MANILA - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked the corporate registration of the Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine (PSSCM) for submitting fabricated endorsement from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

In a five-page order, SEC acting director Ferdinand Sales said the PSSCM committed fraud in procuring its Certificate of Incorporation.

He said that as required under Section 17 of the Corporation Code, the PSSCM submitted a favorable endorsement from the PRC to support its application for corporate registration.

But he said the SEC found that the 2nd PRC Indorsement dated Feb. 20, 2013 submitted by PSSCM was falsified.

Considering the submission of a falsified PRC endorsement, there is fraud in procurement of respondents certificate of registration. The falsified document was relied upon by this Commission in approving the registration application of the respondent, Sales noted.

He added that had the SEC known about such defect early on, it would have not accepted and approved the registration application of the respondent.

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Registration of PH stem cell group revoked

Stem Cell Therapy PRP and Its Success in Treating Older Patients
Dr Rodney Dade discusses how regenerative medicine therapies work very well in older patient populations--ages 65 and above in particular--especially the Reg...

By: StemCell ARTS

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Stem Cell Therapy PRP and Its Success in Treating Older Patients - Video

Turning Stem Cell Biology into Stem Cell Medicine
Mark Noble, Professor of Genetics, Neurology, Neurobiology and Anatomy; Director of the University of Rochester Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute...

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Turning Stem Cell Biology into Stem Cell Medicine - Video

The parents of a 2-year-old Pasadena girl who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia were this week renewing calls for help in their search for a bone marrow donor after stem cells donated from the girls father failed to help.

Sofia Flores, shown in a family photo, needs a bone marrow donor.

Sofia Flores story first came to light in October 2013 when her parents asked for help in finding a bone marrow donor for their daughter.

Sofia needed a marrow transplant to combat acute myeloid leukemia, according to A3M, a Los Angeles nonprofit that is helping Sofias parents seek a match for the little girl.

However, after an extensive search, no match was found.

On Jan. 23, her father donated his stem cells to her, which was the only alternative available at the time, according to Erica Westfall, Sofias mother.

But the treatment was not successful and Sofias cancer relapsed.

Sofias last chance for survival would be a transplant from an unrelated donor in the next two months, according to her mother.

Weve been searching for a bone marrow match even harder because this is her last chance, her father Ignacio Flores said in a video released to news media on Monday.

Sofia has not found a donor through the Be the Match registry, in part because her mixed-race ethnicity makes it difficult to find a compatible donor, according to A3M. Sofia is half white and half Mexican.

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Father of 2-Year-Old in Need of Bone Marrow: This Is Her Last Chance

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Teruhiko Wakayama, a respected stem cell scientist from Japans RIKEN Institute, said he is not certain about the methods used in two studies he co-authored with lead investigator Haruko Obokata.

In the ground-breaking work, heralded by some in the field as a game-changer in the way stem cells are made, Obokata and her team, which included researchers from Harvard University and other international institutes, detailed how they were able to coax already developed cells to revert back to an embryonic-like state to become stem cells by simply exposing them to chemical solutions (mostly acidic) or physical stress. Stem cells can be manipulated to develop into any of the bodys tissues to repair or replace diseased cells.

The controversy erupted when Obokata and her team published a tips sheet for other researchers to follow to replicate their work. But inconsistencies between the newly released methods and the original protocol in the papers, as well as questions about images in the published work, led some to wonder about the validity of the results. Wakayama himself said he was able to repeat the study only once, with Obokatas assistance, but not on his own.

MORE: The Rise and Fall of the Cloning King

In a press conference in Japan last month, Wakayama, who is best known for using stem cell techniques to clone mice, said he asked all of the scientists involved to retract the papers, which were published in the journal Nature in January, and to have the data and results reviewed by other scientists. RIKEN is investigating the work, as is Nature.

The development adds another black eye to the field of stem cell science, which is ripe with possibility but has struggled to establish its credibility. In 2006, Korean researcher Woo Suk Hwang claimed he had become the first to successfully clone human cells, generating patient-specific lines of stem cells from a persons skin cell. The work turned out to be fraudulent, and the stem cells derived from an already established technique of extracting them from existing embryos.

Since then, both policy makers and those in the field have been more skeptical of milestone claims for good reason, as the latest study shows.

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Stem Cell Researcher Calls for Retraction of His Own Work

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 10, 2014

Histogen Aesthetics, a subsidiary of regenerative medicine company Histogen, Inc. focused on skin care and cosmeceuticals, announced today that the Company has acquired the CellCeuticals Biomedical Skin Treatments line of skincare products.

Histogen Aesthetics will continue sales of the eleven existing CellCeuticals Biomedical Skin Treatments skincare products, while bringing new innovation to the line through the addition of a unique regenerative medicine technology, working to improve skin aging at a cellular level.

We have long admired the science, clinical data and elegant formulas behind the CellCeuticals line, and see it as an ideal fit for our recently revitalized aesthetics subsidiary, said Dr. Gail K. Naughton, CEO and Chairman of Histogen, Inc. We are very excited to begin infusing unique cell-signaling factors into the CellCeuticals regimen, to truly transform skin one cell at a time.

Dr. Naughton has spent more than 30 years in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and holds over 100 patents in the field. She founded Histogen in 2007, focused on developing therapies that work to stimulate the stem cells in the body to regenerate tissues and organs. Through this work, she has also seen how different compositions of human proteins can have cosmetic benefits, particularly in anti-aging and rejuvenation.

I am pleased that the CellCeuticals Biomedical Skin Treatments will evolve, and see Histogen Aesthetics as an excellent home for this innovative product line, said Paul Scott Premo, co-founder of CellCeuticals Skin Care, Inc. I believe the addition of this regenerative medicine technology will be the opportunity to introduce a new generation of products that are the vanguard of regenerative skin care.

The CellCeuticals system is made up of eleven distinctive products including the Extremely Gentle Skin Cleanser, CellGenesis Regenerative Skin Treatment, and PhotoDefense Color Radiance SPF55+ with proprietary and patented PhotoPlex technology. The line is currently available at retailers including QVC.com, Dermstore.com, and Nordstrom.com, as well as http://www.cellceuticalskincare.com.

About Histogen Aesthetics Histogen Aesthetics LLC, formed in 2008 as a subsidiary of Histogen, Inc., focuses on the development of innovative skin care products utilizing regenerative medicine technology. Histogen Aesthetics technology is based on the expertise of founder Dr. Gail K. Naughton, in which fibroblasts are grown under unique conditions, producing a complex of naturally-secreted proteins and synergistic bio-products known to stimulate skin cells to regenerate and rejuvenate tissues. In 2014, Histogen Aesthetics acquired CellCeuticals Biomedical Skin Treatments, a line of scientifically-proven products that reactivate cells to help aging skin perform and look healthier and younger. For more information, visit http://www.cellceuticalskincare.com.

About Histogen Histogen is a regenerative medicine company developing solutions based upon the products of cells grown under proprietary conditions that mimic the embryonic environment, including low oxygen and suspension. Through this unique technology process, newborn cells are encouraged to naturally produce the vital proteins and growth factors from which the Company has developed its rich product portfolio. Histogen's lead product, Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC) has shown success in two Company-sponsored clinical trials as an injectable treatment for alopecia. In addition, the human multipotent cell conditioned media produced through Histogen's process is also being researched for oncology applications, and in orthopedics through joint venture PUR Biologics, LLC. For more information, please visit http://www.histogen.com.

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Histogen Aesthetics Acquires CellCeuticals Biomedical Skin Treatments

Freeport, The Bahamas (PRWEB) March 10, 2014

Matt Feshbach, CEO of Okyanos Heart Institute whose mission it is to bring a new standard of care and better quality of life to patients with coronary artery disease using cardiac stem cell therapy has announced the appointment of Okyanos senior vice president of marketing, Erika Rosenthal, to the International Stem Cell Society (STEMSO) Advisory Board. She will advise the trade organization in a communications capacity to benefit the membership and the mission.

STEMSO is a member-based, international, non-profit 501(c) 6 trade association which promotes the interests of organizational members of the global, adult stem cell healthcare community. STEMSO provides information, education, resources, advocacy and public awareness for the advancement of adult stem cell research and therapy. The organization recently hosted a global regenerative medicine conference in Freeport, The Bahamas, entitled, Bridging the Gap: Research to Point of Care which brought together experts in adult stem cell therapy and regulations to discuss commercialization of therapies for chronic disease in a safe, ethical, and compliant manner.

STEMSO is an important organization to the field of stem cell therapy and research, said Feshbach. Communications and healthcare are both fields in which Erika excels, and so I am pleased to see her lend her expertise for an important cause. I look forward to the Okyanos Heart Institute executive team continuing with such efforts for the greater good of medicine.

Rosenthal was a 2008 recipient of the National Association of Women Business Owners Business Woman of the Year award, and was recognized in Business Leader Magazine as a Woman Extraordinaire, for her business accomplishments and contributions to the non-profit community. She is a former faculty member of the University of California where she taught Marketing and Hospitality Management.

It is indeed an honor to work with STEMSO to advance their cause to help advance adult stem cell research and therapy worldwide, and to bring together leading researchers, physicians, regulators and scientists to set standards for ethical and responsible delivery of therapies as they become available to the public worldwide, said Rosenthal. It is an exciting time in medicine, and STEMSO is greatly needed to bring collaboration and guidance between this impressive member group of thought leaders.

STEMSO is pleased to have Erika Rosenthal participate on STEMSOs Advisory Board, said Douglas Hammond, president of STEMSO. Non-profit trade associations are only as strong as their member participation and leadership allows. If other members or prospective organizational members were to support STEMSO as Okyanos Heart Institute and Erika Rosenthal, there would be no limit to STEMSOs impact in the Regenerative Medicine Industry.

About Okyanos Heart Institute: (Oh key AH nos) Based in Freeport, The Bahamas, Okyanos Heart Institutes mission is to bring a new standard of care and a better quality of life to patients with coronary artery disease using cardiac stem cell therapy. Okyanos adheres to U.S. surgical center standards and is led by Chief Medical Officer Howard T. Walpole Jr., M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.C., F.S.C.A.I. Okyanos Treatment utilizes a unique blend of stem and regenerative cells derived from ones own adipose (fat) tissue. The cells, when placed into the heart via a minimally-invasive procedure, can stimulate the growth of new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. Angiogenesis facilitates blood flow in the heart, which supports intake and use of oxygen (as demonstrated in rigorous clinical trials such as the PRECISE trial). The literary name Okyanos, the Greek god of rivers, symbolizes restoration of blood flow.

END

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Okyanos CEO Matt Feshbach Announces Appointment of Institutes Marketing Executive Erika Rosenthal to International ...

Knee Replacement vs. Stem Cell Therapy - Regenexx
Hundreds of thousands undergo knee replacement each year, but the outcomes are often not what people expect. The Regenexx-SD same day stem cell procedure off...

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Newswise March 7, 2014, Phoenix, AZ -- Stem cell transplant was viable and effective in halting or reversing degenerative disc disease of the spine, a meta-analysis of animal studies showed, in a development expected to open up research in humans. Recent developments in stem cell research have made it possible to assess its effect on intervertebral disc (IVD) height, Mayo Clinic researchers reported in a scientific poster today at the 30th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

This landmark study draws the conclusion in pre-clinical animal studies that stem cell therapy for disc degenerative disease might be a potentially effective treatment for the very common condition that affects peoples quality of life and productivity, said the senior author, Wenchun Qu, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Dr. Qu said not only did disc height increase, but stem cell transplant also increased disc water content and improved appropriate gene expression. These exciting developments place us in a position to prepare for translation of stem cell therapy for degenerative disc disease into clinical trials, he said.

The increase in disc height was due to restoration in the transplant group of the nucleus pulposus structure, which refers to the jelly-like substance in the disc, and an increased amount of water content, which is critical for the appropriate function of the disc as a cushion for the spinal column, the researchers concluded.

The researchers performed a literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases and also manually searched reference lists for original, randomized, controlled trials on animals that examined the association between IVD stem cell transplant and the change of disc height. Six studies met inclusion criteria. Differences between the studies necessitated the use of random-effects models to pool estimates of effect.

What they found was an over 23.6% increase in the disc height index in the transplant group compared with the placebo group (95% confidence interval [CI], 19.7-23.5; p<0.001). None of the 6 studies showed a decrease of the disc height index in the transplant group. Increases in the disc height index were statistically significant in all individual studies.

The authors commented that it is time to turn attention to the much-needed work of determining the safety, feasibility, efficacy of IVD stem cell transplant for humans.

A hallmark of IVD degenerative disease is its poor self-repair capacity secondary to the loss of IVD cells. However, current available treatments fail to address the loss of cells and cellular functions. In fact, many invasive treatments further damage the disc, causing further degeneration in the diseased level or adjacent levels, said the lead study author Jason Dauffenbach, DO. The goal of tissue engineering using stem cells is to restore the normal function and motion of the diseased human spine.

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Stem Cell Transplant Shows "Landmark" Promise for Treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease: Mayo Clinic

21.Spinal Cord Injury(T5-6) Treated by Stem Cell Therapy(After)
After treatment: The patient received four times of stem cell treatment in our center. His overall condition improved a lot after the treatment. The injury l...

By: Cells Center China

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21.Spinal Cord Injury(T5-6) Treated by Stem Cell Therapy(After) - Video

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

6-Mar-2014

Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Putnam Valley, NY. (Mar. 6, 2014) When human umbilical cord blood cells were transplanted into rats that had undergone a simulated myocardial infarction (MI), researchers investigating the long term effects of the transplantation found that left ventricular (LV) heart function in the treated rats was improved over those that did not get the stem cells. The animals were maintained without immunosuppressive therapy.

The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation but is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-ct0860Chen.

"Myocardial infarction induced by coronary artery disease is one of the major causes of heart attack," said study co-author Dr. Jianyi Zhang of the University of Minnesota Health Science Center. "Because of the loss of viable myocardium after an MI, the heart works under elevated wall stress, which results in progressive myocardial hypertrophy and left ventricular dilation that leads to heart failure. We investigated the long term effects of stem cell therapy using human non-hematopoietic umbilical cord blood stem cells (nh-UCBCs). These cells have previously exhibited neuro-restorative effects in a rodent model of ischemic brain injury in terms of improved LV function and myocardial fiber structure, the three-dimensional architecture of which make the heart an efficient pump."

According to the authors, stem cell therapy for myocardial repair has been investigated extensively for the last decade, with researchers using a variety of different animal models, delivery modes, cells types and doses, all with varying levels of LV functional response. They also note that the underlying mechanisms for improvement are "poorly understood," and that the overall regeneration of muscle cells is "low."

To investigate the heart's remodeling processes and to characterize alterations in the cardiac fiber architecture, the research team used diffusion tensor MRI (DTMRI), used previously to study myofiber structure in both humans and animals.

While most previous studies have been focused on the short term effects of UCBCs, their study on long term effects not only demonstrated evidence of significantly improved heart function in the treated rats, but also showed evidence of delay and prevention in terms of myocardial fiber structural remodeling, alterations that could have resulted in heart failure.

When compared to the age-matched but untreated rat hearts with MI, the regional myocardial function of nh-UCBC-treated hearts was significantly improved and the preserved myocardial fiber structure may have served as an "underlying mechanism for the observed function improvements."

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Transplanted human umbilical cord blood cells improved heart function in rat model of MI

Researchers have used 3D-printed models of the heart to create a personalized wrap-around heart sensor array which can transmit highly detailed information on a patients cardiac health and may thus help to predict and prevent serious medical problems.

The buzz surrounding 3D printing sometimes gives the impression that the technology provides a miracle solution for making any manufactured product more cheaply. In fact the main advantage of the technology is to be able to produce prototypes cheaper and faster or to customize products and components. The medical sector may well be among the first to benefit from this latter approach by using the technique, formally known as additive layer manufacturing (ALM), to produce tailor-made surgical implants. At the moment, medical researchers are focusing on highly ambitious projects such as printing replacement organs from a persons own stem cells, but this procedure will take years of development before it can be widely used on patients. Recently researchers have used 3D printing to help create a rather more modest device which could be incorporated fairly quickly into treatment procedures. Every heart has its own unique size and shape, and medical procedures need to be adjusted accordingly in order to deliver fully personalised treatment. Now researchers Igor Efimov of WashingtonUniversity in St Louisand John Rogers at the University of Illinoishave demonstrated a new type of tailor-made cardiac sensor array which increases the quantity and improves the quality of the information gathered, and thus help prevent certain cardiac problems.

Efimov, a cardiac physiologist and bioengineer, and Rogers, a materials scientist, used optical images of rabbits hearts to demonstrate the concept of creating an ALM model of the heart in order to make the sensor array. In fact CT or MRI scans of each persons heart would be used to make devices for human patients. Having 3D-printed the model of the heart, they then built a stretchy electronic mesh structure a sort of envelope to wrap round the model. The stretchy material can then be peeled off the printed model and wrapped around the real heart in a perfect fit. This technique enables a far more precise approach than has hitherto been feasible and the research team were able to integrate an unprecedented number of components into the device, including embedded sensors, oxygenation detectors, thermometers and electrodes that can, if need be, deliver electric shocks to stimulate a flagging heart. Although the device has been developed specifically to treat ventricular deformation andcardiacarrhythmia, it could incorporate different types of sensors in order to improve treatment for a number of other heart conditions, inter alia enabling medicines to be delivered to the exact spot where they are needed.

Igor Efimov reveals that the next step is a device with multiple sensors, and not just more electrical sensors. Sensors that measure acidity, for instance, could provide an early warning of a blocked coronary artery. So far, the researchers have tested their technology on beating rabbit hearts outside the body. The next stage will be to demonstrate that this approach can work in live animals before it can be tested on people. Although devices made in this kind of custom-manufacturing process would probably be more expensive than mass-produced medical implants, using ALM to print the basic heart model will bring the cost down considerably and help to ensure that the technology becomes available to patients who need it. In any case, argues Stanford University materials scientist Zhenan Bao, for these kinds of life-or-death applications, the market is likely to bear the cost, given the rich information that the device will provide, enabling early treatment of potentially serious conditions. The idea of incorporating IT devices into organs is becoming more commonplace and there could be many medical applications, such as devices to assist bladder control or mitigate conditions of the nervous system. In a less life-and-death field, the technology could also be used for body digitisation with a view to producing tailor-made clothing.

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3D printing helps create tailor-made wrap-around heart sensor array

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is rethinking its rules in the wake of a recent breakthrough involving the creation of stem cell lines from a cloned human embryo

OHSU Photos

The announcement last month of a long-awaited breakthrough in stem-cell research the creation of stem-cell lines from a cloned human embryo has revived interest in using embryonic stem cells to treat disease. But US regulations mean that many researchers will be watching those efforts from the sidelines.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), which distributes the majority of federal funding for stem-cell research, prohibits research on cells taken from embryos created solely for research a category that includes the six stem-cell lines developed by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a reproductive-biology specialist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Beaverton, and his colleagues. The team used cloning techniques to combine a donor cell with an unfertilized egg whose nucleus had been removed, creating a self-regenerating stem-cell colony that is genetically matched to the cell donor.

Mitalipovs cell lines are also off limits to researchers funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was created in part to support stem-cell work that is restricted by the NIH. CIRM funds cannot be used for studies that pay women for their eggs or rely on cell lines produced using eggs from paid donors. That rules out Mitalipovs lines, because his team paid egg donors US$3,0007,000 each, says Geoffrey Lomax, senior officer to the standards working group at CIRM, which is based in San Francisco. That amount is above and beyond any out-of-pocket costs to donors, he says.

The end result, says Mitalipov, is that a dozen or so universities are struggling to negotiate material transfer agreements to receive the new cell lines without running afoul of CIRM or the NIH. Interest in the new cell lines is high, especially since the identification of errors in images and figures in Mitalipovs research paper shortly after its publication in Cell. But regulations would require laboratories to use only dedicated, privately funded equipment to study the new cells, a condition that only a fewresearchers such as George Daley, a stem-cell expert at Boston Childrens Hospital in Massachusetts will be able to meet.

That concerns Daley, who calls the NIH stem-cell policy a frustrating limitation that will preclude federal dollars being used to ask many important questions about how Mitalipovs cell lines compare with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which are created by reprograming adult cells to an embryonic state. Most labs will take the path of least resistance and continue working with iPS cells unless someone shows that there is a clear and compelling reason to change course, Daley says.

Mitalipov also worries that his cell lines wont be sufficiently analyzed, which he says could hamper efforts to understand how epigenetic changes modifications to chromosomes that determine how genes are expressed affect stem cells' ability to transform into a wide array of mature cell types. We just dont have that much expertise at looking at all aspects of epigenetics, he says.

But some scientists say that the impact of US stem-cell restrictions is overestimated. Alexander Meissner, a developmental biologist at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says Mitalipov's cell lines will not reveal much about how stem cells transform. That work can be done only with eggs that are easy to come by, allowing scientists to examine the reprograming process at many points. In practical terms, that means relying on eggs from mice instead of humans. Everything is over by time you derive those cell lines, he says of Mitalipovs cells. There is no signature that would tell you what has happened. Its the wrong species.

In the meantime, CIRM is re-examining the rules that govern the research its supports. The institute is not likely to alter the restrictions against funding studies that pay cell donors, but it might overturn the rules against using cell lines produced in such studies, Lomax says. The original policy was set in 2006 to address concerns that arose in the wake of fraud and ethical violations by Woo Suk Hwang, then a researcher at Seoul National University.

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Scientists Chafe at Restrictions on New Stem Cell Lines

The video begins like a clip from a James Bond movie, where the billionaire tycoon announces his plan to save humanity.

"Since the dawn of time, great men have challenged the status quo and dared to dream," an off-screen female narrator says in a sultry British accent while images of Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther King and other great historical figures parade across the screen.

The great man in question is none other than Peter Nygrd, the Helsinki-born, Manitoba-raised fashion magnate best known as the founder of Nygrd International.

And his plan to save humanity? Use stem-cell research to cure diseases and live forever, just as you would expect a billionaire tycoon to declare in a Bond movie.

In a 10-minute YouTube video titled Bahamas Stem Cell Laws: The Peter Nygrd Breakthrough, the 70-year-old former Winnipegger claims to be at the forefront of scientific and legislative efforts to further the achievements of stem-cell research.

Nygrd claims to have lobbied the Bahamian government to further stem-cell research, though the Bahamas Weekly reported the island nation's attorney general denied the billionaire was involved in drafting legislation.

That alone is fascinating, but Nygrd isn't just a stem-cell advocate. He says he's personally involved in the research by receiving injections of his own cells grown in Peter, or rather, petri dishes.

Yes, Nygrd claims he is actually getting younger. In his video, he calls stem-cell research a game-changer for humanity.

"This could eliminate all disease. This perhaps is immortality," he breathlessly states in a video that appears entirely serious.

"Ponce de Leon had the right idea. He was just too early," Nygrd continues, referring to the 16th-century conquistador who searched for the fountain of youth. "That was then. This is now."

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Nygrd uses stem cells to pursue immortality

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

27-Feb-2014

Contact: Eric C. Liao cliao@partners.org Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School, Drs. Beste Kinikoglu and Yawei Kong, led by Dr. Eric C. Liao, cultured and characterized for the first time multipotent neural crest cells isolated from zebrafish embryos. This important study is reported in the February 2014 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. Neural crest is a unique cell population induced at the lateral border of the neural plate during embryogenesis and vertebrate development depends on these multipotent migratory cells. Defects in neural crest development result in a wide range of malformations, such as cleft lip and palate, and diseases, such as melanoma. Dr. Liao's laboratory uses zebrafish as a model vertebrate to study the genetic basis of neural crest related craniofacial malformations. Zebrafish has long been used to study early development and recently emerged as a model to study disease. "Development of in vitro culture of neural crest cells and reproducible functional assays will provide a valuable and complementary approach to the in vivo experiments in zebrafish" said Dr. Eric C. Liao, senior author of the study and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at MGH, and Principal Faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

The team took advantage of the sox 10 reporter transgenic model to enrich and isolate the neural crest cells (NCCs), which were subsequently cultured under optimized culture conditions. Cultured NCCs were found to express major neural crest lineage markers such as sox10, sox9a, hnk1, p75, dlx2a, and pax3, and the pluripotency markers c-myc and klf4. The cells could be further differentiated into multiple neural crest lineages, contributing to neurons, glial cells, smooth muscle cells, melanocytes, and chondrocytes. Using the functional cell behavior assays that they developed, the team was able to assess the influence of retinoic acid, an endogenously synthesized, powerful, morphogenetic molecule, on NCC behavior. This study showed that retinoic acid had a profound effect on NCC morphology and differentiation, significantly inhibited proliferation and enhanced cell migration. The data implicate NCCs as a target cell population for retinoic acid and suggest that it plays multiple critical roles in NCC development.

"We hope that our novel neural crest system will be useful to gain mechanistic understanding of NCC development and for cell-based high-throughput drug screening applications" said Dr. Beste Kinikoglu, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Liao's laboratory and the study's first author. Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said "Liao and colleagues have provided the first zebrafish embryo derived NCC pure population in vitro model for the study of neural crest development. I believe that this will be a valuable tool for this purpose".

###

Experimental Biology and Medicine is a journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903. Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit http://www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal please visit http://ebm.sagepub.com/.

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Purification, culture and multi-lineage differentiation of zebrafish neural crest cells

Scientists have transformed human skin cells into fully functioning liver cells with "extremely promising" therapeutic potential.

Transplanted into laboratory mice with liver failure, the cells matured and multiplied over a period of nine months.

In future they could form the basis of personalised treatments for patients who might otherwise need a liver transplant.

Earlier attempts to produce liver cells from artificially created stem cells have proved disappointing.

Generally, once implanted into existing liver tissue the cells have not tended to survive.

The new research involved a two-stage process of transforming skin cells in the laboratory before transplanting them.

First, the cells were genetically reprogrammed back to an intermediate "endoderm" stage of development using a cocktail of genes and chemical compounds.

Story continues below the slideshow:

"The liver likes a balanced diet, just like the rest of your body," explains Dr. Nancy Reau, vice president of the American Liver Foundation's Board of Directors. She notes that an extreme elimination diet is generally not good for your system, and any benefit it may give you disappears once you go back to eating regularly. For the liver (as well as the rest of your body), look to high-fibre vegetables and lean proteins.

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Liver Transplant Research: Skin Cells Transformed Into Liver Cells Could Save Lives, Scientists Say

Doubts keep growing about the stunning discovery that super stem cells could be created merely by placing white blood cells from young mice in acid or otherwise stressing them, says Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher at UC Davis.

Among other inconsistencies, Knoepfler referred to several unexplained anomalies in images of these STAP cells in two papers, published by the prestigious journal Nature on Jan. 29. One image appears to suggest signs that virtually all cells treated with an acid bath were being reprogrammed, a result that would be extraordinary. Stem cell reprogramming to date has been inefficient, with a low percentage of treated cells being reprogrammed.

"The more I look at these two STAP papers, the more concerned I get ... The bottom line for me now is that some level a part of me still clings to a tiny and receding hope this has all been overblown due to simple misunderstandings, but that seems increasingly unlikely," Knoepfler wrote Sunday on his blog, IPS Cell.

This undated image made available by the journal Nature shows a mouse embryo formed with specially-treated cells from a newborn mouse that had been transformed into stem cells. Researchers in Boston and Japan say they created stem cells from various tissues of newborn mice. If the same technique works for humans, it may provide a new way to grow tissue for treating illnesses like diabetes and Parkinson's disease. The report was published online on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014 in the journal Nature. (AP Photo/RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Haruko Obokata)

Nature is conducting its own investigation, Knoepfler noted. But in addition, the journal should release "unmodified, original versions" of the images and data in the papers, Knoepfler wrote.

The images contained "minor errors" that didn't change the basic findings, said Charles Vacanti, a Harvard University professor who is part of the scientific team reporting the discovery, according to a Feb. 22 article in a Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun.

Controversy is normal for any major scientific advance. Skeptics must be converted, and the only way to do that is to show the data. The 1997 announcement of the first mammalian clone, Dolly the sheep, was greeted with considerable doubt because it was believed that genetic imprinting made such cloning impossible. But others were eventually able to confirm the finding.

In this case, doubters say such an apparently easy method of reprogramming cells would generate pluripotent stem cells far too easily, because stress is common in animals. Such stem cells are known to cause tumors, so evolution should have selected against such a response.

Nature's own role has been criticized. The journal was taken to task for its handling of online journalism Feb. 20 by another stem cell blogger, Alexey Bersenev. He chided Nature for not linking to sources.

"In scientific journalism, every claim must be linked to appropriate original source," Berseney wrote. "Nature consistently refuses to acknowledge bloggers, online discussions and other web resources with valid credible information. This is not acceptable for sci journalism."

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STAP stem cell doubts keep proliferating

The power of regenerative medicine now allows scientists to transform skin cells into cells that closely resemble heart cells, pancreas cells and even neurons. However, a method to generate cells that are fully mature -- a crucial prerequisite for life-saving therapies -- has proven far more difficult. But now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), have made an important breakthrough: they have discovered a way to transform skin cells into mature, fully functioning liver cells that flourish on their own, even after being transplanted into laboratory animals modified to mimic liver failure.

In previous studies on liver-cell reprogramming, scientists had difficulty getting stem cell-derived liver cells to survive once being transplanted into existing liver tissue. But the Gladstone-UCSF team figured out a way to solve this problem. Writing in the latest issue of the journal Nature, researchers in the laboratories of Gladstone Senior Investigator Sheng Ding, PhD, and UCSF Associate Professor Holger Willenbring, MD, PhD, reveal a new cellular reprogramming method that transforms human skin cells into liver cells that are virtually indistinguishable from the cells that make up native liver tissue.

These results offer new hope for the millions of people suffering from, or at risk of developing, liver failure -- an increasingly common condition that results in progressive and irreversible loss of liver function. At present, the only option is a costly liver transplant. So, scientists have long looked to stem cell technology as a potential alternative. But thus far they have come up largely empty-handed.

"Earlier studies tried to reprogram skin cells back into a pluripotent, stem cell-like state in order to then grow liver cells," explained Dr. Ding, one of the paper's senior authors, who is also a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF, with which Gladstone is affiliated. "However, generating these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, and then transforming them into liver cells wasn't always resulting in complete transformation. So we thought that, rather than taking these skin cells all the way back to a pluripotent, stem cell-like state, perhaps we could take them to an intermediate phase."

This research, which was performed jointly at the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Research at Gladstone and the Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, involved using a 'cocktail' of reprogramming genes and chemical compounds to transform human skin cells into cells that resembled the endoderm. Endoderm cells are cells that eventually mature into many of the body's major organs -- including the liver.

"Instead of taking the skin cells back to the beginning, we took them only part way, creating endoderm-like cells," added Gladstone and CIRM Postdoctoral Scholar Saiyong Zhu, PhD, one of the paper's lead authors. "This step allowed us to generate a large reservoir of cells that could more readily be coaxed into becoming liver cells."

Next, the researchers discovered a set of genes and compounds that can transform these cells into functioning liver cells. And after just a few weeks, the team began to notice a transformation.

"The cells began to take on the shape of liver cells, and even started to perform regular liver-cell functions," said UCSF Postdoctoral Scholar Milad Rezvani, MD, the paper's other lead author. "They weren't fully mature cells yet -- but they were on their way."

Now that the team was encouraged by these initial results in a dish, they wanted to see what would happen in an actual liver. So, they transplanted these early-stage liver cells into the livers of mice. Over a period of nine months, the team monitored cell function and growth by measuring levels of liver-specific proteins and genes.

Two months post-transplantation, the team noticed a boost in human liver protein levels in the mice, an indication that the transplanted cells were becoming mature, functional liver cells. Nine months later, cell growth had shown no signs of slowing down. These results indicate that the researchers have found the factors required to successfully regenerate liver tissue.

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Skin cells transformed into functioning liver cells in mouse study

Duke University Health SystemDr. Victor J. Dzau, the current president and CEO of Duke University Health System

Dr. Victor J. Dzau, the current president and CEO of Duke University Health System and chancellor for health affairs at Duke University, has been appointed to a six-year term as the next president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), effective July 1, 2014. Dr. Dzau will take over the lead role from Dr. Harvey Fineberg, who served in the position for twelve years.

Dr. Dzau began his career in medicine as a cardiologist, having previously taught at Harvard Medical School and served as chair of the department of medicine. He also worked at Brigham and Womens Hospital as the director of research. His ongoing award-winning research has been key in the development of cardiovascular drugs, as well as techniques to repair tissue damage from heart attacks and heart disease using stem cell therapies.

Dr. Eugene Braunwald, often called the father of modern cardiology and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has known Dr. Dzau for more than 40 years and worked with him at many different stages of his career at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Partners Healthcare. In an interview Wednesday he called the upcoming IOM president a force of nature.

He is what I would call a talented, quadruple threat. A great physician, inspiring teacher, and a very creative scientist, said Dr. Braunwald, who trained Dzau when he was a resident at Brigham and Womens and continued to work with him on cardiovascular research when Dr. Dzau became chief resident, and then faculty at Harvard Medical School. The quadruple threat is that he also sees the larger picture. Hes interested in areas of medicine that most academic physicians have stayed away from. His work and ideas in global and community-based medicine have left an important heritage at each institution where hes worked.

After nearly a decade at Duke, Dr. Dzaus leadership has been credited with the launch of a number of innovative and global-focused medical institutions, including the Duke-National University of Signapore Graduate Medical School, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Institute for Health Innovation, Duke Cancer Institute, as well as the Duke Translational Medicine Institute.

Im deeply honored to become the next president of the IOM and recognize the critically important role that the IOM will have in improving the health of the nation at a time of extraordinary evolution in biomedical research and health care delivery, Dzau said in a press release from Duke University Health System. The explosion of new data resources, novel technologies and breathtaking research advances make this the most promising time in history for driving innovations that will improve health care delivery, outcomes and quality.

As the health sciences extension of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine is known for its leadership in advancing health sciences and objective medical research nationally as a nonprofit academic research organization. The outgoing IOM president, Dr. Harvey Fineberg (previously Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health) has lead the nonprofit for twelve years. His focus and research have centered around public health policy and an improvement in informed medical decision making.

This leaves the medical community wondering what Dr. Dzau will bring to the Institute.

As a former chairman of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), Dr. Dzau advocated for the innovative transition of academic medical and health centers into institutions that can survive the rapid transitions in the health care industry. In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Dzau discusses the uncertain future of academic medical centers. He argues that industry pressures and cost restraints from the Affordable Care Act limit the research and education-based missions of teaching hospitals.

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Duke Health System CEO appointed to head Institute of Medicine - Boston.com

Paul Herron and Anne Hodgkinson wake up every day knowing their daughter could die.

Their 4-year-old, Katie, has cancer, and for the second time in her young life she is fighting to stay alive.

Shes scared. Shes terrified, Herron told the Star from Torontos Ronald McDonald House, where the Cambridge family is currently staying so Katie can get treatment at the Hospital for Sick Children.

For Anne and I, its been a parents worst nightmare.

When Katie was just 15 months old, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But after 25 months of intensive treatment, including lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirations, chemotherapy and steroids, Katie fought the cancer into remission.

Finally, the family thought, they could say goodbye to hospital beds and the hours spent pacing hallways waiting for results. Finally, they could be normal.

But last November, the life they had built for themselves crumbled once again. The cancer was back, and this time Katie would need a stem cell donor.

The first time, we never made it public. We kept to ourselves, said Herron. But because this time she needs a stem cell donation, we had to get the word out.

No one in the family is a match, and the national registry has yet to turn up a name. This Saturday, Katies supporters will host a stem cell donor clinic at the Cambridge Sports Park from 1 to 5 p.m. All thats required for testing is a cheek swab.

(Stem cells are collected from a matching donors bone marrow or blood after the donor has given informed consent and undergone medical tests to encourage good health and compatibility.)

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Stem cell donor clinic planned for 4-year-old battling leukemia again