Cord Blood News Volume 2.20 | May 27 2010

May 12, 2022

Cord Blood News 2.20, May 27, 2010.

In this issue: Science News | Current Publications | Industry News | Policy News | Events

Lyophilized Heparin Preserves Cord Blood Stem Cells Better Than Commonly-Used Anticoagulant, Citrate Phosphate Dextrose
Lyophilized heparin, a proprietary anticoagulant developed specifically for cord blood collection, demonstrated a better ability to preserve the number of viable cells over a longer period of time than a commonly-used anticoagulant, citrate phosphate dextrose. [Press release from the Cord Blood Registry discussing research presented at the International Society for Cellular Therapy Annual Meeting]

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SCIENCE NEWS

Early Clamping May Interrupt Humankind’s First “Natural Stem Cell Transplant,” Researchers Report
Delaying clamping the umbilical cord for a slightly longer period of time allows more umbilical cord blood to transfer from mother to infant and, with that critical period extended, many good physiological “gifts” are transferred through “nature’s first stem cell transplant” occurring at birth. [Press release from the University of South Florida discussing research published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine]

CURRENT PUBLICATIONS (Ranked by Impact Factor of the Journal)

Clearance of CMV Viremia and Survival After Double Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Adults Depends on Reconstitution of Thymopoiesis
Using cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific immunity as a paradigm, researchers evaluated the status, mechanism, and clinical implications of immune reconstitution in adults with hematologic malignancies undergoing unrelated double unit cord blood transplantation. [Blood]

Regulatory Functions of TRAIL in Hematopoietic Progenitors: Human Umbilical Cord Blood and Murine Bone Marrow Transplantation
It is concluded that TRAIL does not trigger apoptosis in hematopoietic progenitors, and upregulation of its cognate receptors under stress conditions mediates tropic signaling that supports recovery from hypoplasia. [Leukemia]

Enhanced Long-Term Transduction and Multilineage Engraftment of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells Transduced with Tyrosine-Modified rAAV2
Here, researchers report that transduction of human cord blood CD34+ stem cells by tyrosine-modified recombinant AAV (rAAV2) is significantly enhanced both in vitro and in vivo. [Hum Gene Ther]

Cord Lining Progenitor Cells: Potential In Vitro Adipogenesis Model
Researchers sought to investigate the effect of glucose and insulin concentrations on differentiation of umbilical cord lining progenitor cells to adipocyte-like cells. [Int J Obes]

Single-Unit Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation from Unrelated Donors in Adult Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
The results show that umbilical cord blood transplantation from unrelated donors can be a curative treatment for a substantial number of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. [Biol Blood Marrow Transplant]

High Incidence of HHV6-Associated Encephalitis/Myelitis Following a Second Unrelated Cord Blood Transplantation
Human herpes virus (HHV)6-associated encephalitis/myelitis was documented in 8 of 51 unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT) recipients (15.7%) and 5 of 177 recipients (2.8%) transplanted with bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells, indicating a higher incidence of this complication occurring in UCBT recipients (p=0.0005). [Biol Blood Marrow Transplant]

A Large Number of Mature and Functional Dendritic Cells Can Be Efficiently Generated from Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mononuclear Cells by a Simple Two-Step Culture Method
Researchers show that dendritic cells can be generated with equal efficiency from the mononuclear cells as from CD34+ cells of frozen cord blood units. [Transfusion]

Optimization of the Culturing Conditions of Human Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells Under Xeno-Free Conditions Applying a Transcriptomic Approach
Although endothelial colony-forming cells maintain their endothelial characteristics during serum-free culturing, they could not be expanded. [Genes Cells]

INDUSTRY NEWS

Cord Blood America Announces Lower Priced Program for Umbilical Cord Blood Storage; Second Quarter Will Be Best Ever for Revenues from Storage
Cord Blood America, Inc. announced its stem cell processing and storage subsidiary, CorCell, is launching “Afford-A-Cord,” which reduces the initial cost of storing umbilical cord blood stem cells from $2075 to $495 plus medical courier service. [Cord Blood America, Inc. Press Release]

Vast Majority of Ob-Gyn Providers and Staff Support Patient Use of Unique Online Cord Blood Education Program
Survey data shows that more than 90 percent of obstetric providers and staff who reviewed a unique online education program would advise their patients to complete the program to become better informed about cord blood stem cells. [Press release from the Cord Blood Registry discussing research presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical Meeting]

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Wins $2.45 Million Grant to Support Stem Cell Research
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and principal investigator Glenn Monastersky have been awarded a four-year $2.45 million grant from the New York Stem Cell Science Program of the Empire State Stem Cell Board. [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Press Release]

HHMI Awards $79 Million for Science Education to Research Universities, Top Scientists
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced new grants totaling $79 million that will help universities strengthen undergraduate and precollege science education nationwide. [Howard Hughes Medical Institute Press Release]

Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission Announces 42 Projects for Funding
The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission has completed its evaluation of the 141 applications in response to its three official Requests for Applications during the FY 2010 funding cycle. [Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission Press Release]

Pfizer to Cut 6,000 Jobs, Close Eight Plants
Pfizer Inc. plans to eliminate 6,000 manufacturing jobs over the next 18 months to five years as it closes eight plants and reduces operations at six others. [St. Louis Business Journal]

POLICY NEWS

Government Unveils $1 Billion Biomedical Tax Credit
The Obama administration is offering $1 billion in seed money to small research firms in the hunt for promising medical breakthroughs. [Obama Administration, United States]

Obama Orders Review of Synthetic Biology
President Obama has asked his bioethics commission to study the implications of research describing the creation of a synthetic genome. [Obama Administration, United States]

NIH Set to Tighten Financial Rules for Researchers
After a wave of financial scandals over the past few years involving biomedical researchers, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposed far-reaching changes that would lead to tighter oversight of agency-funded extramural investigators and their institutions. [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Last Hurrah from National Academies Stem Cell Committee
Even though the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued stem cell guidelines last year, there’s still a need for guidelines for research that remains off-limits for U.S. government-funded labs. [National Academies’ National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, United States]

Dealing with Disputes over Regulation of Medicines – The Regulation of Medicines Review Panel
A new area on the MHRA website has been launched which is dedicated specifically to the Regulation of Medicines Review Panel. [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, United Kingdom]

$2.4 Million Boost for Biotechnology Research with India
Top scientists will receive funding for cutting-edge research into everything from bioenergy and biofuels to vaccines and medical diagnostics as part of a joint multi-million dollar program with India. [Indo-Australian Biotechnology Fund, Australia]

Notice of Intent to Publish a New Funding Opportunity that will Reconfigure and Consolidate The Millennium Promise Awards: Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases Research Training Program (NCoD) (NOT-TW-10-457) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

EVENTS

Stem Cell Investor & Executive Networking Conference Event (S.C.I.E.N.C.E.)
June 1, 2010
New York, United States

8th Annual International Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Symposium
June 3-5, 2010
San Francisco, United States

International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 8th Annual Meeting
June 16-19, 2010
San Francisco, United States

Select Biosciences World Biobanking Summit
August 24-25, 2010
Edinburgh, Scotland

International Society for Hematology and Stem Cells (ISEH) 2010 Meeting
September 15-18, 2010
Melbourne, Australia

AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) Annual Meeting & Cellular Therapy and Transfusion Medicine Expo (CTTXPO) 2010
October 9-12, 2010
Baltimore, United States

52nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition
December 4-7, 2010
Orlando, United States

Visit our events page to stay up to date with the latest events in the cell, gene and immunotherapy community.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Senior Scientist – Magnetic Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies)