Cell Therapy News articles from March 2003

Cell Therapy News archives from March 2003

BASIC SCIENCE: Molecule Links Nerve Cells.
March 1, 2003... UCSF (San Francisco, CA 94143, Tel: 415/476-9000, Website: ucsf.edu) researchers, led by Cornelia Bargman, have identified a molecule that directs neurons to form synapses with each other during an animal's early development. The molecule may...

Three-D Imaging Tracks Tumors.
March 1, 2003... Hoping to track cancer as it spreads cell-by-cell through the body, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (One Cyclotron Rd. Berkeley, CA 94720, Tel: 510/486-6467, Fax: 510/486-6457) researchers have developed a way to shape high-resolution...

Watching Chemical Activity Cells.
March 1, 2003... A collaborative effort of University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA Tel: 734/764-1817, Website: umich.edu) researchers will attempt to capture views of the chemical activity inside living cells in real time and 3-D. The three-year...

UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD Licensing Stem Cell Patents.
March 1, 2003... PharmaStem Therapeutics Inc. (69 Prospect Ave, Larchmont, NY 10538, Tel: 914/833-9227, Fax: 914/833-9227, Website: pharmastem.com) and Stembanc, Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio, Tel: 216)/529-8015, Website: Stembanc.com) have entered into an agreement...

Trial Employs Cord Blood Cells.
March 1, 2003... Gamida-Cell Ltd. (Tel: 011-972-55-365-220, Website: gamida- cell.com) is now enrolling patients in a Phase I clinical trial of StemEx, for the treatment of advanced stages of hematologic malignancies such as leukemia and lymphoma. The objective...

BLOOD: Monocytes Morph To Pluripotent Cells.
March 1, 2003... Stem cells needed for medical research and treatment may now be both plentiful and simple to produce, with a new technology developed at the Biochip Technology Center in Argonne National Laboratory (9700 S. Cass Ave, Argonne, IL 60439, Tel:...

NERVOUS SYSTEM: Hematopoietic Stem Cells Generate Neural Cells.
March 1, 2003... Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) taken from fetal human liver (a blood-forming organ) and grown in a suitable microenvironment are able to generate neural stem cells, and those cells can then differentiate to become astrocytes, according to a...

Thin Channels Aid Nerve Regeneration.
March 1, 2003... Using microscale channels cut in ultra-thin biodegradable polymers, Surya Mallapragada, a chemical engineering professor at Iowa State (Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel: 1-515/294-4111, Website: iastate.edu), is working to regrow nerve cells. The...

MUSCLE: Gene Causes Cell Differentiation.
March 1, 2003... Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (501St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, Tel: 901/495-3300, Website: www2. stjude.org) have discovered that an apoptosis-related protein also helps primitive muscle cells called myoblasts...

GROWTH AND DIFFERENTIATION FACTORS Thymosin Beta 4 Aids Wound Healing.
March 1, 2003... Thymosin Beta 4 (TB4), a molecule found in high concentrations in blood platelets, plays an important role in the repair and remodeling of tissue in diabetic and aged animals, according to findings published in the current issue of the Journal...

VACCINES: Phase III Trial of Provenge.
March 1, 2003... Jelle Kylstra, Senior Medical Director at Dendreon Corp. (291 North Bernardo Ave., Mountain View, CA., Tel: 415/964-6744, Fax: 415/964-7023, Website: dendreon.com), presented new data from recently completed clinical trials with Dendreon...

Lung Cancer Vaccine Data Encouraging.
March 1, 2003... Cell Genesys, Inc. (342 Lakeside Drive Foster City, CA 94404 Tel: 650/425-4400 Fax: 650/358-0803)has released updated data from the initial Phase I/II clinical trial of GVAX lung cancer vaccine, a patient-specific vaccine made directly from...

TISSUE ENGINEERING: Intestinal Membrane for Hernia Repair.
March 1, 2003... Surgisis IHM, from Cook Biotech, Inc. (P.O. Box 489, Bloomington, IN 47402-0489 USA, Tel: 812/339-2235, Website: cookbiotech.com), a cost-effective inguinal hernia matrix device specifically configured for use in reinforcing soft tissue during...

INSTRUMENTATION: Cytomics, Theranostics Boosted by Agreement.
March 1, 2003... A new agreement between Beckman Coulter (4300 Harbor Blvd., Fullerton, CA, Tel: 714/871-4848, Fax: 714/773-8283, Website:beckmancoulter.com) and Cell Signaling Technologies (Tel: 1-877/616-2355, Website: cellsignal.com) boosts the...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Dendreon to Acquire Corvas.
March 1, 2003... Dendreon (291 North Bernardo Ave., Mountain View, CA., Tel: 415/964-6744, Fax: 415/964-7023, Website: dendreon.com) and Corvas (3030 Science Park Road, San Diego, CA 92121, 619/455-9800, 619/455-7895, Web: corvas.com) jointly announced today...

Teva to Invest in Gamida-Cell Ltd.
March 1, 2003... Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (5 Basel Street, P.O. Box 3190, Petach Tikva 49131, Israel Tel: 003/926-7267)will invest $3 million in Gamida-Cell. (Tel: 011-972-55-365-220, Website: gamida- cell.com). Gamida-Cell has developed a technology...

Budget Increases for Life Sciences.
March 1, 2003... Well into the fiscal year, federal legislators have come up with a final budget for 2003 that contains healthy increases to the major government life science funding agencies. For the fiscal year that began last October 1, the National...

Biotech Continues Long Slippery Slide.
March 1, 2003... With the nation on the brink of war and the capital markets held hostage to the concerns surrounding the invasion and the aftermath, investors remained stand-offish in February, comments G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Co. (120 Montgomery...

Bankrupt Firm to Provide Collagen.
March 1, 2003... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Inamed Corporation's Pre-Market Approval supplement for CosmoDerm and CosmoPlast human collagen products. These new dermal fillers contain Advanced Tissue Sciences' (10933 North...

BioTransplant Enters Chapter 11.
March 1, 2003... BioTransplant (Building 75, Third Avenue, Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA 02120, Tel: 617/241-5200, Fax: 617/241-8780) has become the latest tissue-engineering firm to go under, following in the footsteps of Advanced Tissue Sciences and...

Cloning Patent Challenges Withdrawn.
March 1, 2003... Australian Patent Office has granted two patents for the fundamental nuclear transfer technology that was first invented at the Roslin Institute and is now used worldwide for the cloning of animals. Geron (230 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, CA...

CALENDAR.
March 1, 2003... April 5-9, 2003 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, Tel: 215/440-9300, E-mail@aacr.org April 27-29th, Development of Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines, Los Angeles, CA, International Association for Biologicals, Fax: +41 22...