Cell Therapy News articles from February 2003

Cell Therapy News archives from February 2003

BASIC SCIENCE: Oxygen Deprivation Promotes Chondrocytes.
February 1, 2003... Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC 27710; Tel: 919/684- 7755, Fax: 919/684-7158; Website: www.civm.mc.duke.edu) researchers led by Farshid Guilak have demonstrated that the level of oxygen present is a key switch in stimulating the stem...

Hemangioblast Genes Control Angiogenesis.
February 1, 2003... A team of scientists from the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S; Tel: 416/978-2011; Website: www.utoronto.ca) and Mount Sinai Hospital, led by Janet Rossant, has identified two genes whose combined expression drives the...

Six3 Gene Key to Brain Development.
February 1, 2003... Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (501St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105; Tel: 901/495-3300; Website: www2.stjude.org) have discovered a critical, early step in the growing vertebrate embryo that is required for the proper...

RNAi Used to Set Gene Activity.
February 1, 2003... Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (P.O. Box 100, 1 Bungtown Rd., Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724; Tel: 516/367-8397; Website: www.cshl.org), led by Greg Hannon and Scott Lowe, have shown that RNAi can be used to set the level of gene...

Pluripotent Stem Cells Found in the Nose.
February 1, 2003... According to a report in The Age (Website: www.theage.com), Australian scientists have found adult stem cells in the nose. A team of Queensland researchers, led by Wayne Murrell, predicts that nasal stem cells could be used to grow organs for...

EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS: ES Cells Differentiate to Blood-Forming Cells.
February 1, 2003... Geron Corp. (230 Constitution Dr., Menlo Park, CA 94025; Tel: 650/473-7700, Fax: 650/473-7701; Website: www.geron.com) has announced research data showing that hESCs can be used to produce hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells at efficiencies...

IMMUNE SYSTEM: T-Cells Taught to Kill Cancer Cells.
February 1, 2003... Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC, 1275 York Ave., New York, NY 10021; Tel: 212/639-2000; Website: www.mskcc.org), led by Michel Sadelain, genetically engineered an antigen receptor, introduced it into cultured human T...

Bone Marrow Cells Become Brain Cells.
February 1, 2003... A new study by Eva Mezey and colleagues at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS; Website: www.ninds.nih.gov) suggests that some cells from bone marrow can enter the human brain and generate new neurons and other...

EYE: Conjunctival Transplant Saves Corneas.
February 1, 2003... According to an ABC News report, scientists from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI, 11 Third Hospital Ave., Singapore 168751, Republic of Singapore; Fax: 65-2277290, or 65-3231903; Website: www.seri.com.sg) have successfully performed...

HEART: Human Trials for Muscle Cell Implants.
February 1, 2003... An international experiment to rebuild failing hearts using stem cell implants is under way. The trial will enroll up to 300 patients in as many as 30 medical centers in the United States and Europe. The idea is to strengthen failing heart...

PANCREAS: Pax4 Expression Promotes Differentiation.
February 1, 2003... DeveloGen AG (Rudolf-Wissell-Str. 28, 37079 Goettingen, Germany; Tel: +49 (0) 551-505 58 500, Fax: +49 (0) 551-505 58 586; Website: www.develogen.com) has announced the publication of a diabetes study by DeveloGen collaborators in the...

TISSUE ENGINEERING: Pivotal Trial of Orcel Reviewed.
February 1, 2003... Ortec International, Inc. (3690 Broadway, New York, NY; Tel: 212/740-6999, Fax: 212/740-6963; Website: www.ortec.com) has released the results of a preliminary review of the first group of patients to complete the 12-week treatment phase of its...

Printing 3-D Organs.
February 1, 2003... According to a report in New Scientist, 3-D tubes of living tissue have been printed using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions of cells instead of ink. The study is a preliminary step toward printing complex tissues or even entire...

Meat Grown in a Petrie Dish.
February 1, 2003... Do you like a nice grilled steak, but can't stand the thought of brutalizing animals? Help is on the way. According to New Scientist, a NASA-funded team led by Morris Benjaminson, at Touro College (27-33 West 23 St., New York, NY 10010;...

Bio-Physicist Builds Tubular Organs.
February 1, 2003... Gabor Forgac, a biological physicist at the University of Missouri, Columbia (Columbia, MO 65211; Tel: 573/882-2121; Website: www.missouri.edu) and several researchers, including medical doctors, cell and developmental biologists, and computer...

TRANSPLANTATION: Double Knock-Out Cloned Pig Created.
February 1, 2003... At the annual meeting of the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS) held recently, Randall Prather, professor of reproductive biotechnology at the University of Missouri-Columbia (Columbia, MO 65211; Tel: 573/882-2121; Website:...

Making Bone Marrow Transplants Safer.
February 1, 2003... Research at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center (5253 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390; Tel: 214/648-3111; Website: www3.utsouthwestern.edu) led by Ellen Vitetta, director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center, and Robert...

VACCINES: Assay for Vaccine Efficacy Developed.
February 1, 2003... Researchers at Dendreon Corp. (291 North Bernardo Ave., Mountain View, CA; Tel: 415/964-6744, Fax: 415/964-7023; Website: www.dendreon.com) have developed an assay that enables the use of animal models to characterize the company's therapeutic...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Geron Cuts Work Force, Reorganizes.
February 1, 2003... Geron Corp. (230 Constitution Dr., Menlo Park, CA 94025; Tel: 650/473-7700, Fax: 650/473-7701; Website: www.geron.com) announces that it is reorganizing in order to concentrate its resources on the continued development of its lead anticancer...

Transition Acquires Stem Cell Therapeutics.
February 1, 2003... Transition Therapeutics, Inc. (415 Yonge St., Suite 1103, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2E7; Tel: 416-260-7770, Fax: 416/260-2886; Website: www.transitiontherapeutics.com) has completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity securities...

Stem Cell Summit Meeting Held.
February 1, 2003... According to a report in BioWorld International, representatives from nine leading research funding bodies from around the world met recently in London to agree to an international program of collaborative research in stem cells. The meeting...

CALENDAR.
February 1, 2003... March 10-11, 2003. Life Sciences CEO and Investor Forum, Seattle, WA. Contact: Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA); Tel: 206/405-3345; Email: pamlove@washbio.org March 17-20, 2003. Engineering Tissue Growth:...