JUNE 5, 2014

BY ERIN DIGITALE

Maria Grazia Roncarolo

Maria Grazia Roncarolo, MD, a stem cell and gene therapy expert and former scientific director of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, is joining the Stanford University School of Medicine as a professor of pediatrics.

Roncarolo has been recruited to lead the schools efforts to translate basic scientific discoveries in the field of regenerative medicine into novel patient therapies, including treatments based on stem cells and gene therapy. My biggest goal is to build an infrastructure and assemble a team of world-class physician-scientists who can take full advantage of the tremendous discovery and knowledge generated at Stanford in order to transfer those into the clinic, she said.

Roncarolo begins June 15 as chief of the newly created Division of Pediatric Translational and Regenerative Medicine within the Department of Pediatrics, and as a pediatric immunologist at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford. She will also co-direct Stanfords Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Roncarolo is a world leader in stem cell and gene therapies, said Hugh OBrodovich, MD, professor and chair of pediatrics, and director of the Child Health Research Institute at Stanford. Under her direction, the San Raffaele Scientific Institute has been seminal in showing that these therapies can actually work. Being able to bring her here to Stanford to translate our discoveries into therapies for patients at one of the best childrens hospitals is a perfect match. OBrodovich is also the Adalyn Jay Physician-in-Chief at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford.

Stanford is the only institution in the world that has the antibodies required to purify human blood-forming stem cells, giving it a unique advantage in the quest to develop stem-cell-based medical treatments. Roncarolo, meanwhile, has brought many basic-science discoveries in this field to patients. She holds eight patents and has six pending for methods used in cell and gene therapies. She has published more than 280 scientific papers and 22 book chapters. Her publications have been cited more than 19,000 times.

No single person has done as much as she in this field, or as successfully, said Irving Weissman, MD, professor of pathology and of developmental biology, and director of Stanfords Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Roncarolo will join Michael Longaker, MD, professor of surgery, as a co-director of the institute.

We are very excited that Maria Grazia is joining our faculty, said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the School of Medicine. She is an outstanding basic scientist and translational researcher, and a highly knowledgeable institutional leader. She will be a tremendous asset to our team.

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5-Jun-2014

Contact: Suzanne Wu suzanne.wu@usc.edu 213-740-0252 University of Southern California

In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study in the June 5 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Stem Cell shows that cycles of prolonged fasting not only protect against immune system damage a major side effect of chemotherapy but also induce immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal.

In both mice and a Phase 1 human clinical trial, long periods of not eating significantly lowered white blood cell counts. In mice, fasting cycles then "flipped a regenerative switch": changing the signaling pathways for hematopoietic stem cells, which are responsible for the generation of blood and immune systems, the research showed.

The study has major implications for healthier aging, in which immune system decline contributes to increased susceptibility to disease as we age. By outlining how prolonged fasting cycles periods of no food for two to four days at a time over the course of six months kill older and damaged immune cells and generate new ones, the research also has implications for chemotherapy tolerance and for those with a wide range of immune system deficiencies, including autoimmunity disorders.

"We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system," said corresponding author Valter Longo, the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, and director of the USC Longevity Institute.

"When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged," Longo said. "What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?"

Prolonged fasting forces the body to use stores of glucose, fat and ketones, but also breaks down a significant portion of white blood cells. Longo likens the effect to lightening a plane of excess cargo.

During each cycle of fasting, this depletion of white blood cells induces changes that trigger stem cell-based regeneration of new immune system cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced the enzyme PKA, an effect previously discovered by the Longo team to extend longevity in simple organisms and which has been linked in other research to the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency that is, the potential for one cell to develop into many different cell types. Prolonged fasting also lowered levels of IGF-1, a growth-factor hormone that Longo and others have linked to aging, tumor progression and cancer risk.

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Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system

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Stem Cell Therapy Market by Treatment Mode Therapeutic Applications - 2020
[196 Slides Report] Stem Cell Therapy Market report categories the Global market by Therapeutic Applications (CNS, CVS, Musculoskeletal, Wound Healing, GIT, Eye, Immune System), Treatment...

By: James Evans

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COLLEGE STATION - There are more than 18,000 people waiting for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, something that could save their lives.

Despite the fact that there are 11-million people on the registry as available donors, only 40% of those in need will find a match.

That's because it's extremely difficult to match someone perfectly, and since it's done by DNA markers, the best chances come from someone in your same race and ethnicity group.

So while the odds are slim to begin with, the chance of finding a match for a minority is even smaller. Fewer minorities are signed up to be potential donors.

Lindsey Crawford, a local recruiter for the "Be the Match" foundation says, " African Americans make up about 10 percent of our registry, Hispanics about 6 percent and multi-racial only about 4 percent."

Most of the time, you won't have to actually donate bone marrow, it'll just be stem cells, which is a painless process similar to giving plasma. 20% of the time, actual bone marrow is needed, and that does require surgery, but you're given an anesthetic to ease the pain.

If you'd like to sign up to be a potential bone marrow or stem cell donor, you can visit http://www.bethematch.org.

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Critical Need for Bone Marrow Donors

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5-Jun-2014

Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Putnam Valley, NY. (June 5, 2014) Scientists in Taiwan have found that intravenous injections of stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous tooth pulp (SHED) have a protective effect against brain damage from heat stroke in mice. Their finding was safe and effective and so may be a candidate for successfully treating human patients by preventing the neurological damage caused by heat stroke.

The study is published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-CT1100Tseng.

"Heat stroke deaths are increasing worldwide and heat stroke-induced brain injury is the third largest cause of mortality after cardiovascular disease and traumatic brain injury," said study lead author Dr. Ying-Chu Lin of the Kaohsiung Medical University School of Dentistry, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. "Heat stroke is characterized by hyperthermia, systemic inflammatory response, multiple organ failure and brain dysfunction."

To investigate the beneficial and potentially therapeutic effects afforded by the protective activities of self-renewing stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous teeth, the scientists transplanted SHED into mice that had suffered experimental heat stroke.

According to the research team, these cells have "significantly higher proliferation rates" than stem cells from bone marrow and have the added advantages of being easy to harvest and express several growth factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and they can promote the migration and differentiation of neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs).

"We observed that the intravenous administration of SHED immediately post-heat stroke exhibited several therapeutic benefits," said Dr. Lin. "These included the inhibition of neurological deficits and a reduction in oxidative damage to the brain. We suspect that the protective effect of SHED may be related to a decreased inflammatory response, decreased oxidative stress and an increase in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity following the heat stroke injury."

There are currently some drawbacks to the experimental therapy, said the researchers. First, there is a limited supply of SHED. Also, SHED transplantation has been associated with cancer and immune rejection.

Originally posted here:
Future heat stroke treatment found in dental pulp stem cells

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-Jun-2014

Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Putnam Valley, NY. (June 5, 2014) A study by a Korean team of neuroscientists has concluded that when mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs; multipotent structural stem cells capable of differentiation into a variety of cell types) are transplanted into the brains of mice modeled with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the cells stimulate neural cell growth and repair in the hippocampus, a key brain area damaged by AD. The finding could lead to improved AD therapies.

The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-CT1059Oh.

Neuroscientists know that Alzheimer's disease is caused by the presence of amyloid-B (AB) "plaques" and "tangles" in the brain's network of neurons. Recently, a protein signaling pathway called "Wnt" (Wingless-type mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) related integration site family) which plays a role in embryonic development as well as the development of some diseases, such as cancer, has been linked to Alzheimer's disease. Researchers speculate that an interruption in the Wnt pathway signaling process caused by the AB plaque buildup may have an impact on potential brain cell renewal processes, called neurogenesis. Evidence has indicated that the Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AD.

This study was carried out to determine if MSCs benefitted neurogenesis in the hippocampus by "modulating" the Wnt pathway in such a way that that the MSCs are able to differentiate into neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) that could help rebuild the affected areas of the brain.

"Recent studies have shown that MSCs express various proteins related to the Wnt pathway," said study co-author Dr. Phil Hyu Lee, Department of Neurology, Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. "It has also been determined that MSCs derived from bone marrow produce biologically active Wnt proteins that may counteract the negative influence of AB on neuronic activity."

The authors report that MSC treatment of AD in cellular and animal models significantly increased hippocampal neurogenesis and enhanced neuronal differentiation of NPCs.

"Our data suggest that the modulation of adult neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation to repair the damaged AD brain using MSCs could have a significant impact on future strategies for AD treatment," the researchers concluded.

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Stem cells found to play restorative role when affecting brain signaling process

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7 hours ago Directed Network Wiring, a new method to simplify the study of protein networks, is illustrated. Credit: Shohei Koide/University of Chicago

Proteins are responsible for the vast majority of the cellular functions that shape life, but like guests at a crowded dinner party, they interact transiently and in complex networks, making it difficult to determine which specific interactions are most important.

Now, researchers from the University of Chicago have pioneered a new technique to simplify the study of protein networks and identify the importance of individual protein interactions. By designing synthetic proteins that can only interact with a pre-determined partner, and introducing them into cells, the team revealed a key interaction that regulates the ability of embryonic stem cells to change into other cell types. They describe their findings June 5 in Molecular Cell.

"Our work suggests that the apparent complexity of protein networks is deceiving, and that a circuit involving a small number of proteins might control each cellular function," said senior author Shohei Koide, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics at the University of Chicago.

For a cell to perform biological functions and respond to the environment, proteins must interact with one another in immensely complex networks, which when diagrammed can resemble a subway map out of a nightmare. These networks have traditionally been studied by removing a protein of interest through genetic engineering and observing whether the removal destroys the function of interest or not. However, this does not provide information on the importance of specific protein-to-protein interactions.

To approach this challenge, Koide and his team pioneered a new technique that they dub "directed network wiring." Studying mouse embryonic stem cells, they removed Grb2, a protein essential to the ability of the stem cell to transform into other cell types, from the cells. The researchers then designed synthetic versions of Grb2 that could only interact with one protein from a pool of dozens that normal Grb2 is known to network with. The team then introduced these synthetic proteins back into the cell to see which specific interactions would restore the stem cell's transformative abilities.

"The name, 'directed network wiring,' comes from the fact that we create minimalist networks," Koide said. "We first remove all communication lines associated with a protein of interest and add back a single line. It is analysis by addition."

Despite the complexity of the protein network associated with stem cell development, the team discovered that restoring only one interactionbetween Grb2 and a protein known as Ptpn11/Shp2 phosphatasewas enough to allow stem cells to again change into other cell types.

"We were really surprised to find that consolidating many interactions down to a single particular connection for the protein was sufficient to support development of the cells to the next stage, which involves many complicated processes," Koide said. "Our results show that signals travel discrete and simple routes in the cell."

Koide and his team are now working on streamlining directed network wiring and applying it to other areas of study such as cancer. With the ability to dramatically simplify how scientists study protein interaction networks, they hope to open the door to new research areas and therapeutic approaches.

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New method reveals single protein interaction key to embryonic stem cell differentiation

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13 hours ago Fig. 1: Pluripotent stem cells enable planarians to achieve extraordinary feats of regeneration. (A) Planarians are able to re-grow an entire head in a matter of a few days. (B) The stem cells and their early offspring can be found almost all over the worms body. During regeneration, when a lot of new tissue has to be produced, they are able to generate a wide variety of cell types. The cell nuclei are marked in blue. Tissue-specific markers are marked in red, green and white. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine /Bartscherer

Planarians are known as masters of regeneration: they can re-build any part of their bodies after amputation. This ability relies on a large number of pluripotent stem cells. To further investigate the mechanisms that enable planarians to maintain their stem cell pool over generations, scientists have now established a method for analysing the composition of planarian stem cells and the turnover of their proteins. They discovered a protein that is not only required for the maintenance of the stem cell pool in planarians, but might also be active in the pluripotent stem cells of mammals.

Of earthworms and flatworms

Everyone knows the myth about earthworms: if you cut them in half, you get two worms. Nothing could be further from the truth, alas. However, if the earthworm is replaced by a flatworm, the two parts can survive these childish experiments. What's more, be it skin, intestine or brain, the body part lost through cutting will simply grow again in a matter of days. The creatures involved here are planarians[1], a class of flatworms that are so flat that they need neither lungs nor a heart to take in and distribute oxygen in their bodies. So simple and yet so ingenious? It would appear so. Regeneration studies involving these animals have shown that a dismembered planarian can generate several hundred tiny animals, hence they could "almost be called immortal under the edge of a knife" (Dalyell, 1814). The astonishing aspect here is that both the blueprint and construction material for the regeneration process must be contained in each of the fragments: a small piece of tail, for example, becomes a complete worm under the animal's own strength and using existing resources.

Not the preserve of youth: pluripotency also available in adults

So where do the components needed to rebuild the cellular structures come from? In their search for the answer to this question, scientists have a population of small cells in their sights, namely the approximately five-micrometre-long neoblasts. These cells are found almost everywhere in the planarian body and behave like stem cells: they divide, renew and can form the different cell types that have been lost as a result of amputation (Fig. 1). When the planarian loses a body part or discards its tail for reproduction, the neoblasts are reactivated and migrate to the wound. They divide there and their offspring form a blastema, in which as a result of interplay between various extra- and intra-cellular factors important differentiation and patterning processes take place. Thanks to these processes, in turn, complex structures like the brain are formed. If the neoblasts are eliminated through radiation, for example, the planarian loses its ability to regenerate and dies within a few weeks. The fact that, following transplantation into an irradiated, neoblast-free worm, a single neoblast can produce all cell types and enable the host worm to regain its ability to regenerate shows that at least some neoblasts are pluripotent [2]. In healthy mammals, pluripotency, that is the ability of one cell to produce any given cell type found in an organism, e.g. muscle, nerve or pancreas cells, only arises in the early embryonic stage. Therefore, stable pluripotency in the adult organism is something special but not impossible as long as mechanisms exist for conserving this characteristic as is clearly the case with the planarians.

An in-vivo Petri dish for pluripotent stem cells

The preservation of pluripotency has been an important topic in stem cell research for years, and has mostly been examined up to now using isolated embryonic stem cells. Important transcription factors that can induce and preserve pluripotency were discovered in the course of this research. So what can planarians contribute to the current research if their stem cells cannot be cultivated and reproduced outside of the body? This is precisely where the strength of the planarians as a model system in stem cell research lies: the combination they can offer of a natural extracellular environment and pluripotent stem cells. Whereas cultivated stem cells are normally taken out of their natural environment and all important interactions with neighbouring cells and freely moving molecules are interrupted as a result, the stem cells in planarians can be observed and manipulated under normal conditions in vivo. Therefore, planarians are of interest as "in-vivo Petri dishes" for stem cells, in which not only their mechanisms for preserving pluripotency can be studied, but also their regulation and contribution to regeneration.

A venerable old worm meets ultra-modern next-generation technologies

Although planarians have been renowned as masters of regeneration and research objects for generations, they have undergone a genuine explosion in research interest in recent years. In particular, the possibility of switching off specific genes through RNA interference (RNAi) and the availability of the genome sequence of Schmidtea mediterranea, a planarian species which is especially good at regenerating itself, have contributed to this surge in interest. With the development of modern sequencing procedures, that is 'next generation sequencing', gene expression profiles that provide information about the specific genes activated in particular cells or tissues at particular points in time can now be produced on a large scale. Hence, it is possible to examine which messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are produced that act as molecular templates for the production of proteins. For example, hundreds of these mRNAs are produced after the amputation of a worm's head and their proteins provide potential regulators of the regeneration process [3; 4]. However, the real work only starts here: the extent to which the presence of a particular mRNA also reflects the volume of protein that is active in the cell remains to be determined. It is mainly the proteins in the form of enzymes, signalling molecules and structural elements, and not their mRNAs, that ultimately control the majority of cellular processes. In addition, their production using mRNA templates and their lifetime are precisely regulated processes and the frequency with which an mRNA arises cannot provide any information about these processes. The time has come, therefore, to develop experimental approaches for planarians that extend beyond gene expression analysis and lend greater significance to the subsequent regulatory processes.

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How planarians maintain their stem cell pools over generations

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June 5, 2014

Nathan Hurst, University of Missouri

One of the biggest challenges for medical researchers studying the effectiveness of stem cell therapies is that transplants or grafts of cells are often rejected by the hosts. This rejection can render experiments useless, making research into potentially life-saving treatments a long and difficult process. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have shown that a new line of genetically modified pigs will host transplanted cells without the risk of rejection.

The rejection of transplants and grafts by host bodies is a huge hurdle for medical researchers, said R. Michael Roberts, Curators Professor of Animal Science and Biochemistry and a researcher in the Bond Life Sciences Center. By establishing that these pigs will support transplants without the fear of rejection, we can move stem cell therapy research forward at a quicker pace.

In a published study, the team of researchers implanted human pluripotent stem cells in a special line of pigs developed by Randall Prather, an MU Curators Professor of reproductive physiology. Prather specifically created the pigs with immune systems that allow the pigs to accept all transplants or grafts without rejection. Once the scientists implanted the cells, the pigs did not reject the stem cells and the cells thrived. Prather says achieving this success with pigs is notable because pigs are much closer to humans than many other test animals.

Many medical researchers prefer conducting studies with pigs because they are more anatomically similar to humans than other animals, such as mice and rats, Prather said. Physically, pigs are much closer to the size and scale of humans than other animals, and they respond to health threats similarly. This means that research in pigs is more likely to have results similar to those in humans for many different tests and treatments.

Now that we know that human stem cells can thrive in these pigs, a door has been opened for new and exciting research by scientists around the world, Roberts said. Hopefully this means that we are one step closer to therapies and treatments for a number of debilitating human diseases.

Roberts and Prather published their study, Engraftment of human iPS cells and allogeneic porcine cells into pigs with inactivated RAG2 and accompanying severe combined immunodeficiency in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: Nathan Hurst, University of Missouri

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Stem Cells Successfully Transplanted And Grown In Pigs

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Immunotherapy: A Promising New Approach to Treating Cancer with Carl June MD
Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Dr. Carl June presents a revolutionary form of targeted immunotherapy to fight cancer, a treatment that involves genetically mod...

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By Marcus Johnson

TiGenix NV, which is a leader in Europes cell therapy sector, has announced that it has come to terms with PharmaCell BV in regards to the sale of its Dutch based manufacturing plant. The sale cost PharmaCell a total of 5.75 million Euros. PharmaCell, which is a European contract manufacturing organization (CMO) that focuses primarily on cell therapy and regenerative medicines, will be receiving shares of TiGenixs subsidiary, TiGenix BV, as it is TiGenix BV that holds the manufacturing plant.

The plant is located in Sittard Geleen, which is found in the Netherlands. The plant was assessed by Dutch regulators in 2012, and it passed a cGMP inspection. The facility also received approval from the European Medicines Agency to begin producing ChondroCelect, which is a cell therapy product for knee cartilage repair designed and produced by TiGenix.

Under the terms of the deal, TiGenix will receive 3.5 million Euros immediately, with the last payment of 0.75 million Euros being issued in 2017. Because of a long term manufacturing agreement, TiGenixs ChondroCelect will continue to be produced at the plant.

Eduardo Bravo, the CEO of TiGenix, commented on the facilitys sale. The sale of the Dutch manufacturing facility together with the agreement to license the marketing and distribution rights of ChondroCelect to Sobi, which was signed in April, have transformed TiGenix, he said. The combination of these two deals brings an immediate cash inflow of Euro 3.5 million to TiGenix, and a reduction in annual operating costs for manufacturing, sales and marketing of at least Euro 5 million. The broader geographical reach for ChondroCelect offered by Sobi will give TiGenix the potential for greater value generation in the long-term. TiGenix itself can now fully focus on progressing its promising advanced clinical stage pipeline to patients with high unmet medical need.

PharmaCell has also stated that the company intends to use the facility for further development of investigational cell therapy and regenerative medicine products.

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TiGenix Sells Dutch Manufacturing Plant To PharmaCell

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Patrick McGreevy of The Los Angeles Times reported on SB 1381, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act. This bill would establish a requirement for companies to disclose if foods sold in California are genetically engineered (for raw commodities) to produced with genetic engineering or partially produced with genetic engineering (for processed foods).

McGreevy reaffirmed that the California GMO labeling bill failed in the Senate, 19-16, just two votes short of the majority needed for passage, after some Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measure.

In November 2012, a more complex, yet similar labeling initiative, Proposition 37, was rejected by California voters. Its troubling to see that a similar bill resurfaced especially when economic analysis behind Californias Proposition 37 estimated annual food costs for an average-income family would increase by approximately $400.

State Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) sponsored SB 1381, stating that its about consumer choice and information.If the product contains GMOs, label it. We shouldnt be hiding ingredients.

However, her right to know argument is weak. Consumer choice already exists in the market place. They can choose organic or Non-GMO.

Additionally, GMOs are safe for consumption. Scientific authorities such as the National Academies of Science, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of science have looked at HUNDREDS of scientific studies and have concluded that foods with biotech-derived ingredients do not pose any more risk to people than any other foods.

Lastly, genetic modification isnt an ingredient, its a (farming) technology just as organic is a (farming) technology, both regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has also held that there is no significant difference between foods produced using bio-engineering, as a class, and their conventional counterparts.

It is important to the look at the bigger picture which The Los Angeles Times caught as it quoted Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) who notably said that the bill is overkill, and would undermine worldwide efforts to develop crops and other food to prevent starvation in developing countries.

Closing his piece, McGreevy reported how Senate action was welcomed by Cynthia Cory, director of environmental affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation, who greatly amplified the true messaging strategy behind anti-GMO activism, Were pleased the Senate did not fall for the proponents scare tactics and that they rejected this unnecessary, misleading and costly bill that would increase food costs for consumers.

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California GMO Labeling Bill Fails; Means Win for Consumers

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San Francisco, California (PRWEB) June 05, 2014

The global market for molecular diagnostics is expected to reach USD 8,020.1 million by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing demand for personalized medicine and theranostics, and the subsequent introduction of advanced cancer diagnostic technologies are expected to be key factors driving market growth over the next six years. Moreover, the growing global base of geriatric population and chronic diseases such as cancer, coupled with disease triggering lifestyle habits such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption will positively impact market growth.

Molecular diagnostic reagent products dominated the overall market, accounting for over 50% of global revenue in 2013. Reagent market revenue is expected to reach USD 4,739.9 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 9.9% from 2014 to 2020. High consumption rates of molecular diagnostic reagents and the growing number of research and development initiatives pertaining to the field of molecular diagnostics are two key drivers of this product segment. The point of care end-use market for molecular diagnostics is expected to be the fastest growing product segment, at an estimated CAGR of 13.3% from 2014 to 2020, on account of factors such as the growing demand for point of care diagnostic procedures as an effective diagnostic tool rendering rapid and accurate results and the introduction of government initiatives such as CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) waived tests.

The report Molecular Diagnostics Market Analysis By Product (Instruments, Reagents), By Technology (PCR, In Situ Hybridization, Chips & Microarrays, Mass Spectrometry, Sequencing), By Application (Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Infectious Disease, Genetic Testing, Neurological Disease, Cardiovascular Disease) And Segment Forecasts to 2020, is available now to Grand View Research customers at http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/molecular-diagnostics-market.

Request Free Sample of This Report at http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/molecular-diagnostics-market/request.

Further key findings from the study suggest:

Browse All Biotechnology Market Reports Available at Grand View Research at http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/biotechnology.

For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global molecular diagnostics market on the basis of product and region:

Browse Grand View Research Ongoing Reports at http://www.grandviewresearch.com/ongoing-reports.

Latest Report By Grand View Research:

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Global Molecular Diagnostics Market By Product (Instruments, Reagents) By Technology (PCR, Sequencing) to Reach USD 8 ...

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Medical Video Lecture: Chromosomal Deletion, Biochemistry ( genetics)
Prepare for USMLE,UK,CANADIAN,AUSTRALIAN, NURSING OTHER MEDICAL BOARD examinations around the globe with us. Understand the basics, concepts and how to answer wisely and score 99 in each...

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Medical Video Lecture: Chromosomal Deletion, Biochemistry ( genetics) - Video

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The Sims 3 Perfect Genetics Episode 1 Welcome
Goodbye Persona 3 Hello Perfect Genetics. Hope You Enjoy This Episode Music By Kevin Macleod Pamgaea.

By: VanillaPlumbob

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The Sims 3 Perfect Genetics Episode 1 Welcome - Video

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Promise of Discovery Personalized Medicine for Lung Cancer YouTube

By: Lee Thomas

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Promise of Discovery Personalized Medicine for Lung Cancer YouTube - Video

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The Big Data Trend
Eliot Siegel, M.D., professor and vice chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, department of radiology, discusses the big data trend, and what it means to personali...

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The Big Data Trend - Video

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Keeping Your Teens #39; Prom Night Safe
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What is Spinal Cord Injury?
This video scribe, designed by Deirdre Griffin of Spinal Injuries Ireland, uses simple language and images to explain what a spinal cord injury is.

By: Spinal Injuries

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What is Spinal Cord Injury? - Video

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Texting and Driving - Intern Series
Texting and Driving - Intern Series 3 Tips to Keep You Safe on the Roads We are happy to review any Connecticut case for matters involving Personal Injury or Medical Malpractice. We will...

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Rheumatoid Arthritis

Currently, RA is treated with immune suppressive agents such as steroids, methothrexate, cyclosporine, gold, and more recently infliximab (Remicade). Despite inducing temporary improvement, these approaches possess long-term adverse effects due to non-specific inhibition of immune responses. Additionally, current treatments do not address the issue of damage that has already occurred to the joints or extra-articular tissues.

Advancements in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment protocols and introduction of targeted biological therapies have markedly improved patient outcomes, despite this, up to 50% of patients still fail to achieve a significant clinical response.

Stem cell therapy has been demonstrated to induce profound healing activity in animals with various forms of arthritis. For example, the company Vet-Stem routinely utilizes stem cells in horses with various joint deformities to accelerate healing. Besides healing of damaged tissues, stem cells have the unique ability to modulate the immune system so as to shut off pathological responses while preserving ability to fight off disease. Stem cells and specifically, mesenchymal stem cells home to inflamed tissue and start producing anti-inflammatory agents. These mediators act locally and do not suppress the immune response of the patients whole body. Additionally, mesenchymal stem cells induce the production of T regulatory cells, a type of immune cell whose function is to protect the body against immunological self-attack.

The Stem Cell Institute uses adult stem cells called allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells to treat rheumatoid arthritis. These cells are harvested from human umbilical cords donated after normal, healthy births. All mothers who donate umbilical cords undergo infectious disease testing and medical history screening. Proper written consent is obtained from each family prior to umbilical cord donation.

All mesenchymal stem cells harvested from umbilical cords are screened for infectious diseases to International Blood Bank Standards before they are cleared for use in treatments.

Only about one in ten umbilical cords pass our rigorous screening process.

The bodys immune system is unable to recognize human umbilical cord tissue (HUCT)-derived mesenchmyal stem cells as foreign and therefore they are not rejected. HUCT stem cells have been administered thousands of times at the Stem Cell Institute and there has never been a single instance rejection (graft vs. host disease). Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells also proliferate/differentiate more efficiently than older cells, such as those found in the fat and therefore, they are considered to be more potent.

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Stem Cell Therapy || Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment ...

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Newswise New York, New York Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), the leading eye research foundation, is providing $500,000 to accelerate the development of treatments for Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) -- a family of retinal diseases that progressively create extreme tunnel vision, loss of night vision and leave affected patients legally blind by the age of 40. The funds are being awarded to five nationally prominent RP investigators.

"Recent breakthroughs in gene therapy that reverse vision loss in certain RP patients have given us all hope that treatments for other forms of RP are within reach," says Diane S. Swift, Chair of RPBs Board of Trustees. While we have funded RP research for decades, the restoration of sight in these young people is so dramatic, and the developments in gene therapy so promising, that we felt focused investments in key RP researchers at this crucial time could hasten life-changing treatments."

The five recipients of the RPB Nelson Trust Award for Retinitis Pigmentosa were selected after rigorous review by multiple RPB advisory panels comprised of outstanding scientists and chairs of departments of ophthalmology from across the country. The award was originally conceived to produce at least one grant annually for the next eight to nine years, says Brian F. Hofland, PhD, RPB President, but we realized that the exceptional pool of applicants truly some of the nation's foremost retina investigators created an opportunity for us to make an immediate impact. It's an unusual application of endowed funds for us, but we are seizing the moment to push this promising science toward the goal."

Each of the RPB Nelson Trust Award awardees will receive $100K in flexible support to pursue novel projects.

Vadim Arshavsky, PhD, Duke University has made seminal discoveries related to the process by which light is converted into electrical signals in the photosensitive cells of the retina. He will focus on a newly discovered common risk factor for RP and the development of a possible treatment for multiple forms of RP that arise from different mutations. (Visit the Arshavsky Lab.) (More about Dr. Arshavsky.)

Wolfgang Baehr, PhD, University of Utah is frequently described as the leading retinal biochemist and molecular biologist of our era. His multifaceted studies will apply cutting edge genetic tools to address broad mechanisms shared by many forms of RP, creating new models for therapeutic study and developing new treatments. (Visit the Baehr Lab.) (More about Dr. Baehr.)

David M. Gamm, MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin is one of the undisputed leaders in stem cell research relevant to age-related macular degeneration. He intends to develop a rod-replacement-therapy for RP using human induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be created from a patients own skin cells. (More on Dr. Gamm and stem cell research video.)

Eric A. Pierce, MD, PhD, Harvard University is one of the leading investigators in RP research and has recently identified a possible genetic cause of RP. Dr. Pierces studies will provide a path to developing a gene therapy for diseases caused by mutations in this gene. (Visit the Pierce lab.)

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Top Retinitis Pigmentosa Scientists Earn Awards for Further Research

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WELLESLEY, Mass., June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Is there an entrepreneurial gene? How does family affect female entrepreneurs? How are entrepreneurs resourceful?

The Ivey Business School of Western University is hosting the 34th annual Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC) from June 4-7, 2014, in London, Ontario. Answers to these questions and more will be revealed at the Conference.

The Conference is widely considered the world's premier conference for entrepreneurship research which provides a dynamic venue for academics to link theory and practice. The event rotates annually among top business schools throughout Europe and North America, attracting over 400 of the world's leading academics who share the latest research findings about entrepreneurship.

There will be 237 presentations from academics from all around the world. The research to be presented at this year's conference will touch on many of the most important and pressing issues facing entrepreneurs in the 21st century. Examples of the topics covered will include the influence of household and family commitments on female entrepreneurs; the existence and impact of an "entrepreneurial gene"; and the ways entrepreneurs use their resourcefulness to create lasting value.

In addition to the Conference, Babson and Ivey will hold the 2014 BCERC Doctoral Consortium Program. The Doctoral Consortium provides 26 doctoral students from around the world with the opportunity to gain insight into current research issues through intense interaction with consortium faculty. This venue supports scholars and educators to become leaders in the field of entrepreneurship education.

On Friday evening, June 6, The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Stevens Institute of Technology, G. Dale Meyer and the Journal of Small Business Management, will present the Best Paper Awards for the 2013 issue of Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research contains the proceedings of the conference and is the most comprehensive collection of current empirical research papers on entrepreneurship, representing institutions from around the globe. For information, visit http://bit.ly/1neFXsT.

About the Ivey Business School, Western University

The Ivey Business School at Western University is Canada's leading provider of relevant, innovative and comprehensive business education. Drawing on extensive research and business experience, Ivey faculty provide the best classroom experience, equipping graduates with the skills and capabilities they need to tackle the leadership challenges in today's complex business world. Ivey offers world-renowned undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as Executive Development at campuses in London (Ontario), Toronto and Hong Kong.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(tm). The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society--while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. Visit http://www.babson.edu.

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World's Top Entrepreneurial Minds To Gather At Ivey Business School To Share Latest Research At Babson College ...

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They look like snakes, but don't be fooled: Legless, slithering amphisbaenians are more closely related to lizards than to boa constrictors.

Now, the first complete skull of the ancestor of today's bizarre "worm lizards" reveals that these strange reptiles have been largely unchanged for at least 11 million years. The fossil skull, discovered in Spain, is only 0.44 inches (11.2 millimeters long), but represents a new species, Blanus mendezi.

This family, known as blanids, includes the only worm lizards found on land in Europe, said study researcher Arnau Bolet, a doctoral student at the Institut Catal de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont in Barcelona.

"Their fossil record was until now limited to isolated and usually fragmented bones," Bolet told Live Science in an email. "Thus, the study of a complete fossil skull more than 11 million years old was an unprecedented opportunity." [The 12 Weirdest Animal Discoveries]

Lizards without legs

Worm lizards are found around the world today, though most of the 180 or so extant species live in the Arabian Peninsula, Africa and South America. Some have rudimentary legs, but most have no limbs at all, and resemble large earthworms.

Today, there are three groups of worm lizards in the Mediterranean region: one group is eastern, one is Iberian and one is northwest African. The Iberian and northwest African groups probably arose from one western Mediterranean group that only later subdivided, Bolet and his colleagues explain today (June 4) in the journal PLOS ONE.

The new skull was found in sediments excavated in 2011 in the Valls-Peneds Basin in Spain's Catalonia region. Manel Mndez, a technician at the Institut Catal de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, was sifting through the dirt for fossils using a screen when he found a lumpy, pinkish rock that he knew was something more.

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11-Million-Year-Old Weird Worm Lizard Discovered

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The Indian cancer genetic research company MedGenome says it has taken $4 million in new funding to further develop and market its genetic sequencing research on cancer victims.

MedGenome licenses a bioinformatics database called OncoMD, which containsmore than 1.2 million cancer-related genetic mutations.

The funding round was led by Papillon Capitals Kartik Kumaramangalam and Emerge Ventures Mahesh Pratapneni and includes several other individual investors all data science executives.

MedGenome is already the leader in the Indian genomics market, says MedGenome CEO Sam Santhosh in a statement today. The new resources from this investment round will enable us to expand our research and make our tools more widely available to clinicians and hospitals developing personalized treatment strategies for cancer patients around the world.

Health informatics businesses dont lend themselves to 30-second elevator pitches very well. Heres the short version, as explained to VentureBeatby MedGenome investor Dmitri Mehlhorn.

In twins, who have very similar genes, its easy for genetic researchers to understand the small genetic differences that may have led to cancer in one twin but not in the other. Oncologists might be able to recognize that same genetic mutationin other people as a possible warning sign for cancer. But there are only so many twins to study.

So genetic researchers look for whole groups of people whose genetic make-ups are very similar. For instance, the populations of Utah and Iceland are genetically very homogeneous, and both of those groups have yielded a wealth of genetic lessons for medicine.

India, it turns out, has hundreds of genetically homogeneous castes, tribes, and ethnic groups. Its like having a hundred Icelands in one country, Mehlhorn told me.

MedGenomes database of genetic mutations can help physicians and hospitals pinpoint patients mutation hotspots, identify prevalent cancer types, flag potential sensitivity to therapies, and link mutations to open clinical trials, as MedGenome puts it.

Mehlhorn saysMedGenome is already profitable but needs the newfunding to bring its cancer data to more hospitals and research institutions.

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Data scientists back MedGenomes database of genetic mutations for cancer research with $4M

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