Source: BIO NANO INSIDER Newsletter - Published by the Italian Trade Commission of Los Angeles
Contact: losangeles@losangeles.ice.it

Rome-based NewCorTec SpA announced earlier this year the first implantation of its BestBeat® Ventricular Assist Device (VAD). The artificial heart developed at Italy’s National Research Center (CNR) and manufactured by NewCorTec was used to treat a 68 year-old German patient at the Cardiosurgical Center of University of Bochum. Research on the device is also underway at centers in France and Italy.

Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine; Director, Center of Biotechnology, Temple University's College of Science and Technology; and President and Chairman of the Board, Sbarro Health Research Organization. Dr. Giordano has been an internationally recognized researcher specializing in the genetics of cancer and gene therapy for 20 years.

At 26, while a post-doctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, Dr. Giordano discovered the protein p60, later named cyclin A, a substance that regulates growth in the cell cycle. At Temple University, he discovered Rb2/p130, a tumor suppressor gene which has since been found to be active in lung, endometrial, brain, breast, liver and ovarian cancers, and CDK9 and CDK10, guardians of the human genome. Research has subsequently shown that CDK9 plays a critical role in cell differentiation, particularly in muscles; HIV transcription; and the inception of tumors.

Human adult stem cells isolated from human adult blood vessels are able to regenerate muscle in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy, according to a study published online in Nature Cell Biology.

The lure of a cure for muscle-wasting diseases has lead researchers to explore the regeneration potential of stem cells isolated from the walls of blood vessels. In a recent Nature paper Giulio Cossu and colleagues showed that such cells isolated from young golden retrievers regenerated the muscles of dystrophic dogs when injected into their circulation. A new study by the same team demonstrates that cells with similar properties can be isolated from human juvenile and adult blood vessels.

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor

Florence, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Italian scientists have made advances in adult stem cell research that may provide new hope for patients suffering from liver or kidney diseases. The research team has identified kidney stem cells that helped kidneys repair themselves and the discovery could lead to new treatments.

A team led by top immunologist Sergio Romagnani said the new kidney cells appear to be able to turn into an array of other cells in the body.

"Chronic renal diseases and terminal renal insufficiency are viewed as the medical emergency of the new century," Romagnani told a press conference, according to the ANSA Italian news agency.

He said the team found that the adult stem cells repaired kidney damage in the mice used in the study. That's important because current treatments merely slow the disease but don't repair damage it causes.