Category Archives: Regenerative Medicine

The World Stem Cell Summit - Dr. Yaszemski
The World Stem Cell Summit, December 3-5 in West Palm Beach, Fla. unites internationally renowned scientists, clinicians, students, policymakers, regulators, patient advocates, and philanthropists to share knowledge and advance collaborations in the stem cell and regenerative medicine community. The meeting includes in-depth programming and more than 150 renowned international speakers, including leaders from Mayo Clinic #39;s Center for Regenerative Medicine. Among them is Mayo Clinic Dr. Michael Yaszemski. In this video he talks about the summit, the emerging field of regenerative medicine and his unique military perspective.From:mayoclinicViews:5 1ratingsTime:04:16More inScience Technology

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The World Stem Cell Summit - Dr. Yaszemski - Video

World Stem Cell Summit - Windebank
The World Stem Cell Summit, December 3-5 in West Palm Beach, Fla. unites internationally renowned scientists, clinicians, students, policymakers, regulators, patient advocates, and philanthropists to share knowledge and advance collaborations in the stem cell and regenerative medicine community. The meeting includes in-depth programming and more than 150 renowned international speakers, including leaders from Mayo Clinic #39;s Center for Regenerative Medicine. In this video, Dr. Anthony Windebank talks about the emerging field of regenerative medicine.From:mayoclinicViews:7 0ratingsTime:03:39More inScience Technology

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World Stem Cell Summit - Windebank - Video

SUNRISE, FL--(Marketwire - Dec 4, 2012) - Bioheart Inc. ( OTCQB : BHRT ) previouslyannounced that its cGMP facility would be utilized by Stemlogix to help promote regenerative medicine for the veterinary market.Stemlogix has just announced the first ever combination regenerative medicine treatment on a six-year-old Quarter Reined Cow horse that suffered a significant injury to its distal straight sesamoidean ligament.

"The facilities at Bioheart Inc. are top notch and we are excited to move these new therapies for animals forward using state-of-the-art cGMP laboratories.We are fortunate to have the support and expertise of the Bioheart team," said Jason Griffeth, Chief Operating Officer of Stemlogix, LLC.

To provide him with this groundbreaking treatment, two small fat samples were taken from the base of his tail via a minimally invasive lipoaspirate procedure. Fat tissue is the richest source of stem cells for both human patients and animal patients. One of the tissue samples was processed on-site to provide a same-day, point-of-care stem cell treatment while the other tissue sample was sent to the cGMP laboratory where the mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and expanded for three weeks. A portion of his stem cells were also cryopreserved for future use.

Bioheart's president and CEO, Mike Tomas said, "Bioheart is focused on commercializing cell therapies for cardiac patients and has many years' experience with a variety of different cell types.This partnership allows us to utilize our existing laboratories and expertise to bring these products to the veterinary market."

About Bioheart, Inc.

Bioheart is committed to maintaining its leading position within the cardiovascular sector of the cell technology industry delivering cell therapies and biologics that help address congestive heart failure, lower limb ischemia, chronic heart ischemia, acute myocardial infarctions and other issues.Bioheart's goals are to cause damaged tissue to be regenerated, when possible, and to improve a patient's quality of life and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations.

Specific to biotechnology, Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage and peripheral vascular disease. Its leading product, MyoCell, is a clinical muscle-derived cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. For more information on Bioheart, visit http://www.bioheartinc.com, or visit us on Facebook: Bioheart and Twitter @BioheartInc.

About Stemlogix, LLC

Stemlogix high quality stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine therapies are impacting the lives of cats, dogs and horses around the U.S. and in other countries. The company has developed a scientifically validated method for harvesting stem cells from both fat tissue and bone marrow for therapeutic use. The Stemlogix stem cell isolation processes provide for consistent cellular products that are compliant with current regulatory guidelines. Stemlogix has a highly experienced management team with over 20 years combined experience in developing multiple stem cell therapeutics for both human and animal use. In all of its products and services, Stemlogix aims to provide the best cutting-edge regenerative medical solutions, and seeks to provide companion animals and horses with renewed health and vitality. The company has partnered with Butler Schein Animal Health, the leading companion animal health distribution company in the U.S., who are demonstrating the ease and effectiveness of the Stemlogix regenerative medicine treatments to veterinarians nationwide. To learn more about Stemlogix, LLC and its wide range of innovative regenerative medicine products please visit http://www.stemlogix.com, send an email to info@stemlogix.com or contact your local Butler Schein Animal Health representative.

Forward-Looking Statements: Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "plan," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

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Update: Bioheart Partnership With Stemlogix Leads to First in U.S. Combination Regenerative Medicine Treatment on ...

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6kl7tg/stem_cell_and) has announced the addition of the "Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine" book to their offering.

The potential use of stem cells in transplantation for the purpose of tissue regeneration is an exciting area of research currently undergoing rapid development. Implantation of human embryonic or autologous, ex vivo-expanded adult stem cells, particularly in older individuals, could circumvent the limited availability of organs/tissues as well as prevent complications related to immune rejection and disease transmission. Musculoskeletal tissue degeneration is closely associated with aging. Strategies employing autologous adult MSCs from older individuals for transplantation in order to regenerate their own ailing organ or tissues require that we vigorously define MSCs capacity to maintain growth potential and differentiation potential into the desirable cell lineages. We are currently restricted by the limited knowledge about physical parameters, such as biomechanical forces, that influence MSC growth and differentiation capacities. This is particularly important for MSCs isolated from older individuals, for whom little information is available.

This special volume aims to serve as an impetus in generating more interest among stem cell researchers and biotechnologists to improve and develop the cell-based therapies of damaged tissue using stem cells.

Topics Covered:

Foreword

Preface

Contributors

CHAPTERS

1 Justice and Vulnerability in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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Research and Markets: Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine

SUNRISE, FL--(Marketwire - Dec 3, 2012) - Bioheart Inc. (BHRT.QB) previously announced that its cGMP facility would be utilized by Stemlogix to help promote regenerative medicine for the veterinary market.Stemlogix has just announced the first ever combination regenerative medicine treatment on a six-year-old Quarter Reined Cow horse that suffered a significant injury to its distal straight sesamoidean ligament.

"The facilities at Bioheart Inc. are top notch and we are excited to move these new therapies for animals forward using state-of-the-art cGMP laboratories.We are fortunate to have the support and expertise of the Bioheart team," said Jason Griffeth, Chief Operating Officer of Stemlogix, LLC.

To provide him with this groundbreaking treatment, two small fat samples were taken from the base of his tail via a minimally invasive lipoaspirate procedure. Fat tissue is the richest source of stem cells for both human patients and animal patients. One of the tissue samples was processed on-site to provide a same-day, point-of-care stem cell treatment while the other tissue sample was sent to the cGMP laboratory where the mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and expanded for three weeks. A portion of his stem cells were also cryopreserved for future use.

Bioheart's president and CEO, Mike Tomas said, "Bioheart is focused on commercializing cell therapies for cardiac patients and has many years' experience with a variety of different cell types.This partnership allows us to utilize our existing laboratories and expertise to bring these products to the veterinary market."

About Bioheart, Inc.

Bioheart is committed to maintaining its leading position within the cardiovascular sector of the cell technology industry delivering cell therapies and biologics that help address congestive heart failure, lower limb ischemia, chronic heart ischemia, acute myocardial infarctions and other issues.Bioheart's goals are to cause damaged tissue to be regenerated, when possible, and to improve a patient's quality of life and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations.

Specific to biotechnology, Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage and peripheral vascular disease. Its leading product, MyoCell, is a clinical muscle-derived cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. For more information on Bioheart, visit http://www.bioheartinc.com, or visit us on Facebook: Bioheart and Twitter @BioheartInc.

About Stemlogix, LLC

Stemlogix high quality stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine therapies are impacting the lives of cats, dogs and horses around the U.S. and in other countries. The company has developed a scientifically validated method for harvesting stem cells from both fat tissue and bone marrow for therapeutic use. The Stemlogix stem cell isolation processes provide for consistent cellular products that are compliant with current regulatory guidelines. Stemlogix has a highly experienced management team with over 20 years combined experience in developing multiple stem cell therapeutics for both human and animal use. In all of its products and services, Stemlogix aims to provide the best cutting-edge regenerative medical solutions, and seeks to provide companion animals and horses with renewed health and vitality. The company has partnered with Butler Schein Animal Health, the leading companion animal health distribution company in the U.S., who are demonstrating the ease and effectiveness of the Stemlogix regenerative medicine treatments to veterinarians nationwide. To learn more about Stemlogix, LLC and its wide range of innovative regenerative medicine products please visit http://www.stemlogix.com, send an email to info@stemlogix.com or contact your local Butler Schein Animal Health representative.

Forward-Looking Statements: Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "plan," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

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Bioheart Partnership With Stemlogix Leads to First in U.S. Combination Regenerative Medicine Treatment on Injured Horse

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Dec 3, 2012) - VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. ( OTCBB : VSTA ), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, predictive toxicology and drug metabolism screening, has formalized its membership in the Toronto-based Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine's (CCRM) Industry Consortium.

"VistaGen's membership reflects our strong association with CCRM and its core programs and objectives, both directly and through our strategic relationships with Dr. Gordon Keller and the University Health Network (UHN).Our long-term sponsored research agreement with Dr. Keller, UHN and UHN's McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine offers both a solid foundation and unique opportunities for expanding the commercial applications of our Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube platform by building multi-party collaborations with CCRM and members of its Industry Consortium," says Shawn Singh, VistaGen CEO. "These collaborations have the potential to transform medicine and accelerate significant advances in human health and wellness that stem cell technologies and regenerative medicine promise."

"Even before VistaGen joined CCRM's Industry Consortium it was active in the Toronto regenerative medicine community and advising us as we prepared to launch in 2011," explains Dr. Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine. "I'm confident that our relationship will grow stronger with VistaGen as a formal partner and I look forward to us working closely together on projects that will accelerate drug discovery and benefit patients."

CCRM is a not-for-profit, public-private consortium funded by the Government of Canada, six Ontario-based institutional partners and more than 20 companies representing the key sectors of the regenerative medicine industry. CCRM supports the development of foundational technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based products and therapies. Other members of CCRM's Industry Consortium include such leading global companies as Pfizer, GE Healthcare and Lonza.

The industry leaders that comprise the CCRM consortium benefit from proprietary access to certain licensing opportunities, academic rates on fee-for-service contracts at CCRM and opportunities to participate in large collaborative projects, among other advantages.VistaGen is especially well positioned through its existing relationships with key members.

Gordon Keller, Ph.D. is Director of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at UHN. A CCRM partner, the McEwen Centre is a world-renowned centre for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and a world-class stem cell research facility. He is also a Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Senior Scientist of the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto.Dr. Keller's lab is one of the world leaders in successfully applying principles from the study of developmental biology of many animal systems to the differentiation of pluripotent stem cell systems, resulting in reproducible, high-yield production of human heart, liver, blood and vascular cells.The results and procedures developed in Dr. Keller's lab are often quoted and used by academic scientists worldwide.

UHN, a major landmark in Canada's healthcare system, is one of the world's largest research hospitals, with major research in transplantation, cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases and genomic medicine. Providing care to the community for more than two centuries, UHN brings together the talent and resources needed to achieve global impact and provide exemplary patient care, research and education.

About VistaGen Therapeutics

VistaGen is a biotechnology company applying human pluripotent stem cell technology for drug rescue, predictive toxicology and drug metabolism screening. VistaGen's drug rescue activities combine its human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube, with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants (Drug Rescue Variants) of once-promising small-molecule drug candidates. These are drug candidates discontinued by pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) or university laboratories after substantial investment and development due to heart or liver toxicity or metabolism issues. VistaGen uses its pluripotent stem cell technology to generate early indications, or predictions, of how humans will ultimately respond to new drug candidates before they are ever tested in humans, bringing human biology to the front end of the drug development process.

Additionally, VistaGen's small molecule drug candidate, AV-101, is completing Phase 1 development for treatment of neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain, a serious and chronic condition causing pain after an injury or disease of the peripheral or central nervous system, affects millions of people worldwide.To date, VistaGen has been awarded over $8.5 million from the NIH for development of AV-101.

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VistaGen Therapeutics Becomes Member of Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Consortium

A research team atGeorgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centersay the new and powerful cells they first created in the laboratory a year ago constitute a new stem-like state of adult epithelial cells. They say these cells have attributes that may make regenerative medicine truly possible.

In the November 19 online early edition of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS), they report that these new stem-like cells do not express the same genes as embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) do. That explains why they dont produce tumors when they grow in the laboratory, as the other stem cells do, and why they are stable, producing the kind of cells researchers want them to.

These seem to be exactly the kind of cells that we need to make regenerative medicine a reality, says the studys senior investigator, Richard Schlegel, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the department of pathology at Georgetown Lombardi, a part ofGeorgetown University Medical Center.

This study is a continuation of work that led to a breakthrough in December 2011 when Schlegel and his colleagues demonstrated that he and his team had designed a laboratory technique that keep both normal as well as cancer cells alive indefinitely which previously had not been possible.

They had discovered that adding two different substances to these cells (a Rho kinase inhibitor and fibroblast feeder cells) pushes them to morph into stem-like cells that stay alive indefinitely. When the two substances are withdrawn from the cells, they revert back to the type of cell that they once were. They dubbed these cells conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRCs).

The advance was seen as an exciting demonstration of personalized cancer medicine. In fact, a case study authored by Schlegel and his team, reported in the September 27 issue of theNew England Journal of Medicine(NEJM), demonstrated how CRCs derived from normal and tumor cells of a 24-year-old man with a rare type of lung tumor allowed physicians to identify an effective cancer therapy. These cells were used to screen potential treatments and in this way, the scientists were able to see which therapies were active against the tumor cells and less harmful to the normal cells.

Our first clinical application utilizing this technique represents a powerful example of individualized medicine, Schlegel said in September. But he cautioned, It will take an army of researchers and solid science to figure out if this technique will be the advance we need to usher in a new era of personalized medicine.

This study was designed to see how the CRCs compared to known properties of embryonic stem cells and iPSCs, which are adult cells that have been manipulated by addition of genes to make them capable of differentiating (morphing into new adult cell types).

Both embryonic stem cells and iPSCs have been investigated for use in regenerative medicine, but each can form tumors when injected into mice and it is difficult to control what kind of cells these cells differentiate into, Schlegel says. You may want them to be a lung cell, but they could form a skin cell instead.

In contrast, cells derived from the lung will develop stem-like properties when the conditions are added, allowing expansion of the lung cell population. However, when the conditions are withdrawn, they will revert to differentiated lung cells, he says. Schlegel added that they do this rapidly within three days of adding the inhibitor and feeder cells, they efficiently generated large numbers of stem-like cells. It is also completely reversible: when the conditions are taken away, the cells lose their stem-like properties and potentially can be safely implanted into tissue.

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‘Different Kind Of Stem Cell' Possesses Attributes Favoring Regenerative Medicine

The panelists emphasized that more accurate information should be provided to the public regarding stem cell treatments.

1.  50 shades of grey. Let's admit that this issue is not black-and-white but, as is almost always, involves a broad spectrum of grey in the middle.  


In addition to helping patients distinguish between compliant and non-compliant treatments (and providers) there are a lot of ways to help patients distinguish between non-compliant cell therapy  treatments (and providers) which are more or less risky.  

In between - in my opinion - are clinics like Stem Cell Institute and StemCellMD.

For some, helping patients distinguish between the better and worst non-compliant clinics might involve a fair amount of nose-pinching but this is the equivalent of the methadone clinic for heroine addicts.  By supporting the better of two evils we are not endorsing it as 'good', we are simply recognizing it is better.

This is a recognition that we cannot just abandon people because they made (or are going to make) decisions with which we ultimately disapprove.   It is a recognition that sometimes the most righteous thing to do is not only to help people do what we would ideally want them to do but to help them do the best they can in their circumstances and on their terms - even terms with which we may ultimately disagree.

6.  Let's grow a pair and call a spade a spade.  If a non-compliant clinic is providing treatments that we believe represent a high-risk to patient safety and the industry's credibility, let's have the b*lls to call them on it.  They can't sue everyone.  

http://www.celltherapyblog.com hosted by http://www.celltherapygroup.com

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SCMOM 2012_ViaCyte
ViaCyte, Inc., a leader in the emerging field of regenerative medicine, is headquartered in San Diego, California. ViaCyte #39;s innovative product is based on the differentiation of stem cells into pancreatic beta cell precursors (PEC-01), with subcutaneous implantation in a retrievable and immune-isolating encapsulation medical device. Once implanted, the precursor cells mature into endocrine cells that secrete insulin in a regulated manner to control blood glucose levels. ViaCyte #39;s goal is a product that can free Type 1 and 2 diabetic patients from long-term insulin dependence. ViaCyte has received substantial financial support from both CIRM and JDRF. http://www.viacyte.com Presenter: Paul Laikind, President and CEO, ViaCyteFrom:AllianceRegenMedViews:5 1ratingsTime:16:42More inScience Technology

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SCMOM 2012_ViaCyte - Video