StemLife wins Technology Business Review Award 2006

STEMLIFE won this year for Excellence in Biotechnology for Stem Cell Medical Application at the inaugural Technology Business Review (TBR) Award. (note, the award is the Lion's head on the left of the StemLife logo)


PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY

It was a beautiful evening at one of KL's largest hotels, The Palace of the Golden Horses. All winners were invited on stage to give a thank you speech and take a group photo.



I would like to take this opportunity to share the photos and thank our colleagues who weren't in KL or able to attend. It is because of my wonderful team's continuous contribution to the company to achieve our goals that I was able to stand on stage to receive the award.

While the other companies there have won many awards before, this was StemLife's first. My team has also promised me that it will not be our last.

Cord Blood Registry switches to CLOSED system cord blood stem cell processing

NO MORE VIALS FOR CBR? - ONWARD WITH THERMOGENESIS CRYO-SYSTEMS & SPECIALLY DESIGNED CRYOBAGS...!

I read with great interest that one of the world's largest and oldest cord blood stem cell banks, Cord Blood Registry (CBR) made an announcement on a 15-year contract with GE Healthcare (distributor) and Thermogenesis (manufacturer) to puchase disposables and utilize an auto expressor system to separate the stem cells. Presumably, this will also put CBR in line with AABB's new guidelines specifying that closed system processing and storage of stem cell units with "integrally attached segments" (ie the multi-compartment bag from Thermogenesis).


From the Thermogenesis website

Post FY2006

*In August 2006, GE Healthcare and Cord Blood Registry (CBR), the world's
largest family cord blood bank, announced a multi-year contract to supply
CBR with ThermoGenesis' AutoXpress cord blood processing system and
disposables and ThermoGenesis signed a Product Development and Supply
Assurance Agreement with CBR which assures the supply of AutoXpress
products for a 15-year period.


This no doubt is very profitable for Thermogenesis which according to their press release stands to gain more than 4 million USD in disposable revenue each year for the next 15 years from CBR alone.

We were approached by the company as StemLife has banked clients' stem cells in Thermogenesis cryo-bags since the beginning, but we have yet to evaluate the auto expressor system and its pricing for suitable application for the Malaysian and Thai market. Right now, our 24 hour lab service and passionately responsible laboratory team members ensure that all the strictest standards are adhered to, which we have proven through facilitating transplant requests.

StemLife Malaysia hosts 4th Annual Asia Pacific Cord Blood Bank Consortium Meeting (APCBBC 2006)

In above photo (L-R): Gwendolene Yeo (Representative- Cordlife Singapore), Chris Tsai (Founder- BabyBanks, Taiwan), Gordon Milliken (Founder- Cryosite, Australia), Sharon Low (Founder- StemLife, Malaysia), Keith Mo (Representative- Cryolife, Hong Kong), Han Seong Bang (Representative- Lifecord, Korea)


1st APCBBC MEETING HOSTED IN MALAYSIA

On the 7th of September, representatives and founders from leading cord blood stem cell banks met up for the annual industry meeting in Kuala Lumpur, hosted by StemLife. The consortium which has been actively meeting up since 2004 is the first Asia Pacific Cord Blood Bank Consortium to have been founded by cord blood banks in this region. Members include Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Based on processing and banking standards and success in proper business management, participating cord blood stem cell banks presented their updates and shared their challenges and experiences for the past year.

Entitled "Stem Cells: A Global Phenomenon and Medical Revolution in Asia", all members are from very different countries with a myriad of languages, cultures, varying stages of scientific progress and healthcare facilities. Nonetheless, the presence and success of cord blood stem cell banking indicates that Asia has a healthy market for this service and the related treatments that stem cells bring. Whilst the US and Europe have invested themselves in research and mired themselves in debating what type of stem cells to fund, Asia is making progress in educating local audiences in more than 7 languages about what stem cells are already available for collection and with clear and proven evidence of therapy. All Consortium members believe that this will only grow as the benefits of stem cell applications increases over time and are pro-actively taking steps to explore ways to progress and contribute to the expansion of this industry.

It was a superb meeting and StemLife is proud to be the host this year. StemLife has also been appointed by the committee as the secretariat to the Consortium which I will chair. We're in the process of setting up a recruitment process for other banks to participate and actively contribute to the knowledge and credibility of the industry. If you wish to join us, please write to me and I'll put the application forward to the board of governors.

You can read the press release here.

UPREGULATION OF STEM CELLS BY LIFTING p16-Ink4: THE KEY TO ANTI-AGEING?

Here's why its good to bank your stem cells early.....

The latest article to cause a buzz amongst the scientific community because of its clinical implications was announced recently in Nature by Dr. Norman E. Sharpless of the University of North Carolina, Dr. Sean J. Morrison of University of Michigan and Dr. David T. Scadden of Harvard Medical School.

The main finding was by Dr. Sharpless's team who had genetically engineered a mouse strain with a knock out (ie the gene no longer functions) of the gene that codes for a protein known as p16-Ink4. The reason why this particular protein is of interest and importance lies in its function. p16-Ink4 has been established to be part of a family of proteins that protect cells and suppress tumours (think of the function of the "Oracle" in the film 'the Matrix').

ROLE OF p16-INK4

In the body, cell growth, division and death is a very tightly controlled and highly regulated process which as yet has to be fully understood. Controlled by many growth promoters and inhibitors, some genes (proto-oncogenes) encode proteins that promote cell proliferation and some genes encode proteins that inhibit this cycle -and instead promote cell death- called tumour suppressor genes. p16-Ink4 belongs to the tumour suppressor group of proteins which protect the cell from unplanned cell divisions and act as our body's own anti-cancer program by inhibiting the division and production of new cells.


THE EXCITING DISCOVERY

As a result of the work from 3 separate research groups, all groups confirmed that the amount of p16-Ink4 is greatly increased with age. The protein is up-regulated to prevent cancer formation in older individuals but is equally effective in blocking stem cell division- hence reducing the rate of regenerative capability in the body. This implies that if the production in p16-Ink4 in stem cells, perhaps other cells can still remain on course but our regenerative capacity can continue. Furthermore, if this pathway can be manipulated then perhaps cells and tissues may be able to regenerate more quickly and perhaps without the restriction of "age".

However, the scientist do not yet know what stimuli makes cells increase their production of p16-Ink4 nor exactly how much and when. They also do not yet know if increasing the protein will result in early cell death.


YOUNGER ALWAYS BETTER THAN OLDER

This finding may explain why older patients do not do as well in bone marrow transplants as younger ones, supposed Dr. Morrison and adds that the robustness of younger people's cells was already well known.


"The cells of a 70-year-old produce 10 times as much of the Ink4 protein as those of a 20-year-old, Dr. Sharpless said".


A good reason to bank your stem cells early!



I wonder if they could take a look at cord blood stem cells and see what levels of p16-Ink4 proteins are at vis-a-vis a 16 or 40 year old's peripheral blood stem cells. I think the team at StemLife would be happy to provide our blood stem cells for this purpose! :)

Yes, the ENVIRONMENT is important to adult stem cells too

With all this pollution going on in Malaysia before Merdeka day, I had to look at this news piece which had the word "environment" in it. Fortunately, we had a big rainstorm here in KL on the eve of Merdeka day and for the first time in 2 months I saw the clear blue sky between the cumulus clouds.


Anyway, back to Stem Cells- Scientists from UPenn's School of Engineering and Applied science have announced in a very prestigious journal "CELL", some very interesting findings on the development of adult stem cells based purely on the hardness or softness of the surroundings. They didn't use any chemical signalling, which is often rated highly amongst scientists as the most important way for cells to move around or know what they ought to form. Mesenchymal stem cells, those most often found in the bone marrow are able to "feel" their physical environment to form the type of tissue that they ought to become.

"According to the researchers, soft microenvironments that mimic the brain guide the cells toward becoming neurons, stiffer microenvironments that mimic muscle guide the cells toward becoming muscle cells and comparatively rigid microenvironments guide the cells toward becoming bone."

The concept that mesenchymal stem cells sense their environment through the force it takes them to push against surrounding objects and the force translates into internal cellular signals which cause the cell to differentiate tinto particular types of tissue is extremely exciting and could lead to a new concept in thinking of how to get the types of cells that we want.

It is also interesting that the researchers highlight that in the event that the tissue into which the stem cells are infused are too damaged (eg severe heart attack or spinal injury), the stem cells may not know what to differentiate into resulting in the lack of effectiveness. But they do believe that it is possible to get round this problem... by creating an environment which acts like the normal tissue to prime the stem cells before implantation.

So, say if you have heart disease and are asked if you have a soft heart or a hard heart...? Tell Prof Sweeney, your cells might be able to be primed in advance :)



StemLife has an on-going collaboration with the National University of Singapore's Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Initiative (NUSNNI) to explore the way cells divide and differentiate in different 3D environments.

Penn researchers included in this study include Adam J. Engler and Shamik Sen from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and H. Lee Sweeney from the School of Medicine.

Hilarious Stem Cell Podcast!

I've never tried podcasting but it seems like a fun thing to do if you have all the right audio equipment to make the information entertaining. One of my friends sent me a link to a hilarious podcast by a Singapore based blogger. In this audio clip, he discusses the topic of embryonic stem cells, how lay people may perceive the subject and be used in potentially fraudulent ways.


There are a few points you should know before you listen to the clip:

1) Language used- "Singlish" (a Singaporean style of English, which may be hard to understand if you're not from there)
2) Podcast is based on the recent news that Singapore has made embryonic stem cells for sale to researchers
3) That Singapore does not permit the sale or trade of chewing gum (in effect for many years now)

Wait for the entire clip to download (best on broadband) and you'll probably need to listen to it more than once to pick up on every nuance. :)



If you're a regular reader of this blog then you'll know that I don't usually discuss embryonic stem cells, as this is not our area of expertise. However, it presents a wonderful opportunity for me to reiterate that the stem cells that StemLife banks and uses in therapy are derived from umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood, not embryos. Further, our active clients are assured that not a single drop of their baby's stem cell units in the tank are used for any other purpose than their treatment.