News & Progress from Thai StemLife

Some of our avid readers have noticed that Dr. Kostas, Thai StemLife's Chief Operating Officer is featured as a new contributor to this blog. He's been very busy with the company lately and I've been reading some of their accomplishments online.

Thought it might be nice to share the news with you here, if you're interested to know how our Thai company is coming along.

Stem cells can effectively heal patients with diabetes
Thai StemLife has already been actively treating patients with diabetic foot ulcers successfully.

Stem -cell research wins prize
Undoubtedly one of the most innovative business services of the year :)

Stem cell bank bullish on Thailand
Thai StemLife looks to do well next year!


Congratulations to Thai StemLife on winning the top award in the "Top 10 Innovative Business 2006" from the National Innovation Agency (NIA) of the Ministry of Science and Technology!

The Importance of Intricate Scaffolds for Adult Stem Cell Culture and Expansion

A while ago, StemLife recognized the importance of 3-D scaffolding for cellular expansion and this led to the research project collaboration with Singapore National University's Department of Engineering, specifically the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Department. Advances in nano-engineering technology and increased understanding of the cell's structural needs are evolving the way that scientists from different specialties work together towards a common goal of potentially reconstructing parts of the body. I'll keep you updated on our work as we go along.

It was therefore exciting to read this latest release from MIT regarding their research in 3-D scaffolds for the growth of stem cells. Researchers Zhang Shu guang and Fabrizio Gelain from Milan have created a scaffold made of protein nanofibers (made of amino acid fragments) which has successfully provided the growth bed for adult stem cells obtained from mice.

A 3-D system would not only better mimic the body's natural environment for the cells and the researchers expect that this aspect would assist in obtaining an accurate picture of how cells grow and behave in the body, but also allow the cells which have engrafted onto the scaffold to be transplanted directly into the body.

More interestingly, scaffolds will allow scientists to try seeding different cell types (such as teeth, bone, skin and other important excreting organs such as liver and pancreas cells) and maybe enable these cells to form the important supporting cell types which enable the organ to function biochemically as well as structurally.


MORE INFO:

If you'd like to know a bit more about Prof. Zhang, click here for his CV and contact details.

If you'd like to know more about the nanofiber scaffolds by Prof. Zhang's group, you can view the MIT presentation here. It would be better to listen to him in a presentation and some of the pictures in the slides are missing but you'll get the general idea.


If you're interested in seeing your own body's scaffolding ability, have a close look at your nails with its multiple layers and if you happen to take some of the skin off your lips- you'll also be able to see the intricate layers of protein which give the sheets its tensile strength and patterns. :)

Part 4: Bangkok Conference on Stem Cell Therapy for the Failing Heart

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Thought I'd share with you how we've decorated the office for the season. After a short break yesterday and a hearty dinner, I'm back to the blog...

Let's plunge right into it, the review of the last talk by a Tv representative. The CEO of Tv, Dr. Valentin Fulga didn't give away too much of the company's information or much on himself, except to review the cases done to date and also that he had some experience with the FDA and planned on getting approvals relatively soon. Much of the information he had was already mentioned in other talks and he used his time to credit them for their participation and active work.

THE QUESTION

I promised an answer to DTR's question and essentially I did pose this question at the very end of the symposium to Dr. Valentin Fulga, the CEO of Tv. Firstly, I commended him on successfully having Tv's stem cell technology effectively marketed the treatment to 180 patients to date. Logistics and coordination in itself is a real feat (flying the patient to Bangkok, flying the cells to Israel and back to Bangkok- wouldn't like to know their costs..), not to mention marketing the concept to doctors, hospitals and the patients from all over America. I noted also that almost all the patients were treated in Thailand, and curiously, none in Israel. I asked him why was this not the case as most lab services are derived out of its own community's requirements initially and then to serve a greater regional need.

THE ANSWER

He sort of woffled on for a few minutes and basically said that they were in the process of doing so but didn't really answer my question. I tried to assist by asking if perhaps it was a political issue in Israel that prevented them from doing any clinical work there; and his answer to that was that if there was a political problem he certainly didn't know about it as he hadn't been there in the last 2 months. Essentially, as Dr. Itescu pointed out to me later, there may similarly be many questions and queries on the validity of the work by Tv posed by Israeli doctors which is why they've taken their work to wherever they can.

I also spoke briefly to the president of their company in Thailand and the Asian region, a young trendy thirtysomething who goes by the name of Jimmy, he eluded to a fairly complex ownership structure of subsidiary companies and I wasn't entirely sure how he ended up in this business.

Anyway, since the cells are autologous and the treatments don't seem to be more risky than standard heart bypass procedures, I wish them well in their business as they may set an interesting price and model to shape how people in the US perceive stem cell therapy... preferably, with a vacation in Amazing Thailand. :)


StemLife also offers stem cell harvesting, processing and therapeutic services with renown Malaysian doctors for patients with heart failure and ischemic heart disease. If you're interested to learn how your stem cells can help your failing heart, please feel free to call us at +603 2163 8800 during office hours or ask your doctor to contact us at info@stemlife.com.


ps. If you missed the other parts of the conference entries, click on the label for "conference"

Multiple Myeloma Stem Cell Transplant for Beth Morgan

A lady by the name of Beth Morgan was reported to be raising funds for the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), her reason for doing so was because she was diagnosed with myeloma and given a 10 year survival rate of 1%.

The only procedure that will help her improve her chances is a stem cell tranplant and she has already undergone the harvesting of her own stem cells for a transplant in the near future.

Interestingly, she believes that her cancer arose from her work in the semiconductor industry for four years, handling radioactive materials. I wonder if others in her workplace have also reported a higher than usual incidence of myeloma. Ms. Morgan went to have her stem cells harvested from her peripheral blood at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and is undergoing chemotherapy to remove most if not all the cancer cells, before the stem cells are transplanted back into her body. Unfortunately, the chemotherapy has affected her nerves, not only leaving her permanently numb in her hands and feet but also affecting her mind.


I really hope her stem cell transplant goes well and that she gets her wish- which is to live to 80.


You can read about Beth's fund raising campaign here.

Part 3: Bangkok Conference on Stem Cell Therapy for the Failing Heart

In this entry, I will briefly discuss the one other Theravitae (Tv from now on) talks from the heart conference. Sorry to stretch out the entries on this particular event, but it is much easier for me to write bite-sized pieces rather than a really long one.



The next speaker from Tv was Don Margolis who is known as one of the founders of the company. I didn't get a chance to speak with him personally nor ask him his background but his speech was a deviation off the scientific road and took on a more political slant. He didn't have any slides but spoke sort of 'off-the-cuff' or maybe just from the heart (no pun intended). He spoke about the policies in the US for stem cell research and lamented slightly about how embryonic stem cells always seems to get much more attention than adult stem cells which he vigorously supports. He cited Tv patients such as Don Ho and how he has benefitted from stem cell therapy, but unfortunately not in the US. He touched lightly on how he started the company, in the search of doing something worthwhile to help sick people all over the world.

Who is Don Margolis?

I didn't see much stirring in the audience. Despite his rousing speech, he was speaking to a group of doctors and scientists who shared similar opinions and have vested interest in stem cells for therapy. Anyway, I searched google for a picture of him but couldn't find any- so I'm posting the one I took here. If anyone reading this has any comments on Tv or its founders, please feel free to post.

Next one up is the CEO of Tv- Dr. Valentin Fulga's talk.

Part 2: Bangkok Conference on Stem Cell Therapy for the Failing Heart

Thanks DTR, for prompting me to write another entry on the heart conference I attended in Bangkok. These next few entries will hopefully answer your questions, which are pretty much my own as well.

As the main sponsor of the conference, alongside Bangkok Heart Hospital, it was Theravitae's aim to showcase their technology and data to impress doctors from all over the world. Notably, the speeches were delivered by three company respresentatives. Namely Yael Porat (who is the chief scientist at Theravitae's lab in Israel), Dr. Valentin Fulga (CEO of Theravitae Ltd in Israel and Bangkok) and one of the founders by the name of Don Margolis.


Review of Theravitae talk by Yael Porat, Neiss Ziona, Israel

Yael Porat's talk was more "technically" based, giving some simple parameters by which they qualified their work. Essentially, they take a bag of blood (250 ml) from a potential heart patient, fly it over to Israel and leave it in Yael Porat's lab. In simple terms, she plates in out into cell culture flasks and lets the cells known as ACP's (angiogenic circulating progenitors) grow in the presence of growth factors such as EGF, VEGF, IGF and b-FGF. She stresses that no animal serum is used, only patient's autologous serum and some heparin (as an anti-coagulating factor).

After growing the cells several rounds in a GMP/ clean room type facility and achieving as much growth as they can without damaging the cell line, Yael resuspends the cells in medium (not sure what medium it is but it looks like serum), packages the cells in syringes and sends it to the hospital in sterile, bubble wrapped pouches and shhipped at 2-8 degrees Celsius. This final product is known as Vescell and is applied to the patient either via angioplasty or by direct intramyocardial injection.

She couldn't give much away in terms of information apart from showing how they labelled the cells and assuring the audience that the lab in Israel was par excellence. Her slides were mostly text based with just one picture of a biosafety cabinet in a clean room and the cells in syringes and a few staining images. The questions which followed her talk mostly pertained to the manipulation of the cells and its logistics. Manipulation* wise, it seemed like pretty standard cell culture techniques without much selection (although without further disclosure from them, I really wouldn't be able to confirm this) but in the US, FDA does not permit the use of any manipulated cells at this time.


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS


Dr. Doris Taylor asked about the logistics of the cells which have to travel from Bangkok to Israel and back, how would the cells be transported and how would they ensure quality without deterioration or even that they remained the same cells during the journey?

PACKAGING:
In a cooler bag with temperature logger throughout journey to ensure the cells are kept between 2-8 degrees C.

CELL IDENTIFICATION:
The answer that Yael gave was that Theravitae would check the cell numbers and their identity prior to shipment, but there would not be any necessary checking at the hospital when the cells arrive. (ie assumption that cells stay the same)

TRANSPORT:
Next flight out policy, and they have already checked how the cells in the collected blood (at the beginning) can still be viably used after 24 hours as Yael used to work on old/ expiring bags of blood obtained from the blood bank. As for bringing the cells back to the hospital, she says that the cells have to be packaged right and be shipped to the site within 24 hours by special courier.

Next was a question by Dr. Sujit Banyatpiyaphod, cardiac surgeon from Bangkok Heart Hospital. He asked if the cells could be frozen down? Reason being that some of the heart patients were in critical condition and if the patient needs to wait another 2-3 days after the cells arrive for the injection procedure, would the cells still be ok to use or can it be kept frozen for application at a later date.

Yael replied with a NO, the cells cannot currently be frozen down although they are trying to work on it. Right now, if the patient is unable to use the cells, then she would prefer if the doctor collected another round of blood and send it over to her again for culturing so that it is prepared fresh.


PRACTICAL & LIMITING CONSIDERATIONS


It seems to me that there are some practical considerations to this sort of cell therapy where time limitations and cell viability all play a sizeable role in the economic costs to patient, planning costs to the doctor and hospital. One thing Yael didn't volunteer, was whether this situation has arisen before and whether there is a company guarantee for another round due to unexpected circumstances.

Even if Theravitae builds a lab in Bangkok and shortens the logistics time, it is clear from this they will still need to overcome the issue of storage or of affordable 2nd time therapies. The way to understand this is to really understand cellular biology- cells are alive, metabolism keeps going and prolonged exposure to a different or manipulated environment has its own way of changing cellular fate. Obtaining fresh blood from the patient may not be difficult, but re-culturing them in time for the procedure (if its urgent) is a present challenge.


I'll be writing about what the CEO said in the next entry- and answering DTR's question posed in the last blog. :)


*Manipulation in this context means the alteration of the cells' environment, or selecting for certain cells in a mixture, or the addition of factors which may induce changes in the cell's composition or identity.

Part 1: Bangkok Conference on Stem Cell Therapy for the Failing Heart

I returned from a heart conference in Bangkok last weekend organized jointly by the Bangkok Heart Hospital and a company providing stem cell therapeutic services in Thailand to American patients known as Theravitae.

There were several interesting presentations, from Thai doctors in academic institutions and also several renowned doctors who were also associated in some form with private enterprises. One of the companies presenting their work was BioHeart. The speaker Kristin Comella gave a talk on how it was their company's belief that Myoblasts (ie muscle stem cells, obtained from the thigh) were the way forward in treating heart disease.

They presented a lot of animal data, which look very convincing, except that the company was asked to stop their trials in the US after several of their patients required the surgical insertion of a pacemaker after the procedure. I admit that their theory sounds attractive, take 10 grams of muscle from the thigh (not that I would want a scar on my thigh), culture the cells and place it in the heart by way of an angioplasty or direct intra-myocardial injection.

Interestingly, Bioheart revealed that they are in the process of manufacturing a machine which separates stem cells from fat. I stood up to ask if it was the same as what Cytori Therapeutics offers and Ms. Comella said YES. I suppose myoblasts from thighs are taking too long to get into commercial application and it would be easier to work with plastic surgeons instead.

I'll review a few other presentations in later entries of the blog as I'm a little tired tonight. Going to catch some sleep... zzz.

Young Blood. Muscle Repair. Count Dracula links Immortality, Youth & Rapid Healing

I came across this very interesting article describing what some Stanford researchers have been working on earlier this year. In an interesting experiment designed to examine aging and stem cell research, the researchers drew blood from young mice and injected them into genetically identical older mice (imagine storing your young blood and injecting it when you're older).

The result was exciting in that the young blood activated stem cells in the old mice's muscles, allowing them to recover from injury much fast than they used to.

"It's not so much about making people live longer," said Dr. Thomas Rando, associate professor of neurology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "But if some older person gets a broken bone or skin wound, maybe we could improve their recovery rate. Maybe there's a chance to enhance the potential of old tissues."

However, the blood supply was over a lengthy period of six weeks and wasn't as straightforward as a simple blood transfusion. But what the researchers also discovered was that there are "youth-inducing" molecules in the young blood that are responsible for switching on stem cell capabilities in old muscles, which will be the next project. Essentially, injecting stem cells alone may not be the only way to get muscles to repair, and it may be a combination of the right growth factors that also help to get the stem cells to work faster or better.

An excerpt from the article:
Rando and his colleagues studied muscle stem cells called satellite cells, which in young mice and humans induce repair when injury strikes. Rando found in previous work that satellite cells exist in older muscle, but they don't respond to a muscle's cry for help after injury. In the new study, the presence of younger blood helped the satellite cells work more like they do in young mice.


According to Dr. Rando, "Many stem-cell applications in people include diseases of old people," he said. "So if the environment of the heart, brain, liver (and) pancreas is less conducive (to healing) than that of a young person, it would be important to know that in advance."

It was thought that Bram Stoker was writing about patients with the genetic condition porphyria, where they are symptomatically anaemic and have hypersensitive skin, making them averse to sunlight (Vampires burning in sunlight- check out the movie Blade for some very cool effects). In the previous centuries, those with these condition thought that drinking blood of others would ensure their survival, and systematically robbed fresh graves seeking their cure. Now, those diagnosed with this condition congenitally may undergo a stem cell transplant for a cure.

But for immortality, Count Dracula recognized that only the young that provided this elixir (hence pursuing Mina). So was Count Dracula after the young blood or the growth factors in young maidens? I suspect that it was probably both.

Count Dracula Blood Quote on Blood and Immortality:
"Blood... Blood... Life... Years of life."

Count Dracula Blood Quote on Blood as a Food:
"We must survive, all of us. The blood of a human for me, a cooked bird for you. Where is the difference?"



If you'd like to contact Dr. Rando, you can find him here.

If you'd like to contact StemLife about storing your youthful blood, you can contact us at (6012) 2050 165. :)