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The achievement, with an 'optic cup' that contains multiple layers of photoreceptors, raises hopes for repairs of damaged eyes in the clinic

By David Cyranoski and Nature magazine | June 15, 2012|

The human eye is a complex structure but the cues to build it come from inside the growing cells. Image: Dougal Waters/Getty

From Nature magazine

A stem-cell biologist has had an eye-opening success in his latest effort to mimic mammalian organ development in vitro. Yoshiki Sasai of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CBD) in Kobe, Japan, has grown the precursor of a human eye in the lab.

The structure, called an optic cup, is 550 micrometres in diameter and contains multiple layers of retinal cells including photoreceptors. The achievement has raised hopes that doctors may one day be able to repair damaged eyes in the clinic. But for researchers at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Yokohama, Japan, where Sasai presented the findings this week, the most exciting thing is that the optic cup developed its structure without guidance from Sasai and his team.

The morphology is the truly extraordinary thing, says Austin Smith, director of the Centre for Stem Cell Research at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Until recently, stem-cell biologists had been able to grow embryonic stem-cells only into two-dimensional sheets. But over the past four years, Sasai has used mouse embryonic stem cells to grow well-organized, three-dimensional cerebral-cortex1, pituitary-gland2 and optic-cup3 tissue. His latest result marks the first time that anyone has managed a similar feat using human cells.

Familiar patterns The various parts of the human optic cup grew in mostly the same order as those in the mouse optic cup. This reconfirms a biological lesson: the cues for this complex formation come from inside the cell, rather than relying on external triggers.

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Human-Eye Precursor Grown from Stem Cell

SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based cellular and antibody therapies for blood disorders and cancer, announced today that Cellerants President and CEO, Ram Mandalam, Ph.D., will be presenting at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 10th Annual Meeting held June 13 16 in Yokohama, Japan.

Dr. Mandalam will be co-chairing a session Stem Cells and Cancer and will be giving a presentation, titled Antibodies Targeting Cancer Stem Cells in Hematological Malignancies, on Saturday, June 16 at 1:30 p.m. JST (Japan time). Dr. Mandalam will provide an overview of Cellerants cancer stem cell discovery approach and new data on its therapeutic antibodies demonstrating activity against acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cancer stem cells.

Cellerant scientist, Anna Sedello, Ph.D. will also be presenting Poster #1144 titled Ex vivo-Generated Mouse Myeloid Progenitor Cells Mitigate Gastrointestinal Acute Radiation Syndrome when Administered up to 5 Days after Irradiation. These results demonstrate that cryopreserved, allogeneic myeloid progenitor cells from mice prevent death from lethal radiation doses known to cause death through hematopoietic and gastrointestinal injury. These results also show that myeloid progenitor cells are one of the most promising radiation countermeasures among all therapeutics currently under development with respect to efficacy, timing and practicality of administration. This work was carried out in collaboration with scientists at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFFRI).

About Cellerants Cancer Stem Cell Antibody Program

Cellerant has developed an antibody program focused on tumor initiating cells, also known as cancer stem cells (CSCs) in leukemia and other hematological malignancies. These cancer stem cells are likely to be responsible for the relapse and resistance to current therapies for hematologic malignancies. Initially focused in AML, Cellerant has discovered novel antibody therapeutics with potent in vitro and in vivo efficacy characteristics targeting unique cancer stem cell antigens.

About Cellerant Therapeutics

Cellerant Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the regulation of the hematopoietic (blood-forming) system. The Company is developing human stem cell and antibody therapies for oncology applications and blood-related disorders. Cellerants lead product, CLT-008, is currently in two Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with hematological malignancies. The Company also has a cancer stem cell (CSC) antibody discovery program focused on therapies for acute myelogenous leukemia, multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome.

For more information, visit: http://www.cellerant.com.

Excerpt from:
Cellerant to Present at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 10th Annual Meeting in Japan

CARLSBAD, Calif., June 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Life Technologies Corporation (LIFE) today announced that it has deepened its commitment to stem cell research and its customers by signing a non-exclusive agreement with iPS Academia Japan for its induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio. The worldwide license will enable Life Technologies, a leading provider of innovative life science solutions, to expand its range of products and services for the iPS cell research community.

By leveraging its expertise in stem cell tool manufacturing and its global distribution network, Life Technologies is now positioned to develop and commercialize products designed to create iPS cells and differentiate them into any cell type for use in drug discovery and pre-clinical research. In additional to directly selling iPS cells, the license enables the company to provide iPS cell creation, differentiation and screening services for scientists around the world.

"iPS Academia Japan is pleased to grant a non-exclusive license and build a relationship with Life Technologies Corporation. Because iPS cells are gaining greater attention for uses in drug discovery and disease research as well as other areas of biotechnology, distribution of iPS cell products or provision of services is important for gaining momentum in iPS cell research," said Shosaku Murayama, president and Chief Executive Officer of AJ. "We believe that Life Technologies' business will contribute to boost research and development for practical application of iPS cell technology. We hope for further advancement of the iPS cell technology and its practical use in the coming years and we continue to support expanding the iPS cell technology by licensing our patent portfolio."

Scientists use iPS cell technology to create iPS cells from patient-derived adult cells. The iPS cells can then be differentiated into many primary cell types, such as neurons and hepatocytes, to be studied in the lab. The ability to develop cells from people with particular conditions of interest gives researchers the ability to study the genetics behind patient-specific diseases in an effort to test or develop new potential treatments.

"I am very pleased that Life Technologies, a worldwide biotechnology company, has signed an agreement for Kyoto University Patent," said Professor Shinya Yamanaka, who led the team that was first to generate iPS cells in 2006. "I hope it will speed up the movement towards practical applications of iPS cell technology."

Mark Stevenson, President and COO of Life Technologies, added: "Life Technologies has a heritage of providing the science community with the most innovative solutions designed to accelerate research. With this license now in place, we are furthering our commitment to the stem cell field and to developing a full breadth of products and services for our customers whether they are in basic research, drug discovery and development, or moving toward clinical applications."

About Life TechnologiesLife Technologies Corporation (LIFE) is a global biotechnology company with customers in more than 160 countries using its innovative solutions to solve some of today's most difficult scientific challenges. Quality and innovation are accessible to every lab with its reliable and easy-to-use solutions spanning the biological spectrum with more than 50,000 products for translational research, molecular medicine and diagnostics, stem cell-based therapies, forensics, food safety and animal health. Its systems, reagents and consumables represent some of the most cited brands in scientific research including: Ion Torrent, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, GIBCO, Ambion, Molecular Probes, Novex, and TaqMan. Life Technologies employs approximately 10,400 people and upholds its ongoing commitment to innovation with more than 4,000 patents and exclusive licenses. LIFE had sales of $3.7 billion in 2011. Visit us at our website: http://www.lifetechnologies.com.

Life Technologies' Safe Harbor Statement This press release includes forward-looking statements about our anticipated results that involve risks and uncertainties. Some of the information contained in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements as to industry trends and Life Technologies' plans, objectives, expectations and strategy for its business, contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. When used, the words "believe," "plan," "intend," "anticipate," "target," "estimate," "expect" and the like, and/or future tense or conditional constructions ("will," "may," "could," "should," etc.), or similar expressions, identify certain of these forward-looking statements. Important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are detailed in filings made byLife Technologies with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Life Technologies undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

ABOUT iPS ACADEMIA JAPAN, INC.iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (AJ) is an affiliate of Kyoto University, and its main role is, among other activities, to manage and utilize the patents and other intellectual properties held/controlled by Kyoto University and other universities in the field of iPSC technologies so that the research results contribute to health and welfare worldwide.

AJ was established in Kyoto in June 2008. AJ's patent portfolio consists of more than 60 patent families (the total number of patent applications is about 220 cases) in the iPSC technology as of April 2012, and about 50 license arrangements have been executed with domestic or international enterprises. For more information, visit http://www.ips-cell.net.

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Life Technologies Signs Licensing Agreement with iPS Academia Japan for Global Patent Portfolio Rights to Induced ...

* European Parliament debating funding for 2014 to 2020

* Scientists fear cuts to embryonic stem cell research

* Experts say cutting funds would hold back entire field

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Leading scientists, biomedical research bodies and patient groups urged the European Parliament on Friday to maintain vital European Union funding for studies using embryonic stem cells.

Hailing the field as "one of the most exciting and promising" in modern biomedical research, the group said they feared research grants currently under review may be under threat from pro-life European parliamentarians who say public funds should not be spent on embryonic stem cell work.

"(EU) Commission funding must be available to continue to support scientists investigating all types of stem cells - including human embryonic stem cells - with potential to make advances in regenerative medicine," they wrote in an open letter released by the Wellcome Trust, a charitable health foundation.

The European Parliament is currently debating the future outline of Horizon (Euronext: HOR.NX - news) 2020, the EU's programme for research and innovation which will run from 2014 to 2020.

Draft rules provide for stem cell research funding, including embryonic stem cells but some member states have been lobbying for embryonic stem cell research to be excluded.

Many scientists believe stem cell research has the potential to lead to the development of treatments for a whole host of diseases including incurable neurodegenerative illnesses such as Parkinson's, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis, as well as type 1 diabetes, various serious heart conditions, liver damage, spinal cord damage and blindness.

Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) , and particularly Britain, is considered a world leader in stem cell research. The experts, from charities, funding bodies and patient groups, said if Europe is to hold on to this competitive edge, it is crucial to maintain funding for all stem cell research.

Read more from the original source:
Researchers urge EU not to cut stem cell funding

14 June 2012 Last updated at 10:45 ET By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News

Doctors in Scotland have said five stroke patients involved in an experimental stem cell treatment have shown signs of slight improvement.

They have stressed that it is too soon to tell whether the improvement is due to the therapy.

The medical team has talked about the first results of the treatment at a conference in Japan.

The procedure is controversial as brain cells from a foetus were originally used to create the stem cells.

A team, from Glasgow's Southern General Hospital, has been injecting the stem cells into the brains of stroke patients.

The trial began in November 2010. The participants are all men over the age of 60 who have been severely disabled by a stroke and have shown no sign of improvement for at least a year.

We hope to tease out over the next 18 months whether the improvement is due to the treatment

The doctors hope that the treatment will repair their damaged brain tissue and restore some of their movement and ability to speak.

The trail is at an early stage, and doctors are primarily looking to see that the treatment is safe. But they have found that five of the six patients treated so far have shown some slight signs of improvement.

Excerpt from:
Stem cell stroke trial promising

ScienceDaily (June 14, 2012) Six new human embryonic stem cell lines derived at the University of Michigan have just been placed on the U.S. National Institutes of Health's registry, making the cells available for federally-funded research.

U-M now has a total of eight cell lines on the registry, including five that carry genetic mutations for serious diseases such as the severe bleeding disorder hemophilia B, the fatal brain disorder Huntington's disease and the heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes sudden death in athletes and others.

Researchers at U-M and around the country can now begin using the stem cell lines to study the origins of these diseases and potential treatments. Two of the cell lines are believed to be the first in the world bearing that particular disease gene.

The three U-M stem cell lines now in the registry that do not carry disease genes are also useful for general studies and as comparisons for stem cells with disease genes. In all, there are 163 stem cell lines in the federal registry, most of them without major disease genes.

Each of the lines was derived from a cluster of about 30 cells removed from a donated five-day-old embryo roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence. The embryos carrying disease genes were created for reproductive purposes, tested and found to be affected with a genetic disorder, deemed not suitable for implantation and would have otherwise been discarded if not donated by the couples who donated them.

Some came from couples having fertility treatment at U-M's Center for Reproductive Medicine, others from as far away as Portland, OR. Some were never frozen, which may mean that the stem cells will have unique characteristics and utilities.

The full list of U-M-derived stem cell lines accepted to the NIH registry includes:

"Our last three years of work have really begun to pay off, paving the way for scientists worldwide to make novel discoveries that will benefit human health in the near future," says Gary Smith, Ph.D., who derived the lines and also is co-director of the U-M Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies, part of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute.

"Each cell line accepted to the registry demonstrates our attention to details of proper oversight, consenting, and following of NIH guidelines," says Sue O'Shea, Ph.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the U-M Medical School, and co-director of the Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies.

U-M is one of only three academic institutions to have disease-specific stem cell lines listed in the national registry, says Smith, who is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School. The first line, a genetically normal one, was accepted to the registry in February.

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Six new stem cell lines now publicly available

ANN ARBOR Six new human embryonic stem cell lines derived at the University of Michigan have just been placed on the National Institutes of Healths registry, making the cells available for federally funded research.

UM now has a total of eight cell lines on the registry, including five that carry genetic mutations for serious diseases such as the severe bleeding disorder hemophilia B, the fatal brain disorder Huntingtons disease and the heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes sudden death in athletes and others.

Researchers at UM and around the country can now begin using the stem cell lines to study the origins of these diseases and potential treatments. Two of the cell lines are believed to be the first in the world bearing that particular disease gene.

The three UM stem cell lines now in the registry that do not carry disease genes are also useful for general studies and as comparisons for stem cells with disease genes. In all, there are 163 stem cell lines in the federal registry, most of them without major disease genes.

Each of the lines was derived from a cluster of about 30 cells removed from a donated five-day-old embryo roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence. The embryos carrying disease genes were created for reproductive purposes, tested and found to be affected with a genetic disorder, deemed not suitable for implantation and would have otherwise been discarded if not donated by the couples who donated them.

Some came from couples having fertility treatment at UMs Center for Reproductive Medicine, others from as far away as Portland, Ore. Some were never frozen, which may mean that the stem cells will have unique characteristics and utilities.

The full list of UM-derived stem cell lines accepted to the NIH registry includes:

UM9-1PGD Hemophilia B

UM17-1PGD Huntingtons disease

UM38-2PGD- HypertrophicCardiomyopathy (MYBPC3)

More:
Six New UM Stem Cell Lines Now Publicly Available

13 June 2012 Last updated at 08:31 ET

Japanese stem cell scientist Dr Shinya Yamanaka has been awarded the Millennium Technology Prize.

His award is for discovering how to reprogram human cells to mimic embryonic stem cells, which can become any cell in the body.

Called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, these now aid research into regenerative medicine.

He was joint-winner with Linus Torvalds, who created a new open source operating system for computers.

This is the first time the prize has been shared by two scientists - they will split the 1.2m euros ($1.3m; 800,000) award.

My goals over the decade include to develop new drugs to treat intractable diseases by using iPS cell technology and to conduct clinical trials using it on a few patients with Parkinson's diseases, diabetes or blood diseases.

The President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, presented the prize at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.

Dr Ainomija Haarla, President of Technology Academy Finland - the foundation which awards the prize every two years - said: "The International Selection Committee has to judge whether an innovation has had a favourable impact on people's lives and assess its potential for further development to benefit humanity in the future.

"The innovations of both this year's winners embody that principle.

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Stem cell scientist wins award

This is a human ES cell-derived optic cup generated in our self-organization culture (culture day 26). Bright green, neural retina; off green, pigment epithelium; blue, nuclei; red, active myosin (strong in the inner surface of pigment epithelium). Credit: Nakano et al. Cell Stem Cell Volume 10 Issue 6

Human-derived stem cells can spontaneously form the tissue that develops into the part of the eye that allows us to see, according to a study published by Cell Press in the 5th anniversary issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell. Transplantation of this 3D tissue in the future could help patients with visual impairments see clearly.

"This is an important milestone for a new generation of regenerative medicine," says senior study author Yoshiki Sasai of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology. "Our approach opens a new avenue to the use of human stem cell-derived complex tissues for therapy, as well as for other medical studies related to pathogenesis and drug discovery."

During development, light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye, called the retina, forms from a structure known as the optic cup. In the new study, this structure spontaneously emerged from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs)cells derived from human embryos that are capable of developing into a variety of tissuesthanks to the cell culture methods optimized by Sasai and his team.

The hESC-derived cells formed the correct 3D shape and the two layers of the optic cup, including a layer containing a large number of light-responsive cells called photoreceptors. Because retinal degeneration primarily results from damage to these cells, the hESC-derived tissue could be ideal transplantation material.

Beyond the clinical implications, the study will likely accelerate the acquisition of knowledge in the field of developmental biology. For instance, the hESC-derived optic cup is much larger than the optic cup that Sasai and collaborators previously derived from mouse embryonic stem cells, suggesting that these cells contain innate species-specific instructions for building this eye structure. "This study opens the door to understanding human-specific aspects of eye development that researchers were not able to investigate before," Sasai says.

The anniversary issue containing Sasai's study will be given to each delegate attending the 2012 ISSCR meeting in Yokohama, Japan. To highlight the ISSCR meeting and showcase the strong advances made by Japanese scientists in the stem cell field, the issue will also feature two other papers from Japanese authors, including the research groups of Akira Onishi and Jun Yamashita. In addition, the issue contains a series of reviews and perspectives from worldwide leaders in stem cell research.

More information: Nakano et al.: "Self-Formation of Optic Cups and Storable Stratified Neural Retina from Human ESCs." DOI 10.1016/j.stem.2012.05.009

Journal reference: Cell Stem Cell

Provided by Cell Press

Excerpt from:
Scientists see new hope for restoring vision with stem cell help

Linus Torvalds. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

Question: What do Linux and stem cell research have in common? Answer: Theyre both considered life-enhancing technical innovations by the Technology Acadamy Finland, a foundation that is awarding a prestigious award called the Millennium Technology Prize in Helsinki today.

Linux creator Linus Torvalds and stem cell pioneer Shinya Yamanaka are joint recipients of the 2012 prize, an honor that some call the tech equivalent of the Nobel Prize. That means they will split the 1.2 million ($1.5 million) prize money 50-50.

Torvalds and Yamanaka were named as a finalists for the prize back in April, but it was assumed that one or the other would be singled out as a grand-prize winner. The joint award comes as a bit of a surprise.

Other notable scientists, including Tim Berners-Lee, have won the prize since it was created in 2002, but this is the first time judges have made a joint award. The prize is awarded every two years.

Yamanaka, a Gladstone Institutes researcher affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, has developed a technique for developing stem cells that does not require the controversial practice of harvesting embryonic stem cells.

Dr. Shinya Yamanakas discovery of a new method to develop pluripotent stem cells for medical research could help combat intractable diseases, the Technology Academy said in a statement. And Linus Torvalds work has kept the web open for the pursuit of knowledge and for the benefit of humanity not simply for financial interests.

Reached for comment Tuesday night, Torvalds declined to say anything ahead of the award except that he was keeping busy in his home country. Torvalds started the Linux project while he was still a student at the University of Helsinki, but he has lived in the U.S. since the late 1990s.

Finnish President Sauli Niinist will hand out the prizes at a ceremony on Wednesday at the Helsinkis Finnish National Opera. In addition to the cash, Torvalds and Yamanaka will get nifty silicon crystal-tipped trophies.

You can watch a Millennium Technology Prize interview with Torvalds below.

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Linus Torvalds Splits Tech's 'Nobel' With Stem Cell Pioneer