Mesenchymal Cell News Volume 2.10 | Mar 16 2010

TOP STORY

University of Michigan Scientists Identify Reservoirs Where HIV-Infected Cells Can Lie in Wait
Using tissue samples, University of Michigan researchers detected HIV genomes in bone marrow isolated from people effectively treated with antiviral drugs for more than six months. [Press release from the University of Michigan discussing the online prepublication in Nature Medicine]

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SCIENCE NEWS

Researchers Characterize Stem Cell Function
Researchers are the first to fully characterize a special type of stem cell, endothelial progenitor cells that exist in circulating blood, to see if they can behave as endothelial cells in the body when cultured on a bioengineered surface. [Press release from Northwestern University discussing the online prepublication in Stem Cells]

New Method to Grow Arteries Could Lead to “Biological Bypass” for Heart Disease
A new method of growing arteries could lead to a “biological bypass” – a non-invasive way to treat coronary artery disease. [Press release from the Yale School of Medicine discussing the online prepublication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation]

Roving ‘Sonic Hedgehog’ Gene May Change Scientists’ Understanding of Limb Growth
Sonic hedgehog, a gene that plays a crucial rule in the positioning and growth of limbs, fingers and toes, has been confirmed in an unexpected place in the embryos of developing mice – the layer of cells that creates the skin. [Press release from the University of Florida discussing the online prepublication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA]

Faster Healing for Severe Fractures
A new surgical procedure can repair severe bone injuries and defects more quickly and simply than current methods, which include bone-grafting operations and lengthening procedures that involve inserting pins through the skin to pull bones together. [Technology Review by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press Release]

New Way Found to Mend Traumatic Bone Loss
Two Cleveland researchers say they’ve developed a method of using natural or artificial sheaths to mend traumatic bone loss using the body’s own stem cells. [United Press International Press Release]

BioMimetic Therapeutics Presents Promising Pre-Clinical Sports Medicine Data at the 2010 Orthopedic Research Society Meeting
The Company’s sports medicine team presented results of two pre-clinical studies demonstrating that recombinant human platelet derived growth factor (rhPDGF-BB), in combination with tissue specific matrix materials, promotes healing in tendon-tendon and tendon-bone injuries. In addition, in vitro data demonstrating rhPDGF-BB’s ability to stimulate tenocytes were presented. [Business Wire Press Release]

Computational Feat Speeds Finding of Genes to Milliseconds Instead of Years
Finding genes already known to be involved in stem cell development can take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, but researchers were promising the skeptical stem cell scientists that, in a fraction of a second and for practically zero cost, they could find new genes involved in the same developmental pathway as the known genes. [Press release from the Stanford University School of Medicine discussing the online prepublication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA]

CURRENT PUBLICATIONS

HIV-1 Infects Multipotent Progenitor Cells Causing Cell Death and Establishing Latent Cellular Reservoirs
Researchers used CD34⁺ cells from infected people as well as in vitro studies of wild-type HIV to show infection and killing of CD34⁺ multipotent hematopoietic progenitor cells. [Nat Med]

Cadherin-Based Adhesion Is a Potential Target for Niche Manipulation to Protect Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Adult Bone Marrow
Researchers explored the influence of cadherin function on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) by expressing a dominant-negative mutant N-cad and found that it reduced the lodgment of HSCs (anchoring to the endosteal surface) and significantly inhibited their long-term engraftment. [Cell Stem Cell]

Endothelial Cells Are Essential for the Self-Renewal and Repopulation of Notch-Dependent Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Investigators developed angiogenic models to demonstrate that endothelial cell-derived angiocrine growth factors support in vitro self-renewal and in vivo repopulation of authentic long-term hematopoietic stem cells. [Cell Stem Cell]

ERK1/2-Akt1 Crosstalk Regulates Arteriogenesis in Mice and Zebrafish
PI3K-ERK1/2 crosstalk plays a key role in the regulation of arterial growth and that the augmentation of ERK signaling via suppression of the PI3K signaling pathway can effectively stimulate arteriogenesis. [J Clin Invest]

Geometric Cues for Directing the Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Results reveal that geometric features that increase actomyosin contractility promote osteogenesis and are consistent with in vivo characteristics of the microenvironment of the differentiated cells. [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A]

MiDReG: A Method of Mining Developmentally Regulated Genes Using Boolean Implications
Researchers present a method termed mining developmentally regulated genes (MiDReG) to predict genes whose expression is either activated or repressed as precursor cells differentiate. [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A]

Shh Pathway Activation is Present and Required Within the Vertebrate Limb Bud Apical Ectodermal Ridge for Normal Autopod Patterning
These data indicate that contrary to previous accounts, the Hedgehog signaling pathway is present and required in the developing limb apical ectodermal ridge for normal autopod development.  [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A]

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Require MARCKS Protein for Directed Chemotaxis In Vitro
Prior research has indicated that myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) protein is critically important for motility in macrophages, neutrophils, and fibroblasts, and here researchers investigated a possible role for MARCKS in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell directed migration. [Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol]

INDUSTRY NEWS

Half a Million for Gene Sequencers
The 10th annual Albany Medical Center Prize – the U.S.’s biggest prize in biomedicine – will go to three scientists who conceptualized the Human Genome Project: Francis Collins, Eric Lander, and David Botstein. [Science Insider]

Center for Cell and Gene Therapy Renewed as National Institutes of Health Center
The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital has been renewed as a National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute cell processing facility. [Baylor College of Medicine Press Release]

Healthcare of Today Signs Letter of Intent for Medical Product Developer
Healthcare of Today, Inc. announces it has signed a letter of intent with leading edge medical product company DyfucaMed^®, LLC. [Healthcare of Today, Inc. Press Release]

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. Launches Its First Regenerative Medicine Product
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. announced the launch of its ORGANIZER™ Series Model 100 “In Breath” bioreactor. This bioreactor was used to grow the bronchus used in the landmark clinical transplantation performed by Professor Paolo Macchiarini of the Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain. [Harvard Bioscience, Inc. Press Release]

Conference Births New Veterinary Stem Cell Association
A new professional organization, the North American Veterinary Regenerative Medicine Association, has been launched as the result of a recent international conference, co-sponsored by University of California, Davis, which focused on the use of stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine to treat horses and other animals. [University of California, Davis Press Release]

POLICY NEWS

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Allocates $50 Million for Stem Cell Therapy Development, a Boost for the State’s Growing Stem Cell Industry
In a move that will speed the path of bringing stem cell-based therapies to the people of California, the Governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency created by Proposition 71, approved a concept proposal for funding the development of new stem cell therapies. [California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, United States]

Push to Cure Rare Diseases
Staff members at the Food and Drug Administration are doing something unusual. They are leaving Washington to help drug makers take a crucial step in developing drugs for rare diseases. [Food and Drug Administration, United States]

Spain Turns to Science for Stimulus
Spain’s ministers recently approved the text of a new research law that aims to reward scientific talent and encourage entrepreneurship. [Science and Innovation Ministry, Spain]

Food and Drug Administration Transparency Task Force; Request for Comments [Docket No. FDA-2009-N-0247] [Food and Drug Administration, United States]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue-Based Products: Establishment Registration and Listing; Form FDA 3356; Eligibility Determination for Donors; and Current Good Tissue Practice [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0101] [Food and Drug Administration, United States]

Technical Assistance for RFA-RM-10-006: Advancing Regulatory Science through Novel Research and Science-Based Technologies (U01) (NOT-RM-10-003) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Modification: This Notice Modifies RFA-RM-09-019 (NOT-RM-10-004) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Notice of a Change in the Next Receipt Date for the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence Program Announcement (PAR-09-079) (NOT-RR-10-005) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity for the Reissue of RFA-TW-08-002 the International Research Ethics Education and Curriculum Development Award (R25) (NOT-TW-10-326) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Collaborative Research for Molecular and Genomic Studies of Behavior in Animal Models (R01) (PA-10-125) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report: Innovative Technology Advancing Public Health [Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, United States]

EVENTS

36th Annual Meeting of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)
March 21-24, 2010
Vienna, Austria

9th Transgenic Technology (TT) Meeting
March 22-24, 2010
Berlin, Germany

4th United Kingdom Mesenchymal Stem Cell Meeting
April 14, 2010
Leeds, United Kingdom

World Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine Congress 2010
May 11-13, 2010
London, United Kingdom

16th International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) Meeting
May 23-26, 2010
Philadelphia, United States

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

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

2010 American Society for Matrix Biology (ASMB) Meeting
October 24-27, 2010
Charleston, United States

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