Monthly Archives: September 2014

Tse Named Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation Division at University of Louisville

Posted: September 24, 2014 at 2:47 am

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Newswise LOUISVILLE, Ky. William Tse, M.D., associate professor of medicine and eminent scholar in hematologic malignancies research at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University, has been named the new director of Bone Marrow Transplantation at the University of Louisville James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health. Tse will join UofL Nov. 1.

Tse will hold the Marion F. Beard Endowed Chair in Hematology Research at UofL and become a member of the cancer centers Developmental Biology Program.

Dr. Tse is emerging as one of the thought leaders in bone marrow transplantation, said Donald Miller, M.D., Ph.D., director of the JGBCC. He has trained and worked at several of the leading blood cancer programs in the nation. We look forward to his leading our program at UofL.

Tse has been at West Virginia since 2009, where he also is the co-leader the Osborn Hematologic Malignancies Program. Prior to joining West Virginia, Tse was on the faculty at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was the director of translational research program for bone marrow transplantation and hematologic malignancies. He also previously was with Case Western Reserve University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Medical Center.

Tse is active in national organizations, serving in several capacities with the American Society of Hematology, including section chair for the annual meetings Oncogene Section and bone marrow transplantation outcome section, as well as the American Society of Clinical Oncology as an annual meeting abstract reviewer and the section chair on geriatric oncology. Tse also serves leadership roles on several editorial boards including as the senior editor of the American Journal of Blood Research, stem cell biomarkers section editor for Biomarker Research, senior editor of the American Journal of Stem Cells and the academic editor of PLoS One.

A graduate of the Sun Yat-Sen University School of Medicine in Guangzhou, Guangdong, in China, he did a thoracic surgical oncology residency at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou before completing postdoctoral research fellowships in medical biophysics, immunology and cancer at the Princess Margaret Hospital/Ontario Cancer Institute and the Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada. He completed clinical pathology and internal medicine residencies at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital before undertaking a senior medical fellowship in clinical research and medical oncology divisions at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington Medical Center.

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UW-Madison team developing tissue chip to screen neurological toxins

Posted: September 24, 2014 at 2:47 am

Sept. 23, 2014

A multidisciplinary team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research is creating a faster, more affordable way to screen for neural toxins, helping flag chemicals that may harm human development.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that the UW-Madison and Morgridge team is among 11 universities receiving support to continue the promising work as part of the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program. The team will receive approximately $7 million over the three-year project.

Inside wells about a fifth the size of a dime, the team grew neural tissues from a combination of cell types that represent the main components of a developing brain. This image shows the entire structure formed in the well, with nuclei in blue, neurons in green and glial cells in red.

Confocal microscopy image: Michael Schwartz

The next phase of the NIH program aims to improve ways of predicting drug safety and effectiveness. Researchers will collaborate to refine existing 3-D human tissue chips and combine them into an integrated system that can mimic the complex functions of the human body.

"We aim to get more treatments to more patients more efficiently," says Christopher P. Austin, director of the NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). "That is exactly why we are supporting the development of human tissue chip technology, which could be revolutionary in providing a faster, more cost-effective way of predicting the failure or success of drugs prior to investing in human clinical trials."

The UW-Madison team has succeeded in getting human pluripotent stem cell-derived neural progenitor cells to grow in a 3-D hydrogel environment. From there, the cells differentiate, self-organize, and mature into complex neural tissues. About one-fifth the circumference of a dime, the microenvironments assemble into three-dimensional tissue models that mimic the structure and function of the developing brain.

In tandem with the biological work, the team is testing a machine-learning algorithm that can predict toxic responses to compounds added to these constructed environments. Early results on a 2-D system with 45 known toxins or control compounds produced 100 percent accuracy.

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New undergraduate course about science fiction and stem cells – Video

Posted: September 24, 2014 at 12:40 am


New undergraduate course about science fiction and stem cells
Visit USC on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/usc Learn more about the University of Southern California: http://www.usc.edu USC is pleased to introduce a new undergraduate course starting...

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Scientists to clone Michael Jackson using stem cells – Video

Posted: September 24, 2014 at 12:40 am


Scientists to clone Michael Jackson using stem cells
Scientists to clone Michael Jackson using stem cells.

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01 Cells and cell division 09 Embryonic stem cells – Video

Posted: September 24, 2014 at 12:40 am


01 Cells and cell division 09 Embryonic stem cells

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New Treatment May Prevent Diabetes After Pancreatitis Surgery

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 10:58 pm

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 22, 2014

Video: Preventing Diabetes After Pancreatectomy - Dr. Beth Schrope

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center now offers autologous islet cell transplantation, or auto islet surgery, to prevent diabetes in patients who require a total pancreatectomy. The hospital is the first center in the New York metropolitan area to offer this treatment.

Every year, roughly 87,000 people in the United States receive surgical treatment for pancreatitis, a debilitating condition that causes intense abdominal pain and, potentially, diabetes. Pancreatitis can be so painful that, in some cases, patients must have the entire pancreas removed. While surgery relieves pain in 90 percent of cases, patients are left without the ability to produce insulin, causing a difficult-to-treat form of Type 1 diabetes known as brittle diabetes.

In auto islet surgery, the patient's islet cells, which produce hormones that regulate the endocrine system, are extracted from the pancreas after it is removed. The cells are then processed and reinfused into the patients liver. When auto islet surgery is successful, the reinfused cells produce insulin, acting in place of the pancreas to regulate blood sugar.

The most recent findings show that about one third of patients require no insulin therapy after autologous islet transplantation, another third require some insulin therapy after the procedure, and the procedure is unsuccessful in preventing diabetes in the remaining third.

"The goal of pancreatectomy is to relieve pain," says Dr. Beth Schrope, gastrointestinal surgeon and assistant professor of surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, who specializes in the treatment of pancreatitis. Returning to normal activities and living without pain is a tremendous improvement in patients' quality of life. Now with islet transplantation, theres an added bonusthe possible prevention of diabetes."

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center is currently accepting patients for auto islet surgery, through a joint effort of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia's Pancreas Center and the Stem Cell Processing and Cell Therapy Laboratory of the Department of Pathology. Patients who need a total pancreatectomy for benign diseases (such as chronic pancreatitis) may be eligible for this procedure to avoid Type 1 diabetes.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and its academic partner, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital. The hospital is also closely affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area, according to U.S. News & World Report, and consistently named to the magazines Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation. For more information, visit http://www.nyp.org.

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Program predicts placement of chemical tags that control gene activity

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 10:54 pm

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21-Sep-2014

Contact: Susan Brown scinews@ucsd.edu 858-246-0161 University of California - San Diego @UCSanDiego

Biochemists working at the University of California, San Diego, have developed a program that predicts the placement of chemical marks that control the activity of genes based on sequences of DNA. They describe their analysis and report results from its application to human embryonic cells in a paper published in Nature Methods online September 21.

"All of our cells have the same blueprint, the same DNA, although they serve separate functions," said John Whitaker, lead author of the report. "Skin cells protect, nerve cells send signals, and these differences emerge because different subsets of genes are active or silent within particular kinds of cells."

These patterns of activity are controlled by modifications of the DNA that do not alter its sequencechemical tags that influence which genes are read and which are skipped within a particular cell.

By comparing sequences with and without epigenomic modification, the researchers identified DNA patterns associated with the changes. They call this novel analysis pipeline Epigram and have made both the program and the DNA motifs they identified openly available to other scientists.

"The interplay between genetic and epigenomic regulation has only begun to be deciphered," said Wei Wang, professor of chemistry and biochemistry who directed the work. "This study revealed that there are specific DNA sequences that are recognized by DNA-binding proteins," which specify exactly where other enzymes place epigenomic marks.

The epigenome guides the development of complex organisms from single fertilized eggs. The researchers analyzed epigenomic patterns in human embryonic stem cells and four cell lineages derived from them to catalogue genetic elements that shape the epigenome during development.

Damage to the epigenome not only disrupts development, but can happen at any point in our lives and sometimes leads to illness. Identification of the DNA sequences that guide the placement of epigenomic could guide experimental analysis, the authors say. By editing DNA sequences that control epigenomic modifications, scientists could probe their functions and perhaps in the future mend epigenomic mistakes that cause harm. Susan Brown

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Germantown's Next Healthcare pairs with NFL player

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 10:54 pm

Company plans for the future of stem cell use

by Samantha Schmieder

Staff Writer

Next Healthcare Inc. of Germantown recently launched a partnership with Arizona Cardinals wide reciever Larry Fitzgerald to promote its newest venture, CelBank Pro to other professional athletes.

Next Healthcares CelBank is the collection of cell samples and storage of their blood, skin or stem cells to be used in the future. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are able to renew themselves through cell division and can be scientifically manipulated to become another type of cell with a more specialized function. They offer hope to provide new ways to fight disease or injuries, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Essentially we are in the business of banking cells for people, Vin Singh, the founder and CEO of Next Healthcare, said.

While CelBank is geared toward anyone interested in using their own cells later in their life, CelBank Pro is geared toward sports players who are very likely to get injured or just worn down during their career.

Skin cells and stem cells are stored at a healthy time at someones life for later use in regenerative medicine, Singh said.

In 2006 and 2007, Singh, who lives in Boyds, heard about a method in Japan that was able to turn adult skin cells into stem cells. Singh decided to build Next Healthcare around these induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

For me that was the real spark. I heard about that and thought, Wow, this is an amazing, revolutionary breakthrough, Singh said. Thats where the idea came from, what can we do with that technology. There has to be something that I can do for consumers to give them an advantage.

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Beat tennis elbow with stem cell injections: Patients are receiving jabs to heal hard-to-treat tendon injuries

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 9:49 pm

By Roger Dobson for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:06 EST, 22 September 2014 | Updated: 18:06 EST, 22 September 2014

Scientists believe stem cells will provide a more effective solution fortendon injuries

Patients are receiving jabs of their own cells in an attempt to heal hard-to-treat tendon injuries, such as tennis elbow.

The treatment, which has previously been used on injured racehorses, uses a patient's stem cells to super-charge the body's natural repair mechanisms.

Millions of Britons suffer tendon injuries. Tendons are the tough bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. They can become damaged through wear and tear or injury, causing inflammation or tears.

Such damage is notoriously difficult to treat because tendons have a very poor blood supply, so healing compounds cannot reach the injury site. As a result, tough scar tissue often forms around the tendon, significantly hampering movement and flexibility.

Treatments include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), steroid injections and physiotherapy, but experts say they have limited success. Scientists believe stem cells - which have the ability to turn into different types of cells in the body - will provide a more effective solution.

Early-stage laboratory studies, as well as reports from treating racehorses, have shown that, over several weeks, the stem cells encourage the growth of new tendon tissue and reduce scar tissue.

This may be because stem cells can recruit compounds called growth factors that help regenerate damaged tissue.

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) & Stem Cell Research: Ophir Klein, UCSF – Video

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm


Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Stem Cell Research: Ophir Klein, UCSF
In his presentation to the California Stem Cell Agency (CIRM) governing Board, Dr. Ophir Klein, a CIRM grantee and UCSF researcher, detailed his lab #39;s work to understand how stem cells regulate...

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