ESC & iPSC News Volume 5.21 | Jun 2 2010

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    ESC & iPSC News 5.21, June 2, 2010.
    In this issue:  Science News |  Current Publications |  Industry News |  Policy News |  Events
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    TOP STORY

    New Technique Transforms iPS Cells Into Natural Tumor Killers
    A technique for producing natural killer T cells, known for their role in suppressing tumor growth, has been successfully demonstrated for the first time using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. [Press release from RIKEN discussing online prepublication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation]

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    *Sun et al., PNAS, September 2009.
    *Chan et al., Nature Biotechnology, October 2009.
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    SCIENCE NEWS

    Breakthrough in Stem Cell Culturing
    A research team has produced human stem cells entirely without the use of other cells or substances from animals. Instead they are cultured on a matrix of a single human protein: laminin-511. [Press release from the Karolinska Institutet discussing online prepublication in Nature Biotechnology]

    New Culture Dish Could Advance Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research
    Researchers built a new stem cell growth matrix that is completely synthetic and doesn’t contaminate the stem cells with foreign substances that could interfere with their normal function. [Press release from the University of Michigan discussing online prepublication in Nature Biotechnology]

    Retina Created from Human Stem Cells
    Scientists have created an eight-layer, early-stage retina from human embryonic stem cells, the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells. [Press release from the University of California, Irvine discussing online prepublication in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods]

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    CURRENT PUBLICATIONS (Ranked by Impact Factor of the Journal)

    Long-Term Self-Renewal of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells on Human Recombinant Laminin-511
    Researchers describe a system for culturing human embryonic stem (hES) cells and induced pluripotent stem cells on a recombinant form of human laminin-511, a component of the natural hES cell niche. [Nat Biotechnol]

    Synthetic Polymer Coatings for Long-Term Growth of Human Embryonic Stem Cells
    Researchers report a fully defined synthetic polymer coating, poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide], which sustains long-term human embryonic stem cell growth in several different culture media, including commercially available defined media. [Nat Biotechnol]

    Synthetic Peptide-Acrylate Surfaces for Long-Term Self-Renewal and Cardiomyocyte Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells
    Researchers describe synthetic peptide-acrylate surfaces that support self-renewal of human embryonic stem cells in chemically defined, xeno-free medium. [Nat Biotechnol]

    Murine Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Can Be Derived from and Differentiate into Natural Killer T Cells
    The present studies demonstrate the feasibility of expanding functionally competent natural killer T (NKT) cells via an induced pluripotent stem cell phase, an approach that may be adapted for NKT cell-targeted therapy in humans. [J Clin Invest]

    TIF1Beta Regulates the Pluripotency of Embryonic Stem Cells in a Phosphorylation-Dependent Manner
    Results suggest that transcriptional intermediary factor-1 beta (TIF1beta) provides a phosphorylation-dependent, bidirectional platform for specific transcriptional factors and chromatin remodeling enzymes that regulate the cell differentiation process and the pluripotency of stem cells. [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A]

    Distinct Functions of BMP4 During Different Stages of Mouse ES Cell Neural Commitment
    Researchers conclude that bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling has distinct functions during different stages of embryonic stem (ES) cell neural commitment. [Development]

    Repair of Full-Thickness Tendon Injury Using Connective Tissue Progenitors Efficiently Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Fetal Tissues
    Researchers describe the efficient derivation of connective tissue progenitors from human embryonic stem cell lines and fetal tissues. [Tissue Eng Part A]

    Individual Cell Movement, Asymmetric Colony Expansion, Rho-Associated Kinase, and E-Cadherin Impact the Clonogenicity of Human Embryonic Stem Cells
    This work reveals that individual cell movement, asymmetric colony expansion, Rho-associated kinase, and E-cadherin all work together to influence human embryonic stem cell (hESC) clonogenicity, and provides additional guidance for improvement of clonogenic assays in the analysis of hESC self-renewal. [Biophys J]

    Expanding the Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Proteome: Combining Three Proteomic Approaches
    The current study used three different proteomic strategies, which differed by their extent of intact protein separation, to examine the proteome of a pluripotent mouse embryonic stem cell line, R1. [Proteomics]

    FGF-2 Modulates Wnt Signaling in Undifferentiated hESC and iPS Cells Through Activated PI3-K/GSK3Beta Signaling
    Results suggest that fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) mediated phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-K) signaling may have a direct role in modulating the downstream of Wnt pathway to maintain undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). [J Cell Physiol]

    Three-Dimensional Early Retinal Progenitor 3D Tissue Constructs Derived From Human Embryonic Stem Cells
    This study shows for the first time that 3D early retinal progenitor tissue constructs can be derived from human embryonic stem cells. [J Neurosci Methods]



    INDUSTRY NEWS

    The Pontifical Council for Culture and NeoStem Partner to Advance Adult Stem Cell Research
    Reverend Tomasz Trafny of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture announced what he characterized as the Vatican’s first-ever contractual collaboration with an outside commercial venture to advance stem cell research – adult stem cell research. [NeoStem, Inc. Press Release]

    BioTime Adds Five New Stem Cell Lines to Its Product Portfolio
    BioTime, Inc. announced that the Company will be offering for sale five new human stem cell lines for research use only. [Yahoo! Finance]

    European Consortium Awards $29.5 Million for 16 Projects Employing Systems Biology
    ERASYSBIO+ has agreed to fund systems biology projects involving a total 85 research groups from 14 countries. [GenomeWeb Daily News]

    DFG Approves 12 New Collaborative Research Centers
    The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has approved the establishment of twelve new Collaborative Research Centers. [Dutch Research Foundation Press Release]



    POLICY NEWS

    Embryo Research Bill
    House Bill No. 5131 is a bill to amend four sections of the 1978 Public Act 368, “Public health code”. It also proposes to add two additional sections. [House of Representatives, United States]

    Embryos Are Not Human Beings, Rules Court
    The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that embryos do not have the same legal status as people, setting a legal precedent allowing the use of those left over from fertility treatment for research purposes. [The Constitutional Court of Korea, Republic of Korea]

    Third Time’s a Charm for COMPETES Bill
    By a vote of 262 to 150, legislators authorized $84 billion for research, education, and innovation programs over the next 5 years at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and two Department of Commerce agencies—NOAA and NIST under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (HR 5116). [House of Representatives, United States]

    Democrats: FDA Should Be Able to Recall Drugs
    House Democrats repeatedly called for federal regulators to be given the authority to recall drugs.
    Pending legislation would grant that power to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for food, but not for drugs. [House of Representatives, United States]

    Congress Considers Synthetic Biology Risks, Benefits
    Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the government is moving quickly to bring synthetic biology under review by two existing panels that have done a good job of monitoring cutting-edge research in the past. [U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, United States]

    Last Hurrah from National Academies Stem Cell Committee
    Even though the National Institutes of Health 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]

    NIH Set to Tighten Financial Rules for Researchers
    After a wave of financial scandals over the past few years involving biomedical researchers, the U.S. 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]

    Request for Information (RFI) on the NIH Plan to Develop the Genetic Testing Registry (NOT-OD-10-101) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

    Administrative Supplements to Advance Special Translational Research Acceleration Projects on Immune Response Modifiers Currently Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) (NOT-CA-10-025) [National Institutes of Health, United States]



    EVENTS

    8th International Conference on Cell and Stem Cell Engineering (ICCE2010)
    June 11-12, 2010
    Dublin, Ireland


    Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) – European Union 2010
    June 13-17, 2010
    Galway, Ireland


    Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Scientific Symposium
    June 14, 2010
    Los Angeles, United States


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

    United Kingdom National Stem Cell Network (UKNSCN) 3rd Annual Scientific Conference
    July 12-14, 2010
    Nottingham, United Kingdom


    2nd International Conference on Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (ICCMB2)
    August 2-4, 2010
    Singapore


    Select Biosciences 3rd Annual Stem Cells Europe Conference
    August 24-25, 2010
    Edinburgh, Scotland

    Select Biosciences Inaugural Cellular Therapy Summit

    August 24-25, 2010
    Edinburgh, Scotland


    International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) – Europe 2nd Regional Meeting
    September 11-14, 2010
    Belgirate, Italy


    Stem Cells USA & Regenerative Medicine Congress 2010
    September 13-15, 2010
    Philadelphia, United States


    Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) – Asia Pacific 2010
    September 15-17, 2010
    Sydney, Australia

    5th World Congress on Preventive & Regenerative Medicine (WCRM) 2010
    October 5-7, 2010
    Hannover, Germany


    Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium Leipzig 2010
    October 29-30, 2010
    Leipzig, Germany


    Select Biosciences 2nd International Forum on Stem Cells
    November 12-13, 2010
    Tianjin, China


    Stem Cell Network 10th Annual Scientific Meeting
    November 22-24, 2010
    Calgary, Canada

    Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) – North America 2010 Annual Conference
    December 5-8, 2010
    Orlando, United States


    Stem Cells World Congress
    January 24-25, 2011
    San Diego, United States


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


     

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