Project Walk Atlanta Spinal Cord Injury Awareness NEW
Spinal Cord Injury Awareness.

By: Paul Pickard

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Project Walk Atlanta Spinal Cord Injury Awareness NEW - Video

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2013 Spinal Cord Injury BC Women #39;s Tea Event
Join us for the 11th Annual Women #39;s Tea at Heritage Hall! This one day event celebrates all women, regardless of physical ability. This event is not just abo...

By: Spinal Cord Injury BC

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Josh: Living with a spinal cord injury
Here is Josh, one of our SpinChat speakers, talking about what life is like living with a spinal cord injury.

By: Independence Australia

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International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury
Book titled "International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury" launched at WHO Head Quarter, Geneva, Switzerland this month. I am one of the Contributors pro...

By: Vikram Bisht

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International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury - Video

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Richmond Docs Hear About Regenerative Medicine
The Richmond Academy of Medicine #39;s monthly gathering focused on advances in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Learn more from Dr. Anthony Atala, ...

By: ScienceMattersVA

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Richmond Docs Hear About Regenerative Medicine - Video

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"The future is really about regenerative medicine." -Dr. Z. Paul Lorenc

By: Dr. Paul Lorenc

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Top Science Stories of 2013

From the first vat-grown hamburger to the discovery of the world's largest volcano, scientists pushed back the limits of human knowledge in 2013 and developed technologies that could radically change how we live our lives.

The Science Media Centre team, in conjunction with our colleagues at the AusSMC, have assembled the top 10 picks for the most significant international science stories of the year. Contact the SMC if you would like more information about any of these stories, including copies of the research papers associated with them.

It was also a big year for New Zealand science with researchers publishing studies in some of the world's most influential journals. See below for our Top 10 list of New Zealand science stories that captured the public's attention in 2013.

Top 10 international science stories

1. Space sounds revealed Voyager 1 had boldly gone: In September, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first man-made object to leave our solar system and venture into interstellar space. The probe, launched in 1977 with the aim of reaching Jupiter and Saturn, is now over 19 billion kilometres from the sun. Scientists listened in to vibrations in the plasma surrounding Voyager - the sound of interstellar space - after it was hit by a massive solar wave in April. The vibrations allowed them to calculate the plasma's density, which differs between our solar system and interstellar space, confirming Voyager was no longer in our solar system.

2. Carbon dioxide hit a new peak and human influence on the climate was clearer than ever:In May, levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere reached a symbolic milestone, passing 400ppm (parts per million) for the first time in human history. Just a few months later in September, the leading international body for the assessment of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), found that human influence on the climate system is clearer than ever -we are now 95 percent certain that humans are the cause of global warming. Climate scientists from New Zealand were among the more than 600 scientists and researchers who worked on the IPCC report. 3. Scientists created human stem cells using cloning techniques: In May, researchers used therapeutic cloning to create human embryonic stem cells for the first time. The process involved taking the nucleus - which contains the genetic material - from a normal cell and transferring it into an unfertilised egg with its own genetic material removed. While this approach had previously been used in monkeys and mice, it had never succeeded using human cells. This discovery, described by Australian scientists as "a major breakthrough in regenerative medicine", could help develop personalised therapies for a range of currently untreatable diseases. However, the process requires human donor eggs, which are not easy to obtain, and raises a number of ethical issues.

4. Do you want fries with that? The world's most expensive burger was grown in the lab: The world's first lab-grown burger was cooked and eaten at a news conference in London in August this year - generating headlines around the world. The burger patty - which one food critic described as 'close to meat' - was developed by scientists from Maastricht University in the Netherlands through research funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Starting with stem cells from a biopsy of two cows (a Belgian Blue and a Blonde d'Aquitaine), the scientists grew muscle fibres in the lab. The fibres were pressed together with breadcrumbs and binding ingredients, then coloured with beetroot juice and saffron, resulting in the most expensive hamburger in history at a cost of around NZ$400,000.

5. Doctors stopped HIV in its tracks in the "Mississippi baby": A child born with HIV and treated with a series of antiviral drugs for the first 18 months of its life was found to be free of the virus more than 12 months after treatment ended. When the infant was 30 months of age, HIV-1 antibodies remained completely undetectable. However, the big question of whether this child, known as the "Mississippi baby", has truly been cured of HIV remains unanswered. "The best answer at the moment is a definitive maybe", HIV expert Scott Hammer, wrote in a New England Journal of Medicineeditorial which accompanied the research.

6. Redefining mental illness: In May, the new version of the diagnostic reference manual used by clinicians in the U.S. and around the world to diagnose mental disorders was released. The fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is the first update in nearly 20 years and followed a decade of review and consultation. It's publication met with widespread controversy. One of its major changes is to introduce a graded scale known as Autism Spectrum Disorder combining the former four autism-related disorders: autistic, Asperger's, childhood disintegrative, and pervasive developmental disorder. Elsewhere, several new disorders were added, new suicide risk assessment scales were introduced and the threshold for diagnosing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was lowered. Critics of DSM-5, including New Zealand experts, argue that it will lead to the over-diagnosis of mental disorders, stigmatising millions of people who are essentially normal.

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Top Science Stories of 2013

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stem cell therapy treatment for spinal cord injury by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india short
improvement seen in just 4 months after stem cell therapy treatment for spinal cord injury by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india. Stem Cell Therapy done date 2nd ...

By: Neurogen Brain and Spine Institute

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By Dalia Dangerfield, Reporter Last Updated: Saturday, December 14, 2013, 8:48 PM TAMPA --

USF researchers believe stem cell therapy can help men and women with mild brain injuries.

This is quite a phenomenal observation, said Dr. Cesar Borlongan, a neuroscientist from USF Health. In our hands, stem cell therapy may offer this hope for the soldiers to prevent the progression of the disease and hopefully we can stop the disease process at the early stage."

In a recent study Borlongan injected adult stem cells in rats with traumatic brain injury. The stem cells served as a bridge, allowing new brain cells to move up to the damaged part of the brain.

That's a new concept, it's like the cells are very smart, said Borlongan.

Over time the adult stem cells helped partially repair the brain damage in rats.

Professor Borlongan believes the same may be true for humans allowing them to slowly get better.

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New study shows stem cell therapy helps brain injuries

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At the forefront of medicine, Gene Therapy brings you the latest research into genetic and cell-based technologies to treat disease. It also publishes Progress & Prospects reviews and News and Commentary articles, which highlight the cutting edge of the field.

Volume 20, No 12 December 2013 ISSN: 0969-7128 EISSN: 1476-5462

2012 Impact Factor 4.321* 70/290 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 22/159 Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology 33/161 Genetics & Heredity 25/121 Medicine, Research & Experimental

Editors: J Glorioso, USA N Lemoine, UK

*2012 Journal Citation Reports Science Edition (Thomson Reuters, 2013)

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Gene Therapy now offers authors the option to publish their articles with immediate open access upon publication. Open access articles will also be deposited on PubMed Central at the time of publication and will be freely available immediately. Find out more from our FAQs page.

Reviews by top researchers in the field. See the recent Progress and Prospects articles.

Essential topics explored in depth in Gene Therapy Special Issues.

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Gene Therapy - Nature

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

9-Dec-2013

Contact: Cara Martinez cara.martinez@cshs.org 310-423-7798 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 9, 2013) Researchers in the Women's Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai's Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute have identified a series of 10 genes that may signify a trifecta of benefits for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer and ultimately reflect improved survival outcomes.

The research, led by Dong-Joo (Ellen) Cheon, PhD, found that the 10-gene biomarker panel may identify the aggressiveness of a patient's disease, help predict survival outcomes and result in novel therapeutic strategies tailored to patients with the most adverse survival outcomes.

When a patient's tumor is identified as having elevated levels of these 10 specific genes, doctors may be able to better predict which treatments would be most effective, said Cheon, whose research was published in Clinical Cancer Research.

That is an important advance because ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic cancer and is often diagnosed in later, more aggressive stages, resulting in poor prognosis and survival. These outcomes differ due to development of tumors that become resistant to chemotherapy. By identifying chemo-resistant tumors and identifying the risk of poor survival outcomes during the diagnostic process, investigators hope to extend lives and improve treatment responses for women with ovarian cancer.

"The ultimate goal is to use the 10-gene biomarker panel to develop a diagnostic kit that will identify patients with the most adverse outcome and provide targeted therapeutic strategies," said Cheon. "Among the biomarkers identified, the gene COL11A1 was shown to be the most abundantly expressed in ovarian cancer progression. But when we blocked expression of COL11A1 in murine cancer cells, tumor growth and spread was significantly reduced."

The 10-gene biomarker panel revealed another promising benefit. The 10 genes associated with the panel all share one common biological process the formation of a collagen matrix around cancerous cells. This thick, collagen-rich matrix can protect cancer cells from the lethal effect of chemotherapy and serve as an incubator for increasingly aggressive cancer cells. Understanding how this collagen-rich environment may contribute to aggressive tumor cell behavior may ultimately lead to more efficient therapies.

"This data, based on the analysis of nearly 800 ovarian cancer patients, suggests that patients who have elevated levels of genes associated with the biomarker panel have shorter survival and more aggressive forms of disease," said Sandra Orsulic, PhD, senior author of this study, director of women's cancer biology in the Women's Cancer Program and associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "These findings indicate that even though patients present with the same disease stage at diagnosis, their survival outcomes differ."

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Ovarian cancer discovery deepens knowledge of survival outcomes

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UNC School of Medicine Navigation Home Info

The mission of the department is to provide basic and applied genetic/genomic research, education and training at the interface between biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, mathematics, the social sciences, public health and medicine in order to have a profound effect on how medicine will be practiced in the future.

Our graduate programs train students to be creative, sophisticated research scientists prepared to pursue careers focused in genetics and genomics working in academic science, government, or commercial positions. Students conduct their dissertation research using diverse experimental approaches - from classical genetics to the most modern molecular methods - to address a broad range of contemporary problems in biomedical science.

The Department also includes a clinical arm focused on medical genetics, which covers the broad spectrum of clinical genetic research from disease prevention to diagnosis and treatment. This specialty includes evaluation, mutation discovery, counseling and risk assessment through analysis and genetic testing. Locating the clinical group alongside basic scientists facilitates integration of cutting edge genetic research with patient care.

Genetics 120 Mason Farm Road 5000 D, Genetic Medicine Building CB#7264 UNC-Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC27599-7264 United States

Tel (919) 843-6475 Fax (919) 966-0401

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2013 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

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Cutting edge companies often walk a tightrope between regulators trying to keep their technologies under control and marketers trying to push them out to consumers as fast as possible.

That's where a Silicon Valley company named 23andMe is today. The Mountain View, Calif., firm has been hawking genetic tests for you to take at home. You spit into a receptacle and ship your saliva back to the company so it can analyze your DNA for a mere $99. Eventually you get a readout detailing your genetic susceptibility to hundreds of diseases.

At least, that used to be the case. At the end of November, regulators at the Food and Drug Administration instructed the firm to shut down its genetic analysis service, declaring with plenty of justification that the company's marketing claims were running well beyond what was valid, or legal. The service fell within the legal definition of a medical diagnostic device, the agency said, and demanded data demonstrating the tests' technical validity. It warned 23andMe to ratchet back its marketing claims for the service, which it said requires agency approval before it can be sold to consumers "as FDA has explained to you on numerous occasions," the agency said.

The company will still send customers their raw genetic data and an analysis of what it says about their "ancestry," but it has stopped issuing disease-risk analyses until it gets right with the FDA. Customers who ordered their tests on or after the date of the FDA's warning letter, Nov. 22, can get a refund.

Personal genetic testing has been building toward a craze for some time, as evidence mounts that certain genes or mutations can affect individuals' health profiles. Consumer interest often spikes with news events: Anne Wojcicki, the founder and CEO of 23andMe, says inquiries poured into her office in May, after actress Angelina Jolie disclosed that she'd undergone a precautionary double mastectomy upon learning she carried a gene that predisposed her to breast cancer.

23andMe the firm's name derives from the number of chromosome pairs in the human cell has become the best-known company in the field for a couple of reasons. One is the unique pizazz of its corporate pedigree. It's backed by Google, whose co-founder Sergey Brin is Wojcicki's husband. (They separated earlier this year.)

Another reason is its aggressive national advertising, for which it budgeted $5 million for 2013 alone. But that was before the FDA swooped down; the TV ads have been taken off the company's YouTube channel.

The problem with the service provided by 23andMe and its competitors and the root of the FDA's concern is that raw genetic information is very hard for a lay person to interpret. "The technology is just not ready for prime time," says David B. Agus, a USC cancer specialist who co-founded Navigenics to market professional genetic testing services.

Agus says test interpretation should be done by physicians or trained genetics counselors. "Medicine is lots of shades of gray, so you need discussion with someone who's trained in the field," he says. Agus says he has no financial interest in Life Technologies, which acquired Navigenics in 2012, though he sometimes offers the company unpaid advice.

The reports issued by 23andMe prior to the FDA letter typically included pages of qualifications of the genetic results for every health issue, followed by a broad disclaimer stating that the information "is intended for research and educational purposes only, and is not for diagnostic use."

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23andMe's genetic tests are more misleading than helpful

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Introduction to Mendelian Genetics

By: BioEd Online

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Introduction to Mendelian Genetics - Video

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Gene therapy using adeno virus
This gene therapy video tutorial is to explain the method of gene therapy using adeno virus vector to cure genetic diseases. For more information, log on to-...

By: Suman Bhattacharjee

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Gene therapy using adeno virus - Video

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MCB 436 - Gene Therapy PSA
Gene Therapy PSA MCB 436 Global Biosecurity.

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MCB 436 - Gene Therapy PSA - Video

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Parkinson's patient Ed Fitzpatrick speaks about stem cell research for his disease. Fitzpatrick talked on a Dec. 7 panel at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego. Bradley J. Fikes

Parkinson's patient Ed Fitzpatrick speaks about stem cell research for his disease. Fitzpatrick talked on a Dec. 7 panel at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego.

For eight local Parkinsons patients seeking treatment with stem cell technology, 2014 could bring the milestone theyve been anticipating.

If all goes well, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will approve an attempt to replace the brain cells destroyed in Parkinsons. The new cells, grown from each patients own skin cells, are expected to restore normal movement in the patients.

Because the new brain cells are made from the patients own cells, immunosuppressive drugs shouldnt be needed. Ideally, patients could stop taking their medications and resume normal activities for many years, or even the rest of their lives.

The project, Summit4StemCell.org, is a collaboration between three nonprofits. The Scripps Research Institute handles the science; Scripps Clinic takes care of the medical side; and the Parkinsons Association of San Diego helps to raise money for the self-funded project.

Since 2011, the focus has been at the institute, where scientists led by Jeanne Loring have made the artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, and turned them into the needed brain cells. Now Scripps Clinic is assuming a more prominent role to prepare for treating the patients.

A study in rats began in early December; results are expected by April. The animal study is meant to assess safety, although researchers will also look for signs of effectiveness.

In January, scientists will visit the FDA to lay the groundwork for a formal application, said Scripps Clinic neurologist Melissa Houser, who treats all eight patients.

Success in the animal study will likely result in a go-ahead, Houser said. If the animal trial fails, its back to the drawing board.

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Parkinson’s stem cell project aims for 2014 approval

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A new study says heart damage may be reversible with stem cell therapy without dangerous side effects.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- On a June day in 2009, a 39-year-old man named Ken Milles lay on an exam table at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A month earlier, he'd suffered a massive heart attack that destroyed nearly a third of his heart.

"The most difficult part was the uncertainty," he recalls. "Your heart is 30% damaged, and they tell you this could affect you the rest of your life." He was about to receive an infusion of stem cells, grown from cells taken from his own heart a few weeks earlier. No one had ever tried this before.

About three weeks later, in Kentucky, a patient named Mike Jones underwent a similar procedure at the University of Louisville's Jewish Hospital. Jones suffered from advanced heart failure, the result of a heart attack years earlier. Like Milles, he received an infusion of stem cells, grown from his own heart tissue.

"Once you reach this stage of heart disease, you don't get better," says Dr. Robert Bolli, who oversaw Jones' procedure, explaining what doctors have always believed and taught. "You can go down slowly, or go down quickly, but you're going to go down."

Conventional wisdom took a hit Monday, as Bolli's group and a team from Cedars-Sinai each reported that stem cell therapies were able to reverse heart damage, without dangerous side effects, at least in a small group of patients.

In Bolli's study, published in The Lancet, 16 patients with severe heart failure received a purified batch of cardiac stem cells. Within a year, their heart function markedly improved. The heart's pumping ability can be quantified through the "Left Ventricle Ejection Fraction," a measure of how much blood the heart pumps with each contraction. A patient with an LVEF of less than 40% is considered to suffer severe heart failure. When the study began, Bolli's patients had an average LVEF of 30.3%. Four months after receiving stem cells, it was 38.5%. Among seven patients who were followed for a full year, it improved to an astounding 42.5%. A control group of seven patients, given nothing but standard maintenance medications, showed no improvement at all.

"We were surprised by the magnitude of improvement," says Bolli, who says traditional therapies, such as placing a stent to physically widen the patient's artery, typically make a smaller difference. Prior to treatment, Mike Jones couldn't walk to the restroom without stopping for breath, says Bolli. "Now he can drive a tractor on his farm, even play basketball with his grandchildren. His life was transformed."

At Cedars-Sinai, 17 patients, including Milles, were given stem cells approximately six weeks after suffering a moderate to major heart attack. All had lost enough tissue to put them "at big risk" of future heart failure, according to Dr. Eduardo Marban, the director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, who developed the stem cell procedure used there.

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Studies: Stem cells reverse heart damage - CNN.com

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Washington, Dec 7 : NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) are enabling research aboard the International Space Station that could lead to new stem cell-based therapies for medical conditions faced on Earth and in space.

Scientists will take advantage of the space station's microgravity environment to study the properties of non-embryonic stem cells.

NASA is interested in space-based cell research because it is seeking ways to combat the negative health effects astronauts face in microgravity, including bone loss and muscle atrophy.

Mitigation techniques are necessary to allow humans to push the boundaries of space exploration far into the solar system. This knowledge could help people on Earth, particularly the elderly, who are afflicted with similar conditions.

Two stem cell investigations scheduled to fly to the space station next year were highlighted Friday, Dec. 6, at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego.

Lee Hood, a member of the CASIS Board of Directors, moderated a panel session in which scientists Mary Kearns-Jonker of Loma Linda University in California and Roland Kaunas of Texas A&M University discussed their planned research, which will gauge the impact of microgravity on fundamental stem cell properties.

Kearns-Jonker's research will study the aging of neonatal and adult cardiac stem cells in microgravity with the ultimate goal of improving cardiac cell therapy.

Kaunas is a part of a team of researchers developing a system for co-culturing and analyzing stem cells mixed with bone tumor cells in microgravity.

This system will allow researchers to identify potential molecular targets for drugs specific to certain types of cancer.

Stem cells are cells that have not yet become specialized in their functions. They display a remarkable ability to give rise to a spectrum of cell types and ensure life-long tissue rejuvenation and regeneration.

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Space Station made accessible for stem cell research

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Researchers in Sweden have successfully grown functioning neural tissues in lab, which has opened up significant new possibilities in medical science including new ways of treating cases of brain damage.

Scientists have already developed sophisticated techniques to grow tissues of other visceral organs such as kidney, liver, trachea, lymph nodes, and veins, and have even performed tissue transplantations in body for organ regeneration.

However, growing neural tissues in the lab is itself tricky as neurons are the most complex cells in our body, and imitating the functional biology of brain has been the most challenging task for scientists trying to unlock the mysteries of human body.

Neural tissues have been grown before in labs, but there is still a long way to go before researchers can achieve in vivo nerve regeneration and differentiation.

But Paolo Macchiarini and Silvia Baiguera at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm may have identified a way forward.

Organic tissue is grown in a scaffold which replicates the protein-rich environment of tissues in the body, known as extracellular matrix (ECM). The in vitro scaffold thus provides nutrients and biochemical cues to the embedded stem cells to help them grow into differentiated cells.

The researchers contrived a gelatin scaffold with extracellular plasma from rat brain cells to replicate in vivo environment, and then lodged mesenchymal stem cells from another rat's bone marrow into the scaffold. The experiment was successful as the stem cells grew into differentiated neural cells in vitro.

The team believes that the bioengineering technique could be used for surgically treating neurodegenerative disorders and injuries.

Macchiarini hopes of using transplants of bioengineered tissue to replace parts of the brain tissues damaged by gunshots, concussions etc. and in conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's caused by death of brain cells.

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Scientists Grow Functioning Neural Cells in Lab Raising Hopes of Bio-engineered Brain

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

12-Dec-2013

Contact: Shaun Mason smason@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles

Stem cell researchers from UCLA have published the first study to identify the origin cells and track the early development of human articular cartilage, providing what could be a new cell source and biological roadmap for therapies to repair cartilage defects and damage from osteoarthritis.

Such transformative therapies could reach clinical trials within three years, said the scientists from UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

The study, led by Dr. Denis Evseenko, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and head of UCLA's Laboratory of Connective Tissue Regeneration, was published online Dec. 12 in the journal Stem Cell Reports and will appear in a forthcoming print edition.

Articular cartilage, a highly specialized tissue formed from cells called chondrocytes, protects the bones of joints from forces associated with load-bearing and impact and allows nearly frictionless motion between the articular surfaces the areas where bone connects with other bones in a joint.

Cartilage injury and a lack of cartilage regeneration often lead to osteoarthritis, which involves the degradation of joints, including cartilage and bone. Osteoarthritis currently affects more than 20 million people in the U.S., making joint-surface restoration a major priority in modern medicine.

While scientists have studied the ability of different cell types to generate articular cartilage, none of the current cell-based repair strategies including expanded articular chondrocytes or mesenchymal stromal cells from adult bone marrow, adipose tissue, sinovium or amniotic fluid have generated long-lasting articular cartilage tissue in the laboratory.

For the current study, Evseenko and his colleagues used complex molecular biology techniques to determine which cells grown from embryonic stem cells, which can become any cell type in the body, were the progenitors of cartilage cells, or chondrocytes. They then tested and confirmed the growth of these progenitor cells into cartilage cells and monitored their growth progress, observing and recording important genetic features, or landmarks, that indicated the growth stages of these cells as they developed into the cartilage cells.

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UCLA stem cell scientists first to track joint cartilage development in humans

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Poway, California (PRWEB) December 13, 2013

Noni is a ten-year-old released Canine Companion for Independence dog who just achieved her Master Agility Champion status after the pain from arthritis tried to slow her down. Nonis owner, Dr. Kim Dembinski, a veterinarian at Paradise Veterinary Hospital in San Diego turned to stem cell therapy by Vet-Stem, Inc. and fellow colleague Dr. Jennipher Harris to help Noni.

When Dr. Dembinski noticed weakness and discomfort in her aging agility dog she was proactive in keeping Noni happy and comfortable, The main thought was that she gives so much between therapy work, being my best friend, and as the clinic mascot that giving her relief from pain and her being more comfortable was the least I could do for her.

Nonis stem cell therapy involved a small fat sample collection, which was brought to Vet-Stems lab in Poway, California. There, highly trained lab technicians processed Nonis fat tissue to isolate the stem cells into doses that could be injected into the arthritic joints that were causing her pain. Normally the tissue is shipped overnight to Vet-Stem and the cells are shipped overnight back to the veterinarian making doses available within 48 hours, but because Paradise Veterinary Hospital is located near Vet-Stem Nonis stem cell doses were available for injection the same day the fat sample was collected.

Noni did very well post procedure; she regained muscle strength and flexibility, Dr. Dembinski reported, Noni did four weeks of rehab then went right back to competing in agility. Six months after the procedure she earned her MACH (Master Agility Champion), AKC (American Kennel Club) title. Because of her stem cell therapy she is still comfortable and playing agility!

Dr. Dembinski is a general practitioner for pets including dogs, cats, small mammals, birds and exotics. She is currently owner and primary veterinarian at Paradise Veterinary Hospital and sits on the board of the San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association. Caring for animals is not just a job for Dr. Dembinski, it is a passion. In her free time she and Noni compete in dog agility trials with AKC, North American Dog Agility Council and Canine Performance Events.

About Vet-Stem, Inc. Vet-Stem, Inc. was formed in 2002 to bring regenerative medicine to the veterinary profession. The privately held company is working to develop therapies in veterinary medicine that apply regenerative technologies while utilizing the natural healing properties inherent in all animals. As the first company in the United States to provide an adipose-derived stem cell service to veterinarians for their patients, Vet-Stem, Inc. pioneered the use of regenerative stem cells in veterinary medicine. The company holds exclusive licenses to over 50 patents including world-wide veterinary rights for use of adipose derived stem cells. In the last decade over 10,000 animals have been treated using Vet-Stem, Inc.s services, and Vet-Stem is actively investigating stem cell therapy for immune-mediated and inflammatory disease, as well as organ disease and failure. For more on Vet-Stem, Inc. and Veterinary Regenerative Medicine visit http://www.vet-stem.com or call 858-748-2004.

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San Diego Canine Overcomes Pain to Achieve Championship with the Help of Paradise Veterinary Hospital and Vet-Stem, Inc.

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Newswise RNA interference (RNAi) is a regulatory mechanism that occurs naturally within cells. Short pieces of RNA (so-called hairpins) interfere with transcribed genetic information to silence genes. RNAi was originally discovered in plants in 1990, and in 2001 was also found in mammals. Right from its discovery, RNAi has inspired scientists to utilize the new mechanism for the development of experimental gene suppression tools. Beyond many applications in basic biological research, RNAi has become a unique method to identify and study therapeutic target genes. However, despite their enormous potential, currently available RNAi reagents are often ineffective or come along with unspecific side-effects.

Inspired by nature

Johannes Zuber and his colleague Christof Fellmann came up with ideas how to improve RNAi technology back in 2010, when both were still working at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in the US. The basic principles of RNAi are not yet fully understood. To shut off a specific gene, one has to test many hairpin molecules, and often only one out of ten will be effective enough. To improve the method, we took nature as an example, Zuber explains their line of thought. He finally took the project to the IMP, while Fellmann continued his scientific career at Mirimus, a CSHL-based biotech company developing advanced RNAi technologies.

A particularly powerful and commonly used RNAi method is based on embedding synthetic hairpin sequences into naturally occurring micro-RNA backbones. The result is an RNA-construct that mimics nature and is processed by normal cellular pathways. However, the performance of existing reagents designed this way remains far from perfect.

Zuber and his team analyzed a human micro-RNA backbone, focusing on sequence parts that remained unchanged during evolution a sign that they may have important functions. The scientists realized that some of these sequences had been altered in the commonly used synthetic RNAi backbone. By correcting these differences and systematically testing many design variants, Zuber and his team managed to greatly improve the effectiveness of the synthetic RNAi tool.

Upgrade from a Beetle to a Lamborghini

The benefit for science is tremendous Zuber points out the relevance of his results. While current methods involve testing up to twenty hairpins to strongly suppress a given gene, the optimized reagents cut down the number to an average of four. Moreover, in high-throughput screening studies it will be easier to nominate positive hits and interpret negative results.

We are taking the technology from a molecular Beetle to a Lamborghini Zuber draws an analogy. The upgrade is simple and existing reagents can be adapted with minimal effort. Zuber and his co-workers at the IMP provide the new method and reagents - an entire toolbox for effective RNAi, as he calls it - to the scientific community. Cooperation partners and colleagues at the IMP who have already tested these new reagents are fully convinced of the benefits.

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A Molecular Toolkit for Gene Silencing

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Dec. 5, 2013 In most cases, human gene transfer research is no longer novel or controversial enough to require additional review from the National Institutes of Health's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, known as RAC, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine.Patient safety is always paramount, the report says, but most individual RAC reviews no longer provide benefits beyond the existing regulatory and oversight framework and may be impeding scientific advancement with unnecessary administrative burdens.

However, NIH should consider developing a process -- using RAC as a model -- to rigorously review research on humans in any scientific realm that uses applications from emerging technologies or techniques that pose unknown or significant risks.

"The government's role in research must be, first and foremost, to safeguard the rights, dignity, and health of human subjects, while also facilitating vital scientific research to prevent and treat major health threats," said Lawrence O. Gostin, university professor at Georgetown University Law Center and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "The RAC has instilled public confidence in an area of research that was once deeply controversial, and the RAC model could serve as a method for transparent engagement and review of any novel scientific research that poses unknown or heightened risk."

Human gene transfer research involves the introduction of genetic material into a human subject for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.Individual gene transfer research protocols -- extensive written research plans -- currently must be reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as by multiple oversight bodies at individual research institutions.Each protocol for NIH-funded research is also reviewed by RAC, which then selects a small number of potentially controversial or novel research protocols for further oversight and public review. The RAC no longer directly regulates human gene transfer research but instead advises NIH on protocols and provides a public forum for discussing scientific, technical, and ethical considerations.

Since RAC was formed in the 1970s, decades of extensive clinical and research experience have helped alleviate many of the initial concerns about human gene transfer research.Hundreds of clinical trials -- predominantly Phase I clinical trials designed to evaluate safety -- have been completed and much has been learned about how to ensure the safety of research participants.In addition, the promise of more effective treatments for devastating and debilitating diseases has increased the public's positive perceptions of this research.

RAC should only review individual research protocols in exceptional cases, the committee concluded. The report identifies specific criteria that a research protocol should meet before it is determined to require RAC review, such as when a new vector, genetic material, or delivery method is first used on human subjects, and when protocols cannot be adequately reviewed by other oversight and regulatory bodies.The NIH director should consult with other regulatory and oversight authorities to determine whether RAC review is warranted.But even if proposed research doesn't meet these criteria, the director should have the flexibility to select research protocols for RAC review that may present significant societal or ethical concerns.

In addition to gene transfer, other emerging technologies to be used in human research, such as nanotechnology, could benefit from public discussion and oversight, the report says.The NIH director should convene an ad hoc working group to consider whether providing oversight and a venue for public deliberation similar to RAC for research on humans involving other emerging applications is needed.The report notes that such oversight and review should focus only on cases that have generated significant public concern or that fall outside existing regulatory capacities.

Access to the report can be found at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18577

Excerpt from:
New IOM report assesses oversight of clinical gene transfer protocols

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Dec. 12, 2013 A newly improved internet research tool is helping cancer researchers and physicians make sense out of a deluge of genetic data from nearly 100,000 patients and more than 50,000 mice.

The tool, called the Gene Expression Barcode 3.0, is proving to be a vital resource in the new era of personalized medicine, in which cancer treatments are tailored to the genetic makeup of an individual patient's tumor.

Significant new improvements in the Gene Expression Barcode 3.0 are reported in the January issue of the journal Nucleic Acids Research, published online ahead of print. Senior author is Michael J. Zilliox of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Zilliox is co-inventor of the Gene Expression Barcode.

"The tool has two main advantages," Zilliox said. "It's fast and it's free." The Gene Expression Barcode is available at a website http://barcode.luhs.org/ designed and hosted by Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The website is receiving 1,600 unique visitors per month.

Knowing how a patient's cancer genes are expressed can help a physician devise an individualized treatment. In a tumor cell, for example, certain genes are turned on (expressed) while other genes are turned off (unexpressed). Also, different types of cancer cells have different patterns of gene expression. Genes are expressed through RNA, a nucleic acid that acts as a messenger to carry out instructions from DNA for making proteins.

Research institutions have made public genetic data from nearly 100,000 patients, most of whom had cancer, and more than 50,000 laboratory mice. In raw form, however, these data are too unwieldy to be of much practical use for most researchers. The Gene Expression Barcode applies advanced statistical techniques to make this mass of data much more user-friendly to researchers.

The barcode algorithm is designed to estimate which genes are expressed and which are unexpressed. Like a supermarket barcode, the Gene Expression Barcode is binary, meaning it consists of ones and zeros -- the expressed genes are ones and the unexpressed genes are zeroes.

Zilliox co-invented the Gene Expression Barcode, along with Rafael Irizarry, PhD. (At the time, Zilliox and Irizarry were at Johns Hopkins University.) Zilliox joined Loyola in 2012, and Irizarry now is at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Zilliox and Irizarry first reported the Gene Expression Barcode in 2007. In 2011, they reported an improved 2.0 version. The Barcode already has been cited in more than 120 scientific papers, and the new 3.0 version will make it even easier and faster for researchers to use, Zilliox said.

See the article here:
Helping cancer researchers make sense of deluge of genetic data

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith