ISCT Acquires New Journal to Merge with Cytotherapy; Cytotherapy Now Incorporates Cytokines, Cellular and Molecular Therapy.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Last year, negotiations between the owners and editors of Cytotherapy and Cytokines, Cellular and Molecular Therapy (CCMT) culminated in an agreement to merge the two publications. The International Society of Cellular Therapy (ISCT) is pleased to have acquired CCMT and merge it with its own journal, Cytotherapy. The merger was facilitated by the fact that Taylor and Francis is the publishing house for both journals. As indicated on new journal cover rolled out with Cytotherapy volume 7.1, 2005, Cytotherapy (www.tandf.no/cytotherapy) now incorporates Cytokines, Cellular and Molecular Therapy (CCMT).

"Over a year ago, when the possibility of merging arose, I visited David Goldie the Journal's senior editor and Jedd Wolchok the co-editor at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York with as much trepidation as one might feel before committing to a prenuptial agreement," says Cytotherapy Editor-in-Chief, Dr. John Barrett, of the NIH. "David's pragmatic and easy approach to the whole issue was breathtakingly refreshing. Halfway through my carefully balanced assessment of the pros and cons of merger for each journal David interrupted me saying "OK, lets do it". It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have to write that his untimely death has deprived us of his expert guidance, intellectual strength, and friendship in this new endeavor."

ISCT is pleased to announce that as part of the merger, Dr. Jedd Wolchok, former Co-Editor of CCMT, has agreed to join the Cytotherapy team and it is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that he is welcomed as Cytotherapy Co-Editor.

The reasons for merging are betrayed by the evident overlap in the titles of Cytotherapy and CCMT, which are testimonies to common areas of interest in a growing field. However, there are differences. CCMT was typified by its high quality reviews and novel original papers in areas not touched upon previously by Cytotherapy, including the use of cytokines, vaccines and gene therapy. These new strengths and specifically, the expertise in the field of vaccine research that Jedd Wolchok brings will significantly widen the scope and improve the quality of Cytotherapy.

"In an era when there are so many new medical journals published every year," summarizes Dr. Barrett, "we think this merger makes some contribution to rationalizing what seems to be an overabundance of medical scientific publications."

As in the past, Cytotherapy seeks to move in step with the exponential growth of translational research. As a celebration of the diversity that Cytotherapy now embodies, the first issue of the combined journals incorporates a series of reviews from world-class experts in fields as diverse as stem cell research, vaccines, marrow transplantation and immunotherapy, which amply illustrate its widening scope.

Cytotherapy is an international journal encompassing important new therapies emerging from the manipulation of cytokines and cells, as well as bringing readers the very latest developments news and opinion in the fast-moving field of vaccines, cytokine and cellular therapy. A particular emphasis is on the translation of research from the laboratory into clinical practice. The journal's scope includes research in: stem cell processing and transplantation, cancer, stem cell plasticity, autoimmune diseases, immunotherapy, congenital disorders, novel molecular therapies, gene therapy, and cell-based therapies of malignant and non-malignant blood diseases.