TAMPA, FL. Don and Judy Schmeling consider their chocolate lab, Alexandra, a member of the family.

We have three boys, says Judy. We like to say Alex is our girl.

When, at age nine, Alex started having knee pain, the Schmelings consulted their veterinarian, who suggested regenerative medicine, in the form of stem cell treatment.

Judy says, We decided to do it because she was still so young and had quite a few years ahead of her. We wanted her to have quality of life.

Dr. Farid Saleh of Ehrlich Animal Hospital removed a small amount of fat from Alexs belly, harvested the cells, and injected them into her knee during a same-day procedure performed at on site.

Youregiving the body a chance to regrow tissue instead of trying to heal or manage the diseased tissue thats there, explains Dr. Saleh.

After a few months, Alex was back to her old self. Shes now 12 years old.

Sometimes she acts like a puppy! Its been amazing, Judy says.

Alexs stem cells were harvested when she needed them, however Dr. Saleh says its not a bad idea to harvest them when pets are younger and under anesthesia for a procedure like a teeth cleaning.

If we could harvest something that we can use in the future to help our pets get better, it would be an amazing thing, says Dr. Saleh.

Stem cells can be stored, although doing so often requires a third-party company, and theres an annual fee. As for the harvesting and stem cell treatments, they average $2,500. The most common uses are for arthritis, and injuries to bones and joints. Less often, stem cell therapy is used to treat tumors. And, research indicates that stem cell therapy may be an option for treating chronic diseases.

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SALT LAKE CITY, June 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --The cover of the July 2017 issue of the journal STEM CELLS Translation Medicine showcases the latest advance toward a functional cure of insulin-dependent diabetes. Scientists at SymbioCellTech (SCT), a small biotech company in Salt Lake City, developed a technology that combines Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) with culture-expanded pancreatic islet cells to form three-dimensional cellular clusters, termed "Neo-Islets".A single dose of Neo-Islets administered into the abdominal cavity provides durable blood sugar control, i.e., insulin-independence, without the need for potentially toxic anti-rejection drugs or encapsulation devices.

Type-1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease in which the patient's own immune system attacks and destroys the islet cells in the pancreas resulting in the inability of the body to produce insulin. The standard cell therapy for diabetes is islet cell transplantation into the liver; however, this approach has serious drawbacks: (1) it requires the patient to permanently take potentially-toxic immunosuppression drugs, (2) it cannot be scaled up to treat the large number of patients that would benefit from this therapy because up to 5 donor pancreata are required for a single dose, and (3) it is expensive. In order to avoid the need for immunosuppressive agents, researchers have focused on using various devices that encapsulate islets or other insulin-producing cells. These devices, made of specially-formulated materials, are designed to protect against the immune attack yet allow for glucose-sensitive insulin release. Limited success with this technology has been observed in the lab, but most encapsulation devices have failed due to foreign body reactions.

Mindful of these limitations, SCT took a different approach, termed 'natural encapsulation'. By using adult stem cells to block the immune attack on the transplanted islet cells rather than an artificial device, Neo-Islets were created that are pure cellular structures that possess all functions of a normal pancreatic islet cells, while permanently shielding their islet cell component from rejection and immune-mediated destruction.

In the journal article, SCT's scientists describe how they implanted Neo-Islets into spontaneously diabetic, immune-competent NOD mice that had naturally developed auto-immune type-1 diabetes that largely resembles human Type I diabetes. Within a few weeks, all treated mice demonstrated normal blood glucose control without the need for anti-rejection drugs or encapsulation devices. The Neo-Islets produced all physiological hormones that healthy pancreatic islets secrete.

SCT has already developed Neo-Islets for diabetic, insulin-dependent dogs and humans and, as shown in the article, successfully tested these in vitro and in vivo in diabetic NOD-SCID mice. Based on the strength of these preclinical data, SCT was granted approval by the FDA to begin testing in diabetic pet dogs. This study is currently underway. In parallel, SCT is preparing for a phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with Type I diabetes.

SCT scientists remark that their Neo-Islet technology is a new biologic platform that has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of a number of other autoimmune diseases. Currently, SCT is focused on treating insulin-dependent diabetes due to the magnitude of this global medical problem. The American Diabetes Association estimates that over 20 percent of U.S. medical expenditures can be attributed to the provision of diabetes care, and the World Health Organization estimates over 10,000 people die every day from diabetes and its associated complications.

The cited publication can be found here.

The July issue of the cited Journal can be foundhere.

About SymbioCellTech:

SymbioCellTech (SCT) is a privately-funded biotech company headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, focused on the development of stem-cell therapies for the treatment of type-1 and type-2 diabetes, microvascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and auto-immune diseases. SCT is currently engaged in an FDA-sponsored canine pilot study to test the safety, feasibility and preliminary efficacy of its cellular therapeutic to functionally control blood glucose in type-1 diabetes in pet dogs. SCT is also preparing for a phase 1/2 human clinical trial for type-1 diabetes. For more information on SymbioCellTech, please visitwww.symbiocelltech.com.

Media Contact: Allen Gardner email: a.gardner@symbiocelltech.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neo-islets-a-major-advance-toward-a-functional-cure-of-type-1-diabetes-300482799.html

SOURCE SymbioCellTech LLC

http://symbiocelltech.com

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'Neo-Islets', a Major Advance Toward a Functional Cure of Type-1 Diabetes - PR Newswire (press release)

Stem cell technology is a new and exciting branch of veterinary medicine. Stem cells are cells that can be safely harvested from a variety of adult animal tissues. Once harvested, the stem cells can be injected and induced to grow into a large number of different cell types.

Stem cell therapy offers the possibility of using these stem cells to grow into replacements for injured or diseased tissues such as bone, cartilage, muscle, nerves, and so on. What makes this such an exciting treatment option is that it allows us to introduce real tissue replacements for damaged tissues, rather than artificial replacement implants. Currently stem cell therapy for dogs is being used with some success to treat bone, joint, and ligament problems.

The technology involves the use of adult stem cells, which can be easily obtained, without any harm to the patient from which they are taken. A small amount of adipose (fat) tissue is surgically removed from a patient and a centrifuge is used to separate the stem cells from the fat tissue. The stem cells collected are then injected directly into the injured joint, ligament, or bone where they quickly begin to grow, replacing the damaged tissue with new, healthy tissue.

Stem cell therapy holds immense promise for becoming a viable treatment option for a variety of health issues dogs face.

At Broad Ripple Animal Clinic, we believe that providing your canine companion with the highest quality medical care means being on the cutting edge of the latest technologies and procedures. This is reflected in every aspect of our approach to stem cell therapy for dogs. Our facilities feature state-of-the-art equipment, and our veterinary team stays up to date on the latest canine stem cell research available.

The ideal candidate for canine stem cell therapy is a dog in otherwise good health that suffers from arthritis or hip dysplasia, and who isnt responding well to his or her medication. A dog whose quality of life might further suffer due to invasive surgical procedures may also be a candidate for stem cell therapy. Because canine stem cell therapy uses the patients own tissues, a canine must be in overall good health in order for any collected stem cells to be effective.

Canine stem cells are collected through removing fat cells from a dogs body. Within these fat cells exist regenerative cells that are known colloquially as dog stem cells. The regenerative cells that are collected do several things:

The best part is that canine stem cells are not synthetic cells being added to a living, biological organism. Rather, canine stem cells are a dogs own natural healing cells, Because of this, there is much less chance of rejection or adverse interaction, and there are also fewer potential side effects.

Due to the infancy of canine stem cell research and therapies, there is not yet a large body of information about possible adverse side effects. Just like any medical procedure, the risk for adverse side effects from dog stem cell therapy are ever-present. Risks could be associated with the tissue removal procedure, or from a patients body rejecting the newly placed cells. Other issues with stem cell therapy for dogs include its effectiveness when used alone. This is because the prescription of traditional medication will accompany stem cell therapy procedures.

Deciding whether or not stem cell therapy for dogs is the right choice for your beloved canine companion is a very personal one. No matter what route you choose to take, we are here to help you make the decision that is in the best interest of your dog, and also that fits your budget and lifestyle.

At this time, most stem cell research for dogs currently focuses on treating bone, joint, and ligament problemsrather than treating more advanced illnesses and diseases. We are extremely confident that the day will come when many canine illnesses and diseases can be treated through advances in canine stem cell research.

One thing seems to be clear, stem cell research for dogs promises to revolutionize the veterinary industry, and is already showing good results with canines that have been treated with dog stem cells to repair joints, bones, or ligaments that have been damaged by injury or disease. We are here to help educate you about the latest canine stem cell research advances, and answer any other questions about dog stem cell therapy you might have.

If you would like to discuss how stem cell therapy can benefit your dog, please contact us to schedule an appointment. Our veterinary team can help you decide whether or not canine stem cell therapy is the right option, including discussing cost and prognosis.

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Stem Cell Therapy For Dogs | Broad Ripple Animal Clinic

In May, next generation therapies took the spotlight: brain-computer interfaces, brain training, tDCS, DNA vaccines, probiotics Yet, they werent all successful.

Heres the best and worst news of May.

The best

Braincomputer interface therapy for post-stroke motor rehabilitation

Functional recovery from motor disabilities can be a major challenge following stroke. A new study tested a new therapy for motor-related disabilities affecting the arm in hemiparetic stroke survivors. It consisted of an exoskeleton driven by a braincomputer interface (BCI) that used neural activity from the unaffected brain hemisphere to control the movement of the affected hand. By using BCI control to associate imagined hand movements with the opening and closing of the affected hand, participants would train the uninjured parts of their brain to take over movements that were previously controlled by the injured areas of the brain. This BCI-based therapy was shown to be effective in improving motor performance. Another important aspect of this study was the fact that this method was designed and configured for home-based neurorehabilitation. Its efficacy therefore showed that BCI-driven neurorehabilitation can be effectively delivered in the home environment.

A probiotic for IBS-associated depression

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects 11% of the worlds population and is commonly accompanied by psychiatric symptoms, namely depression and anxiety. The gut microbiota is increasingly acknowledged as a key player in IBS and, via the gut-brain axis, as a likely contributor to the development of the associated psychiatric disorders. Therefore, a new study aimed at evaluating the effects of a probiotic bacteria on anxiety and depression in patients with IBS. The probiotic Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 (BL) was administered to 44 adults with IBS and anxiety and/or depression for 6 weeks. It was shown that patients who received the probiotic were more likely to have a reduction in depression scores (but not anxiety) and increased quality of life than patients in the placebo group. BL had no effect on IBS, indicating that the reduction in depression scores was not merely a consequence of a reduction in IBS symptoms. Through fMRI analysis, these effects were shown to be linked to changes in brain activation patterns reflecting an effect of the probiotic on the limbic system.

Brain training for chronic TBI

Brain training has shown beneficial effects in acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) therapy, but studies on its effects in chronic TBI are still lacking. Therefore, a new study aimed at determining how the injured brain responds to cognitive training months-to-years after injury. Subjects with chronic TBI received cognitive training for 8 weeks. Cortical thickness and brain connectivity were assessed as indicators of brain plasticity before training, immediately after training, and 3 months after training.

Results showed that cortical thickness and brain connectivity were improved after strategy-based reasoning training, which focused on selective attention, abstract reasoning, and other cognitive strategies. Importantly, these improvements were evident even 3 months after training was completed, indicating a sustained effect.

DNA vaccines for Alzheimers disease

DNA vaccines may be the next generation of vaccines. They are designed to induce the production of antigens through the action of genetically engineered DNA, thereby triggering a protective immunological response. Although they are not yet approved for human use, they have been showing interesting beneficial effects in pre-clinical research. A new study has tested a DNA A?42 trimer vaccine (targeting amyloid plaques) for its effect on experimental Alzheimers disease.

It was shown that DNA A?42 immunization produced a high antibody response and that the antibodies generated after vaccination were able to detect amyloid plaques in the brain, suggesting a promising preventive effect for Alzheimers disease.

Cannabinoids for age-related cognitive decline

The activity of the endocannabinoid system declines during aging, with the expression of the CB1 cannabinoid receptor and the levels of the major endocannabinoid (2-AG) being reduced in the brain of older animals. In a letter published in Nature Medicine, new data shows that a prolonged exposure to low doses of the cannabinoid delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis) can reverse the age-related cognitive decline in mice, improving spatial memory, long-term memory and learning flexibility.

The effect was accompanied by an increase in synaptic density in the hippocampus and a restoration of hippocampal gene transcription to patterns similar to those of young animals. This indicates a potential beneficial effect of cannabinoids in treating age-related cognitive impairments.

The worst

Sleep disturbances may increase the risk of dementia

Sleep disturbances are known to contribute to an overall deterioration of health. An association between sleep disorders and the development of dementia has also been proposed. A new study aimed at determining if this association is indeed observable in population-based studies. A first phase of the study took place between 1984 and 1989, when data about the sleeping patterns of the participants was collected. The incidence of dementia in those participants was now assessed using data from health registries. It was found that the risk ratio for dementia was significantly higher in individuals with frequent sleep disturbances.

Maternal stress and fetal development

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and urocortin (UCN) are two proteins with important roles in both human stress regulation and pregnancy. Therefore, a new study investigated the association between an acute stress response, social overload (as an indicator of chronic stress) and the levels of CRH and UCN in the amniotic fluid of healthy, second-trimester pregnant women. The analyzes revealed that an acute maternal stress response was not associated with increased levels of the two peptides, but that maternal chronic social overload and amniotic CRH were positively correlated. Amniotic CRH was found to be able to influence fetal growth albeit in a non-linear way. This indicates that, although acute maternal stress may not be as influential, chronic maternal stress may affect the production of molecules, such as CRH, that can potentially influence fetal development.

tDCS does not improve the effect of cognitive training

Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) has been suggested be able to enhance cognitive abilities when associated with cognitive training. This claim has been tested in a new study of 123 older adults, in whom the effects of 20 sessions of anodal tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex and simultaneous working memory training on cognitive performance was assessed. Results showed that tDCS failed to improve the efficacy of cognitive training. A meta-analysis including younger and older individuals was also performed. It also indicated that tDCS is not effective at improving the effect of cognitive training in working memory and global cognition. It is possible that the inefficacy of tDCS may be due to an inadequacy of current tDCS protocols for enhancing the effects of cognitive training, indicating that those protocols may need to be optimized.

The onset of cocaine addiction

Cues associated with the consumption of cocaine can lead to dopamine release in the striatum brain region. This response is believed to be associated with the the motivation to consume. The acquisition of drug-seeking behaviors is believed to be associated with conditioned dopamine responses in the ventral striatum. But as drug use continues and becomes a habit, the conditioned responses shift to the dorsal striatum, which may be associated with compulsive drug use and susceptibility to addiction. A new study used PET imaging and personalized cocaine cues to assess the pattern of the dopamine response in in recreational cocaine users without a substance use disorder. The results showed that the exposure to cues associated with the opportunity to use the drug increased the dopamine response in the dorsal striatum in recreational cocaine users. This indicates that a susceptibility to addiction may be developing even though there are no psychiatric signs of a substance abuse disorder.

Inflammation and oxidation in Huntingtons disease

Chronic neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are believed to play an important role in driving Huntingtons disease progression. NRF2 is a transcription factor with a chief role in regulating cellular anti-inflammatory and antioxidant defense genes. A new study has reveled that NRF2 activation was suppressed in neural stem cells of Huntingtons disease patients, suggesting that these cells may be abnormally susceptible to oxidative stress. On the bright side, it was shown that the pharmacological activation of NRF2 was able to decrease inflammatory responses in glial cells, the main cellular mediators of neuroinflammation, and in blood monocytes from Huntingtons disease patients. These findings also suggest that NRF2 may be an important therapeutic target in Huntingtons disease.

References

Bilkei-Gorzo A, et al (2017). A chronic low dose of ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) restores cognitive function in old mice. Nat Med. doi: 10.1038/nm.4311. [Epub ahead of print]

Bundy DT, et al (2017). Contralesional Brain-Computer Interface Control of a Powered Exoskeleton for Motor Recovery in Chronic Stroke Survivors. Stroke. pii: STROKEAHA.116.016304. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.016304. [Epub ahead of print]

Cox SML, et al (2017). Cocaine Cue-Induced Dopamine Release in Recreational Cocaine Users. Sci Rep, 7: 46665. doi: 10.1038/srep46665

Han K, et al (2017). Strategy-based reasoning training modulates cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity in adults with chronic traumatic brain injury. Brain Behav, 7(5):e00687. doi: 10.1002/brb3.687s.

La Marca-Ghaemmaghami P, et al (2017). Second-trimester amniotic fluid corticotropin-releasing hormone and urocortin in relation to maternal stress and fetal growth in human pregnancy. Stress, 21:1-10. doi: 10.1080/10253890.2017.1312336pregnanc. [Epub ahead of print]

p1>Lambracht-Washington D, et al (2017). Evaluation of a DNA A?42 vaccine in adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): antibody kinetics and immune profile after intradermal immunization with full-length DNA A?42 trimer.Alzheimers Res Ther, 9(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s13195-017-0257-7.

Luojus MK, et al (2017).Self-reported sleep disturbance and incidence of dementia in ageing men. J Epidemiol Community Health, 71(4):329-335. doi: 10.1136/jech-2016-207764.

Nilsson J, et al (2017). Direct-Current Stimulation Does Little to Improve the Outcome of Working Memory Training in Older Adults. Psychol Sci. doi: 10.1177/0956797617698139. [Epub ahead of print]

Pinto-Sanchez MI, et al (2017).Probiotic Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 Reduces Depression Scores and Alters Brain Activity: a Pilot Study in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Gastroenterology. pii: S0016-5085(17)35557-9. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.05.003. [Epub ahead of print]

Quinti L, et al (2017). KEAP1-modifying small molecule reveals muted NRF2 signaling responses in neural stem cells from Huntingtons disease patients.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, pii: 201614943. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1614943114. [Epub ahead of print]

Image via DarkoStojanovic/Pixabay.

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Best and Worst in Health and Healthcare May 2017 - Brain Blogger (blog)

Stem cell therapy is still years away for you, but for your pooch this modern medical procedure is now available.

Vet-Stem, a privately held company in San Diego, Calif., began offering fat-derived stem cell therapy this month for treatment of arthritis as well as tendon and ligament injuries in dogs. The pricy procedure uses an animal's own fat to obtain adult stem cells, which are then injected into the problematic area to stimulate growth of healthy cells, spurring regeneration.

"We've seen stem cell therapy help dogs whose pain was previously so severe that they struggled to stand, jump into cars, chase balls or run up and down stairs," said Robert Harman, DVM, and founder of Vet-Stem. Treatment cost ranges from $2,000 to $3,000. So far, the company has trained more than 100 board certified small animal veterinary surgeons nationwide to offer the procedure.

How it works About two tablespoons of fat, usually from the abdomen or shoulder blade area, are removed from an anesthetized dog for shipment to the company. Within 48 hours, the laboratory isolates stem and regenerative cells from the fat and ships them back to surgeons in ready-to-inject syringes. Cells are not engineered or modified in any way, the company says, and in dogs with osteoarthritis, extra cells are frozen in case re-treatment is necessary. Stem cells are known for their amazing ability to morph into any kind of tissue, but Harman says they do so much more. "A huge part of what they do is to provide growth factors and chemicals that help the injury heal," he said. "It does so by reducing inflammation it actually blocks inflammatory molecules. They block scar tissue from forming and they recruit in all other kind of healing and stem cells from other places in the body, so they're actually like a master healing cell." Since 2004, the company says it has successfully treated 3,000 horses with tendon, ligament and joint injuries, with many going on to compete again at their prior level of performance.

About 200 dogs have been treated by the company in the past three years. Harman said the only side effect seen in a small number of cases is inflammation at the injection site, lasting a few days.

Other treatments

Soon other cutting-edge regenerative therapy might be available for canines. Veterinarian Richard Vulliet, a professor in the molecular biosciences department at the University of California, Davis, is studying to see if stem cells derived from bone marrow can treat degenerative myelopathy, a spinal cord disease affecting German shepherds and Pembroke Welsh Corgis.

Since the disorder is similar to multiple scoliosis, discoveries made in dogs could be applicable to people, he said.

No federal regulations are in place for stem cell treatment in animals so veterinarians can progress quickly to discover new applications.

"We can do more, better, faster and cheaper than a clinical medical trial in humans," he said.

Within the next few weeks Vulliet plans to inject the first dogs in his study, suffering from degenerative spinal disease, with bone marrow stem cells. A successful outcome in those family pets and others could lead to a commercially available treatment as early as next year. As for fat stem cells, he said it's too soon to tell if the therapy is safe. "You never want to be the first one to use a new treatment," said Vulliet.

Tough decisions? The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in Schaumburg, Ill., which represents more than 76,000 veterinarians, fully supports the ethical use of stem cells for the benefit of animal health but admits its hard to keep up with the breathtaking pace of research and new treatments. "I don't know that anyone in the AVMA has heard anything specific about how efficacious [Vet-Stems treatment] has been," said veterinarian Elizabeth Sabin, the associations assistant director of education and research. "It's just perhaps too new of a technology."

Last week, the results of a double-blind control study by Vet-Stem which showed improved mobility in dogs with osteoarthritis was published in the journal Veterinary Therapeutics.

While some dog owners might want to take a wait and see approach, Vulliet said not everyone has the luxury of delaying treatment.

"It's nice to say: 'I'd wait a couple of years until this flushes out' and I would except that you've got a real dog that has a real disease right now," he said.

John Doyle, a dog trainer in Poway, Calif., is glad he didn't wait. His border collie, Buzz, severed a rear tendon last year. The 2-year-old dog underwent surgery then had a series of three fat stem cell injections. Doyle's veterinarian told him Buzz's recovery could take a year practically an eternity for a high-energy dog that competes in sheep and cattle herding events internationally.

With Vet-Stem's new therapy, recovery was much faster.

"In six weeks this dog was working again," said Doyle. "It's a stunning turnaround."

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Dogs Get Pricey Stem Cell Therapy - livescience.com

Philly invented the computer then whiffed on becoming home to the tech industry. Will we do better with the next-gen medical breakthroughs were hatching?

Illustration by Muti.

In the conference room of a spacious loft office near 30th Street Station, Usman Oz Azam and Michael Christiano huddle for a meeting. Theyre CEO and chief business officer, respectively, of Tmunity Therapeutics, a start-up launched to commercialize some breakthrough research out of the University of Pennsylvania a method of reengineering a patients own immune system cells so they can destroy cancer tumors.

The two execs are the companys sole employees so far. Their new headquarters still contains chalkboard-style signs and leather couches from the prior tenant, some sort of hipster

telemarketing operation. It looks like an abandoned Cosi restaurant.

Literally the only thing weve done is bring in a coffee machine, Azam says.

Its a microscopically small start to what some people around Philadelphia hope will become very, very big.

Down the hill at the Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics, an alliance between Penn Medicine and global drug maker Novartis is working on other pioneering immune system research, which, like Tmunitys technology, comes from the labs of Penns Carl June. It involves extracting T-cells from patients, genetically modifying them so they can attack blood cancer, and putting them back into patients, where the altered cells multiply and become a sort of living medicine. Trials on some leukemia patients have obliterated the disease, and this designed-in-Philly treatment is on track to be the first-ever FDA-approved personalized cellular therapy for cancer.

One floor below, in the same University of Pennsylvania building, scientists at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy are working on what could become Americas first use of the genome-editing tool CRISPR in human beings, aimed at cancer. Its funded in part by Sean Parker, the Internet billionaire played by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network (who gave $250 million to six medical schools and cancer centers). Its not the only CRISPR venture in the city. Nearby, on Market Street, the start-up Excision BioTherapeutics is working to commercialize technology from Temple University that uses CRISPR to snip viruses such as HIV out of affected patients.

Just one block up Market Street, in the penthouse-floor laboratory of Spark Therapeutics, researchers cultivate cells in flasks of a liquid that looks like weak cherry Kool-Aid. Spark, founded in 2013 to commercialize research from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, is what companies like Tmunity and Excision seek to become. Spark employs around 240 people and has a stock market capitalization of $1.61 billion. In May the company filed with the FDA to create the first gene-therapy treatment for an inherited disease in the United States. The treatment, which involves injecting new genes into patients to replace the imperfect ones they were born with, has reversed a rare form of blindness in clinical trials. It could be approved by the end of the year, with gene treatments for hemophilia to follow. Theyll all be produced right here, at 38th and Market.

And so were having a moment in Philadelphia. Were out to an early lead in the race to become a hub for the next generation of medicine: synthetic biology that augments the human immune system to make it better than nature did. Its a future in which medicine is less about gulping pills to mitigate symptoms than about using targeted gene and cell therapies that begin to approach cures for ailments as serious as blindness, hemophilia, AIDS and cancer. If we dont fumble the opportunity, its also a future that the Philadelphia area can own. People speak hopefully of a regional economy blossoming around these innovations an ecosystem, a magnet, the way Los Angeles is for entertainment, the way Washington is for lobbyists.

I can make the argument that Philadelphia has the greatest concentration of foundational research in gene and cell therapy in the world, says Spark CEO Jeffrey Marrazzo, a Philly native who convinced CHOP to make the company its first commercial spin-off.

Were at a unique moment, says Richard Vague, a managing partner at Philly-based Gabriel Investments who has personally funded some of Carl Junes research. The genome has been mapped. The revolution in technology has occurred. So much that needs to happen has happened. The opportunity for real breakthroughs is palpable.

Some smarties at Penn Medicine have cooked up an optimistic nickname for this region: Cellacon Valley. Its an awkward portmanteau, probably no more likely to catch on than Phillywood. Really, its a brand name for a desire. Maybe this could be our thing (besides cheesesteaks, which we know to be effective in humans). As much as anything, the nickname encapsulates a new attitude, an eagerness to better exploit advances in medicine coming out of local labs. Theres been a history of missed opportunity here, a gap in translating the genius of our academia to the marketplace. Remember, back in 1946, Penn scientists introduced ENIAC, the worlds first electronic computer. But the Delaware Valley didnt become Silicon Valley, or even Vacuum Tube Valley.

Theres a whole negative piece that could be done about what Philadelphia did not do that Boston or San Francisco did, says Steven Nichtberger, a longtime entrepreneur who teaches Wharton undergrads how to commercialize scientific ideas. At MIT and Stanford, pitching moneymaking schemes to venture capitalists is part of the university culture, as routine as joining the Dungeons & Dragons club.

Other places have had reasons they became really good at what they do, Carl June says. Now, this is our chance. I hope we dont blow it.

Looking south fromhis window in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, on Penns rampantly spreading medical campus, Jonathan Epstein can see the smokestacks of Philadelphias industrial legacy.

I think we have a chance to see a new and important industry arise here, he says. Since hes chief scientific officer at Penn Medicine, one of his missions is to help make that happen. On a recent field trip to present Philly to venture capitalists in San Francisco, Epstein floated the phrase Cellacon Valley.

I actually had screens around the auditorium showing the modern parts of Philadelphia, in order to convey the sense that its not the old manufacturing city that many people have in their minds. It is hard to change peoples impressions, he admits.

Epstein thinks of Kendall Square the once-desolate area around MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, thats now crawling with shiny biotech buildings as a model. I grew up in Boston, and I like to tell people that Kendall Square is where they used to tow my car, he says. I watched the development of that region.

In West Philly, the makeover has begun. On streets around Penn and Drexel, you can hardly have a conversation that isnt drowned out by the beeps of a construction vehicle erecting another gleaming high-rise. But Penn getting richer or even University City becoming an innovation district isnt the same as success for the region. Around Boston, the prosperity from waves of computer tech and biotech has had a blast radius of 25 miles, to far-flung neighborhoods and suburbs. Its more extreme around San Francisco. Could we have that kind of success here? What would it look like?

If you think of Silicon Valley or Hollywood, theyre places people go with dreams. Its where the jobs they want are. If you leave a company in Mountain View or Kendall Square, theres another across the road or down the highway that needs staff. Small firms grow into big ones and seed new start-ups like acorns. Venture money burns holes in the pockets of investors who live in the area. And behind the headline-making companies are enterprises that support the IPO superstars, providing specialized staffing, equipment and facilities.

Philadelphia has some of these things. It has companies like WuXi AppTech in the Navy Yard, which contracts to do cell production and R&D. Tmunity plans to use a cell-manufacturing facility in East Norriton previously owned by Tengion, whose ambitious plans to grow human tissue ran out of runway, resulting in a 2014 bankruptcy. If you want to make a drug, its easy to hire a contract manufacturer. But if you want to make a cell therapy, it takes particular kinds of facilities and expertise which exist here now, says Nichtberger, the former CEO of Tengion.

The region, of course, has a medical and pharmaceutical legacy that goes back centuries. Ben Franklin founded Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751. In 1830, John K. Smith opened a Philly drugstore that would evolve into Smith, Kline & French and eventually the massive GSK. The Wistar Institute transformed global health with vaccines for rubella, rabies, and other life-threatening diseases. Bob McGrath, who heads Drexels office of technology commercialization, points out that four of the National Cancer Institutes 69 designated cancer centers are here, at Penn, Jefferson, Fox Chase and Wistar. There is infrastructure to build on.

But in this new world, infrastructure isnt enough. Whats also required: money to back academic research, and, no less important, an entrepreneurial culture that lets scientists see a path to making their work available to the world profitably, if possible. Its going to be hard to retain or attract the very best scientists who are entrepreneurial if there isnt an environment here in which they can see their dreams come true, Epstein says.

Thats required a culture change, at Penn in particular.

For Ivy League schools, commercializing technology is a very new event, says June, director oftranslationalresearch at Penns Abramson Cancer Center. Google came out of Stanford. It never could have come out of Penn back then. Ivy League schools kind of turned their nose up at funding from commercial entities. The faculty were encouraged to get peer-reviewed and go for government funding.

These days, the word translational is on business cards and medical buildings all over University City. It means translating science from bench to bedside, from the lab to the patient. That can cost multiple millions of dollars, and government money isnt what it used to be. When I moved to Penn in 1999, I was like most faculty here in that over 80 percent of my research funding was from the NIH, June says. Now, its less than 20 percent. Attracting funding from other sources is more and more important.

Pretty much all the local institutions are trying to get better at it. In a sense, theyve begun throwing open their lab coats to the world and saying, Check us out. Sparks Marrazzo says that in 2011, Steve Altschuler, then CEO at CHOP, invited him to walk the corridors there looking for commercial ideas. Its literally true, Marrazzo says. He said, Why dont you spend three months? Ill give you the authority to walk the halls and meet with scientists, see if theres anything there that you think is worth trying to take a bolder step.

Not-for-profit universities and hospitals cant raise money by selling stock. But they can take equity in the start-up companies built around their intellectual property, which is almost as good. Marrazzo says CHOP invested $35 million in Spark. They have already liquidated between $150 million and $200 million, and they still have 18 or 19 percent of the business, which is worth probably another $300 million to $400 million, he says. CHOP has now spun out three other companies and hired serial entrepreneur Patrick FitzGerald to a new position: Vice President for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Penns medical school offers a masters degree in translational research, which MD and PhD candidates can add to their studies. The course helps researchers undergo a Nutty Professor style transformation from meek lab-focused scientists to confident presenters of their assets to potential funders

Theyve got to learn how to articulate their science to different audiences to give the elevator pitch, the TED talk, says Emma Meagher, a cardiologist and clinical pharmacist who runs the program. When they go to the NIH, they have to articulate the science as a scientific discipline. When they go to a not-for-profit foundation, theyve got to articulate the science as it appeals to the unmet medical need for that foundation. To a for-profit funder, its Are you gonna make me money, wheres your business plan?

Drexels McGrath is a matchmaker who connects faculty inventors with commercial partners. A review committee helps them groom pitches. The Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, in Wynnewood, has an incubator to develop companies spawned from its research. CEO George Prendergast calls it a small Bell Labs of bioscience. He invented the word acapreneurial to describe the model marrying academics with entrepreneurship.

At Temples Lewis KatzSchool of Medicine, legal experts from the universitys technology transfer office embed in the med school and look at the facultys papers and grant applications before they go out and see if there are elements we ought to protect with respect to the intellectual property, says Steven Houser, senior associate dean of research there. If you dont protect it, no one in the private sector will ever want to invest in your idea.

Racking up patents isnt an official yardstick for evaluating faculty. Not yet, Houser says. There are discussions at most institutions about whether things like patents should be considered in tenure discussions.

So how do we enter the Valley? It doesnt happen by chance. It happens because people make strategic moves, Penns Epstein says.

The schools outreach to industry is part of it. Public funding and local incentives like tax breaks are also still important, even as the Trump administration pushes for big cuts to NIH and NCI budgets. Pennsylvania has a patchwork of aid. Governor Wolfs new budget proposes selling bonds to raise $45.9 million for CURE, which issues health-research grants. State-supported Ben Franklin Technology Partners offers seed capital to start-ups. Keystone Innovation Zones provide corporate tax credits. But June envies what other states have done. A California voter initiative provided $3 billion for stem-cell therapies. Texas sold bonds to raise $3 billion for cancer research. Its recruiting people and new companies. We need to do that here, June says.

Of course, amid all the possibility, theres a need to proceed carefully. Gene therapy isnt like building a new mobile app. Human health is at stake. Pioneer Jim Wilsons experience tells a cautionary tale and offers another kind of hope.

Wilson created Penns gene-therapy program when he arrived there in 1993. There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the mid-90s, he recalls. Its the natural trajectory of an emerging technology: Theres a lot of expectation and anticipation, a little knowledge, and in this particular area it was fueled by all of us. By the PR machines of the universities. By the investigators, who could garner resources. By patient populations, especially those with rare diseases who just were neglected. Gene therapy sounded different. It wasnt just another drug. It was: I have a bad gene and youre gonna fix it.

Then, in 1999, Jesse Gelsinger died, in a Penn gene-therapy trial directed by Wilson. The 18-year-olds body reacted adversely to the virus used as a vector to deliver a new gene to his system. It turned out Wilson owned stock in a company that was funding the research. There was a lawsuit, and much debate about the conflicts that arise when science gets in bed with business. People walked away from the field, Wilson says.

Humbled and censured, Wilson kept a low profile but continued to work, landing on a safer vector thats part of the current rebirth of gene therapy. Two companies based on his new work, though, located elsewhere. RegenXBio is in Rockville, Maryland. Dimension Therapeutics is in Cambridge, despite the fact that the R&D engine was here at Penn, Wilson says. We tried everything we could to convince management and the investors that it would make more sense to place these companies at Penn.

But ecosystems build one victory at a time. Kevin Mahoney, executive vice dean for integrative services for Penns medical school, had hinted to me about such a victory: a secret new gene start-up coming to the city even though the moneymen tried to insist that it be headquartered in Kendall Square. They said, It can only be in Kendall Square. And we said, No way. It has to be in Philadelphia, Mahoney says.

Wilson wanted to tell me the secret, too. Its a new company called Scout Bio, based on gene therapy technology out of my lab at Penn, he reveals. It uses gene therapies in small animal health pets to deliver therapeutic proteins for anemia, atopic dermatitis, cancer. Were building that in Philadelphia.

Yo, dog. Welcome to Cellacon Valley.

Published as Cellacon Valley? in the July 2017 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

The rest is here:
Welcome to Cellacon Valley? - Philadelphia magazine

The foundation has awarded $214,000 for 11 feline health studies.

By Veterinary Practice News Editors

Published: 2017.06.14 04:34 PM

Pixabay

The Winn Feline Foundation, a Wyckoff, N.J., nonprofit that supports studies to improve cat health and has funded almost $6 million in health research for cats at more than30 partner institutionsworldwide,announced in April that it awarded more than $214,000 for 11 feline health studies.

The research studies funded include:

Winn Feline Foundation is able to fund additional feline health studies each year through a grant from the George Sydney and Phyllis Redman Miller Trust. Via special funding through the Bria Fund for FIP research, the foundation also is calling for research proposals that address FIP genetics and molecular biology, prevention, novel diagnostics, and safe and effective treatments.

Aug. 7 is the deadline for receipt of applications for Miller Trust and FIP grants. The maximum grant is $35,000. Details are availablehere.

The Occupational Employment and Wages report from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau shows veterinarians are earning a higher salary, but not enough to pay off student debts.

Veterinarian-turned-painter Ande Hall, embarking on a second career as an artist, is getting noticed for her talents.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine completed the second phase of their Animal Drugs @ FDA on June 8.

Read this article:
Winn Feline Awards 11 Study Grants - VetPracticeNews.com

Stem cells might not be a good option for your kid's sports injury Miami Herald ... mesenchymal stem cells to help athletes return to their sport after injury. Yet many patients and caregivers struggle to make an informed decision about the use of PRP and stem cells in injury recovery as these are newer, and thus less understood ...

See original here:
Stem cells might not be a good option for your kid's sports injury - Miami Herald

Sessions/Tracks

Track 1: Cell Therapy

Cell therapy or cytotherapy is the transfer of cells into a patient with a goal of improving the disease. From beginning blood transfusions were considered to be the first type of cell therapy to be practised as routine. Later, Bone marrow transplantation has also become a well established concept which involves treatment of many kind of blood disorders including anemia, leukemia, lymphyoma and rare immunodeficiency diseases. Alternative medical practitioners perform cell therapy in the form of several different names including xenotransplant therapy, glandular therapy, and fresh cell therapy. It has been claimed by the proponents of cell therapy that it has been used successfully to repair spinal cord injuries, strengthen weaken immune system, treats autoimmune diseases like AIDS, help patients with neurological disorders like Alzheimers disease, parkinsons disease and epilepsy.

Related Conferences

3rd International Conference & Exhibition on Tissue Preservation and Biobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 8th World Congress and Expo on Cell & Stem Cell Research, March 20-22, 2017 in Orlando, Florida, USA; Annual Summit on Cell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd World Biotechnology Congress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Spring Symposium of the Netherlands Society of Gene & Cell therapy (NVGCT), 17 March 2017, Lunteren, The Netherlands; British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (BSGCT) Public Engagement 2017, March 27-28, 2017 Oxford, UK; 19th International Conference on Cell and Gene Therapy ICCGT 2017, April 19-21, 2017, Singapore; International Society for BioProcess Technology 7th Spring Meeting Viral vectors and vaccines, March 16-17, 2017, Washington, DC and 2nd Annual Genome Editing & Engineering Conference, Feb 6-7 2017, San Diego, CA.

Track 2: Gene Therapy

Gene therapy basically involves the introduction or alteration of genetic material within a cell or organism with an intention of curing the disease. Both cell therapy and gene therapy are overlapping fields of biomedical research with the goals of repairing the direct cause of genetic diseases in DNA or cellular population respectively. The discovery of recombinant DNA technology in the 1970s provided tools to efficiently develop gene therapy. Scientists use these techniques to readily manipulate viral genomes, isolate genes and identify mutations involved in human disease, characterize and regulate gene expressions, and engineer various viral and non viral vectors. Various long term treatments for anemia, haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, Gauschers disease, lysosomal storage diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and diseases of bones and joints are resolved through successful gene therapy and are elusive today.

Related Conferences

Annual Summit onCell Signaling and Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; AnnualSummit on Cell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA;2nd World Biotechnology Congress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 3rd International Conference & Exhibition on Tissue Preservation and Biobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo on Cell & Stem Cell Research, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA; 10th Australasian Gene Therapy Society Meeting (AGCTS), October 17-20, 2017, Sydney, Australia; XXV Congress of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT), Berlin, Germany.

Track 3:Molecular Medicine

Molecular Medicineis a branch of medicine that develops ways to diagnose and treat diseases by understanding the ways genes, proteins and other cellular molecules work. It is a broad field where physical, chemical, biological,bioinformatics, and medical techniques are used to describe molecular structures and mechanisms, identify fundamental molecular and genetic errors of the disease, and to develop molecular interventions to correct them. Molecular Medicine has now a days proved to be an exciting field of research as some of the recent advancements has led to improved clinical benefits for human health. These are LPS- induced inflammatory response is suppressed by Wnt inhibitors, Dickkopf-1 and LGK974, Selective inhibition ofEbolaentry with selective estrogen receptor modulators by disrupting the endolysosomal calcium, ApoA-IV improves insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake in mouse adipocytes via PI3K-Akt Signalling and many more.

Related Conferences

AnnualSummit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil;3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago , USA;8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA;Annual conference of British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT), May 3-6, 2017, Cardiff, Wales, UK; International Society forCellular Therapy(ISCT) 23rdAnnual Meeting, May 10-13, 2017, London, UK; American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20thAnnual Meeting , May 14-19, 2017, Washington, DC; Gordon Research Conference:Viruses&Cells, May 17-19, 2017, Lucca, Italy and WorldAdvanced TherapiesandRegenerative MedicineCongress 2017, May 24-26, 2017, London, UK.

Track 4:Immunotherapy

Due to rapidly advancing field of cancer immunology in past few years, there has been production of several new methods of treating cancer called Immunotherapies. Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that increases the strength of immune response against tumors either by stimulating the activities of specific components of immune system or by counteracting signals produced by cancer cells that suppress immune responses. Some types of immunotherapy are also called as biologic therapy or biotherapy. Recent advancements in cancer immunotherapies have provided new therapeutic approaches. These include tumor-associated macrophages as treatment targets in oncology, in-situ activation of platelets with checkpoint inhibitors for post-surgical cancer immunotherapy, immune checkpoint blockade and associated endocrinopathies and many more.

Related Conferences

3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017 in Orlando, Florida, USA; Annual Summit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Spring Symposium of the Netherlands Society ofGene&Cell therapy(NVGCT), 17 March 2017, Lunteren, The Netherlands; British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT) Public Engagement 2017, March 27-28, 2017 Oxford, UK; 19thInternational Conference onCellandGene Therapy ICCGT 2017, April 19-21, 2017, Singapore; International Society for BioProcess Technology 7thSpring Meeting Viral vectorsandvaccines, March 16-17, 2017, Washington, DC and 2ndAnnualGenome Editing&EngineeringConference, Feb 6-7 2017, San Diego, CA.

Genetic Medicine orMedical Geneticsis the branch of medicine that differs from human genetics, and involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Human genetics may or may not apply to medicine, but medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. Genetic Medicine basically involves different areas such asgene therapy, personalized medicine, predictive medicine and the rapidly emerging new medical specialty. Now a days, medical genetics has wide range of scopes in many conditions involving birth defects and dysmorphology,autism, mental retardation, skeletal dysplasia, mitochondrial disorders, cancer genetics, connective tissue disorders and some more.

Related Conferences

Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; AnnualSummit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA;2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA; 10thAustralasianGene TherapySociety Meeting (AGCTS), October 17-20, 2017, Sydney, Australia; XXV Congress of the European Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ESGCT), Berlin, Germany.

Track 6: Clinical Trials in Cell and Gene Therapy

A clinical trial is a research study that tests how well new medical approaches work on people and determines if a treatment is safe and effective. The new cell and gene therapies (CGTs) that are advancing from the laboratory into early phase clinical trials has proven to be a complex task even for experienced investigators . As a result of wide variety of CGT products and their potential applications, a case by case assessment is warranted for the design of each clinical trial. Some of the latest and advanced clinical trials include safety and efficacy trial of AAV gene therapy in patients with CNGA3 Achromatopsia, A clinical trial for treatment of Aromatic L- Amino acid Decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency using AAV2-hAADC- An expansion and Glypican 3-specific Chimeric antigenic receptor expressed in T cells for patients with pediatric solid tumors.

Related Conferences

AnnualSummit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil;3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago , USA;8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA;Annual conference of British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT), May 3-6, 2017, Cardiff, Wales, UK; International Society forCellular Therapy(ISCT) 23rdAnnual Meeting, May 10-13, 2017, London, UK; American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20thAnnual Meeting , May 14-19, 2017, Washington, DC; Gordon Research Conference:Viruses&Cells, May 17-19, 2017, Lucca, Italy and WorldAdvanced TherapiesandRegenerative MedicineCongress 2017, May 24-26, 2017, London, UK.

Track 7: Cell Therapy Bioprocessing

Cell Therapy Bioprocessing activity mainly focuses to accelerate the safe, cost- effective translations and clinical efficacious of cell therapies into commercial products. This activity covers the entire range of cell therapy activities as well as tissue engineering. In order to succeed, commercial success of at least a few late-stage products are required to develop which will be funded to develop next generation tools and technologies for this field. Recent achievements include, preclinical filing for Phase 1 clinical trials for cell therapy in acute spinal cord injury, clinical proof of concept studies in tissue- engineered trachea, clinical trials for tissue-engineered larynx and routine clinical practice in the regeneration of corneas. The future research priorities will focus on novel cell and bioprocess engineering techniques in order to improve the manufacturing efficacy and methods for health technology assessment to support rapid clinical adoption of new cell therapies.

Related Conferences

3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017 in Orlando, Florida, USA; Annual Summit onCell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Spring Symposium of the Netherlands Society ofGene&Cell therapy(NVGCT), 17 March 2017, Lunteren, The Netherlands; British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT) Public Engagement 2017, March 27-28, 2017 Oxford, UK; 19thInternational Conference onCellandGene Therapy ICCGT 2017, April 19-21, 2017, Singapore; International Society for BioProcess Technology 7thSpring Meeting Viral vectorsandvaccines, March 16-17, 2017, Washington, DC and 2ndAnnualGenome Editing&EngineeringConference, Feb 6-7 2017, San Diego, CA.

Cell and Gene Therapy products manufacturing focuses on various strategies like the manufacturing process must protect the product, patient, should focus on product characterization, process control, high throughput and parallel processing to achieve scale. The process/analytical development throughout clinical trials involve ongoing, iterative development of manufacturing process and characterization of profile and FDA expecting increasing control and characterization as clinical development progresses. Steps involved in individualized manufacturing and running in parallel for high throughput involves cell selection, expansion, activation, centrifugation and cryopreservation.

Related Conferences

Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; AnnualSummit onCell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA;2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA; 10thAustralasianGene TherapySociety Meeting (AGCTS), October 17-20, 2017, Sydney, Australia; XXV Congress of the European Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ESGCT), Berlin, Germany.

Track 9: Rare Diseases & Orphan drugs

Rare diseases are life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions, affecting no more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the European Community according to the Regulation (EC) N. 141/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council. It is estimated that between 6000 to 8000 distinct rare diseases affect up to 6% of the total EU population. Therefore, these conditions can be considered rare if taken individually but they affect a significant proportion of the European population when considered as a single group. Several initiatives have been taken at international, European and national level to tackle public health as well as research issues related to diagnosis, prevention, treatment and surveillance of these diseases. An Orphan drug can be defined as the one that is used to treat an orphan disease. An orphan disease in USA is defined as the one that affects fewer than 200000 individuals, but in Japan the number is 50,000 and in Australia is 2000. In past 20 years efforts have been made to encourage companies to develop orphan drugs. The Orphan Drug Act in the USA (1983) was succeeded by similar legislation in Japan (1985), Australia (1997), and the European Community (2000). The encouragement takes three forms: tax credits and research aids, simplification of marketing authorization procedures, and extended market exclusively.

Related Conferences

Annual Summit onCell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil;3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA;8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA;Annual conference of British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT), May 3-6, 2017, Cardiff, Wales, UK; International Society forCellular Therapy(ISCT) 23rdAnnual Meeting, May 10-13, 2017, London, UK; American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20thAnnual Meeting , May 14-19, 2017, Washington, DC; Gordon Research Conference:Viruses&Cells, May 17-19, 2017, Lucca, Italy and WorldAdvanced TherapiesandRegenerative MedicineCongress 2017, May 24-26, 2017, London, UK.

Stem cells can self renew themselves and differentiate or develop into more specialised cells. They are the foundation for every organ and tissue in our body. Due to this ability of the stem cells, they have tremendous promise to help us understand and treat a wide range of diseases, injuries and other health related problems. Bone marrow transplantation is the most widely used stem cell therapy , but some of the therapies are derived from umbilical cord blood are also in use today. Likewise, blood stem cells are used to treat diseases of blood, a therapy that has saved thousands of lives of children with leukemia. Some bone, skin and corneal (eye) injuries and diseases can be treated by grafting or implanting tissues and the healing process relies on stem cells with implanted tissue.Regenerative medicines aims to replace tissues or organs that have been damaged by disease, trauma, or congenital issues which is in contrast to the current clinical strategy that focuses primarily on treating the symptoms. These regenerative medicines have wide appropriateness in treating degenerative scatters including dermatology, cardio vascular, and neuro degenerative diseases. Cell treatment is the quickest developing fragment of regenerative drug and this undeveloped cell treatment is making up the biggest part of this business sector.

Related Conferences

3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017 in Orlando, Florida, USA; Annual Summit onCell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Spring Symposium of the Netherlands Society ofGene&Cell therapy(NVGCT), 17 March 2017, Lunteren, The Netherlands; British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT) Public Engagement 2017, March 27-28, 2017 Oxford, UK; 19thInternational Conference onCellandGene Therapy ICCGT 2017, April 19-21, 2017, Singapore; International Society for BioProcess Technology 7thSpring Meeting Viral vectorsandvaccines, March 16-17, 2017, Washington, DC and 2ndAnnualGenome Editing&EngineeringConference, Feb 6-7 2017, San Diego, CA.

Cancer is a process where the cells grow aberrantly and this growth of cancer cells results in damage of normal tissues, causing loss of function and often pain. The cancer therapeutic drugs are those drugs that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecules (molecular targets) that are involved in the growth, progression and spread of cancer. Moreover, gene therapy approaches may be designed to directly kill tumor cells using tumor killing viruses, or through the introduction of genes termed as suicide genes into the tumor cells. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved many cancer therapies in order to treat specific types of cancers. To develop targeted therapies it requires the identification of good targets that is, those targets that play a key role in cancer cell growth and survival. One way to identify potential targets is to compare the amounts of individual proteins in cancer cells with those present in normal cells. Gene silencing has also been designed to inhibit the expression of specific genes which are activated or over expressed in cancer cells and can drive tumor growth, blood vessel formation and allow resistance for chemotherapy.

Related Conferences

Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; Annual SummitSummit onCell Therapyand Molecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA;2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA; 10thAustralasianGene TherapySociety Meeting (AGCTS), October 17-20, 2017, Sydney, Australia; XXV Congress of the European Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ESGCT), Berlin, Germany.

Track 12:Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicineis a branch of medical imaging that involves the application of radioactive substances called radiotracers that are generally injected into the bloodstream, inhaled or swallowed. Theradiotracerthen travels through the area being examined and gives off energy in the form of gamma rays, which are detected by a special camera and a computer to create images of inside the body. It is used to diagnose or determine the severity of or treat different types of diseases like many types of cancers, heart disease, neurological disease, gastrointestinal disease, and other abnormalities inside the body. As nuclear medicine techniques are able to identify molecular activity within the body, they offer the capability to detect diseases in its very early stages as well as a patients immediate response to therapeutic interventions. There are two most common imaging methods in nuclear medicine, one isSingle Photon Emission Computed Tomographyor SPECT and the other is Positron Emission Tomography or PET scans.

Related Conferences

AnnualSummit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil;3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago , USA;8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA;Annual conference of British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT), May 3-6, 2017, Cardiff, Wales, UK; International Society forCellular Therapy(ISCT) 23rdAnnual Meeting, May 10-13, 2017, London, UK; American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20thAnnual Meeting , May 14-19, 2017, Washington, DC; Gordon Research Conference:Viruses&Cells, May 17-19, 2017, Lucca, Italy and WorldAdvanced TherapiesandRegenerative MedicineCongress 2017, May 24-26, 2017, London, UK.

Track 13: Advances in Cell Engineering, Imaging and Screening

In recent times, advancements in cell engineering, imaging and screening has reached a great height in the field of science & technology and also in the business world. It has attracted many scientists from academia and also established or emerging companies in the field to present their latest scientific achievements and exciting technological solutions through presentations in several sessions. This has helped in improving the scientific knowledge among the people, scientists, researchers and exhibitors from all over the world thus enhancing their scientific curiosity and providing robust solutions against technological issues.

Related Conferences

3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017 in Orlando, Florida, USA; Annual Summit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; 2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Spring Symposium of the Netherlands Society ofGene&Cell therapy(NVGCT), 17 March 2017, Lunteren, The Netherlands; British Society forGeneandCell Therapy(BSGCT) Public Engagement 2017, March 27-28, 2017 Oxford, UK; 19thInternational Conference onCellandGene Therapy ICCGT 2017, April 19-21, 2017, Singapore; International Society for BioProcess Technology 7thSpring Meeting Viral vectorsandvaccines, March 16-17, 2017, Washington, DC and 2ndAnnualGenome Editing&EngineeringConference, Feb 6-7 2017, San Diego, CA.

Track 14: Synthetic Biology and Genetic modifications of cells

Synthetic Biology is one of the emerging field of research that can be broadly described as the design and construction of novel artificial biological pathways, organisms or devices or the redesigning of existing natural biological systems. Genome editing with engineered nucleases is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is either inserted, replaced or deleted in the genome of an organism using engineered nucleases or molecular scissors. These nucleases hence create site specific double stranded breaks (DSBs) at desired locations in the genome. The induced double stranded breaks are repaired through non homologous end- joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR), thus resulting in targeted mutations (edits). Scientists now a days use various engineered nucleases in order to bring desired changes in the human genome.

Related Conferences

Annual Summit onCell Signalingand Cancer Therapy, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA; Annual SummitSummit onCell TherapyandMolecular Medicine, Sep 27-28, 2017, Chicago, USA;2nd WorldBiotechnologyCongress, Dec 4-5 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 3rd International Conference & Exhibition onTissue PreservationandBiobanking, Aug 23-24 2017, San Francisco, USA; 8thWorld Congress and Expo onCell&Stem CellResearch, March 20-22, 2017, Orlando, Florida, USA; 10thAustralasianGene TherapySociety Meeting (AGCTS), October 17-20, 2017, Sydney, Australia; XXV Congress of the European Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ESGCT), Berlin, Germany.

Biobanking 2016

Sensing the raising importance of Biobanks,Conference LLChosted the 2nd International Conference & Exhibition on Tissue Preservation and Biobanking(Biobanking-2016), duringSeptember 12-13, 2016inPhiladelphia, USAwith a theme Global Innovations in Tissue preservation and Biobanking Technologies. Benevolent response and active participations were received from the Editorial Board Members of Conference LLC Journals as well as from the Biobank project managers, Embryologists, Hematologists, Stem Cell researchers, Scientists, Doctors, Students and Leaders from the fields of Cell and Stem Cell Research, who made this event inspiringly successful.

TheBiobanking-2016 Conferencewas carried out through various sessions with discussions on the following thought provoking and cerebrating scientific tracks:

Human cancer biobank

Biorepository & Biospecimen

Disease based biobank

Cryopreservation Methods

Vitrification

Brain Banking

Biobank Ethics

Biobank in Microbiology

Next Generation Biobanking

Biobank in Genomics

Fertility biobanks

Germplasm Bank

Immune banking

Biobank Applications

Biobanking Informatics

Market Analysis in Biobanking

Tissue engineering

. Stem cell Biobanking

The Organizing Committee would like to thank the moderatorDr.Mary A Hall,UT health sciences, USAandDr. Elena Salvaterra,Air liquide Sanit Service, Italyfor their contribution which resulted in smooth functioning of the conference.

The conference was initiated and embarked with an opening ceremony followed by Keynote presentations, workshop and a series of lectures delivered by both Honorable Guests and members of the Keynote forum. The peerless people who promulgated the theme with their Keynote presentations were;

Kelvin GM Brockbank-Ice-free banking by vitrification of tissues(Tissue Testing Technologies LLC, USA)

Simone Chevalier- The Quebec procure prostate cancer biobank: A unique resource for comprehensive studies of the disease(McGill Urology Director of Research, Canada)

Stephen C Peiper-Biospecimen repository genomic annotations in the precision medicine era(Thomas Jefferson University, USA)

Fiorella Guadagni-Biobanks as a pivotal research infrastructure in precision medicine (San Raffaele Rome University, Italy)

Yoed Rabin-Mechanical stress and structural integrity in vitrification(Carnegie Mellon University, USA)

Mitchel C. Schiewe-Applying the KISS principle with vitrification: Safety and quality control concerns in assisted reproductive technologies(Ovagen Fertility, USA)

Various sessions were chaired and co-chaired by: Kelvin GM Brockbank (Tissue Testing Technologies LLC, USA);Simone Chevalier (McGill Urology Director of Research, Canada), USA; Charles W Wang, (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China);Yaffa Rubinstein (National Institute of Health, USA).

Conference Series LLC has taken the privilege of felicitating Biobanking-2016 Organizing Committee, Editorial Board Members and Keynote Speakers who supported for the success of this conference.

The esteemed guests, keynote speakers and researchers shared their innovative research and vast experience through their informative presentations at the podium ofBiobanking-2016.We are glad to inform that all accepted abstracts for the conference have been published inJournal of Tissue Science & Engineering: Open Accessas a special issue.

We are also obliged to various experts, company representatives and other eminent scientists who supported the conference by facilitating the discussion forums. We sincerely thank the Organizing Committee Members for their gracious presence, support, and assistance. With the unique feedback from the conference,Conference Series LLC would like to proudly announce the commencement of the 3rd International Conference & Exhibition on Tissue Preservation and Biobanking" to be organized duringAugust 23-24, 2017atSan Francisco, USA.

Mark your calendars for the upcoming Conference; we are hoping to see you soon!

For more details:http://biobanking.conferenceseries.com/

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Annual Summit on Cell Therapy and Molecular Medicine ...

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SAN DIEGO Abused orphan pup "Dwyane," who has severe disfigurements, is on the road to recovery after stem cell therapy by a Poway-based company.

The one-year-old puppy was reportedly kicked, beaten and forced to wear a wire muzzle before he was rescued in Tijuana.

Last month, he was taken to Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Sante Fe. Since then, the dog has undergone several procedures, including a hip surgery Tuesday.

Animal hospital officials said Dwaynes work isnt over yet, as he still needs major reconstruction to his elbow and additional facial surgeries to help him breathe easier.

There is no risk involved because we use the dog's own tissue to isolate the stem cell, said Dr. Jeffrey Schaffer with VetStem of Poway.

Today, we gave the injection of the stem cells in the hip and then a slow one through the vein," said Dr. Patricia Carter, chief veterinarian at Helen Woodward Animal Center. "Then we gave him something that made him unsleepy, but hes still recovering from the surgery two days ago.

Dwayne is a warrior and shows his love to those who have love to give.

He is adorable, sweet and with everything that is going on, he wants to give you kisses and love, Schaffer said.

Over $40,000 has been donated to Dwayne for medical costs from around the world, including Paris. He also has had plenty of people giving well wishes and dropping off toys at the animal hospital.

The animal center posts updates on Dwayne and other orphan pets on itswebsite.

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Abused pup receives cutting-edge stem cell therapy - fox5sandiego.com