Category Archives: Montana Stem Cells

Researchers from Inserm/Strasbourg University in France have a new way of tackling infections. The team,

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Bone Therapeutics, a bone cell therapy company based in Brussels and Paris, has completed treatment

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Two doctors used dehydrated amniotic tissue to heal an otherwise nonhealing surgical knee wound. The

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Xtant Medical Holdings Inc., a company in Belgrade, Montana, whose subsidiary, Bacterin International, Inc. makes

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A newt is a common sort of lizard. But it can do something that we

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An investigational drug for a rare orthopedic tumor is showing promise, says a new study

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Researchers hoping to find ways to regenerate cartilage worn away in aging knees and hips,

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Mesoblasts groundbreaking study of using stem cells to treat degenerative disc disease has just enrolled the first patient in the third phase of this FDA approved study. In Phase 2, patients not only tolerated the stem cells well, but also experienced statistically significant and durable pain reduction and functional improvement. This is a tremendously important study.

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Bones heal faster when treated with a component of marijuana, according to a study at

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It turns out that a drug used to stabilize moodslithium chloridemay be helpful in treating

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BioStructures, LLC is pleased to report on its latest corporate landmark eventthe company is announcing

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Scientists are proving that tobacco, more than any other plant, is uniquely suited for development of medicines, vaccines, antibodies and biologic materials. We always thought that tobacco was a drug delivery vehicle. But nothing like this.

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Alachua, Florida-based AxoGen, Inc. announced that the first patient has been treated as part of

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Bacterin International Holdings, Inc., the Belgrade, Montana-based biologics and allograft company, surprised its analysts by

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In what may be a unique approach to wound healing, researchers have developed a new

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Researchers from the UK have found a way to predict which rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients

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Shining a light on healingAli Khademhosseini, Ph.D., and Nasim Annabi, Ph.D. of the Biomedical Engineering

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New research has revealed the role of a protein called Sox9 in regulating cartilage production.

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Think you understand PRP? Some top docs came together at the recent TOBI meeting and posed five key questions which every physician should consider before and while using PRP on their patients.

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New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering, NYU School of Medicine, and Stanford University are

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Until now, according to Colin Fernandez, a science writer for the UK Daily Mail, scientists

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A protein known as PPARy just may help develop new bone-forming cells in patients who

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The leaders of Cerapedics, Inc. think the FDA is on the verge of approving a

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Scientists at the University of York announce, via a paper in Stem Cell Reports, that

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BioStructures, LLC has announced the first application of Prohesion, its patented surgical wound technology that

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Study results of CERAMENT|G, reported at the 2015 Orthopedic Research Society Annual Meeting, demonstrated that

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Using proteins extracted from stem cells themselves, scientists have found a way to grow bones.

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Researchers are not there yet, but they are closing in on the problem of how

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The process of repairing a broken bone in a patient with diabetes was enhanced when

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The dye is green and it sticks to bone fragments and grafts. When it is

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Excerpt from:
Biologics | Orthopedics This Week

The failure or hang ups of surgery and rehabilitation has often led professional athletes to spend thousands for stem cell injections to repair damaged tissue. The procedure is turning mainstream, as sports medicine and orthopedic surgeons seek older patients who are up to spend similar amounts of cash for the promise of feeling youthful again.

Dr. Jesse Sally, of Rehabilitation Pain Specialists, gave a presentation to a group of Bethel Park residents on June 25, touting the benefits of the stem cell and platelet-rich plasma procedures he offers at his clinics through the Regenexx program. The newest location opened at 701 Boyce Road, Bridgeville, in March.

With an ACL tear, 90 percent of patients saw improvement ... with 50 percent improvement at six months, he said of nearly 16,000 patients in a nationwide database compiled since 2005. According to practice spokeswoman Mary Cvetan, Dr. Sally and other doctors have treated 250 local patients in the region since April 2013.

Insurance covers consultation, diagnostics, bracing and post-recovery, but the actual procedures ranging from $300-7,500 are not covered by insurance. The procedures get a technical pass from the Food and Drug Administration because they are same-day body modifications and arent considered a drug process like some other stem cell procedures. According to Dr. Sally, double-blind testing cannot be done with an authentic placebo, thus having anecdotal reports of patient success serve as the primary data set, which is not viable for insurance companies to write-off on.

The stem cell procedure pulls your own stem cells. Theres a little bit of pain, but we numb you up very well and draw the cells from the back of your pelvis hip bone, he said. Those cells are then reintroduced to an injured site, like a shoulder or knee, and the undifferentiated cells that can copy any type of cell in the body go to work by cloning themselves and adhering to tissue as if they were part of the original body mechanism. At least thats what doctors have said about the evidence behind the procedure still in its infancy. Since 2006, scientists have successfully been able to reprogram stem cells to act as other cells in a persons own body, but the success of their new roles relative to pain and movement still arent thoroughly documented.

You can have one (stem) cell be Obi Wan Kenobi, the other is Darth Vader, said University of Pittsburgh head athletics physician, Dr. Freddie Fu. Dr. Fu said he has refused to administer stem cells to patients despite their availability because of the unverifiable nature of reported success.

But even doctors who are skeptical acknowledge the underlying medical premise is sound: to have ones own body repair itself. Some of the Regenexx procedures that dont use stem cells, like platelet-rich plasma injections, purposefully antagonize an injured area, encouraging inflammation and spurring a repair response from the body.

As for future patients getting the procedures paid for, Dr. Sally said his and others practices have to develop an objective way to test for patient outcomes other than them simply reporting how they feel months after the procedure.

I think the insurance companies need to look at patient outcomes as they relate to a persons general health. But the companies look at hard data, so official numbers with statistical significance is not something we have right now. We have to design randomized trials and improve them so it works for insurance providers, he said, but otherwise, this is the least invasive way to deal with pain and movement issues when compared to surgery. Its a safe outcome with improved function.

David Singer

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Stem cell therapy comes to Bridgeville | The Almanac

Brigham and Womens Hospital cardiac stem cell researcher Piero Anversa along with collaborator Annarosa Leri (pictured) are suingboth the hospital and Harvard Medical School as well as leaders at the institutions over a research misconduct investigation focused on Anversa and Leri.

Boston Globe reporter Carolyn Johnson has been covering Anversa and for backgroundon this new lawsuit she wrote:

Work overseen by Dr. Piero Anversa, a professor of anesthesia at the Brigham, was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year whenone of his papers investigating the hearts ability to regenerate itself was retractedafter an internal probe revealed it had used compromised data. Another study overseen by Anversa that reported on an early clinical trial testing the use of heart stem cells in patients wasflaggeddue to the ongoing investigation into the integrity of certain data.

The issues with these studies prompted Brigham and Harvard to start investigating.

A key point of the suit against Harvard alleges that problems such as data manipulation inthe publications were the sole responsibility of a former scientist in the Anversa lab,Dr. Jan Kajstura, and that Anversa and Leri arenot responsible for these issues.

Remarkably, according to the Globe the investigation at the heart of the suit apparently examined and may have found evidence of alleged misconduct in more than 15 papers on whichthese scientists were authors.

The suit, which can be read here, asserts that the investigation has harmed the careers of Anversa and Leri. For example, the suits argues that the defendants:

have caused and are causing ongoing harm toPlaintiffs Dr. Piero Anversa and Dr. Annarosa Leris (collectively, Plaintiffs) reputations andcareers by conducting a procedurally and legally flawed investigation into alleged researchmisconduct at a Brigham laboratory

There is a great deal of interesting information in the lawsuit document itself. For example, it provides a window into how Harvard investigates matters. It also details three initial allegations of misconduct against Anversa and Leri:

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Harvard Sued Over Stem Cell Paper Misconduct Investigation ...

In recent years, researchers have undertaken a number of successful animal studies to repair damage to the inner ear through the transplantation of stem cells obtained from umbilical cord blood. Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for the first study using cord blood stem cells to treat sensorineural hearing loss in children.

The study will be conducted at Childrens Memorial Hermann Hospital and Cord Blood Registry in Houston, Texas. The subjects will be ten infants, aged six weeks to eighteen months, who suffered hearing loss after birth. Children with hearing loss due to genetic disorders will not be included in the study. Due to the increased survival rate of infants born prematurely, the indigence of hearing loss in young children has continued to increase.

The infants will receive stem cells obtained from their own stored umbilical cord blood. The stem cells will be introduced through an IV infusion on an outpatient basis. Periodic evaluations will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the treatment. . The principal investigator, otolaryngologist Samer Fakhri, M.D., is hopeful that his study will lead to a non-surgical treatment for hearing loss in children.

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Hearing Loss And Stem Cell Research - All American Hearing

For years, researchers seeking new therapies for traumatic brain injury have been tantalized by the results of animal experiments with stem cells. In numerous studies, stem cell implantation has substantially improved brain function in experimental animals with brain trauma. But just how these improvements occur has remained a mystery.

Now, an important part of this puzzle has been pieced together by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. In experiments with both laboratory rats and an apparatus that enabled them to simulate the impact of trauma on human neurons, they identified key molecular mechanisms by which implanted Read More

For the first time, cloning technologies have been used to generate stem cells that are genetically matched to adult patients.

Fear not: No legitimate scientist is in the business of cloning humans. But cloned embryos can be used as a source for stem cells that match a patient and can produce any cell type in that person ()

This is a dream that weve had for 15 years or so in the stem cell field, said John Gearhart, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Gearhart first proposed this approach for patient-specific stem cell generation in Read More

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DURHAM To donate the stem cell-rich umbilical cord blood produced during the birth of her daughter, Jaime Feaster of Lake Charles, La., would have had to drive more than two hours to the nearest hospital equipped to collect it.

Thats a long way to go when youre in labor.

Instead, Feaster turned to a fledgling Duke University Medical Center program that provides collection kits to mothers and their doctors. When Feasters daughter, Kadee, arrived last month, the cord blood was collected, packaged and quickly shipped to a blood bank at no cost to Feaster and with minimal commitment Read More

Baldness is an undesirable condition that afflicts both men and women, many of which have family members with significant hair loss. According to Health Day News, a new study of stem cells in mice shows promise for future treatments for people who battle hair loss.

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"Latest Stem Cells News" - news from the world about stem ...

LAWTON, Okla._A stem cell surgery procedure, not yet approved by the FDA, could give a local paralyzed veteran the use of his arms again.

Two years ago, retired Senior Airman Ted "TJ" Williams was left as a quadriplegic when his Humvee rolled over in a freak accident while on duty in Montana. He spent several weeks in a coma.

Now, he and his wife have found a surgery that may improve his physical abilities. They're dipping into their funds to pay for the procedure, since it's not covered by insurance, but they've set up a GoFundMe account to raise $7,500 to cover travel expenses out of the country to get the treatment.

Williams is able to move his left wrist and arm more, and has even gained more core control, thanks to therapy. But, he still needs his wife's help for simple tasks like getting dressed and using the restroom.

Williams sits next to his wife in his wheelchair and watches TV. Years ago, he would've been running outside, but one accident changed everything.

"I just remember leaving base and then waking up 2 or 3 weeks later, wondering where am I. I couldn't move anything. It was just shocking seeing my family around my bed. I was just like, Wow. What's going on,'" recalled Williams.

On November 29, 2012, Williams was on duty with his security forces team. He was in the back seat when his Humvee suddenly swerved to miss a herd of deer, rolling several times. He was ejected from the vehicle and was later found 60 feet away.

Williams was rushed to the hospital. When he woke up from the coma, doctors told him he had broken the vertebrae in his neck and lost function from the chest down.

"I was really upset and scared. Me and my wife are young. We haven't had children yet or anything. It scared me not knowing what the future was to hold," said Williams.

He was sent to a VA hospital in San Antonio for in-patient rehab. Once he was finished, he met a physical trainer in who specializes in exercises for those who are suffering from spinal cord and other neurological injuries, which was just what he needed.

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Quadriplegic veteran to receive stem cell treatments

Stem cells have made headlines in the scientific and medical realms for over a decade, and with good reason. Some can grow into any type of cell in the body. The therapeutic potential is staggering, and researchers are working towards using stem cells to treat everything from diabetes to spinal cord injuries.

More recently, stem cell has emerged as a cosmetics industry buzzword, cropping up in product names, claims and ingredient lists. Stem cells seem ideal for anti-aging skincare, and stem cell products allude to stimulating the skin to grow new, younger cells and reverse wrinkling.

Despite products with names such as Stem Cell Therapy and StemCellin, or ingredients that include stem cell extract and stem cell conditioned media, none of the beauty creams actually contain stem cells. And, none are proven to affect your own stem cells.

MORE: The First Anti-Wrinkle Pill?

So, whats going on here? Whats in these products, if not stem cells? YouBeauty explains whats inside, why it could be dangerous and how stem cell beauty companies are skimping on science.

Meet the Stem Cells

Before we delve into the beauty creams, a brief biology lesson. Stem cells come in several varieties: embryonic (ESC), adult (ASC), induced pluripotent (iPSC) and human parthenogenetic (hpSC). All can develop into other cell types, or differentiate, but not all are created equal. And, just two relate to stem cell beauty products.

In research, ESCs come from embryos that are made from an egg fertilized outside the body, in vitro. Embryos develop from just a small cluster of cells into an entire body, thus ESCs have the potential to differentiate into nearly all cell types, from brain to heart to liver. This quality, called pluriopotency, means they could potentially be used to treat any type of diseased or injured organ or tissue.

QUIZ: How Healthy is Your Skin?

ESCs, besides being difficult to grow, face an ethical quandary: using them destroys embryos, which is why theyve ignited in political debate. In the past few years, researchers introduced two methods that attempt to mimic ESCs pluripotency sans embryo, which could eventually avoid these thorny issues. One uses a cocktail of genes to reprogram differentiated cells back into an ESC-like state (iPSC). The other uses human parthenogenetic (translation: virgin birth) embryos, which come from non-fertilized eggs, but retain some characteristics of a normal embryo (hpSC). But, ongoing research must confirm the characteristics and safety of both cell types before they can replace ESC in research. Theres a long way to go.

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Stem Cell Skincare: Fact or Fiction? - Stem Cells in ...

Dr. Weissmans laboratory is working on identifying and characterizing the progression of discrete changes, genetic and epigenetic, that leads to the generation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) from a variety of blood and solid tissue cancers. They have found a single molecular event present in all cancers studied to date that protects them from macrophages of the innate immune system.

Myelodysplastic Syndrome Investigators: Wendy Pang, Ravindra Majeti, Beverly Mitchell, Peter Greenberg, Jason Gotlib, Tena Cherry, and Irving Weissman

This group has proceeded with their work on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a group of hematopoietic disorders characterized by ineffective and dysplastic myelopoiesis. Clinically, patients with MDS suffer from cytopenias and an increased risk for progression to acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).

Multiple Myeloma Investigators: Dongkyoon Kim, Bruno Medeiros, and Irving Weissman

In collaboration with Bruno Medeiros, MD, assistant professor of medicine (hematology), the laboratory is extending their work in multiple myeloma (MM), an incurable B-cell cancer. They have also investigated the coexistence of two tumor-initiating cell populations and their evolutionary hierarchy in a human myeloma cell line, RPMI 8226.

Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, and Lymphoma Investigators: Mark Chao, Max Jan, Ravindra Majeti, Ash Alizadeh, Sidd Jaiswal, and Irving Weissman

With a focus on the expression of CD47 on leukemia stem cells from AML and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and its prognostic value, this group has made additional progress in the investigation of human AML and NHL in three major areas.

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Irving Weissman, MD - Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell ...

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) Rafael Nadal's doctor says the 14-time Grand Slam winner will receive stem cell treatment on his ailing back.

Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told The Associated Press by phone on Monday that "we are going to put cells in a joint in his spine" next week in Barcelona.

The Spanish tennis star was already sidelined for the rest of the season after having his appendix removed last week.

Ruiz-Cotorro, who has worked as a doctor for Nadal for the past 14 years, said Nadal's back pain is "typical of tennis" players and that the treatment is meant to help repair his cartilage and is similar to stem cell treatment Nadal received on his knee last year.

He said Nadal is expected to return to training in early December.

Several NFL players and baseball players have received stem cell treatment. Nadal's fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol, center of the Chicago Bulls, received stem cell treatment on his knee in 2013.

Nadal experienced severe back pain during the final of the Australian Open in January when he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka.

"(Nadal) has a problem typical in tennis with a back joint, he had it at the Australian Open, and we have decided to treat it with stem cells," Ruiz-Cotorro said.

He said that stem cells were recently extracted from Nadal for a cultivation process to "produce the necessary quantities."

"When we have them we will put them in the point of pain," he said, with the goal of "regenerating cartilage, in the midterm, and producing an anti-inflammatory effect."

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Nadal to receive stem cell treatment for back pain