A group known as The Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine (CSCRM), which is comprised of Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve university, University Hospitals, and Athersys Inc., has been awarded a $5 million grant from Ohio's Third Frontier Commission under the Research Commercialization program. This funding will help to support new and innovative stem cell technologies, and will include two commercial, for emerging, and three pilot projects. Each of the projects will match the funding, creating a $10 million grant to benefit stem cell and regenerative medicine within the state of Ohio.

These research efforts will result in efficient clinical applications, as well as the commercialization of stem cells to benefit patients located throughout Ohio. Thus far, these kinds of efforts have brought in $170 million in new commercial development and investment in the state.

Current healthcare is limited to using drugs or devices to treat disease and injury. Stem cell research such as that which is being done by CSCRM could change the way disease and injury are treated, as they are uniquely positioned to rapidly implement new stem cell technologies in both the commercial and therapeutic areas.

Photo: The University College Hospital in London where the child was born.

The first known child to have been screened as an embryo for the BRCA-1 gene, the gene which often causes breast and ovarian cancer, was born this week in Great Britain. A spokesman for the University College London told media that the girl was screened through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, a process that tests a group of embryos created through in vitro fertilization when each contains eight cells.

The cells are tested, and only those which are free of the BRCA-1 gene are returned to the mother's womb.

Around the world, doctors already test for genes causing an array of diseases including Huntington's Disease and Cystic Fibrosis, but this is the first time that a child has been known to have been tested for a gene that is only likely to cause disease.

Those with the BRCA-1 Gene have a 50 to 80 percent chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer in their lifetime. The UK media is calling the child the "cancer-free" girl, which is inaccurate. The girl could still develop a non-genetic form of either breast or ovarian cancer.

Shuvo Roy, Ph.D., a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, has been awarded a $3.2 million, three-year grant today by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering which will be used to develop a bio-artificial kidney that can be used instead of dialysis.

Dr. Roy and his team of researchers are currently using MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology to create an implantable, self-regulating bio-artificial kidney which will be able to filter toxins and absorb necessary salts and water like human kidneys.

Included on the team that is developing this bio-artificial kidney are physicians and engineers from the Lerner Research Insitute's Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Nephrology.

Martin Schreiber, M.D., Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, said that the grant willhelp to further one of the Cleveland Clinics key missions:

"This award fulfills the first step in developing innovative technology platforms which offer new hope for extending survival in patients with kidney failure,” he said. “Innovation is one of the hallmarks of the Cleveland Clinic and this project continues that tradition.”

Lung cancer takes the lives of more Americans each year than any other cancer, and while we know that smokers and ex-smokers are at the greatest risk of developing lung cancer, it's not often detected in early, more curable stages. But now it looks like there is some good news coming out of Gaithsburg, Maryland where researchers at Panacea Pharmaceuticals claim that they have found that 99 percent of patients with all stages of lung cancer have detectable levels of a particular protein in their blood that is not present in healthy individuals.

Such a discovery could revolutionize the detection and early treatment of lung cancer, and as more cases are caught early on, the more likely patients are to survive. Panacea reported these encouraging preliminary results this week at an American Association for Cancer Research conference.

Panacea is working toward federal approval that would allow them to market the blood test for high-risk patients.

David Carbone, director of Vanderbilt University's Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's research program in lung cancer, says:

"Lung cancer is the only major cancer with no approved screening procedure."