FROM WALLY; CALL TO ACTION

Call to action,volunteers needed,for the second annual rally for ali,i would appreciate thirty volunteers to help in the upcomeing event,pick one of the following categories in which to assist our team leaders relative to our september twenty fifth rally at krauses grove in halfmoon,yard sale,august fourteenth,for start upexpenses, solicitation of gift certificates,door prizes and corporate sponsors. Setting up of raffle bags, media and publicity. Anyone who can spare alittle time to help in this very noble Cause seeking to find a cure for diabetes in Ali's memory, can contact me on my wall on FB regarding which category they would care to assist us in, or send an e-mail to me at Wallybaba@gmail.com or to Alice Fisk, secratary at, AFisk10302@aol.com. Thank you for all your help and God bless.

STEM CELLS RESTORE EYESIGHT

AP
Sight-restoring treatment shows promise for some of the millions of Americans expected to be blind by 2015.

Doctors are saying stem cell transplants are a promising new treatment to restore sight to individuals who have suffered severe eye damage. Dozens of patients whose eyes were injured after being splashed with caustic chemicals were able to see again after receiving a transplant

Italian researchers reported that the transplants had worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes, including in one patient who sustained severe eye injuries some 60 years ago and has had his sight almost completely restored. The transplant worked at least partially in 14 other eyes, and the benefits have lasted for up to 10 years.

"This is great work, an absolutely great way to do it," said Dr. Douglas Lazzaro, chairman of ophthalmology at Long Island College Hospital. "It can only increase the success rate of these types of procedures."

Dr. Bruce Rosenthal, chief of low-vision programs at Lighthouse International, a nonprofit that fights vision impairment, called the stem cell transplants a very promising treatment. The procedure bypasses the risk of rejection posed by corneal transplants because the patient’s own stem cells are used.

"This is a major step in returning vision to someone who has lost it," Rosenthal says.

University of California ophthalmologist Ivan Schwab, who is not involved in the study, called the research "a roaring success."

Each year, stem cell transplants could offer the promise of healing to thousands of people who sustain chemical burns on their corneas, although they would not help those with macular degeneration, which involves the eye’s retina, or those with damage to the optic nerve. People who are blind in both eyes also would not be candidates for the transplant because some healthy tissue is required to undergo it, doctors explained.

The researchers who performed the transplants for the study, which was published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, removed stem cells from the patient’s good eye, grew them in the lab and put them back in the injured eye. There, they grew new corneal tissue that replaced the damaged tissue. None of the patients needed anti-rejection drugs.

For many years, adult stem cells have been used to treat disorders as varied as leukemia and sickle cell anemia. But fixing damaged eyes with a stem cell transplant is relatively new - and so far is not being done here.

"The U.S. is pretty stringent," Rosenthal says. "They won’t allow these procedures until they are FDA-approved and have gone through a lot of clinical testing. But even though it’s not ready for prime time, there is a lot of hope for the future."

Some 61 million Americans are at high risk for serious vision loss, according to Lighthouse International, and about 61 million individuals age 45 and older will have vision loss by 2015. A Lighthouse survey revealed that fewer than half (46%) of Americans get an annual eye exam.

2010 PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

2010 Rally for Ali Planning Committee Meeting



Minutes of June Meeting



The 2nd Annual Rally for Ali Planning Committee meeting was held on Wednesday, June 15, 2010 at the home of Wally Urzan, Committee Chairman, who presided.



The 2nd Annual Rally for Ali ~ Picnic for a Cause ~ will be held on Saturday, September 25, 2010, 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, rain or shine, at Krause’s Grove in Halfmoon, NY with a pre-picnic motorcycle and car cavalcade kicking off at 11:00 AM sharp.



Team Leaders for the Yard Sale, Rosalie Repp and Alicia Young, announced the date of Saturday, August 14 for the yard sale with a rain date, in case of a deluge, of August 21. Drop off of yard sale items including new, unused clean clothing, etc., can be made between August 7th through the 14th in Randy Smith’s front hall or driveway, located at 289 10th Street, just off Hoosick St. in Troy, where a canopy tent will be set up. The Yard Sale will be from 8AM to 3PM and volunteers are needed to help with setup and sale. Please contact Rosalie or Alicia if you wish to help out on that day, or email Alice Fisk at the address below.



Mary Collins DuBois, Team Leader in setting up all the Raffle Bags will again be mailing out letters of the event to previous sponsors and will also be making the rounds of prospective corporate sponsors and those who wish to contribute gift certificates. Judy Collins and Angie Krough volunteered to assist her in this and also in the Raffle Bags setup. More volunteers are asked to assist them in this endeavor. Mary also announced that her friend Deb Watkins will once again be contributing a piece of her beautiful art work to the event for the raffle, possibly a beach scene in honor of Ali. Mary will also be contacting Silpada Jewelry again relative to their stunning line of jewelry.



Jane Barnard, Volunteer Coordinator of the event will contact the Times Union and Metroland about the Committee paying for a large advertisement in Metroland newspaper this year featuring the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali flyer. She will also contact radio and TV stations for publicity and Babs will help her with publicity by contacting Jim Barrett of the River Street Beat Shop, etc., among others. Volunteers are needed to contact Jane regarding helping her coordinate the various Rally categories. Jane volunteered John Lundgren to be signup sheet moderator at the Rally.



Randy Smith and Bob Collins, Team Leaders in charge of the Gate at Krause’s will expedite matters there with two tables at the Gate this year instead of only one. One table on one side of the entrance for those who have prepaid for their tickets and another table on the other side for those who will be purchasing tickets at the Gate. Joan Smith and Maureen McGinis will be assisting them. Bob Collins, Team Leader in charge of coordinating time lines for the bands to play and for the raffle tickets to be drawn between the times that the three bands play their sets is setting up a schedule and announced he will telephone the band leaders to discuss what time frame they will each be playing in. Like last year, musicians only will be permitted in free at the gate for volunteering their time and talents.



Scott Demers volunteered to be the Team Leader of the Motorcycle and Car Cavalcade and John Gileta volunteered to help with the signup sheets.



Ali Mama emailed the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali flyer to Goat Brothers, Old Saratoga, NY which is already posted online. She has also emailed the flyer to the following sites which have already posted it on their Events Calendars:

STATELINE RIDERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: http://www.statelineriders.org;



ADIRONDACK HOG:

http://www.popshelp.com



BIKER PLAZA http://www.bikerplaza.com/event-RallyAli.html;



NY-BIKER http://www.nybiker.com/events/new-york/september.htm.

We also received an email from Glenn at Adirondack Harley Dealers stating that he would post our flyer on their site and that he’d be happy to provide us with a gift of some sort for the raffle. More biker sites will be emailed the flyer to post in the weeks to come including to the Town of Halfmoon website which posted it last year too. Maggie McNally of the Irish Riders Motorcycle Club emailed that she will get the word out to the clubs she deals with and also see about whether the motorcycle safety folks will set up an informational vending space as a community service at the Rally. Ali Mama also contacted Joann of the Sight Society of Northeastern New York, Lions Eye Bank of Albany, and they thanked us for inviting them to have an information booth at the Rally for Ali and said they would love to participate. Ali had donated her eyes to that organization and was honored by them for her thoughtfulness in doing so at their Donor Memorial Service on October 4, 2009. Ali’s photograph along with the song “I Will Remember You” was also on their beautiful CD called Reflections of Love presented to the family. Joann is also having Ali’s flyer posted on their Sight Society of NENY, Lions Eye Bank of Albany, website.



Kerri Connors will be the Troy Plaza Coordinator for the bike ride around the Tomhannock and will be needing volunteers to help her with that.



Carrie Rudebush suggested that we sell Rally for Ali beer/soda Koozies at the event to raise more money and she and Denise Plunkett are looking into that. Margie Collins, Team Leader in the sale of merchandise, our T-Shirts, etc., will add the Koozies to her list of Rally merchandise for sale at the event. Denise and Meaghan Davis will be putting stickers with the new September 25, 2010 date on them onto the Rally tickets. Denise also had more Rally flyers made for distribution. She is having a handmade quilted tote added to the raffle too. Kathy Klinger will again donate one of her beautiful handmade quilts to be raffled off at the Rally for Ali



Nancy Wright volunteered to be the Team Leader in charge of decorating the Grove the Friday night/Saturday morning of the event with a possible Beach theme being suggested in honor of Ali’s favorite venue in summertime. Mary and Angie volunteered to help her.



It was agreed that all committee members will assist Laurie Smith, Team Leader in charge of the raffle tickets, in handling Raffle Ticket sales on the day of the event.



In the immediate future Wally will be posting a Call to Action for up to 30 Volunteers to help our Team Leaders on his Facebook page to be forwarded to friends, co-workers, etc. It will also be posted on Ali’s Blog and Cause page.



The date of the July meeting is Tuesday, July 13 @ 6:30 p.m. at Wally’s house, 288 ½ Tenth Street, Troy, NY. Have a Sunshiny Day!

WHAT'S A STEM CELL?

Stem Cell Markets ; A stem cell is an extraordinary type of cell that has the ability to self-renew for long periods of time and to differentiate into specialized cells under appropriate physiological or experimental conditions.

Traditionally, stem cells have been classified as either embryonic, adult (tissue-specific or cord blood) stem cells. Recent understanding of stem cell biology may



provide new approaches for the treatment of a number of diseases as well as tissue/organ injuries, including cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, musculoskeletal disease, diabetes and hematopoietic disorders.

Stem cell fate is determined by both intrinsic regulators and the extra-cellular environment (niche), and their expansion and differentiation ex vivo are generally controlled by growing them in a specific configuration (monolayer or three-dimensional culture). This process, which is vital to enable stem cells to be used for therapeutic purposes, is called differentiation. Differentiation is a process involving unspecialized cells progressing to become specialized cells with restricted developmental potential. The purpose of this TriMark Publications report is to describe the specific market segments of the medical research space using stem cells for research and development (R&D) purposes. This study reviews all of the generally accepted analytical methods that are currently in use today for preparing and using stem cells. It examines the use of stem cells in developing new therapies for disease.

Click for report details: www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/stem-cell-mark ..

RPI AWARDED $2.5 MILLION FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH

The RPI award was the only one made in the Capital Region. The largest grants went to three downstate institutions: $5.87 million to Columbia University Medical Center, $5.44 million to the New York University School of Medicine, and $5.50 million to Stony Brook University. The University of Buffalo receieved $3.56 million and the University of Rochester received $3.33 million. Cornell University received $1.10 million.
So far, the program has awarded $303 million under a multi-year effort to support stem cell science statewide.

"These grants will not only help New York retain its scientific talent but will facilitate multi-institutional collaboration and sharing of knowledge and technology," said Health Commissioner Richard Daines. "These are critical steps in developing strategies to guide decisions about stem cell research and regenerative medicine," Dr. Daines added in a prepared statement.

To comment, go to The Buzz: Business News



Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=933550#ixzz0obTf5RnI

UC IRVINE SET TO OPEN AN $80 MILLION STEM CELL RESEARCH CENTER NEXT WEEK

UC Irvine is set to open an $80-million stem cell research building next week.

On Friday, leaders from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, UCI and the newly crowned Sue and Bill Gross Hall: A CIRM Institute, will unveil the 100,000-square-foot research center. The institute, which was designed exclusively for basic stem cell research and clinical studies, is one of several CIRM has developed in California.

“CIRM was created for this reason,” said John Robson, vice president of operations for the institute. “Regenerative medicine is the future of medicine ... California is going to lead the way.”

Stem cells are basic human cells that can be grown and developed into body tissues, including those for spinal cords and organs.
In 2004, about 59% of California voters passed Proposition 71, which allocated about $3 billion in state funds for stem cell research, including embryonic stem cells.

Former President George W. Bush had limited embryonic stem cell research to existing strains and prohibited scientists from developing new ones from embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. California created CIRM to continue research in the field.
After six years and $1 billion assigned to institutions throughout the state, UCI will be the first to open, and the only one to be built from the ground up for stem cell research.



-- Joseph Serna reporting for the Daily Pilot

STEM CELL RESEARCH WILL VANQUISH DIABETES IN YEARS TO COME

Harry Rosen
How research will vanquish diabetes in the years to come

It used to be that few diabetics lived past the age of 10 – then two Canadian researchers discovered insulin
Today, 1.7 million Canadians have diabetes. But 10 years from now, there will be 3.7 million.

To give you an idea of how fast diabetes is accelerating, in 1980, 30 million people worldwide lived with diabetes. Last year, there were 285 million, and by 2030, about 400 million people will have it. That’s almost as many people as there are living in North America today.

Given this, diabetes forces us to answer some awkward questions: How are we going to manage the billions of new dollars our health-care systems will have to spend to control it? How are the families of diabetics going to manage their anguish at lives cut short because of the effects, such as heart disease? How is India, which now has more diabetics than Canada has people, going to cope with a disease that’s spreading faster than malaria?

We can ask people to change their diet and lifestyle. Some will. Many won’t. But even if everyone did, Type 1 diabetes has little to do with what we eat or how we live, and Type 2 can never be completely controlled by diet and lifestyle.

I believe the answer to this crisis is research, which is why I’m so proud to have helped in establishing the Harry Rosen Diabetes Chair in Stem Cell Research in the McEwen Centre, as part of Toronto’s University Health Network.

From the beginning of human history until 1921, if you were afflicted with diabetes, your life was nasty, brutish and short. Diabetes was a death sentence. Few diabetics lived past the age of 10. Then, two Canadian researchers discovered insulin.

As the noted geneticist Craig Venter once said: “A physician or surgeon in their careers has the opportunity to save at most hundreds or perhaps a few thousand lives. A research doctor has the chance to save millions.” And that’s what Frederick Banting and Charles Best did. That’s what research did to fight diabetes 89 years ago and that’s what research will do to vanquish diabetes in the years to come.

Not only are there more stem cell researchers in Toronto than anywhere else, their work is already changing the direction in broad areas of research into cancer, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, toxicology and spinal cord injuries.

We seem to do things in pairs here: Banting and Best discovered insulin; and James Till and Ernest McCulloch discovered blood-forming stem cells more than 40 years ago at the Ontario Cancer Institute.

Their legacy, as with every medical researcher, lives on in the literally millions of people whose lives I believe will grow longer, happier and richer because of discoveries made today and tomorrow by the Toronto stem cell community.

But there is more to be done. We can also urge our governments to commit much more funding to medical research than they do now. While Canada has a strong innovation agenda, by any measure, the funding to fuel innovation in medical research is drastically small. I am an entrepreneur, recently retired. The world of bioscience, including stem cell research, is filled with entrepreneurs, turning scientific discovery not only into cures, but into jobs and companies and new business sectors and entire economies. Our governments simply must invest more in this sector than they’re now doing or, like a diabetic without insulin, it will wither and die.

I am a utopian and I believe that, some day, all of man’s ailments will be resolved. I hope to see it in my lifetime. But if not, that’s fine too. I’ve seen some suffering in my time, and there’s a lot less today than 50 years ago. We look on those years slightly askance. If you had a heart attack back then, you were to stay in bed and never exercise. If you had mental illness, you were put away. If you wanted to swim at Kew Beach, for example, you didn’t for fear of catching polio. The letters DNA were not yet seen in combination, let alone the letters MRI.

Fifty years from now, I want us to look back on the work being done by the groundbreaking scientists of today and think how quaint and uninformed it all was.

Because for me, that’s the real marker for success in the business of discovery, the fact that the future can be so different and so much better than the present.

Harry Rosen is the founder of the retail chain Harry Rosen Inc.

1 YEAR AFTER STEM CELL LIMITATIONS LIFTED

A year after President Barack Obama lifted limitations on research into embryonic stem cells and promised billions in new stimulus money for it, researchers are nearly giddy with enthusiasm about the advancement in the field. They're confident that stem cells will be capable of treating or may someday providing a complete cure for people with heart disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and other disorders.

This excitement, however, is not generated by stem cells that have been harvested from human embryos. Instead, researchers are coming to believe they can get results that would be approximately as good from adult stem cells that is taken from the patient's individual bone marrow or belly fat, and even full-fledged adult cells from muscle tissue or skin.

Dr. Joshua Hare, Director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University Of Miami Medical School stated that adult stem cells are more flexible than they had thought. The embryonic stem cell may not be the one that proves to be really successful in the actual therapy.

In order to treat a patient with heart problems or who suffers heart attack may be benefited more with an adult stem cell.

By now, at the UM Medical School, adult stem cells have already been injected around a patient's heart so as to help heal a heart attack, and adult cells are being applied around injured spinal cords with the hope of restoring its movement.

This is news will definitely fill in heart patients, a ray of hope, because it will cure their heart attacks and save a number of lives, further giving joy o those families and people who could lose their loved one to this disease.

Another new development exhilarating researchers is the stimulated pluripotent adult stem cell. Scientists at Harvard and in Japan took cells from the skin on a patient's arm and genetically reprogrammed them to be almost as supple as embryonic stem cells, without destroying an embryo. They expect to use them one day to build up total human organs, cell by cell.

TEAM TYPE 1 RACE WITH THE PROS THIS WEEKEND

Local race draws world's top cyclists
By: Matt Hunter
This summer, all eyes will be on Paris as the world's top cyclists gather for the Tour de France. This weekend, many of those same riders hit the road in the North Country. Our North Country Reporter Matt Hunter has more.


CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. -- It's 124 miles that blends sprints with gut wrenching climbs.

In all, 162 of the world's top cyclists, including disqualified Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis and 2008 U.S. Olympian Bobby Lea, grind it out with some of the best amateurs at the 2010 Tour of the Battenkill.

"Look at the start list, there's guy from all over the globe," said Cory Burns, an amateur cyclist from Watertown, NY. "There are guys from Australia are here, guys from Great Britain are here."

"That's why the crowds come," race director Dieter Drake said. "That's why they come and spend some money and that's an exciting thing to be able to do that in a town like Cambridge, New York."

In its seventh year, this is the first time the event has appeared on the pro international calendar.

Among the riders, four members of Team Type 1; all of whom battle diabetes in addition to the tough terrain.

"It means a lot [to compete]," team member Martijn Verschoor. "A lot of people are proud and we are also, because it's very difficult to manage it."

Sunday's event caps off back to back weekends of racing. Throughout the week, riders of every level share the course together, touring a diverse Washington County countryside.

"To a lot of the guys, like myself, this is our Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders all in one day," Burns said. "Because most of us are never going to see those roads in Europe and race with those guys, this is our weekend to see what we have."

For at least one team, it's not so much about proving something to themselves, but to the rest of the world.

"We have to control it [diabetes] and we want to show the world the world you can cycle with diabetes at a high level," Verschoor said. "We want to inspire people and help people. That's a good job."

NEW LAB FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH AT UCONN

April 9, 2010


An architect's rendering of 400 Farmington Avenue. Photo by: the UConn Health Center.
The Univ. of Connecticut is just months away from opening a new research building in Farmington to enhance Connecticut’s role as a leader in innovative high tech research and technology transfer in the areas of stem cell biology, advanced microscopy and imaging, computational biology and genetics.
Especially designed with open labs that flow into each other and office areas located on hallways running between labs, the new Cell and Genomic Sciences Building intends to promote interdisciplinary research among the academic and industry chemists, geneticists, physicists, mathematicians, cell biologists, and computer scientists housed there. This collaborative effort aims to capitalize on the power of different areas of scientific expertise to revolutionize the practice of medicine.

“Our goal is to maximize the state’s investment in stem cell research by establishing an infrastructure to support scientists in their quest of turning discoveries at the bench into therapies for diseases such as autism and cancer and to advance the field of regenerative medicine,” says Marc Lalande, Director of UConn’s Stem Cell Institute, as well as professor and chairman of the medical school’s genetics and developmental biology department. “This is an unprecedented opportunity for us.”

Purchased by UConn with Board of Trustees’ approval in 2007, a former research and testing facility at 400 Farmington Avenue-–across the street from UConn’s Health Center campus-–has been undergoing a $52 million transformation and is to be equipped with the latest technologies for studying cells and their genomes. The new 117,000 square foot building is expected to open in July 2010.

The renovated building will house research laboratories, offices, a 100-seat auditorium, cafeteria, and incubator space for businesses eager to commercialize stem cell science. Designed by the Boston laboratory architecture firm Goody Clancy, the renovations will meet the requirements of a LEED Silver rating, according to project manager Kevin Norton.

STEM CELL RESEARCH ALIVE AND WELL AT RUTGERS

A group of neural stem cells are stained with various materials in order to reveal specific attributes.
At Rutgers’ Stem Cell Research Center scientists are exploring the mysteries of human embryonic stem cells and their potential use in treating diseases, repairing damaged organs and drug development. Center staff also offer a course in proper lab techniques in working with stem cells. The center was established with a grant to Professors Martin Grumet and Wise Young from the State of New Jersey through its Commission on Science and Technology.

The center focuses on human embryonic stem cells, known as hESCs, because they are pluripotent, meaning they have the unique ability to develop into any kind of cell in the body – whether it is a heart cell or a brain cell or a liver cell.

Among the accomplishments of the Rutgers Stem Cell Research Center (RSCRC) is a series of recently published papers, one of which is by Professor Rick Cohen and his colleagues, describing the derivation of New Jersey’s first hESC lines.

A stem cell line is a family of constantly dividing cells, the product of a single parent stem cell. The new lines are particularly important. Many of the cell lines previously approved by the federal government were found to have been contaminated with non-human proteins that compromise their potential therapeutic use in human subjects.


In his stem cell course, Professor Rick Cohen teaches students from Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. and City College of New York.
The paper also describes how the team developed a series of tests to determine the quality of these new cell lines. This quality control approach is critical to ensure that the cells are suitable for laboratory use and potential clinical applications. For example, among the panel of 11 assays is a test to make certain cells are still completely pluripotent.

Another test included in the paper ensures that the cells are not contaminated with common human viruses. These might include HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores; and the human papilloma virus, now believed to be a leading cause of cervical cancer in adult women.

Research Associate Jennifer Moore, the lead author on the paper, noted that the cells’ chromosome complement is also tested for abnormality. Human cells normally have 23 chromosomes, but mutations in hESCs are known to appear as duplications of chromosomes 12 and 17. “This doesn’t happen often but it is not a rare event,” Moore said. “Duplications could affect stem cell functions potentially precluding their clinical use.”


(left) Maha Mahadevan (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences) receives guidance from Jennifer Moore while a Rutgers student works with Stem Cell Technologies guest instructor Debbie King (standing).
The RSCRC is also active in training new stem cell scientists through the Stem Cell Training Course developed by Cohen. It consists of one week of intensive instruction and workshops from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and covers the growth, maintenance, and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Almost everything one needs to grow human embryonic stem cells is included in the course, which has run eight times and has trained more than 100 scientists. Attendees have included researchers from all over the world from universities, including Rutgers, and the pharmaceutical industry. The value and importance of the training program has been recognized by an invitation from a scientific publishing company to Cohen to prepare a book based on the course.

The research described by Cohen and his associates and the training courses were supported by additional grants from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. The state-supported research also helped build the capacity and credibility of the center, setting the stage for its researchers to win new federal grants. Professors Ron Hart and Grumet have already won major federal grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Sharing staff with its neighbor, the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, about 30 individuals at any given time are working in the RSCRC.

Stem Cells: Mice Regrow Teeth | h+ Magazine

Stem Cells: Mice Regrow Teeth | h+ Magazine

ENTEST BIOMEDICAL INC. NEW PATENT FOR STEM CELL TREATMENT

Entest BioMedical Inc. (OTCBB: ENTB) announced today that Chairman & CEO David Koos, along with Lead Inventor Dr. Steven Josephs, provided clarification on the Company's new patent application for use of chemokines in its stem cell / photoceutical therapy for treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) during the Company's weekly blogcast held March 23, 2010.
Dr. Josephs noted, "Chemokines are naturally produced in the body during times of injury and are believed to be an essential part of the healing process. These chemokines cause stem cells to 'home' to injured areas. It is our belief the addition of chemokines to our COPD treatment model will aid in focusing stem cells towards damaged lung tissue painted by our photoceutical device."
Entest's Chairman & CEO David Koos said, "In its simplest form, our COPD treatment model consists of three components: an alarm clock, a bus for transportation and a GPS navigational system. An FDA approved stem cell mobilizer acts as an alarm clock activating the stem cells. Chemokines serve as the 'bus' transporting the stem cells to a location in the body. The laser serves as a GPS system navigating the bus to the destination -- damaged lung tissue."
The entire blogcast has been archived on the Company's blog site: www.entestbioblog.com.
About Entest BioMedical Inc.:
Entest BioMedical Inc. (OTCBB: ENTB) is involved with the development of stem cell therapy treatments for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), immuno-cancer therapies, testing procedures for diabetes, stem cell research applications for diabetes and other illnesses. The Company also is involved with medical device development (including stem cell extraction instrumentation). ENT-576™ is a proprietary laser device currently under development by Entest. The Company has filed 4 patent applications relating to the treatment of COPD. Entest BioMedical Inc. is a majority owned subsidiary of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc. (OTCBB: BMSN). Recently Entest published in the peer reviewed literature its platform technology, which is available at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-7-106.pdf.
Disclaimer
This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties to which forward-looking statements are subject include, but are not limited to, the effect of government regulation, competition and other material risks.

Contact:
David R. Koos, Chairman & CEO
Entest BioMedical Inc.
619.702.1404 Direct
619.330.2328 Fax
www.entestbio.com
info@entestbio.com

Zebrafish study may shed light on cell regeneration in human heart

A new Spanish study has found that cardiac muscle cells known as cardiomyocytes carry out repair in an injured zebrafish heart - a finding that could provide insight into how human hearts could be made to repair themselves after a heart attack.

The research, conducted by Juan Carlos Izpisza Belmonte and his colleagues at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona (CMRB), found that these cellular grown-ups outperform stem cells in cardiac repair.

Izpisza Belmonte, professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory, said: "What the results of our study show is that mother nature utilizes other ways besides going all the way back to pluripotent stem cells to regenerate tissues and organs."

Izpisza Belmonte also noted, that at least in fish, the body may have evolved surprising repair strategies driven by cell types more seasoned than stem cells.

To identify which cells actually filled in excised zebrafish heart muscle, the researchers first used some genetic engineering to only make cardiomyocytes "transgenic" by inserting into them a tracer gene that made them glow green under a microscope.

Thereafter, they chopped off about 20 per cent of each fish ventricle and waited a couple of weeks for the hearts to regenerate: if regenerated heart muscle didn't glow, it would mean that cells other than cardiomyocytes, such as a cardiac stem cell population, had replaced the damaged muscle.

However, all regenerated heart muscle cells glowed green, indicating that well established cardiomyocytes remaining after injury had likely regressed to a more "youthful" state, started dividing again to replenish lost cells, and then matured a second time into new heart muscle.

The team also demonstrated that cardiomyocytes recaptured lost youth in part by re-activating the production of proteins associated with cell proliferation, factors typically expressed in immature progenitors.

Human hearts cannot undergo these types of regenerative changes on their own. When damaged by heart attack, our heart muscle is replaced by scar tissue incapable of contracting. However, prior to heart failure, damaged mammalian heart muscle cells enter a save-yourself state known as "hibernation," in which they cease contracting in an effort to survive.

Chris Jopling, a postdoctoral fellow of Izpisza Belmonte's at CMRB and first author of the study, believes human heart "hibernation" is significant.

He said: "During heart regeneration in the zebrafish we found that cardiomyocytes displayed structural changes similar to those observed in hibernating cardiomyocytes.

"Because of these similarities, we hypothesize that hibernating mammalian cardiomyocytes may represent cells that are attempting to proliferate."

Thus, it can be said that mammalian hearts can undergo a kind of metabolic "downsizing" that is a prelude to cell division.

Jopling said: "This idea fits nicely with the findings from a number of groups -- that forced expression of cell cycle regulators can induce cardiomyocyte proliferation in mammals.

"Maybe all they need is a bit of a push in the right direction."

Izpisza Belmonte added: "We can no longer view differentiated cells as being a static endpoint of the differentiation process.

"If we could mimic in mammalian cells what happens in zebrafish, perhaps we could be in a position to understand why regeneration does not occur in humans."

The study has appeared in the March 25, 2010 issue of Nature. (ANI)

New technique detects proteins that cause aging

Chemists and biologists from the University of Bath have developed a new technique that could be used to diagnose and develop treatments for age-related conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and cancer.

In these diseases, proteins in the body react with sugars in a process called glycation. This modifies the protein’s function and can trigger complications such as inflammation and premature aging.

The team at Bath, led by Dr Jean van den Elsen and Dr Tony James, has developed a technique that can detect glycated proteins and could in the future be used for diagnosing a whole range of diseases in patients.

They used a technique called gel electrophoresis, where samples are put into a thin gel layer and an electric current is applied. The gel acts like a molecular sieve, sorting proteins from the samples according to their size and shape, allowing scientists to identify whether specific proteins are present in the blood.

For this study, the researchers have patented a new type of gel electrophoresis, which uses boronic acid to distinguish between the glycated and unmodified proteins.

Dr Tony James from the University’s Department of Chemistry explained: “Not all sugars are ‘bad’ - in fact many proteins contain beneficial ‘good’ sugar units.

“However, some sugars can be ‘bad’ and cause complications in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

Dr Jean van den Elsen, from the University’s Department of Biology & Biochemistry, said: “Our method specifically recognises these ‘bad’ sugars in the presence of the ‘good’ sugars and as such is an excellent diagnostic tool.”

PhD student Marta Pereira Morais added: “We believe our method will also aid the development of new drug based therapies for these diseases.”

Whilst the technique has only been assessed in the lab at present, the researchers say it has the potential to be developed into a test for these conditions in patients.

Dr James added: “Currently there is no blood test for Alzheimer’s disease.

“If we can develop this technique into a test, doctors could potentially diagnose patients at an early stage before their symptoms show up in a brain scan.”

The method could also be used to diagnose diabetes, which also leads to elevated levels of glycated proteins in the blood.

Dr van den Elsen said: “Whilst there are other methods of detecting diabetes, this will be an excellent way to measure the level of this glycation damage.”

CONTACTS THAT WARN DIABETICS OF GLUCOSE LEVELS

Diabetics may soon be able to wear contact lenses that continuously alert them to variations in their glucose levels by changing colours - replacing the need to routinely draw blood throughout the day. The non-invasive technology uses extremely small nanoparticles embedded into the hydrogel lenses.

These engineered nanoparticles react with glucose molecules found in tears, causing a chemical reaction that changes their colour.

Zhang received $216,342 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) today (Dec. 16) to further develop technologies using multifunctional nanocomposites.

These technologies have vast potential applications beyond biomedical devices, including for food packaging. For example, nanocomposite films can prevent food spoilage by preventing oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture from reaching fresh meats and other foods, or by measuring pathogenic contamination; others can make packaging increasingly biodegradable.

British Boy Becomes First in the World to Have Stem Cell Transplant

Thanks President Bush, for eight years of not allowing children to have life-saving surgeries! Go outdated theology! Rebecca Smith writes in the Telegraph:

A ten-year-old British boy has become the first child in the world to undergo a revolutionary windpipe transplant, it has been announced.

The landmark operation involved injecting the scaffold of a windpipe, taken from a dead donor, with stem cells from the boy before implanting it in his throat.

The stem cells were removed from the boy’s bone marrow and were ready for use just four hours later.

The cells trigger regrowth to create a normal windpipe without any of the risks of normal transplantation such as the organ being rejected by the body.

The operation took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, on Monday and the boy is breathing by himself and able to speak normally.

MEETING FOR 2ND ANNUAL RALLY FOR ALI PLANNING COMMITTE

Where: Tugboat Tavern, 159 Bridge Avenue, Cohoes, NY



When: Wednesday, February 17, 2010



Time: 6:30 P.M.



You are cordially invited to attend the first meeting of the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali Planning Committee at the above venue and time. Anyone wishing to serve on the Committee, or volunteer for any other rally subcommittee, may do so at this initial meeting. This year the Rally will be held on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at Krause’s Grove in Halfmoon, NY, and is projected to be an even bigger and more awesome event than in 2009!



All donations raised in Ali’s memory will go to Harvard Stem Cell Institute in rigorous search of a CURE for diabetes.



Everyone’s input is valued and we deeply appreciate the help and support of all.







GOD BLESS AND MUCH LOVE ~



THE FAMILY OF ALISON FISK URZAN Afisk10302@aol.com

NEW DATE FOR 2ND ANNUAL RALLY

TO ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS, FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF RALLY FOR ALI:

The date of the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali which was originally set for Saturday, September 25, 2010 has been changed to the NEW date of Saturday, October 2, 2010 and Gary at Krause's Grove has accepted our deposit for this new date. We will be sending out new SAVE THE DATE, MARK YOUR CALENDAR flyer emails shortly.

Wally called yesterday and said he wants to apologize to everyone via this email for the mix up. He said before our September rally date was set with Gary, he had received a save-the-date card for a wedding on September 25 which he had entirely forgotten about. The daughter of Howie and Terry, Wally and Ali's longtime good friends, will be getting married then. Wally said that date had slipped his mind entirely when September 25 arrangements were being made with Gary for the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali. Some other members of the Committee received save-the-date cards re the wedding as well.

As it is still early in the year, Gary confirmed that the date of Saturday, October 2, 2010 is still open and we secured that new date with our original deposit to him.

Please mark on your calendars the new date for the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali:

Saturday, October 2, 2010.

Wally wants everyone to know that he is sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and looks forward to the initial meeting of the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali Planning Committee which will be held sometime next month. Details on that to follow.

Regards,

Alice Fisk

Breakthrough: Stem cell therapy found for leukaemia

In a ray of hope for millions of leukaemia patients, American scientists have claimed to have developed a technique which multiplies the small number of stem cells in the donor blood, making it much more potent for the treatment of the fatal disease.

It also eliminates the need for a matching donor, whose bone marrow is usually transplanted to the patient, according to a study which appeared in the journal Nature Medicine. Traditionally, there was always a risk that the patient’s body may reject the new cells from a donor. The alternate path was to introduce cells extracted from umbilical cords as these cells do not have characteristics which would normally trigger immune rejection. So these cells can be used in any patient, without the need for matching. However, the only disadvantage of this process was that a single cord would not have enough cells to meet the needs of an adult patient.