Meet Anne Brunet
Anne Burnett, Associate Professor of Genetics at Stanford University. Member, Bio-X Member, Stanford Cancer Institute Member, Stanford Neurosciences Institut...

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Placenta Helps Heal Wounds
Using the placenta to help heal a patient #39;s wounds. It #39;s the latest wave in regenerative medicine. It #39;s another option for doctors to treat patients with tough to heal open wounds, diabetic...

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Dunmore, Pennsylvania (PRWEB) October 17, 2014

VCA Dunmore Animal Hospital is proud to announce the addition of Shannon Layne, DVM and her interest in stem cell therapy to their team. Credentialed in Regenerative Cell Therapy with Vet-Stem since January of 2011, Dr. Layne has proudly been treating pets with osteoarthritis and ligament injuries in north-east Pennsylvania with stem cell therapy for the last four years.

Dr. Layne graduated from North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine in 2010 and has taken a special interest in Regenerative Veterinary Medicine and stem cell therapy since. In contrast to widely used drug therapies for pain management, cell-based therapies (like stem cell therapy) can promote healing, reduce inflammation, and decrease pain. Dr Layne also offers traditional Chinese veterinary medicine including acupuncture and Chinese herbs if clients are interested in a more holistic approach.

Stem cells are regenerative cells that can differentiate into many tissue types (reducing pain and inflammation) thus helping to restore range of motion and regenerate tendon, ligament and joint tissues (Vet-Stem.com/science). In a study using Vet-Stem Regenerative Cell Therapy on dogs with osteoarthritis of the hip joint it was found that regenerative cell therapy (adipose-derived stem cells) decreases patient discomfort and increases patient functional ability.

Once Dr. Layne has identified a patient as a good candidate for stem cell therapy the procedure begins with a fatty tissue collection from the patient. The tissue sample is sent overnight to Vet-Stems lab in California for processing. Once processed the stem cells are extracted and fresh, injectable doses of the patients stem cells are sent overnight, back to Dr. Layne at VCA Dunmore Animal Hospital. Within 48hrs of collecting a fat sample from a patient Dr. Layne is able to inject stem cells into (arthritic or injured) affected areas and regeneration and healing can begin.

At VCA Dunmore Animal Hospital Dr. Layne will be practicing in an 8,800 square foot, state of the art facility that includes two extensive surgery suites. For more information on VCA Dunmore Animal Hospital please visit their website at http://www.vcahospitals.com/dunmore.

About Vet-Stem, Inc.

Since its formation in 2002, Vet-Stem, Inc. has endeavored to improve the lives of animals through regenerative medicine. As the first company in the United States to provide an adipose-derived stem cell service to veterinarians for their patients, Vet-Stem pioneered the use of regenerative stem cells for horses, dogs, cats, and some exotics. In 2004 the first horse was treated with Vet-Stem Regenerative Cell Therapy for a tendon injury that would normally have been career ending. Ten years later Vet-Stem celebrated its 10,000th animal treated, and the success of establishing stem cell therapy as a regenerative medicine for certain inflammatory, degenerative, and arthritic diseases. As animal advocates, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and cell biologists, the team at Vet-Stem tasks themselves with the responsibility of discovering, refining, and bringing to market innovative medical therapies that utilize the bodys own healing and regenerative cells.

For more information about Vet-Stem and Regenerative Veterinary Medicine visit http://www.vet-stem.com or call 858-748-2004.

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Shannon Layne, DVM and VCA Dunmore Animal Hospital Now Offer Stem Cell Therapy to Pet Patients in Pain

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Earnest, T level SCI, at Project Walk Atlanta spinal cord injury recovery
Seated on adduction machine doing torso rotations to improve core stability.

By: Tony Davenport

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Project Walk San Diego - Client Jonathan J. C5 Spinal Cord Injury
Memorial Day, 2012, Jonathan (C5 complete spinal cord injury) was injured diving into the shallow end of a pool. Today, he pulled his leg through independently with the help of Project Walk.

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A HEALTHCARE worker at Royal Bournemouth Hospital has donated stem cells in a bid to save the life of an unknown man.

Claire Waugh, pictured, who has always been a regular blood donor, decided to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register after her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago.

The healthcare assistant co-ordinator was later identified as a possible match for a man needing life-saving treatment.

Following rigorous testing Claire was visited by nurses from the blood cancer charity, who gave her three injections every day for three days to stimulate her bone marrow to produce stem cells.

On the fourth day she travelled to Kings College Hospital in London to receive a final set of injections and undergo a stem cell collection in a simple five-hour outpatient procedure, which is similar to giving blood.

Claire said: I couldnt move or bend my arm due to the fairly heavy duty needle, but I was looked after really well so in the end the time went very quickly.

After donating, Claires stem cells were rushed to the recipient within the required 72 hours. A volunteer from Anthony Nolan told me that if he doesnt survive, there is nothing else on this earth that would have cured him, so this was this persons last chance, added Claire.

When my dad was poorly it made me think that if he needed this kind of help, I would be praying every night that someone would help him.

By doing this, it meant that I could give that chance to someone else and their family.

Royal Bournemouth Hospital granted special leave to Claire for the donation with the charity covering all of her and her husbands travel expenses.

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My stem cells could help save the life of man Ive never met

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Phytoceramides Skin Therapy Review - Smooth Out Wrinkles Using Phytoceramides Skin Therapy
Click Here To Order your Phytoceramides skin Therapy http://myskinmd.com/go/get-phytoceramides-skin-therapy-now/ Click Here To Learn Read Phytoceramides Cust...

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Researchers are looking at different ways of using gene therapy, including

Some types of gene therapy aim to boost the body's natural ability to attack cancer cells. Our immune system has cells that recognise and kill harmful things that can cause disease, such as cancer cells.

There are many different types of immune cell. Some of them produce proteins that encourage other immune cells to destroy cancer cells. Some types of therapy add genes to a patient's immune cells to make them better at finding or destroying particular types of cancer. There are a few trials using this type of gene therapy in the UK.

Some gene therapies put genes into cancer cells to make the cells more sensitive to particular treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. This type of gene therapy aims to make the other cancer treatments work better.

Some types of gene therapy deliver genes into the cancer cells that allow the cells to change drugs from an inactive form to an active form. The inactive form of the drug is called a pro drug.

After giving the carrier containing the gene, the doctor gives the patient the pro drug. The pro drug may be a tablet or capsule that you swallow, or you may have it into the bloodstream.

The pro drug circulates in the body and doesn't harm normal cells. But when it reaches the cancer cells, the gene activates it and the drug kills the cancer cells.

Some gene therapies block processes that cancer cells use to survive. For example, most cells in the body are programmed to die if their DNA is damaged beyond repair. This is called programmed cell death or apoptosis. But cancer cells block this process so they don't die even when they are supposed to. Some gene therapy strategies aim to reverse this blockage. Doctors hope that these new types of treatment will make the cancer cells die.

Some viruses infect and kill cells. Researchers are working on ways to change these viruses so that they only target and kill cancer cells, leaving healthy cells alone. This sort of treatment uses the viruses to kill cancer cells directly rather than to deliver genes. So it is not cancer gene therapy in the true sense of the word. But doctors sometimes refer to it as gene therapy.

One example of this type of research uses the cold sore virus (herpes simplex virus). The changed virus is called Oncovex. It has been tested in early clinical trials for advanced melanoma, pancreatic cancer and head and neck cancers.

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Gene therapy | Cancer Research UK

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Transhumanism - Human Genetic Engineering - Ultimate Metasolution to humanity #39;s Metaproblems
Find out why at Project Prometheus we feel the ultimate metasolution to solving humanity #39;s problems is to work at the foundational building block - ourselves...

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5 hours ago by Alvin Powell In his talk, Adapting Species to a Changing World: The Potential of Genome Editing, Professor George Church spoke about his efforts to engineer a mammoth from its closest living relative, the African elephant, while also discussing the primary goal of such technology: improving human health. Credit: Ann Wang

Mammoth DNA in recovered cells frozen for thousands of years is likely too fragmented to clone an animal, according to Harvard geneticist George Church. So he's working instead to engineer one genetically from a close relative, the Asian elephant.

Genetic studies have shown that the Asian elephant is more closely related to the extinct mammoth than to its closest living relative, the African elephant. That provides scientists with the basic stock to build a mammoth, said Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

"The Asian elephant and the mammoth are really close, closer than the African elephant," Church said during a lecture yesterday. "We're assuming that the Asian elephant is basically right, a mutant [mammoth] that has a problem living at minus 50 C."

Church acknowledged there are important differences between the two animals and said current efforts are aimed at one key contrast: cold tolerance. Increasing that in Asian elephants would mean changing several traits, such as adding a double fur coat and a thick layer of fat to keep out the cold, and reducing ear size to cut heat loss. Church said researchers are testing possible changes in lab cultures and are still several years from trying them out in an elephant.

Church's mammoth work is part of a kaleidoscope of research efforts fueled by genetic engineering, he said. While health and medical goals are driving down the price of genome analysis and fostering the development of new technology, some of the most far-reaching applicationslike resurrecting the mammoth and other extinct creatureslie outside human health.

Another potential non-medical use involves using genetic engineering to manage existing species, such as building malaria resistance into mosquitoes to minimize the human suffering the disease causes, or "de-evolving" the herbicide resistance weeds develop over time to restore a herbicide's effectiveness.

Church spoke at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, one of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC). His presentation, "Adapting Species to a Changing World: The Potential of Genome Editing," was before a crowd of several hundred in a packed Geological Lecture Hall. He was introduced by HMSC Executive Director Jane Pickering.

Though much of Church's talk focused on "de-extinction" and the genetic engineering of species, he also discussed the primary goal of such technology: improving human health. With the cost of decoding the genome having dropped from $3 billion to $999, cheap, widespread genetic analysis may help people understand their risk for genetically influenced ailments. Rapid, portable analysis could be used in the environment to detect potential infectious agents, and in the doctor's office to guide more effective care.

Church acknowledged that many medical conditions have a complex genetic background and are influenced by several genessometimes even several hundred genesbut said there can be a relative handful that outstrip others in importance and so provide therapeutic targets. For example, height has been shown to be influenced by 700 genes, but just a couple, affecting growth hormone production and use, are known to have a sizeable effect on getting taller.

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Genetic engineering may undercut human diseases, but also could help restore extinct species, researcher says

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Oct-2014

Contact: Sarah DeDeimar sdediemar@assurerxhealth.com 513-701-5162 Assurex Health @AssurexHealth

Mason, OH October 16, 2014 - Assurex Health and Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) today announced they have received a $6 million grant from Genome Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, to study the benefits of genetic testing to guide medication decisions for patients with depression or schizophrenia.

The clinical trial is the first to evaluate Canadian patients, including patients with schizophrenia, using personalized decision guidance provided by the GeneSight Psychotropic test, developed by Assurex Health in Mason, Ohio. The grant funds a joint Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP) to be managed by CAMH and Assurex Health, with administrative and programmatic support from the Ontario Genomic Institute.

GeneSight technology is based on combinatorial pharmacogenomics (CPGxTM), the study of how variations in multiple genes influence an individual's response to medications, as well as evidence-based medicine and clinical pharmacology. The technology analyzes response to medicines commonly prescribed to treat depression and schizophrenia, as well as anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), bipolar disorder, and other behavioral health conditions.

Three Year Study to Examine Clinical Outcomes, Cost Benefits

"Genome Canada is pleased to support this partnership that will accelerate the translation of tailored treatments for mental health conditions, avoiding adverse drug reactions. This in turn will reduce burden and cost to Canada's health care system," said Dr. Pierre Meulien, President and CEO of Genome Canada.

The study, "Clinical Utility and Enhancements of a Pharmacogenomic Decision Support Tool for Mental Health Patients," will be funded over three years. Assurex Health and CAMH investigators, working with clinicians from the greater Toronto area, will conduct a 12 week randomized and blinded study with Canadian patients diagnosed with depression or schizophrenia. Healthcare providers of patients in both disease categories for whom prior prescription drug treatment has failed will receive personalized guidance for medication selection and dosing using the GeneSight Psychotropic test.

"The study will also evaluate the ability of genetic variants discovered at CAMH to predict important side effects of psychiatric medications, and will collect economic data on how testing impacts health care costs," said C. Anthony Altar, PhD, Senior Vice President, Neurosciences of Assurex Health and co-principal investigator on the grant. "We will look at how prescribing more appropriate medications specifically suited to individual patient's genetics correlates to clinical outcomes and cost benefits."

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Assurex Health and CAMH awarded $6 million grant from Genome Canada

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Science Genetics Unit Common Core
This science unit is a great way to engage high school students in common core activities.

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Science Genetics Unit Common Core - Video

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9th Grade Biology: Genetics - Heredity pt.2
This lesson will focus on understanding punnet squares and offspring diversity.

By: Michael Cook

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What THEY Don #39;t Want You to Know About Genetics
For more info visit: http://www.longevitywarehouse.com.

By: Longevity Now

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What Questions Should You Ask Your Doctor about Your Genetics?
With so much talk about genetic testing this month there have been a lot of questions about genetics. How do you start learning about your cancer risk based on your genes? Well, it simply...

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Meet Mark Kay
Mark A. Kay, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Program in Human Gene Therapy, and Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Kay is...

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9 hours ago by Vicky Just Naive-like stem cells could potentially be used to treat dementia or reduce organ transplants

Scientists from our university and Berlin have identified a type of human stem cell that appears to be "nave-like" able to develop into any type of cell. The discovery of this cell type could potentially have a large impact on our understanding of how humans develop and on the field of regenerative medicine.

The human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) that scientists currently study in the lab are able to develop into several different types of cell but are already pre-determined to some extent.

Published in the top scientific journal Nature, researchers from the Max Delbrck Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany and our university have for the first time discovered human ESCs that appear to behave like "nave" cells able to develop into any type of cell.

These nave-like cells, only previously found in mice, are easy to grow in the lab and could have huge potential for regenerating damaged tissues in the body, potentially leading to treatments for diseases such as dementia or reducing the need for organ transplantation.

Professor Laurence Hurst from our Department of Biology & Biochemistry and a co-author of the study explained: "Most stem cells are primed to some extent to become a certain type of cell. If you use the analogy of a train network, these cells are like one of the main London stations. Trains from Paddington can go to Cardiff or Exeter, but not to Norwich. In the same way, these cells can develop into a fixed number of different cell types.

"However the nave-like cells we've identified are like a central terminus; they are present earlier in the embryo's development and so we think their fates can go in any direction and become any type of cell."

Co-investigator Dr Zsuzsanna Izsvk, (MDC, corresponding author) said: "We were very excited by this discovery it was one of those Eureka moments that rarely happens in science."

The Bath and Berlin team found the nave-like cells by looking at which genes were expressed in very early human embryos. They pinpointed a virus called human endogenous retrovirus H (HERVH) that has become integrated into human DNA and was very highly expressed at just the right time and place in human embryos, where they would expect to see nave-like cells if they existed.

They identified a protein called LBP9, which is essential for the activity of HERVH in early embryos. Using a reporter system that made cells expressing HERVH via LBP9 glow green, the Berlin and our team found that they had purified cells that showed all of the hallmarks of a mouse nave cell.

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Oct-2014

Contact: Anita Srikameswaran SrikamAV@upmc.edu 412-578-9193 University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences @UPMCnews

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 16, 2014 Despite previous indications to the contrary, the esophagus does have its own pool of stem cells, said researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in an animal study published online today in Cell Reports. The findings could lead to new insights into the development and treatment of esophageal cancer and the precancerous condition known as Barrett's esophagus.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 18,000 people will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the U.S. in 2014 and almost 15,500 people will die from it. In Barrett's esophagus, the lining of the esophagus changes for unknown reasons to resemble that of the intestine, though gastro-esophageal reflux disease or GERD is a risk factor for its development.

"The esophageal lining must renew regularly as cells slough off into the gastrointestinal tract," said senior investigator Eric Lagasse, Pharm.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, Pitt School of Medicine, and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Center at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. "To do that, cells in the deeper layers of the esophagus divide about twice a week to produce daughter cells that become the specialized cells of the lining. Until now, we haven't been able to determine whether all the cells in the deeper layers are the same or if there is a subpopulation of stem cells there."

The research team grew pieces or "organoids" of esophageal tissue from mouse samples, and then conducted experiments to identify and track the different cells in the basal layer of the tissue. They found a small population of cells that divide more slowly, are more primitive, can generate specialized or differentiated cells, and have the ability to self-renew, which is a defining trait of stem cells.

"It was thought that there were no stem cells in the esophagus because all the cells were dividing rather than resting or quiescent, which is more typical of stem cells," Dr. Lagasse noted. "Our findings reveal that there indeed are esophageal stem cells, and rather than being quiescent, they divide slowly compared to the rest of the deeper layer cells."

In future work, the researchers will examine human esophageal tissues for evidence of stem cell dysfunction in Barrett's esophagus disease.

"Some scientists have speculated that abnormalities of esophageal stem cells could be the origin of the tissue changes that occur in Barrett's disease," Dr. Lagasse said. "Our current and future studies could make it possible to test this long-standing hypothesis."

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Powerful stem cells injected into the eyes of 18 patients with diseases causing progressive blindness have proven safe and dramatically improved the vision of some of the patients, scientists report.

Three years of follow up show that vision improved measurably in seven of the patients, the team at Advanced Cell Technology report in the Lancet medical journal. In some cases, the improvement was dramatic.

For instance, we treated a 75-year-old horse rancher who lives in Kansas, said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief medical officer for the Massachusetts-based company. The rancher had poor vision 20/400 in one eye.

Once month after treatment his vision had improved 10 lines (20/40) and he can even ride his horses again. Other patients report similarly dramatic improvements in their lives, Lanza added. For instance, they can use their computers or read their watch. Little things like that which we all take for granted have made a huge difference in the quality of their life.

Not all the patients improved and one even got worse. But overall, Lanzas team reported, the patients vision improved by three lines on a standard vision chart.

"They can use their computers or read their watch. Little things like that which we all take for granted have made a huge difference in the quality of their life.

The researchers treated only one eye in each patient. There was no improvement in vision in the untreated eyes.

The patients had either Stargardts disease, a common type of macular degeneration, or dry macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. There are no treatments for either condition, and patients gradually lose vision over the years until they are, often, blind.

Lanzas team used human embryonic stem cells, made using human embryos. They are powerful cells, each one capable of giving rise to all the cells and tissues in the body. The ACT team took one cell from embryos at the eight-cell stage to make batches of these cells.

They reprogrammed them to make immature retinal cells, which they injected into the eyes of the patients. The hope is that the immature cells would take up the places of the degenerated cells and restore vision.

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Vision Quest: Stem Cells Treat Blinding Disease

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SAN DIEGO (KUSI) - Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss for people over the age of 50. Scientists have discovered a new therapy that may actually restore sight in those affected.

Scientists are excited not only because it worked, and helped some people see clearly again, but also because this study puts a focus on an new kind of stem cell therapy, using skin cells.

Macular degeneration causes a blurry or black area in the middle of your field of vision that grows over time, causing more sight loss.

There is no cure, but a new study published this week in the journal The Lancet, is giving patients hope.

Embryonic stem cells were turned into retinal cells and implanted into the eyes of 18 patients.

Vision improved for about half of them.

Dr. Andreas said, "This study was primarily to see if these cells would be safe, and the bonus was that some people started to see better."

Dr. Andreas Bratyy-Layal and Dr. Suzanne Peterson are stem cell scientists with the Scripps Research Institute.

They see this as a major breakthrough.

Although this sight study did do that, Dr. Peterson says labs around the country, including here in San Diego, are moving away from the practice.

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Retinal stem cell study shows promise for therapy

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October 2014 Breaking News Labs Mixing Human DNA Animal DNA Trans-humanism Last days new
October 2014 Breaking News Labs Mixing Human DNA Animal DNA Trans-humanism Last days news October 2014 Breaking News Labs Mixing Human DNA Animal DNA Trans-h...

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October 2014 Breaking News Labs Mixing Human DNA Animal DNA Trans-humanism Last days new - Video

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Antonio Regalado for MIT Technology Review 2014-10-15 19:15:44 UTC

When stem cells were first culled from human embryos sixteen years ago, scientists imagined they would soon be treating diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and many other diseases with cells manufactured in the lab.

It's all taken longer than they thought. But now, a Massachusetts biotech firm has reported results from the largest, and longest, human test of a treatment based on embryonic stem cells, saying it appears safe and may have partly restored vision to patients going blind from degenerative diseases.

Results of three-year study were described Tuesday in the Lancet by Advanced Cell Technology and collaborating eye specialists at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles who transplanted lab-grown cells into the eyes of nine people with macular degeneration and nine with Stargardt's macular dystrophy.

The idea behind Advanced Cell's treatment is to replace retinal pigment epithelium cells, known as RPE cells, a type of caretaker tissue without which a person's photoreceptors also die, with supplies grown in laboratory. It uses embryonic stem cells as a starting point, coaxing them to generate millions of specialized retina cells. In the study, each patient received a transplant of between 50,000 and 150,000 of those cells into one eye.

The main objective of the study was to prove the cells were safe. Beyond seeing no worrisome side effects, the researchers also noted some improvements in the patients. According to the researchers half of them improved enough to read two to three extra lines on an eye exam chart, results Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell, called remarkable.

"We have people saying things no one would make up, like 'Oh I can see the pattern on my furniture, or now I drive to the airport," he says. "Clearly there is something going on here."

Lanza stressed the need for a larger study, which he said the company hoped to launch later this year in Stargardt's patients. But if the vision results seen so far continue, Lanza says "this would be a therapy."

Some eye specialists said it's too soon to say whether the vision improvements were real. The patients weren't examined by independent specialists, they said, and eyesight in patients with low vision is notoriously difficult to measure. That leaves plenty of room for placebo effects or unconscious bias on the part of doctors.

"When someone gets a treatment, they try really hard to read the eye chart," says Stephen Tsang, a doctor at Columbia University who sees patients losing their vision to both diseases. It's common for patients to show quick improvements, he says, although typically not as large as what Advanced Cell is reporting.

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Stem Cell Eye Treatment May Restore Vision

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TUESDAY, Oct. 14, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new study is the first to show the long-term safety of embryonic stem cell transplants to treat human disease.

The research involved 18 people who received the transplants to treat forms of macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss.

The transplants, which restored some sight in more than half of the patients, appeared safe up to three years after the procedure.

The study, funded by a U.S.-based company called Advanced Cell Technology, was published Oct. 14 in The Lancet.

"Embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any cell type in the body, but transplantation has been complicated by problems," lead author Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, said in a journal news release. Those problems include the rejection of the transplanted cells by the patient's immune system, as well as the danger that the cells might spur certain types of cancers called teratomas.

A teratoma is a type of cancer that occurs when stem cells develop into multiple types of cells and form incompatible tissues that can include teeth and hair.

As Lanza explained, because of these issues, scientists interested in embryonic stem cell therapy have tended to focused on sites in the body that typically do not produce a strong immune response. The eye is one such spot.

In the new study, human embryonic stem cells were first prompted to develop into eye cells called retinal pigment epithelial cells. They were then transplanted into nine people with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, and another nine with dry atrophic age-related macular degeneration.

Patient outcomes were tracked for up to three years after transplant. No signs of either cancer-like cell growth (hyperproliferation) or immune system rejection were found in any of the treated eyes after a median follow-up of 22 months, and the only adverse events were linked not to the transplanted cells, but to the eye surgery or immune system suppression needed for the transplant.

Overall, 10 of the 18 patients said they had significant improvements in their vision, and this improvement was only seen in the eyes that had received the stem cell treatment.

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Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy Shows Long-Term Effectiveness, Safety

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By Estel Grace Masangkay

Clinical stage biotech firm Nuvilex announced that it has submitted an application seeking Orphan Drug Designation for its Cell-in-a-Box treatment for pancreatic cancer.

The companys treatment for pancreatic cancer comprises Cell-in-a-Boxs cellulose-based live cell encapsulation technology with low doses of the anticancer drug ifosfamide. Cells used in the treatment are enclosed in tiny-sized capsules during the Cell-in-a-Boxs encapsulation process, in turn directing ifosfamide to fight and kill the cancer directly at or near the tumor site. The company says its targeted chemotherapy approach enhances the efficiency and efficacy of the treatment.

Kenneth Waggoner, Nuvilex's CEO and president, said, Submission for Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. is the next logical step for the development of Nuvilex's pancreatic cancer treatment, and we look forward to hearing back from the FDA regarding our application. Should the FDA grant Nuvilexs request for an Orphan Drug Designation, the company will benefit from special development and marketing assistance from the FDA as well as a 7 year period of marketing exclusivity upon approval.

Pancreatic cancer is considered an orphan disease in the U.S. as it affects less than 50,000 people every year in the country. Orphan designation is given to drugs and products that target rare and serious diseases affecting less than 200,000 in the U.S. Patients with pancreatic cancer have poor disease prognosis, with most left with only a year to live on average, while only 7 percent make it to 5-year survival milestone.

Earlier this year, the company made it known that it plans to conduct clinical trials for Cell-in-a-Box not only in advanced pancreatic cancer but also in other abdominal cancers, which include other organs such as the stomach, esophagus, gallbladder, and liver. According to Stock Market Media Group (SMMG), Nuvilexs Cell-in-a-Box and ifosfamide combo may prove to be a "diverse solution" for a range of cancers.

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Nuvilex Files For Orphan Status For Cell-In-A-Box Therapy

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-Oct-2014

Contact: Rhiannon Bugno Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu 214-648-0880 Elsevier @ElsevierConnect

Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2014 Are deficits in attention limited to those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or is there a spectrum of attention function in the general population? The answer to this question has implications for psychiatric diagnoses and perhaps for society, broadly.

A new study published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, by researchers at Cardiff University School of Medicine and the University of Bristol, suggests that there is a spectrum of attention, hyperactivity/impulsiveness and language function in society, with varying degrees of these impairments associated with clusters of genes linked with the risk for ADHD.

Viewing these functions as dimensions or spectrums contrasts with a traditional view of ADHD as a disease category.

To answer this question, researchers led by senior author Dr. Anita Thapar used genetic data from patients with ADHD as well as data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). The ALSPAC is based in England and is a large, ongoing study of parents and children followed since birth in the early '90s.

They created polygenic risk scores a 'composite' score of genetic effects that forms an index of genetic risk of ADHD for 8,229 ALSPAC participants.

They found that polygenic risk for ADHD was positively associated with higher levels of traits of hyperactivity/impulsiveness and attention at ages 7 and 10 in the general population. It was also negatively associated with pragmatic language abilities, e.g., the ability to appropriately use language in social settings.

"Our research finds that a set of genetic risks identified from UK patients with a clinical diagnosis of childhood ADHD also predicted higher levels of developmental difficulties in children from a UK population cohort, the ALSPAC," said Thapar.

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Gene variants implicated ADHD identify attention and language deficits general population

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