ADVISORY/Experts Available to Discuss Easing Restrictions on Stem Cell Research.

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ADVISORY...

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TOPIC: Some U.S. lawmakers believe America is falling behind in stem cell research due to the restrictions imposed by the Bush administration, according to an article by The Associated Press. Stem cells are generally extracted from human embryos, which has resulted in ethical debates. Scientists hope stem cells can be used in the future to repair organ damage and treat diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Currently, all of the stem cell lines that are available for research contain mouse feeder cells, which limit their use in treating humans.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

Dr. Denis Rodgerson, of Neostem, can share his expertise regarding adult stem cell banking and regenerative medicine. He has more than 36 years' experience managing large tertiary care and reference clinical laboratories. Rodgerson previously was founder and COO of StemCyte, Inc. of Arcadia, where he helped the company become the nation's second largest umbilical cord stem cell bank, with multinational collection centers. To most of the American public, the stem cell debate is frozen in time, with the government's decision to limit research to a specified number of embryonic stem cell lines. The discussion that so transfixed the nation in 2001 has become arcane once again, receding to the pages of academic journals and the halls of research institutions. But while the debate has ebbed, the value and utility of stem cells as therapeutic agents, not as pawns in a research tug-of-war have never been greater. Where therapy is concerned, the issue still remains the source of the stem cells, but it has become very much a good news story, with nary a villain or moral issue in sight. These adult stem cells are appropriate for therapy, not for research. The promise of storing one's own adult stem cells for later use is the mission of NeoStem, a new Agoura Hills company that is pioneering the world's first adult stem cell bank. The potential for adult stem cell banking boils down to this: we're all walking around with an effective treatment inside our own bodies for diseases we don't yet have and banking one's own stem cells promises to unlock that treatment. PR Contact: Ken Greenberg, 818-719-9292, [e-mail]

Dennis Steindler is an expert on adult stem cells who specializes in regenerative medicine, research on adult neural stem cells and their use in testing and treating neurological disease. He has been studying brain injury and repair for almost 30 years. He is a member of the University of Florida's world-renowned multidisciplinary Program in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He also is a professor of neuroscience and neurosurgery at the UF College of Medicine, and is affiliated with UF's McKnight Brain Institute and the UF Shands Cancer Center. The major research goal of Steindler's research is to see the use of stem cell therapy become a major treatment for debilitating neurological diseases. He and his team have been working for 25 years on plasticity and regeneration of the injured adult human brain, and current adult stem cell studies in their lab focus on the use of our own indigenous populations of stem cells in the adult brain to participate in self-repair following neurological disease or injury. There is widespread interest in the use of stem cells for cell replacement therapies in human neurological disease; however, we have only begun to appreciate the cell and molecular biology of these cells, which hold great promise for transplantation or other therapeutics relying on the potential use of our own persistent stem/progenitor cell population in autologous repair paradigms. 352-294-0074, [e-mail]

Dr. Ann Tsukomoto is a pioneer in the field of stem cell discovery and development who combines research scientific credentials and clinical management experience. She joined Stem Cells Inc. in 1998. As vie president of scientific operations, she is responsible for oversight and coordination of all resources related to stem and progenitor cell research. Prior to her role at StemCells, Dr. Tsukomoto was at Systemix, Inc. for nine years where she was co-discoverer of the human hemotopoietic stem cell and co-inventor on the patent. In addition, she transitioned from basic stem cell research to help launch the Company's clinical development program for the hematopoietic stem cell. Dr. Tsukomoto received her Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. PR Contact: Janet Vasquez, 212-825-3210, [e-mail]

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