. "Essentially, we induced the neurons that transmit the sense of smell to regrow the cilia they'd lost."

The mice in the study all had a severe genetic defect that affected a protein called IFT88, causing a lack of cilia throughout their bodies. Such mice are prone to poor feeding and to early death as a result. In humans, the same genetic defect is fatal.

The researchers were able to insert normal IFT88 genes into the cells of the mice by giving them a common cold virus loaded with the normal DNA sequence, and allowing the virus to infect them and insert the DNA into the mouse's own cells. They then monitored cilia growth, feeding habits, and well as signals within and between the nerve cells, called neurons, that are involved in the sense of smell.

Only 14 days after the three-day treatment, the mice had a 60 percent increase in their body weight, an indication they were likely eating more. Cell-level indicators showed that neurons involved in smelling were firing correctly when the mice were exposed to amyl acetate, a strong-smelling chemical also called banana oil.

Read this article:
Can't smell anything? This discovery may give you hope

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

YAHOO:

Talent manager Annabelle Rama will fly to Germany in September to undergo therapy - stem cell therapy, that is. This has been a promise made by her son Richard Gutierrez who's footing the bill. "Early this year pa lang ay napagplanuhan na 'yung pagpapa-stem cell ng nanay ko at prinomise ko sa kanya na pag-iipunan ko, prinomise ko sa kanya na ako ang magti-treat sa kanya," Richard said on the first episode of "H.O.T. TV," Aug. 5.

He noted, "'Yung mom ko hindi mahilig 'yan na pumunta sa mga doctor, hindi mahilig magpa-check-up."

Looking forward

This early, Annabelle is already excited about her trip and the upcoming treatment.

"Kaya ako excited pumunta kasi unang-una mataas ang aking sugar, mataas ang aking cholesterol, tapos me problema pa ako sa high blood, blood pressure ko. Siguro nga kailangan kong pumunta ng Germany," she said, noting that the condition of her friends, talent manager Lolit Solis and actress Lorna Tolentino, have improved tremendously after going through stem cell therapy.

"Nakita ko ang mukha ni Lolis pumuputi ang mukha niya, eh at saka mukha siyang fresh na fresh. Lalo na si LT, nakita ko rin siya. Mukhang gumanda naman siya. Basta lahat ng kaibigan kong galing doon, nakakausap ko, sabi nila ay talagang gumaling daw sila. 'Yung kanilang napi-feel na mabigat sa katawan dahil sa sakit nila ay nawawala lahat," she said.

Exorbitant fees?

Annabelle had already inquired about the fees of stem cell procedure in the country and she feels it's exorbitant.

"Kasi sa Piipinas may pinagtatanungan na ako, umabot ng mga four million pesos 'yung naitanong ko kaya parang na-discourage akong magpagamot kasi nga ganoon kamahal."

Originally posted here:
Annabelle Rama to undergo stem cell treatment to improve health

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

YAHOO:

Talent manager Annabelle Rama will fly to Germany in September to undergo therapy - stem cell therapy, that is. This has been a promise made by her son Richard Gutierrez who's footing the bill. "Early this year pa lang ay napagplanuhan na 'yung pagpapa-stem cell ng nanay ko at prinomise ko sa kanya na pag-iipunan ko, prinomise ko sa kanya na ako ang magti-treat sa kanya," Richard said on the first episode of "H.O.T. TV," Aug. 5.

He noted, "'Yung mom ko hindi mahilig 'yan na pumunta sa mga doctor, hindi mahilig magpa-check-up."

Looking forward

This early, Annabelle is already excited about her trip and the upcoming treatment.

"Kaya ako excited pumunta kasi unang-una mataas ang aking sugar, mataas ang aking cholesterol, tapos me problema pa ako sa high blood, blood pressure ko. Siguro nga kailangan kong pumunta ng Germany," she said, noting that the condition of her friends, talent manager Lolit Solis and actress Lorna Tolentino, have improved tremendously after going through stem cell therapy.

"Nakita ko ang mukha ni Lolis pumuputi ang mukha niya, eh at saka mukha siyang fresh na fresh. Lalo na si LT, nakita ko rin siya. Mukhang gumanda naman siya. Basta lahat ng kaibigan kong galing doon, nakakausap ko, sabi nila ay talagang gumaling daw sila. 'Yung kanilang napi-feel na mabigat sa katawan dahil sa sakit nila ay nawawala lahat," she said.

Exorbitant fees?

Annabelle had already inquired about the fees of stem cell procedure in the country and she feels it's exorbitant.

"Kasi sa Piipinas may pinagtatanungan na ako, umabot ng mga four million pesos 'yung naitanong ko kaya parang na-discourage akong magpagamot kasi nga ganoon kamahal."

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Annabelle Rama to undergo stem cell treatment to improve health

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

By David Farrier

Some of the world's top scientists are meeting in Rotorua to figure out how to feed future generations in a world with a booming population.

Organisers say the ABIC 2012 conference aims to promote debate about genetic engineering, and they only had to step outside to find people wanting to debate it with them.

It is the 12th International Conference for Agricultural Biotechnology.

The gathering is of some of the best brains in the world when it comes to the art of growing plants. But it's also much bigger than that.

Now we see agriculture branching out, says ABIC Foundation chairman Dr Jerome Konecsni. We're looking at agriculture as a source of energy, as a source of medicines.

The conference comes as the World Bank notes global food prices soaring by 10 percent in July, with the price of maize reaching an all-time high.

It's very important because the task of feeding the world of tomorrow is probably one of the most formidable jobs we have to do, says Dr Clive James, agricultural scientist.

Outside, a protest of around 30 people rallied, unhappy with talk of genetic modification.

All we're wanting in there is for scientists to find a middle path between the control of science and respect that people want GM-free production, says protest organiser Jon Carapiet.

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GM-food conference draws critics

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

September 1, 2012

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

African-American and European men have an increased risk of prostate cancer due to changes in one of their immune system genes, claims a new study published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine, as well as colleagues from Northwestern University and Washington, D.C.s Howard University Hospital, isolated changes in the IL-16 gene, an immune system protein, the school reported in an August 31 statement.

Previously identified changes in the gene for IL-16 were associated with prostate cancer in men of European descent. But the same changes in the genes coded sequence called polymorphisms did not confer the same risk in African Americans, the university said.

Doubt was cast on IL-16s role in prostate cancer when researchers were unable to confirm that the IL-16 polymorphisms identified in whites were also important risk factors in African Americans, they added.

Using a new technique known as imputation, which the school describes as a form of statistical extrapolation, the research team was able to discover new patterns of association, which in turn showed them new locations within the gene where they could search for polymorphisms. With that knowledge, they were able to find changes in a different part of the IL-16 gene that were both linked to prostate cancer and unique to African-American males.

According to the UIC statement, polymorphisms occur as a result of DNA mutations and are prevalent in the ancestry of different populations. Lead researcher Rick Kittles, an associate professor of medicine in hematology/oncology at the university, explained that searching for polymorphisms associated with diseases like prostate cancer is more difficult in African-Americans than in Caucasians, as the former race is said to be far more genetically diverse than the latter.

Kittles said that the research provides us with a new potential biomarker for prostate cancer, adding that it confirms the importance of IL-16 in prostate cancer and leads us in a new direction. Very little research has been done on IL-16, so not much is known about it. We now need to explore the functional role of IL-16 to understand the role it is playing in prostate cancer.

The research was supported by grants from the US Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health.

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Genetic Link To Prostate Cancer Found In Europeans, African-Americans

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Newswise UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the missing link between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The studies were done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during postnatal life.

We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow, said study senior author Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and a co-director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology program at UCLAs Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of postnatal life.

The research team was intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life, said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, or cancers of the blood.

The study appears Sept. 2 in the early online edition of Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages like red blood cells or platelets. Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them we needed to find the needle in the haystack. said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author in the paper.

Previous work had found a fairly mature type of lymphocyte progenitor with a limited ability to differentiate, but the new work describes a more primitive type of progenitor primed to produce the entire immune system, Kohn said

Once the lymphoid primed progenitor had been identified, Crooks and her team studied how gene expression changed during the earliest stages of its production from stem cells.

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UCLA Researchers Discover "Missing Link" Between Stem Cells and the Immune System

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vrslm2/neuroprotection) has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Neuroprotection - Drugs, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

This report describes the role of neuroprotection in acute disorders such as stroke and injuries of the nervous system as well as in chronic diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders because many of the underlying mechanisms of damage to neural tissues are similar in all these conditions and several products are used in more than one disorder. Over 500 products have been investigated for neuroprotective effects including those from the categories of free radical scavengers, anti-excitotoxic agents, apoptosis (programmed cell death) inhibitors, anti-inflammatory agents, neurotrophic factors, metal ion chelators, ion channel modulators and gene therapy. Some of the agents are old established pharmaceuticals whereas others are new biotechnology products.

Pathomechanisms of diseases are described with steps at which neuroprotective therapies are directed. Diseases covered include cerebrovascular disorders, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and ischemic optic neuropathy as well as retinal degeneration. Although anesthetics such as propofol are neuroprotective as well, neuroprotection during surgery and anesthesia is discussed with the aim of preventing and treating complications that result in CNS damage.

The report contains a profile of 133 companies that have a neuroprotective product or products along with 114 collaborations. Some of the products in development at academic institutions that do not have a commercial sponsor are also included. Although an up-to-date search of the literature was performed and selected 850 references are included, a considerable amount of information has not been published anywhere else. Clinical trials of various neuroprotective agents are described and failures of trials are analyzed with suggestions for improving the selection of drugs and design of trials. The report is supplemented with 66 tables and 11 figures.

Market analysis of currently used products that have a neuroprotective effect are analyzed for the year 2011. Some of these products are approved for other indications but are known to have a neuroprotective effect. With the approval of new products and takeover of markets for obsolete symptomatic therapies, the neuroprotection market value will rise by the year 2016 when it will constitute a major and important component of the CNS market. Forecasts are made until 2021. By that time neuroprotection will be an established part of the neurological practice and measures will be available to achieve this effectively.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Neuroprotective Agents

3. Neuroprotection in Cerebrovascular Disease

Read more from the original source:
Research and Markets: Neuroprotection - Drugs, Markets and Companies - Updated 2012 Report

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Saturday, Sep. 1, 2012 7:05AM EDT

Are women genetically programmed to have sunnier dispositions than men? Some U.S. researchers think they might.

Scientists with the U.S. governments National Institutes of Health, the University of South Florida and elsewhere think they have narrowed in on one of the genes that fuels happiness. But it seems the gene only has an effect in women, not men.

The researchers found the gene after analyzing the DNA of 193 women and 152 men, who were asked to score their own levels of happiness. Women with low expression of the MAO-A, or monoamine oxidase-A gene, reported much more happiness than those with no expression.

That finding was made after the researchers controlled for other factors that can affect happiness, such as income and education level. Interestingly, though, the researchers found no link with the gene in men.

The MAO-A gene works similarly to antidepressant medications: it regulates the activity of an enzyme called monoamine which breaks down "feel good" neurochemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine. A dysfunctional MAO-A gene has been linked to increased aggression levels in both mice and humans.

Lead author, Dr. Henian Chen, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at USF, says he was surprised that low expression of this gene was linked to greater happiness in women.

He notes that low expression has actually been linked to psychological problems such as alcoholism, aggressiveness and antisocial behavior.

"Its even called the warrior gene by some scientists. But, at least for women, our study points to a brighter side of this gene," he said in a statement.

Chen thinks that the low-expression version of the MAO-A gene promotes higher levels of monoamine, which allows larger amounts of these neurotransmitters to stay in the brain and boost mood.

Read more from the original source:
Researchers narrow in on women's 'happiness gene'

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Phosphorus uptake gene 'could boost rice yields'

Joel Adriano and Iman Zarei

30 August 2012 | EN

Other crops, including corn, could also benefit from the newly discovered rice gene, say experts

Flickr/IRRI Images

[MANILA] A rice gene that could significantly raise the rate of phosphorus uptake in rice varieties has been discovered by a team of international researchers, who claim that it could increase rice yields by up to 20 per cent.

The gene is called PSTOL1, which stands for Phosphorus Starvation Tolerance. It enhances the root growth of rice plants, enabling them to acquire more phosphorous and other nutrients locked in soils.

Sigrid Heuer, a senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, and leader of the team that published the study in Nature last week (22 August), said low phosphorus availability in soils affects about half of the world's farmlands. Affected soils require additional applications of phosphorous fertiliser to make them productive.

However, the global demand for such fertiliser is increasing. As a result, prices have almost tripled since 2005. For poor farmers who cannot afford the high prices, yields remain very low.

The discovery of the PSTOL1 gene will make it easier for breeders to develop new rice varieties with enhanced phosphorus uptake using breeding techniques, such as marker-assisted selection, since they will have confidence that the new varieties contain the gene.

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Phosphorus uptake gene 'could boost rice yields'

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 31-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jeanne Galatzer-Levy jgala@uic.edu 312-996-1583 University of Illinois at Chicago

Prostate cancer in African-American men is associated with specific changes in the IL-16 gene, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

The study, published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, establishes the association of IL-16 with prostate cancer in men of both African and European descent.

"This provides us with a new potential biomarker for prostate cancer," says principal investigator Rick Kittles, UIC associate professor of medicine in hematology/oncology.

Previously identified changes in the gene for IL-16, an immune system protein, were associated with prostate cancer in men of European descent. But the same changes in the gene's coded sequence -- called "polymorphisms" -- did not confer the same risk in African Americans.

Doubt was cast on IL-16's role in prostate cancer when researchers were unable to confirm that the IL-16 polymorphisms identified in whites were also important risk factors in African Americans, Kittles said.

Kittles and his colleagues used a technique called imputation -- a type of statistical extrapolation -- that allowed them to see new patterns of association and identify new places in the gene to look for polymorphisms. They found changes elsewhere in the IL-16 gene that were associated with prostate cancer and that were unique to African Americans.

Polymorphisms result from DNA mutations and emerge in the ancestral history of different populations. People of African descent are much more genetically diverse than whites, Kittles said, making the search for polymorphisms associated with disease more difficult.

Although the effect of the particular changes to the gene appear to be different in men of African versus European descent, it is likely that several of the polymorphisms in the gene alter the function of the IL-16 protein.

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Genetic link to prostate cancer risk in African Americans found

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The Australian diagnostics company Genetic Technologies (GENE)(GTG.AX) is giving up gains from Wednesday, down 6% on the day to $3.48. The middle of the week saw immense momentum on the stock from traders, driving share price from $3.18 to $4.20 before beginning a descent that lasted through Thursday and into this morning. Gains on Wednesday were triggered when the Australian banking firm Lodge Partners initiated coverage of Genetic Technologies with a `Buy` rating, followed by news of a patent infringement suit from GENE against the Reproductive Genetics Institute. GENE markets BREVAgen, a diagnostic tool for determining genetic predisposition to breast cancer in women and is the exclusive marketer of Rosetta Genomics` (ROSG) miRview set of assays in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Genetic Technologies had losses of $1.15 per share in fiscal 2012 - ended June 30 - but expects to improve revenue through sales of BREVAgen, saying that market penetration so far is in-line with similar products; the assay is now available in 48 states. GENE is beginning to even out as trader involvement dissipates and is trading on the low end of its 52-week range. Investor chatter points to Roche`s (RHHBY) Investor Day on the 5th as a catalyst for companies in the field of personalized medicine, like Genetic Technologies, however, this kind of trade is very speculative. PropThink identified another company that will benefit from Roche`s conference next week, however, and that report on Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) is availablehere.

Or, click hereto see this article at PropThink.com.

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PropThink: Genetic Technologies' Wednesday Gains Unsustainable, Declining Without Momentum

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Pathway Genomics Corporation, a San Diego-based genetic testing laboratory, has announced a clinical trial with theVeterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS). Launched this summer, researchers at VASDHS have begun a prospective randomized clinical trial ofPathway Fit, the companys premier saliva-based nutrigenetic test. The trial is focused on the genetic associations of weight loss and weight regain in veterans enrolled inMOVE!, a national weight management program designed by theVA National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NCP).

The trial aims to determine if veterans can lose more weight by linking genetic changes with evidence-based lifestyle suggestions as part of Pathway Fit, said Dr. Karen Herbst, the trials lead investigator and staff physician in the endocrinology division of VASDHS. Veterans will learn what diet best matches their genetic-based phenotypes and metabolism, what kind of eating behaviors they may have, and the genetic changes that provide information on how their bodies respond to exercise. The overall goal is to help veterans modify their behavior in order to achieve a superior outcome.

The trial comes at a time when an estimated72.5 million Americanssuffer from obesity, and approximately70 percent of U.S. veteransare overweight or obese, many with co-morbidities, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If the trial is successful, Dr. Herbst and her colleagues would like to expand the study to additional VA medical centers across the United States.

We are pleased to be collaborating with the VA in this effort to serve our nations veterans and help them achieve or maintain optimum health and wellness, said Dr. Michael Nova, Pathways chief medical officer. This alignment can provide a model of the vital role genetic information can play in behavior change and personalized medicine.

Pathway has recentlyseen positive results in a trialof Pathway Fit.

Pathway Genomics collaborated with theCalifornia Schools Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA)in a study that evaluated the weight loss results of 179 overweight California school employees. After six months, the data showed that overweight employees provided with results of their Pathway Fit genetic test had significant weight loss success some lost up to 40 pounds when compared to employees who had tried to lose weight, under similar conditions, without the genetic information.Pathway Fit is now available to all adult VEBA members, of which approximately 40,000 have weight problems and could benefit from the test.

About Pathway Genomics

Pathway Genomics owns and operates an on-sitegenetic testinglaboratory that is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), accredited in accordance with the U.S. Health and Human Services Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of 1988, and licensed by the state of California. Using only a saliva sample, the company incorporates customized and scientifically validated technologies to generate personalized reports, which address a variety of medical issues, including an individuals carrier status for recessive genetic conditions, food metabolism and exercise response, prescription drug response, and propensity to develop certain diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. For more information about Pathway Genomics, visit http://www.pathway.com.

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Pathway Genomics Helps Veterans Combat Obesity Epidemic Using Genetic Testing

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Oregon Health & Science University has scheduled a Sept. 22 memorial to celebrate the life of Dr. Robert Koler, a pioneer in genetics research.

Koler made important early discoveries in the field of genetically inherited blood disorders and anticipated early on the role that molecular biochemistry would play in curing disease. He also helped steer the university toward its current focus on genetics-based research.

"He believed that genetics was the way to the future," says former OHSU President Peter Kohler, who will speak at Koler's memorial.

The service starts at 2 p.m. in the OHSU Auditorium (Old Library Building), 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd.

Koler, a provost emeritus and professor emeritus of medicine and molecular and medical genetics, died Aug. 2 at the age of 88.

Born in Wyoming on Valentine's Day, 1924, Koler and his family moved to Eugene where he studied at the University of Oregon during World War II. He married in 1945, and in 1947 he completed an accelerated Army training program at the university's medical school in Portland, the precursor to OHSU. During the Korean War; Koler worked as an Army captain and hospital physician in Japan.

Returning to the medical school in Oregon, he studied under noted hematologist Edwin Osgood, and in the 50s began working with Richard Jones, doing first-of-their kind studies of genetically inherited blood disorders.

Long before genetics became widely viewed as a way to cure disease, Koler preached its importance. After a 1960 sabbatical studying genetics at the Galton Institute in London he pushed the medical school to offer basic courses in genetics. Genetics became a division, then a full-fledged OHSU department in 1981, that he was selected to head. He later served in a variety of administrative jobs while continuing to push for genetics research.

After he retired in 1989, he offered to work as an advisor to then-OHSU vice-president Lesley Hallick, but turned down any pay, saying his retirement pay was enough.

"The mission of the instititution is what he loved," Hallick said.

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Sept. 22 memorial service scheduled for Robert Koler, Oregon Health & Science University genetics research pioneer

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith