Hematopoiesis News Volume 2.12 | Mar 29 2011

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    Justin.choi
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    Hematopoiesis News 2.12, March 29, 2011

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

    TOP STORY
    First Look at the Full Multiple Myeloma Genome Reveals New Insights, Discoveries
    Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma. [Press release from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute discussing online prepublication in Nature]

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    SCIENCE NEWS
    Mouse Cancer Genome Unveils Genetic Errors in Human Cancers
    By sequencing the genome of a mouse with acute promyelocytic leukemia, researchers have uncovered mutations that also drive cancer in humans. [Press release from Washington University in St. Louis discussing online prepublication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation]

    Prostate Cancer Spreads to Bones by Overtaking the Home of Blood Stem Cells
    Prostate cancer cells specifically target and eventually overrun the bone marrow niche. Once in the niche, the cancer cells stay dormant and when they become active again years later, that’s when tumors recur in the bone. [Press release from the University of Michigan discussing online prepublication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation]

    Stem Cells May Show Promise for People with Rapidly Progressing MS
    A long term study reports about the effectiveness of replacing bone marrow, purposely destroyed by chemotherapy, with autologous stem cell rescue for people with aggressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). [Press release from the American Academy of Neurology discussing online prepublication in Neurology]

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    CURRENT PUBLICATIONS (Ranked by Impact Factor of the Journal)
    LABORATORY RESEARCH

    Initial Genome Sequencing and Analysis of Multiple Myeloma
    Multiple myeloma is an incurable malignancy of plasma cells, and its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Here researchers report the massively parallel sequencing of 38 tumor genomes and their comparison to matched normal DNAs. [Nature]

    Mutant Nucleophosmin and Cooperating Pathways Drive Leukemia Initiation and Progression in Mice
    Researchers report that activation of a humanized Npm1c knock-in allele in mouse hematopoietic stem cells causes Hox gene overexpression, enhanced self renewal and expanded myelopoiesis. [Nat Genet]

    Sequencing a Mouse Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Genome Reveals Genetic Events Relevant for Disease Progression
    Whole genome sequencing of mouse cancer genomes can provide an unbiased and comprehensive approach for discovering functionally relevant mutations that are also present in human leukemias. [J Clin Invest]

    Human Prostate Cancer Metastases Target the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Niche to Establish Footholds in Mouse Bone Marrow
    Data provide what researchers believe to be the first evidence that the hematopoietic stem cell niche serves as a direct target for prostate cancer during dissemination and plays a central role in bone metastases. [J Clin Invest]

    Mechanism for Phosphatidylserine-Dependent Erythrophagocytosis in Mouse Liver
    The roles of stabilin-1 and staiblin-2 in hepatic sequestration of phosphatidylserine-exposed RBCs may represent a potential mechanism for the clearance of damaged RBCs by Kupffer cells and for the control of some pathologic conditions such as hemolytic anemia. [Blood]

    Genome-Wide Promoter DNA Methylation Dynamics of Human Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells During Differentiation and Aging
    Results provide detailed insight into the methylation dynamics during differentiation and suggest that epigenetic changes contribute to hematopoietic progenitor cell aging. [Blood]

    Generation of Red Blood Cells from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
    Researchers showed that fibroblast-derived transgenic human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) generated using lentivirus-based vectors and transgene-free hiPSCs generated using episomal vectors can be differentiated into red blood cells with an efficiency similar to that of H1 hESCs. [Stem Cells Dev]

    Rb and Nucleolin Antagonize in Controlling Human CD34 Gene Expression
    Researchers find that, in CD34-positive hematopoietic cells, Retinoblastoma protein (Rb) controls the human CD34 promoter region by antagonizing the CD34 promoter factor nucleolin to provide a mechanism that links expression of endogenous CD34 to cell cycle progression. [Cell Signal]

    CLINICAL RESEARCH

    Syndrome Complex of Bone Marrow Failure and Pulmonary Fibrosis Predicts Germline Defects in Telomerase
    Researchers examined whether the co-occurrence of bone marrow failure and pulmonary fibrosis in the same individual or family enriches for the presence of a telomerase mutation. [Blood]

    Long-Term Results of Stem Cell Transplantation for MS: A Single-Center Experience
    Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is not a therapy for the general population of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) but should be reserved for aggressive cases, still in the inflammatory phase of the disease, and for the malignant form, in which it can be life-saving. [Neurology]

    Mortality and Medical Morbidity Beyond 2 Years After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: Experience at a Single Institution
    Long-term follow-up data on patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the researchers’ institution between 1990 and 2007 were evaluated for mortality and morbidity beyond 2 years post-transplantation. [Int J Hematol]

    INDUSTRY NEWS
    Protea and MBRCC Announce Cancer Research Collaboration
    Protea Biosciences announced that the company has begun a cancer research collaboration with the West Virginia University Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center (MBCRCC). The research will be conducted to help understand why some leukemia cancer cells become resistant to treatment and unresponsive to chemotherapy. [Protea Biosciences, Inc. Press Release]

    Stem Cell Agencies for California and India Sign Agreement to Fund Collaborative Research Projects That Can Accelerate Regenerative Medicine Toward Therapies
    The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines ways the two agencies can jointly fund collaborative research projects that bring together top stem cell scientists in California and top stem cell scientists in India. [California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Press Release]

    CIRM Signs Agreement with France – As the French Debate the Ethics of Stem Cell Science
    The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has signed a collaborative agreement on stem cell research with the French Government’s Agence Nationale de la Recherche. [California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Press Release]

    Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Awarded $5.7 Million by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas
    Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the Company received notice of a $5.7 million company commercialization award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The award will fund personnel, manufacturing, and clinical testing of Bellicum’s CaspaCIDe™ therapy. [Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Press Release]

    Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board Approves 2011 Accelerator Program Loans for Early-Stage Companies
    The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced the awarding of $3.75 million in loans to five early-stage life sciences companies. [Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Press Release]

    KaloBios Initiates Phase I Clinical Trial of KB004 in EphA3-Expressing Hematologic Malignancies
    KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, announced treatment of the first patient in a Phase I clinical trial of KB004, its first-in-class Humaneered™ monoclonal antibody, in EphA3-expressing hematologic malignancies. [KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Press Release]

    Cellerant Therapeutics Initiates a Phase I/II Clinical Trial of CLT-008 for Chemotherapy Induced Neutropenia in Acute Leukemia Patients
    Cellerant Therapeutics Inc. announced the initiation of a Phase I/II clinical trial of CLT-008 in patients receiving intensive post-remission chemotherapy for high-risk leukemia or myelodysplasia. [Cellerant Therapeutics Inc. Press Release]

    Two New Basic Science Departments Established
    The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has created two new basic science departments – the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology. [University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Press Release]

    Cancer Research and the $90 Billion Metaphor
    Although the “War on Cancer” metaphor has been a target for skeptics, who note that cancer incidence and mortality rates haven’t changed fundamentally, if one sets aside the rhetoric, it’s evident that the cancer campaign has changed therapy and saved lives, as demonstrated in this infographic Science has created of indicators for the seven deadliest cancers. [Science]

    POLICY NEWS

    National Institutes of Health (United States)

    Food and Drug Administration (United States)
     
    Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (United States)
     
    European Medicines Agency (European Union)

    Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (United Kingdom)

    Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)

    EVENTS
    NEW Cancer Proteomics 2011 – Systems Biology, Developmental Models & Data Integration
    June 20-23, 2011
    Dublin, Ireland

    NEW 21st Asia Pacific Cancer Conference 2011
    November 10-12, 2011
    Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    NEW Stem Cell Programming & Reprogramming
    December 8-11, 2011
    Lisbon, Portugal

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

    JOB OPPORTUNITIES
    Technologist – Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (STEMCELL Technologies)

    Supervisor Cell Therapy Laboratory – Cord Blood Bank (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)

    Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Bone and Hematopoiesis (New York University)

    Research Associate (University of Massachusetts Medical School)

    Post-Doctoral Research Fellows – Transcriptional Control in Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Leukemia (Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal) 

    Research Technologist – Pharmaceutical Sciences (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital)

    Associate or Assistant Researcher (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

    Postdoctoral Fellow or Research Associate (City University of New York)

    Postdoctoral Fellow (New Jersey Medical School)

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