Category Archives: Stem Cell Videos

Robert Shaw, left, commercial director of EMD Millipores Stem Cell Initiative, and Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine in Toronto.

EMD Millipore, the Billerica-based life science division of Merck KGaA, said today that it is collaborating with the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine in Toronto to develop optimized conditions to cultivate stem cells in a bioreactor.

The two parties will focus on developing a proprietary monitoring and control methodology for robust growth of adherent human pluripotent stem cells in EMD Millipores Mobius CellReady stirred tank bioreactor. The aim is to produce a commercial kit with reagents and associated methodologies for bioreactor culture of stem cells on microcarriers. No value was given for the collaboration.

As the demand for stem cells used in drug discovery and clinical applications grows, effectively translating the promise of stem cells into therapeutic reality will require large-scale, industrialized production under tightly controlled conditions, Robert Shaw, commercial director of EMD Millipores Stem Cell Initiative, said in a statement. He added that current production uses stacks of 2D tissue culture vessels, an expensive and labor-intensive process. The joint project is tackling those challenges, with the goal of large-scale cultivation of stem cells. Shaw said that may accelerate the progress of therapies into the clinic.

EMD Millipore is the first project partner of the regenerative medicine center, said Michael May, CEO of the center, which is using Millipores bioreactor in its product development facility at the University of Torontos Banting Institute. The work began on Feb. 27, 2012.

EMD Millipore has about 10,000 employees, operations in 67 countries and 2010 revenues of $2.2 billion. The company is known as Merck Millipore outside of the United States and Canada.

The regenerative medicine center is a Canadian non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canadas Networks of Centres of Excellence program and six institutional partners. It supports the development of technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based products. The center launched in Torontos Discovery District on June 14, 2011.

Just two weeks ago Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) of Wilmington signed an exclusive license for EMD Millipores TrueSpike technology under which the two will collaborate to integrate TrueSpike into Charles Rivers viral clearance services that aim to improve drug product safety.

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Millipore and Toronto non-profit cultivate stem cells in bioreactor

- Collaboration to Deliver Optimized Methodologies for Cultivation of Stem Cells on Microcarriers in Mobius CellReady Bioreactor Systems

BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS and TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 12, 2012) -

Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release.

EMD Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck KGaA, and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) today announced a collaboration to develop optimized conditions for bioreactor-based cultivation of stem cells.

This joint project will focus on the development of a proprietary monitoring and control methodology, enabling robust growth of adherent human pluripotent stem cells in EMD Millipore's Mobius CellReady stirred tank bioreactor. Ultimately, the project will deliver a commercially available kit containing reagents and associated methodologies for bioreactor culture of stem cells on microcarriers.

"As the demand for stem cells used in drug discovery and clinical applications grows, effectively translating the promise of stem cells into therapeutic reality will require large-scale, industrialized production under tightly controlled conditions," states Robert Shaw, Commercial Director of EMD Millipore's Stem Cell Initiative. "At this time, production is typically achieved using stacks of 2D tissue culture vessels, which is an expensive and labor intensive process. This joint project will address those challenges and facilitate optimized, large-scale cultivation of stem cells which can accelerate the progress of therapies into the clinic."

"When CCRM was created, we had industry partnerships like this in mind," says Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine. "We are delighted to have EMD Millipore as our first project partner. Their production expertise and technologies will help CCRM to develop products that will benefit industry, academia, and the patient community. We appreciate that EMD Millipore has commissioned us to undertake this project and recognizes our strength in bioprocessing engineering."

CCRM will be employing EMD Millipore's Mobius CellReady stirred tank bioreactor in its product development facility at the University of Toronto's Banting Institute. The work began on February 27, 2012.

For more information, please visit http://www.millipore.com and http://www.ccrm.ca.

About EMD Millipore

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EMD Millipore and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine Collaborate to Optimize Conditions for ...

Patients who are lucky enough to get a transplant for a failed organ usually face a lifetime on anti-rejection drugs, which are expensive, dangerous and not always effective.

But in the future, those drugs may not be needed. A new study suggests that patients receiving an organ that's less than a perfect match can be protected against rejection by a second transplant this time of the organ donor's imperfectly matched stem cells.

Though preliminary, the new study is being hailed as a potential game-changer in the field of transplantation, a mystifying development that could offer hope to hundreds of thousands of patients who await or have received donor kidneys and depend on a harsh regimen of daily anti-rejection pills.

GRAPHIC: Donor stem cells in transplants

The small pilot study, reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, describes a novel regimen that combined old-fashioned cancer treatments with 21st century cell therapy to induce five patients' immune systems to accept donor kidneys as their own despite significant incompatibility.

If the technique proves successful in a larger group of people, future transplant patients may need to take anti-rejection drugs only briefly, and some who rely on them now could discontinue them safely. The recipients of kidneys as well as other organs, including heart, lung, liver and pancreas, might also benefit from access to a wider pool of organs.

The strategy could offer hope, too, for patients receiving bone marrow transplants to treat blood cancers, speeding the process of finding a donor by allowing physicians to use stem cells that today would be rejected as incompatible.

"Few transplant developments in the past half century have been more enticing," wrote pioneer transplant surgeons James F. Markmann and Tatsuo Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital, in a commentary accompanying the study. If borne out, they wrote, the findings "may potentially have an enormous, paradigm-shifting impact on solid-organ transplantation."

In an interview, Markmann said that the greatest benefit of techniques described in the new research would be to greatly improve the lives of transplant patients by freeing them of a lifetime reliance on anti-rejection drugs.

But it might also ease the shortage of transplantable organs somewhat by reducing the number lost to rejection, he said. According to the National Kidney Foundation, 4,573 U.S. patients died in 2008 awaiting a kidney transplant due to a donor shortage.

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Study suggests breakthrough in organ transplants

07-03-2012 13:13 The notion of preserving your own stem cells has been gaining some popularity and researches have discovered a new way of preserving more off your cells and thats threw your teeth. Dr. Bradley Briggs from Briggs family & cosmetic dentistry discusses the process and how we can preserve stem cells.

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Dr. Bradley Briggs- Stem Cell - Video

MissionIR would like to highlight Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: CUR). The company's patented technology enables the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells constitutively into mature, physiologically relevant human neurons and glia. In addition to ALS, Neuralstem is also targeting major central nervous system conditions with its cell therapy platform, including spinal cord injury, ischemic spastic paraplegia, chronic stroke, and Huntington's disease.

In the company's news yesterday,

Neuralstem reported dosing of the fourteenth patient in its ongoing Phase I clinical trialing of the companys spinal cord neural stem cells in ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs disease), marking the second patient to receive cells in the cervical (upper back) region of the spine and the trials first female patient. This is the first FDA-approved neural stem cell trial for the treatment of ALS.

This treatment is designed to help remediate breathing function loss associated with progressive ALS, and the transplantation of stem cells observed in the trial will be keenly watched for safety/efficacy of spinal cord neural stem cells, as well as the intraspinal transplantation method. The first twelve patients received lumbar (lower back) transplants and the trial has now been underway since January of 2010.

Having begun with non-ambulatory patients and progressing to patients able to walk, this trial has now entered into the final six patients, all of whom will receive cervical transplants, with trial conclusion projected for six months after the final surgery is complete. The proprietary CUR spinal cord delivery platform with floating cannula has helped tremendously in making this dream a possibility and represents a true breakthrough in the field, making the first ever intraspinal injections feasible.

Chairman and CSO of CUR, Karl Johe, PhD., was proud to be breaking new ground with this latest cohort of patients, as it represents a major milestone for the trial, with direct implantation of cells into the gray matter of the spinal cord in the cervical region. Dr. Johe was especially proud of the potential these successful surgeries represent for the numerous patients who suffer from significant quality of life impairment due to ALS. With the 14th successful transplant notched into their belts, CUR is confident that the demonstration of safety in this novel procedure is going quite well.

This is a huge coup for CUR which is also making significant advancements towards developing a robust cell therapy platform capable of addressing a wide range of major central nervous system conditions, ranging from spinal cord injuries and chronic stroke, to ischemic spastic paraplegia and other crippling conditions. The company has an IND submitted to FDA for Phase I safety trials in chronic spinal cord injury.

The company is also well-positioned to service systematic screening needs in the large chemical library space. With proprietary screening technology and the ability to generate appropriate human neural stem cell lines, CUR is ready to leverage discovered/patented compounds that help to stimulate brain activity and neuron regeneration. The potential exists to even reverse debilitating CNS conditions.

The company has also received FDA clearance to conduct a Phase Ib safety trial for their first small molecule compound, NSI-189, for treatment of MDD (major depressive disorder); technology that could easily pan out into schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimers offerings.

About MissionIR

More:
Neuralstem Shows Solid Progress in Spinal Cord Neural Stem Cell Trial for ALS

Cancer sufferer Pamela Bou Sejean wants your help to save her life

Pamela Bou Sejean has Hodgkin's Lymphoma and needs a stem cell transplant. Picture: Alison Wynd Source: News Limited

PAMELA Bou Sejean is fighting for her life.

After 16 months battling an aggressive form of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the 26-year-old has turned to Facebook in a last ditch bid to find the stem cell donor to keep her alive.

TheVictorian woman in Belmont does not match with any registered bone marrow donor in the world so is now pleading for the public to come forward to be blood tested for a possible match.

"I don't know how much time I have, I get too afraid to ask," Ms Bou Sejean told the Geelong Advertiser.

"I want to focus on what we're doing now.

"The waiting process is hard."

With her life in the balance, Ms Bou Sejean's brother Matt a week ago set up the Facebook page How You Can Help Cure Pamela.

There, Facebook users are told about her fight and how to be blood tested for a possible stem cell match.

Read this article:
BE THE CHANGE: Stem cells are Pamela's last hope - can you help?

8 March 2012 Last updated at 04:20 ET

An injection of stem cells given alongside a kidney transplant could remove the need for a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system, say scientists.

Early tests of the technique at US hospitals were successful in a small number of patients.

The journal Science Translational Medicine reports how the majority no longer need anti-rejection medication.

Researchers said it could have a "major impact" on transplant science.

One of the key problems associated with organ transplantation is the risk that the body will "recognise" the new organ as a foreign invader and attack it.

To prevent this, patients take powerful drugs to suppress their immune systems, and will have to do this for life.

The drugs come at a price, preventing organ rejection but increasing the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and serious infection.

The study, carried out at the University of Louisville and the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, involved eight patients.

Their transplant came from a live donor, who also underwent a procedure to draw stem cells, the building blocks of their immune system, from the blood.

Original post:
Stem cells beat kidney rejection

Cancer sufferer Pamela Bou Sejean wants your help to save her life

Pamela Bou Sejean has Hodgkin's Lymphoma and needs a stem cell transplant. Picture: Alison Wynd Source: News Limited

PAMELA Bou Sejean is fighting for her life.

After 16 months battling an aggressive form of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the 26-year-old has turned to Facebook in a last ditch bid to find the stem cell donor to keep her alive.

TheVictorian woman in Belmont does not match with any registered bone marrow donor in the world so is now pleading for the public to come forward to be blood tested for a possible match.

"I don't know how much time I have, I get too afraid to ask," Ms Bou Sejean told the Geelong Advertiser.

"I want to focus on what we're doing now.

"The waiting process is hard."

With her life in the balance, Ms Bou Sejean's brother Matt a week ago set up the Facebook page How You Can Help Cure Pamela.

There, Facebook users are told about her fight and how to be blood tested for a possible stem cell match.

More:
Stem cells are my last hope. Can you help?

WASHINGTON -- Patients who are lucky enough to get a transplant for a failed organ usually face a lifetime on anti-rejection drugs, which are expensive, dangerous and not always effective.

But in the future, those drugs may not be needed. A new study suggests that patients receiving an organ that's less than a perfect match can be protected against rejection by a second transplant -- this time of the organ donor's imperfectly matched stem cells.

Though preliminary, the new study is being hailed as a potential game-changer in the field of transplantation, a mystifying development that could offer hope to hundreds of thousands of patients who await or have received donor kidneys and depend on a harsh regimen of daily anti-rejection pills.

The small pilot study, reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, describes a novel regimen that combined old-fashioned cancer treatments with 21st century cell therapy to induce five patients' immune systems to accept donor kidneys as their own despite significant incompatibility.

If the technique proves successful in a larger group of people, future transplant patients may need to take anti-rejection drugs only briefly, and some who rely on them now could discontinue them safely. The recipients of kidneys as well as other organs, including heart, lung, liver and pancreas, might also benefit from access to a wider pool of organs.

The strategy could offer hope, too,

"Few transplant developments in the past half century have been more enticing," wrote pioneer transplant surgeons James Markmann and Tatsuo Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital, in a commentary accompanying the study. If borne out, they wrote, the findings "may potentially have an enormous, paradigm-shifting impact on solid-organ transplantation."

In an interview, Markmann said that the greatest benefit of techniques described in the new research would be to greatly improve the lives of transplant patients by freeing them of a lifetime reliance on anti-rejection drugs.

But it might also ease the shortage of transplantable organs somewhat by reducing the number lost to rejection, he said. According to the National Kidney Foundation, 4,573 U.S. patients died in 2008 awaiting a kidney transplant due to a donor shortage.

Read the original post:
Stem cells may aid organ-transplant patients, study finds

3/7/2012 5:12 AM ET (RTTNews) - Stem cells have set the scientific world agog because it has been proposed as candidates to treat a myriad of diseases ranging from alzheimer's to arthritis, blindness, burns, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, liver disorders, multiple sclerosis, parkinson's, spinal cord injury and stroke.

Engaged in the development of novel stem cell therapeutics targeting diseases of the central nervous system and liver is clinical-stage company StemCells Inc. (STEM: News ).

For readers who are new to this Palo Alto, California-based company, here's what to expect in the coming months...

StemCells' lead product candidate is HuCNS-SC cells, a highly purified composition of human neural stem cells, currently in clinical development for spinal cord injury and for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease, or PMD, a fatal myelination disorder in children.

A phase I/II clinical trial of HuCNS-SC cells in chronic spinal cord injury was initiated by the company last March. The trial, which is the world's first neural stem cell trial in spinal cord injury, is designed to enroll patients with thoracic (chest-level) neurological injuries with progressively decreasing severity of injury in three sequential cohorts.

The first patient in the trial was successfully transplanted with the company's proprietary HuCNS-SC adult neural stem cells last September, and enrollment in the first cohort of the spinal cord injury trial was completed last December. Following transplantation, the patients are being evaluated regularly over a 12-month period in order to monitor and evaluate the safety and tolerability of the HuCNS-SC cells.

The trial, which is currently open for enrollment for the remaining cohorts, is being conducted in Switzerland at the Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich.

In November 2011, Geron Corp. (GERN), the first company to get FDA approval for a clinical trial of an embryonic stem cell-based therapy, abandoned its phase I stem cell trial in patients paralyzed by spinal cord injuries - largely because of financial reasons.

The difference between the spinal cord injury trials of StemCells and Geron lies in the type of stem cells being evaluated. While Geron used human embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries in its trial, StemCells is using tissue-derived "adult" (non-embryonic) stem cells in its trials.

Yet another trial of StemCells that is underway is a phase I trial evaluating the safety and preliminary efficacy of HuCNS-SC cells as a treatment for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease that primarily affects infants and young children.

Read more:
Will StemCells Walk The Talk?