Monthly Archives: October 2012

Two scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for their discovery and work with stem cells cells that can be programmed to develop into different types of cells that can serve different functions in the body.

Stem cells place in research particularly human embryonic stem cells have been a topic of political debate since their discovery in 1962 by one of the winners of the Prize, British scientist John Gurdon.

The second part of the prize was awarded to Shinya Yamanaka, who with his graduate student showed that a stem cell could be created from an already-specialized cell that can be changed to perform with functions other than their original meaning that embryos are not necessarily needed.

But stem cell discoveries should be lauded for their advancement of science and medicine, instead of being used for political gain or intertwined with religious rulings, as is inevitable during each election season, and thanks to these recent discoveries that dont require embryonic stem cells, hopefully the merit of these cells can stand alone.

The topic has been mostly muted at the national level save for a few debates between Senate candidates in Connecticut last weekend but the latest Nobel Prize should bring to light recent research that has shown there are ways to obtain stem cells other than from fetuses, restoring trust in ongoing research to find new ways to create and utilize the cells.

Though research funded by the National Institutes of Health already cannot use stem cells derived from human embryos, unless the cells have been provided by a private entity that is not funded with government money, as enacted by an executive order after President Barack Obama entered office, the new discovery keeps politics out of science and U.S. scientists can remain on par with those in other nations, continuing their work to find medical solutions to diseases such as Alzheimers and cancer.

According to the Huffington Post, since Obamas order, stem cell research has fueled work including restoring hearing loss, certain types of blindness and regenerating spine nerve cells.

With talk likely to flare up after this prizes announcement, it is important to keep in mind the medical advances instead of the political or moral judgments that can be made when stem cell studies are allowed.

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Stem cell research and politics must be separated

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RAW VIDEO: British and Japanese scientists wins Nobel prize for medicine for stem cell research.

TOKYO: Shinya Yamanaka could have made bits of sewing machines for a living. Instead, his tinkering with the building blocks of life has made him a Nobel prize winner.

Born in 1962 at the start of Japan's manufacturing boom, Professor Yamanaka was the only son of a factory owner who produced parts for sewing machines. But even as the country's industries expanded in the 1970s, his father told him he should not take over the family business and instead become a doctor. He is now a leading authority on how cells work.

Professor Yamanaka and his fellow Nobel prize-winner, the Briton Sir John Gurdon, were being celebrated last night for their work on how cells can be reprogrammed.

Shinya Yamanaka. Photo: AP

''Nuclear reprogramming'' uses an adult cell to create a stem cell - a kind of blank slate that has the potential to become any other kind of cell in the body.

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Scientists say in this way they can generate materials either to experiment on, or to use within the body - perhaps as a means of repairing or even replacing damaged or diseased organs.

''Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop,'' the Nobel jury declared.

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Groundbreaking stem cell research secures Nobel prize for duo

NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Today, The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) will award a Japanese scientist with the NYSCF Robertson Prize for his extraordinary achievements in translational stem cell research.

This award will go to Kazutoshi Takahashi, PhD, Lecturer, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, for his vital contribution to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell derivation.

Dr. Takahashi was lead author on a series of landmark papers that described reprogramming adult cells into iPS cells, which were published while he was a postdoctoral researcher in Shinya Yamanaka's, MD, PhD, laboratory at Kyoto University.

Yesterday, judges in Stockholm announced that Dr. Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon, DPhil, the Gurdon Institute, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their stem cell research breakthroughs. Both scientists demonstrated that adult cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent cells, cells that can become any cell type in the body.

The NYSCF Robertson prize will be presented at a ceremony in New York City by Susan L. Solomon, CEO of The New York Stem Cell Foundation, and Professor Peter J. Coffey, DPhil, the inaugural recipient of the NYSCF Robertson Prize in 2011, Executive Director of Translation at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, and Director of the London Project to Cure Blindness, University College London.

"Dr. Takahashi's path-breaking work truly has opened up the entire field of stem cell research," said Ms. Solomon. "In addition to his derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells, he focuses on improving this technique and other critical translational studies."

Dr. Takahashi's research group at Kyoto University was established in 2010 to focus on two areas of cellular reprogramming. Their first area of investigation is in the process of cellular reprogramming and the second area is evaluating iPS cell quality and differentiation potential.

"I congratulate Dr. Takahashi for his groundbreaking work, opening new avenues in the search for cures," said Julian H. Robertson, Jr. "The NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Prize was created to recognize and support the work of young scientists like Dr. Takahashi, whose research offers enormous potential."

The jury that selected Dr. Takahashi in September consisted of Christine Mummery, PhD, Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands; Lorenz Studer, MD, Director of the Sloan-Kettering Center for Stem Cell Biology; Irving Weissman, MD, Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine; and, Peter J. Coffey, DPhil.

The NYSCF Robertson prize is awarded annually to a young scientist in recognition of innovative and groundbreaking achievement, or body of work, that has significantly advanced human stem cell research toward clinical application. The terms of the prize require that the $200,000 stipend be used, at the recipients' discretion, to further support their research.

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Pioneering iPS Cell Scientist Kazutoshi Takahashi Receives NYSCF - Robertson Prize in Stem Cell Research

CARLSBAD, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 9, 2012) - International Stem Cell Corporation ( OTCQB : ISCO ) (www.internationalstemcell.com) ("ISCO" or "the Company"), a California-based biotechnology company focused on therapeutic and research products, congratulates Sir John Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka on the recently announced Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering cellular reprogramming to create pluripotent stem cells.These discoveries lead to the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) which is now a major area of research.However, currently cellular reprogramming is accomplished by inserting genetic material, via a virus or otherwise, which raises serious safety concerns when developing treatments.ISCO has developed a technology that potentially allows for the creation of a new generation of iPS cells without these safety concerns.Unlike methods requiring the use of viruses or DNA constructs that may integrate into the genome, ISCO's new method utilizes only proteins which are naturally eliminated once they have served their purpose.

Dr. Ruslan Semechkin, Vice President and head of ISCO's Research and Development comments, "Overall, our new technology represents a level of control that is much finer than the multiple infections necessary for viral-based systems which cannot be turned off and where the dosage level cannot be modulated.Moreover, ISCO's method can be used not only to reprogram somatic cells to become stem cells, but also transform stem cells into somatic cells.This technology provides an alternative to the existing cellular reprogramming methods and represents an enormous opportunity for ISCO to become a leader in the iPS field."

About International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products.ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs) hence avoiding ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos.ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenetic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. hpSCs offer the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology (www.lifelinecelltech.com), and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care (www.lifelineskincare.com). More information is available at http://www.internationalstemcell.com.

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International Stem Cell Corp Discusses Its New Cellular Reprogramming Technology in View of the Recent Award of the ...