Cord Blood News Volume 10.42 | Oct 25 2018

TOP STORY

Long Non-Coding RNA-Dependent Mechanism to Regulate Heme Biosynthesis and Erythrocyte Development

The authors elucidated a long non-coding RNA (UCA1)-mediated mechanism that regulated heme metabolism in human erythroid cells. They discovered that UCA1 expression was dynamically regulated during human erythroid maturation, with a maximal expression in proerythroblasts. UCA1 depletion predominantly impaired heme biosynthesis and arrested erythroid differentiation at the proerythroblast stage. [Nat Commun] Full Article

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Plasma Derived from Human Umbilical Cord Blood: Potential Cell‐Additive or Cell‐Substitute Therapeutic for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Researchers showed significantly low concentrations of pro‐inflammatory cytokines and elevated chemokine IL‐8 in cord blood plasma (CBP). Significantly higher levels of VEGF, G‐CSF, EGF and FGF‐basic growth factors were determined in CBP vs. adult blood plasma/sera. Autologous CBP media supplements significantly increased mononuclear cells from human umbilical cord blood viability and decreased apoptotic cell activity. [J Cell Mol Med] Full Article

Pancreatic Endocrine‐Like Cells Differentiated from Human Umbilical Cords Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells Using Small Molecules

Scientists demonstrated that epigenetic modification improved the in vitro differentiation of Wharton’s jelly MSCs into pancreatic endocrine‐like cells. [J Cell Physiol] Abstract

Therapeutic Effects of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Sprague Dawley Rats with Percutaneous Exposure to Sulfur Mustard

Because MSCs have been used to experimentally and clinically treat acute radiation syndrome, in this study, MSCs were intravenously injected into rats after percutaneous sulfur mustard exposure. The authors examined sternum and spleen samples by histopathological and immunohistochemical methods to observe pathological changes. [Stem Cells Dev] Abstract

The Healing Effects of Conditioned Medium Derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Radiation-Induced Skin Wounds in Rats

Scientists investigated whether a Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived conditioned medium (WJ-MSC-CM) could be used to treat radiation-induced skin wounds in rats using a radiation-induced cutaneous injury model. They examined MSC-CM therapy in the recovery of radiation-induced skin wounds in vitro and in vivo. [Cell Transplant] Full Article

Cytokines in Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Cellular Product: A Mechanistic Insight into Bone Repair

Investigators found that umbilical cord blood-derived cellular allograft product (UCBp)-conditioned media (CM) elevated proliferation and migration rates of MSCs and bone marrow stromal cells. Moreover, UCBp-CM induced secretion of VEGF-A and osteoprotegerin, which promoted angiogenesis of endothelial cells and positively influenced the osteogenic differentiation of MSCs, respectively. [Regen Med] Full Article | Press Release | Graphical Abstract

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Mesenchymal Stem Cells Therapy in Stroke

By conducting a systematic review of both pre-clinical and clinical studies on MSCs therapy in stroke, scientists assessed the quality of current evidence and identified several issues and gaps in translating animal studies to human trials. [Cell Transplant] Full Article

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Cellect Announces a Major Technological Breakthrough for Industrialization of Apotainer^™ Stem Cell Product Line

Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. announced that it has successfully developed for industrialization its first in kind new technology as an integral part of Cellect’s ApoTainer^™. [Cellect Biotechnology Ltd.] Press Release

FDA Grants Priority Review for Ruxolitinib (Jakafi^®) as a Treatment for Patients with Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease

Incyte Corporation announced that the FDA has accepted for Priority Review its supplemental New Drug Application for ruxolitinib for the treatment of patients with acute graft-versus-host-disease who have had an inadequate response to corticosteroids. [Incyte Corporation] Press Release

New Head of Indian Research Giant to Tackle Funding Issues and Red Tape

One of India’s largest and oldest research and development organizations has a new leader. Shekhar Mande, a structural biologist best known for his work on proteins, starts this month as director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. [Nature News] Editorial

Hard Brexit Could Cripple UK Science, Say Nobel Prizewinners

A coalition of Nobel laureates has said a hard Brexit could cripple UK science, in a letter to Theresa May and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker. The letter, signed by 29 Nobel prizewinners and six Fields medalists, says the UK “must now strive to ensure that as little harm as possible is done to research”. [The Guardian] Editorial

Numerous Life Scientists Seek Election to State Legislatures

In local races across the country, researchers are running on platforms of bringing more evidence-based decision-making into state governments. [The Scientist] Editorial

China Hides Identities of Top Scientific Recruits Amidst Growing US Scrutiny

China’s flagship science talent recruitment program, the Thousand Talents Plan, has gone underground amidst intensifying scrutiny by United States government agencies for China’s suspected role in the theft of US technologies and intellectual property. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW International Conference on Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
May 17-19, 2019
Berlin, Germany

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.

NEW Research Scientist – Hematological Malignancies (MD Anderson Cancer Center)

Research Fellow – Stem Cell Biology & Engineering (New York Blood Center)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Blood Development & Disease (University of Washington)

Senior Research Assistant – Stem Cell Transplantation (MD Anderson Cancer Center)

Postdoctoral Associate – Hematopoiesis and Leukemia (The Jackson Laboratory)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Translational Leukemia (Lund University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Myelodysplasia and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (UNSW)

Professorship – Somatic Gene Therapy (University of Zurich)

Postdoctoral and Research Associate Positions – Chromatin Remodeling Proteins in Normal Stem Cell & Cancer Biology (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Epigenetics of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Development and Disorders (Nationwide Children’s Hospital)

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