Asymmetrex Awarded Patent for Adult Stem Cell Counting

by Asymmetrex on July 17, 2015

USPTO Issues Patent to Asymmetrex for Technologies for Counting Adult Tissue Stem Cells for the First Time

Today, July 14, the U.S. Patent and Trade Office is scheduled to issue a patent to Asymmetrex, LLC for the stem cell biotechnology company’s new biomarkers that have sufficient specificity to allow adult stem cell counting for the first time. The timing of the USPTO announcement fits well with the company’s current 1 year crowdsourcing campaign designed to engage academic scientists, biotechnologists, tissue bioengineers, and regenerative medicine physicians world-wide in the evaluation of the full range of tissue stem cell counting applications of its lead biomarker called “H2A.Z asymmetry.”

Boston, MA (PRWEB) July 14, 2015

Everyone understands the importance of knowing the dose of medicines. The dose is the amount of a medicine that a patient receives. Not only is the number of pills or the volume taken known, but also the exact amount of the active ingredients in the pills or the liquid medicine, respectively, is known to microgram or microliter accuracy. The same is true of cell medicines like the number of red blood cells or platelets received in blood transfusions. This is where adult stem cell counting comes into play.

But this longstanding principle of knowing dose in medical care, which is used universally to achieve effective and safe treatments, is nowhere to be found in regenerative medicine based on adult tissue stem cell transplantation. No matter whether the treatments are approved (as in the case of cord blood and bone marrow transplant therapies) or experimental (as in the case of hundreds of active regenerative medicine clinical trials), the number of tissue stem cells supplied to patients is unknown. Adult stem cell counting provides a solution for this surprising blind spot in regenerative medicine practice and could improve the quality of approved stem cell treatments and greatly accelerate progress in developing new ones.

Prior to founding Asymmetrex in 2013, the company’s director, James Sherley, led teams of scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston Biomedical Research Institute in research to discover a means to count adult tissue stem cells. Sherley recounts, “We knew that other labs had pretty much exhausted approaches based on isolating highly purified preparations of tissue stem cells for the purpose of looking for stem cell-specific biomarkers.” Because stem cells exist in very low numbers in tissues and are hard to multiply in culture, purified preparations always contain a much larger number of committed progenitor cells that share many features with tissue stem cells. So, the biomarkers found by purification strategies invariably lacked sufficient specificity to distinguish tissue stem cells from committed progenitor cells, which lack the long-term tissue renewal ability of tissue stem cells.

Instead of attempting to isolate tissue stem cells, Sherley’s teams tried a new strategy of isolating cellular processes that are unique to tissue stem cells. Initially, they did not even use tissue stem cells. Sherley engineered abundant stable cell lines to mimic two cellular processes found exclusively in tissue stem cells. By using this strategy the problem of contaminating, confounding stem-like committed progenitor cells was avoided altogether.

Though several members of the new class of biomarkers identified by Sherley’s teams had a greater specific expression in tissue stem cells than earlier biomarkers, initially none seemed to rise to the level of specificity needed for adult stem cell counting. But this first impression was quickly turned on its head with further investigation. Many of the new biomarkers display a “pattern-specific” property that manifests two cellular processes that are exclusive to adult tissue stem cells. These are asymmetric self-renewal and non-random chromosome segregation.

Asymmetric self-renewal is the process by which tissue stem cells are able to renew tissues without losing their stem cell identity; and non-random chromosome segregation is a unique process by which tissue stem cells retain chromosomes with the oldest DNA molecules, which are called immortal DNA strands. Many of the newly patented biomarkers are detected in stem cells before and after they divide asymmetrically to renew themselves while simultaneously producing a committed progenitor cell. But these biomarkers are not detected in the new committed progenitor cell.

The most exciting new biomarkers covered in Asymmetrex’s new patent associate specifically with the immortal strands in asymmetrically self-renewing tissue stem cells. One of them is a DNA coating protein called H2A.Z. Although a widely expressed cell factor, in asymmetrically self-renewing tissue stem cells H2A.Z is only detectable on chromosomes that contain immortal DNA strands. This property gives H2A.Z an asymmetric pattern of detection in tissue stem cells, whereas it appears uniform in other cell types or is undetectable as in new committed progenitor cells.

As a strategy to rapidly evaluate the predicted wide range of applications for the new biomarkers in different organs and tissues of different mammalian species, and human tissues in particular, on April 29, Asymmetrex launched acrowdsourcing campaign to invite investigators worldwide to participate in evaluation of the company’s lead biomarker for counting tissue stem cells, H2A.Z asymmetry. Sherley anticipates that news of the issuance of the new patent (US9081008) for counting adult tissue stem cells will further galvanize this unique community effort. For its crowdsourcing campaign, Asymmetrex was recently recognized as an “Industry Innovator” on the blog post of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. The company plans to present an update on progress with the crowdsourcing campaign at the 8th International Epigenetics, Stem Cells, Sequencing & SNiPs-2015 Meeting from August 24-25 in Boston.

About Asymmetrex

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine by way of adult stem cell counting. Asymmetrex’s founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The company’s patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems – production and quantification – that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells for disease research purposes. Currently, Asymmetrex’s focus is employing its technological advantages to develop facile methods for monitoring adult stem cell number and function in clinically important human tissues.

Asymmetrex Crowdsourcing Campaign Showing Petri Dish.

Asymmetrex Counting Campaign Gains Traction

by Asymmetrex on June 26, 2015

Asymmetrex’s Crowdsourcing Campaign For Evaluating A First Biomarker for Counting Adult Tissue Stem Cells Is Gaining Momentum

On April 29th, the stem cell medicine technology start-up company Asymmetrex, LLC launched an innovative campaign to engage scientists, physicians, and engineers worldwide in testing its new biomarker – “H2A.Z asymmetry” – for detecting and, for the first time, counting adult tissue stem cells. With the increasing momentum of the campaign, Asymmetrex is now targeting particularly motivated types of potential crowd investigators and providing a mechanism for early reporting of findings with the new research tool.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 25, 2015

The fact that adult tissue stem cells cannot be counted has been a longstanding embarrassing whisper in the fields of stem cell biology research and regenerative medicine. It is a disquieting truth. Even in the case of bone marrow transplantation, a now routine stem cell transplantation treatment, the number of stem cells in transplanted therapeutic cell preparations is unknown. The same limitation applies to mammalian tissue stem cell research in general; and it compromises every new regenerative medicine trial based on transplanting tissue stem cell-containing preparations.

Essential determinants for both effective tissue stem cell research and efficacious stem cell transplantation medicine are the number and quality of the involved tissue stem cells. Although both disciplines have made important progress even with this blind spot, their rate of advancement and level of achievement would have been much greater if it had been possible to count tissue stem cells.

The difficulty with counting adult tissue stem cells is well understood. The best available biomarkers for detecting the cells lack sufficient specificity to distinguish them from their much more abundant immediate progeny cells, which are called committed progenitor cells. Although committed progenitor cells contain a large part of the genetic blueprint for constructing tissues and organs, they do not maintain the complete blueprint like their tissue stem cell parents. However, since committed progenitor cells share many other features with tissue stem cells, previous biomarkers have been unable to distinguish tissue stem cells from them, making counting tissue stem cells impractical.

Asymmetrex has developed new biomarkers designed to detect properties of adult tissue stem cells that are not shared with committed progenitor cells. These biomarkers promise to have sufficient specificity to identify and count tissue stem cells for the first time. The most specific of the new biomarkers is H2A.Z asymmetry, which refers to the detection of the histone H2A variant, H2A.Z, on only one half of the chromosomes in tissue-renewing stem cells.

On April 29th, Asymmetrex launched a crowdsourcing campaign to engage cell biologists, regenerative medicine physicians, and tissue engineers worldwide in independent evaluation of H2A.Z asymmetry for detecting and counting their favorite adult tissue stem cells. The technology is universal, being applicable to stem cells in different tissues of different mammalian species, including humans. It would take many years and a prohibitive level of financing for Asymmetrex to demonstrate the projected wide extent of application of its technology. However, a successful crowdsourcing effort could achieve wide acceptance in one to two years.

Since the April 29 launch of the campaign, it has continued to gain momentum. After three waves of announcements via press and social media, greater than 8.6 million potential respondents have been contacted so far. These initial general and targeted efforts resulted in nearly 1000 initial responses. To build on this early interest, the company is now specifically targeting graduate students and post-doctoral trainees in research universities, research institutes, and the biomedical companies. These prospective crowd investigators are predicted to have a higher interest level and greater inclination to try the new research tool.

The company has also added campaign features that allow prospective evaluators to volunteer information on the particular tissue stem cell counting problem they face and their level of enthusiasm for trying H2A.Z asymmetry as a solution. Crowd investigators can also supply information on their unpublished and published findings. Given a sufficient response, Asymmetrex will provide an updated report of submitted findings in an anonymous aggregate format on its website. The new features of the crowdsourcing campaign are scheduled for roll out today, June 25.

Asymmetrex director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., says that he is more excited than apprehensive about the campaign. “Every new social media click, landing page visit, and e-mail query is another thrill for us. I don’t expect it to work in every case. Tissue cell biology is much too complex for that to occur. But I do expect H2A.Z asymmetry to be effective in many cases. In our own limited published and unpublished analyses with mouse and human tissues, we are already batting 4 out of 5. And that is a pretty good predictor for a lot of success.”

About Asymmetrex

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. Asymmetrex’s founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The company’s patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems – production and quantification – that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells for disease research purposes. Currently, Asymmetrex’s focus is employing its technological advantages to develop facile methods for monitoring adult stem cell number and function in clinically important human tissues.

Asymmetrex Launches Campaign to Count Tissue Stem Cells

by Asymmetrex on May 12, 2015

Asymmetrex Launches a Crowdsourcing Campaign to Introduce New Biomarkers for Counting Previously Elusive Tissue Stem Cells

To go directly to the Asymmetrex crowd description page, click here.

Stem cell medicine technology start-up company Asymmetrex, LLC faces the unusual challenge of wishing to evaluate its new biomarker technologies, developed to count tissue stem cells for the first time, in hundreds of different tissues. To meet this challenge, Asymmetrex is launching a crowdsourcing campaign to accelerate the introduction and practice for its first-of-a-kind technologies for detecting and counting tissue stem cells directly.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) April 29, 2015

Generally speaking, tissue stem cells, which are under intense biomedical investigation and are essential for cell transplantation therapies, are elusive. The problem is not that they are invisible or even that they are so scarce in human tissues and organs. The problem is that, so far, it has been impossible to physically distinguish them from other more abundant tissue cells.

The way scientists detect and count particular kinds of cells is by using microscopes and other magnifying instruments to see features, called biomarkers, that are either unique or highly specific to the cells of interest. For example, red blood cells have a combination of size, shape, and bright red color that is not shared by other cells in the body. Employing these red blood cell biomarkers, scientists and physicians have no trouble identifying and counting red blood cells. These capabilities greatly enhance the capacity to conduct red blood cell research, diagnose red blood cell diseases, and treat patients with exact doses of red blood cell transfusions.

Unlike red blood cell biomarkers, the best available physical markers for tissue stem cells are notorious for lacking sufficient specificity to identify the cells. In cell preparations displaying these quasi-markers, often less than 1% of the cells with the markers are actually tissue stem cells. This poor degree of specificity is inadequate for direct identification and counting. So, in fact, the most effective tissue stem cell treatment in current medical practice, bone marrow stem cell transplantation, is performed without knowledge of the exact number of stem cells transplanted. So, even this common stem cell treatment could be improved greatly, if tissue stem cell-specific biomarkers were available.

An important portion of the intellectual property portfolio of Asymmetrex addresses this long-standing unmet need for tissue stem cell biomarkers that can identify and count tissue stem cells. Asymmetrex’s technologies were developed using a different strategy than previous investigators who tried to purify scarce tissue stem cells to investigate them for specific biomarker properties. As for red blood cells, whose noted biomarkers reflect their unique function in the body for carrying oxygen through microscopic blood capillaries, Asymmetrex focused its development of biomarkers on properties responsible for the unique functions of tissue stem cells.

Asymmetrex’s tissue stem cell biomarkers detect the cells’ highly unique cell division and chromosome sorting properties. Since no other cells in the body share these properties, Asymmetrex predicts that its unique class of biomarkers has sufficient specificity to identify and count tissue stem cells in and from many different organs and tissues.

An initial published report from the company that describes its most convenient tissue stem cell biomarker, supports its prediction. The biomarker, called “H2A.Z asymmetry,” which requires contact with only two commercially available antibodies, identified and counted tissue stem cells in several different tissue cell contexts.

Asymmetrex director James Sherley is excited to see H2A.Z asymmetry evaluated widely and as soon as possible. “Quite frankly, the usual approach of waiting to let a new needed technology like this one trickle into general application would be irresponsible. We need to know yesterday how robust H2A.Z asymmetry might be in many hundreds of different human tissues. And if it isn’t going to be very strong, the sooner Asymmetrex finds out…the better.”

Sherley now has the idea that crowdsourcing is the obvious solution to this unusual biotechnology development challenge. So, starting today on April 29, Asymmetrex is launching a social media campaign to encourage a broad audience of cell biologists, stem cell biologists, tissue cell biologists, tissue engineers, physicians, and biotechnologists to evaluate the H2A.Z asymmetry biomarker in their research, development, and clinical studies.

The company is still refining the specific operations of the crowdsourcing effort, which are likely to evolve as the year progresses. For example, in the long run without any direct input from Asymmetrex, reports and publications on the experience with the H2A.Z asymmetry biomarker would alone establish its utility and define its range of tissue applications. However, the company may set up a webpage where early users can post their results and questions as they occur. Although Asymmetrex does not plan to organize such information into a more accessible format, based on the success of this approach, the company does plan to partner with antibody producers, other development partners, and marketing partners to develop its patented tissue stem cell detection and counting technologies for even more widely available commercial kits, protocols, and consulting services.

About Asymmetrex

Stem Cell Specialization Observed in the Brain

by Asymmetrex on April 27, 2015

Stem Cell Specialization Observed in the Brain

“Very cool studies! Smell neurons focused, but highly significant general implications for therapeutic brain research based on tissue stem cell turnover kinetics, cellular and migratory. #StemCellResearch #AdultStemCells ” Asymmetrex – April 27, 2015

Article by Science Daily

Adult stem cells are flexible and can transform themselves into a wide variety of special cell types. Because they are harvested from adult organisms, there are no ethical objections to their use, and they therefore open up major possibilities in biomedicine. For instance, adult stem cells enable the stabilization or even regeneration of damaged tissue. Neural stem cells form a reservoir for nerve cells. Researchers hope to use them to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Tübingen researchers led by Professor Olga Garaschuk of the University of Tübingen’s Institute for Physiology, working with colleagues from Yale University, the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and the Helmholtz Center in Munich, studied the integration of these cells into the pre-existing neural network in the living organism. The results of their study have been published in the latest edition of Nature Communications.

There are only two places in the brains of adult mammals where stem cells can be found — the lateral ventricles and the hippocampus. These stem cells are generating neurons throughout life. The researchers focused on a stem cell zone in the lateral ventricle, from where progenitors of the nerve cells migrate towards the olfactory bulb. The olfactory nerves which start in the nasal tissue run down to this structure, which in mice is located at the frontal base of the brain. It is there that the former stem cells specialized in the task of processing information on smells detected by the nose. “Using the latest methods in microscopy, we were for the first time able to directly monitor functional properties of migrating neural progenitor cells inside the olfactory bulb in mice,” says Olga Garaschuk. The researchers were able to track the cells using special fluorescent markers whose intensity changes according to the cell’s activity.

The study showed that as little as 48 hours after the cells had arrived in the olfactory bulb, around half of them were capable of responding to olfactory stimuli. Even though the neural progenitor cells were still migrating, their sensitivity to odorants and their electrical activity were similar to those of the surrounding, mature neurons. The mature pattern of odor-evoked responses of these cells strongly contrasted with their molecular phenotype which was typical of immature, migrating neuroblasts. “Our data reveal a remarkably rapid functional integration of adult-born cells into the pre-existing neural network,” says Garaschuk, “and they show that sensory-driven activity is in a position to orchestrate their migration and differentiation as well as their decision of when and where to integrate.”

3D Models for Toxicological Research | Asymmetrex

by Asymmetrex on April 22, 2015

Asymmetrex Interviewed in Anticipation of Presentations at the 14th Annual World Preclinical Congress Focused on Tackling Translation Challenges

In a recent interview, Asymmetrex, LLC founder and director James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. talks about the company’s upcoming participation in forums to address “3D Models for Toxicological Research” at the 14th Annual World Preclinical Congress, scheduled from June 10-12 in Boston. Director Sherley relates how Asymmetrex’s unique approach to developing tissue stem cell technologies for drug development and stem cell medicine is the culmination of research that spans more than 20 years at three renowned research institutions.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) April 22, 2015 For Immediate Release

James Sherley, the head of stem cell technology company Asymmetrex, often wonders how and why such a fundamental property of adult tissue stem cells has been overlooked by so many for so long. Since mid 2014, he has been on a campaign, speaking at several national and international academic and industrial conferences, to revive the presently overlooked importance of asymmetric self-renewal in stem cell science and stem cell medicine. Sherley says that, “Asymmetric self-renewal is the gnomonic for adult tissue stem cells. It is the property that names them.” So, for Sherley, it follows that if asymmetric self-renewal does not maintain a role as the guiding principle of regenerative medicine, this exciting emerging field will continue to under achieve.

In June, Sherley will talk with other participants at the14th Annual World Preclinical Congress about the current absence of consideration of asymmetric self-renewal in the design of tissue-engineered systems in development for drug evaluations by the pharmaceutical industry. In a recent interview with An-Dinh Nguyen, Associate Producer for the congress, Sherley provides a brief primer on asymmetric self-renewal and why it is an important principle overlooked in tissue engineering. He also shares a brief history of the research on asymmetric self-renewal that is the foundation for Asymmetrex’s business.

Asymmetric self-renewal means that adult tissue stem cells can actively multiply with simultaneous reproduction of themselves and production of new mature tissue cells. This ability allows tissue stem cells to replenish old mature cells, which are continuously lost from tissues and organs, but not lose their own stem cell blueprint required for tissue and organ renewal and repair.

Asymmetric self-renewal by tissue stem cells is an essential consideration for all aspects of the cells’ study and use. Sherley cautions that overlooking this property of tissue stem cells may be holding back progress in regenerative medicine. Asymmetrex has shown that asymmetric self-renewal is an important factor that limits the production of tissue stem cells. But it is also so unique to tissue stem cells, that it can be used to identify them, which is a long-standing unmet need in tissue stem cell research and medicine. Asymmetrex’s patented technologies for producing, identifying, and counting adult tissue stem cells for research and clinical development are grounded in the company’s special research and bioengineering expertise for tissue stem cell asymmetric self-renewal.

In his planned presentation at the conference in June, Sherley will focus on the company’s newest technology developed with computer-simulation leader, AlphaSTAR Corporation. In partnership, the two companies have created a first-of-its-kind method for monitoring adult tissue stem cell number and function for any human tissue that can be cultured. This advance is the basis for the two companies’ “AlphaSTEM” technology for detecting adult tissue stem cell-toxic drug candidates before conventional preclinical testing in animals or in clinical trials. Asymmetrex and AlphaSTAR are marketing the new technology to pharmaceutical companies. AlphaSTEM technology is projected to accelerate drug development, reduce its cost, and improve drug safety. With widespread use, AlphaSTEM could reduce U.S. drug development costs by $4-5 billion each year.

Asymmetrex and AlphaSTAR are now accepting pharmaceutical companies as early adopters of their new AlphaSTEM technology. Their key advantage responsible for the new technology is Asymmetrex’s expertise in the asymmetric self-renewal of adult tissue stem cells.

About Asymmetrex

brain adult stem cell research alzheimers

Boosting A Natural Protection Against Alzheimer’s

by Asymmetrex on April 9, 2015

Boosting A Natural Protection Against Alzheimer’s – Combining investigational therapy with gene variant may reduce dangers from debilitating brain plaques.

“Now this is playing iPSC technology to its strength; but vigilance is still in order to make sure gene mutations and epigenetic changes are not responsible for the observations.” Asymmetrex – April 9, 2015

UC San Diego Christina Johnson and Scott LaFee

Combining investigational therapy with gene variant may reduce dangers from debilitating brain plaques. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a gene variant that may be used to predict people most likely to respond to an investigational therapy under development for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study, published March 12 in Cell Stem Cell, is based on experiments with cultured neurons derived from adult stem cells.

“Our results suggest that certain gene variants allow us to reduce the amount of beta amyloid produced by neurons,” said senior author Lawrence Goldstein, PhD, director of UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center and UC San Diego Stem Cell Program. “This is potentially significant for slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.” AD is the most common cause of dementia in the United States, afflicting one in nine people age 65 and older.

The genetic risk factor investigated are variants of the SORL1 gene. The gene codes for a protein that affects the processing and subsequent accumulation of beta amyloid peptides, small bits of sticky protein that build up in the spaces between neurons. These plaques are linked to neuronal death and related dementia.

Previous studies have shown that certain variants of the SORL1 gene confer some protection from AD, while other variants are associated with about a 30 percent higher likelihood of developing the disease. Approximately one-third of the U.S. adult population is believed to carry the non-protective gene variants.

The study’s primary finding is that variants in the SORL1 gene may also be associated with how neurons respond to a natural compound in the brain that normally acts to protect nerve cell health. The protective compound, called BDNF, short for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, is currently being investigated as a potential therapy for a number of neurological diseases, including AD, because of its role in promoting neuronal survival.

For the study, UC San Diego researchers took skin cells from 13 people, seven of whom had AD and six of whom were healthy control subjects, and reprogrammed the skin cells into stem cells. These stem cells were coaxed to differentiate into neurons, and the neurons were cultured and then treated with BDNF.

The experiments revealed that neurons that carried disease-protective SORL1 variants responded to the therapy by reducing their baseline rate of beta amyloid peptide production by, on average, 20 percent. In contrast, the neurons carrying the risk variants of the gene, showed no change in baseline beta amyloid production.

“BDNF is found in everyone’s brain,” said first author Jessica Young, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Goldstein laboratory. “What we found is that if you add more BDNF to neurons that carry a genetic risk factor for the disease, the neurons don’t respond. Those with the protective genetic profile do.”

“The value of this kind of stem cell study is that it lets us probe the uniquely human aspects of disease and identify how a person’s DNA might determine their drug response, in this case to a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s,” Young said. “Future clinical trials on BDNF should consider stratifying patients based on their SORL1 risk factor and likelihood of benefiting from the therapy.”

Co-authors include Jonathan Boulanger-Weill, Daniel A. Williams, Grace Woodruff, Floyd Buen, Arra C. Revilla, Cheryl Herrera, Mason A. Israel, Shauna H. Yuan, and Steven D. Edland, all at UC San Diego.

Funding for the study was provided, in part, by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, A.P. Gianinni Foundation for Medical Research, BrightFocus Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (grant 2P50AG005131-31).

Asymmetrex At 5th World Congress on Stem Cell Research

by Asymmetrex on March 24, 2015

Asymmetrex Opens Up 5th World Congress on Cell and Stem Cell Research in Chicago with a Focus on Its New Technologies for Stem Cell Medical Engineering

The 5th World Congress on Cell and Stem Cell Research in Chicago was opened yesterday by two presentations from Boston stem cell biotechnology start-up company Asymmetrex. The company’s director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., set the stage for the first day of talks that were focused on stem cell medical engineering.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 24, 2015

The opening keynote address presented by Asymmetrex, LLC to an assembled audience of about 100 international experts in stem cell science, medicine, and engineering challenged attendees to consider whether the past 10 years of rapid growth of heterologous stem cell transplantation trials was the best path to achieving effective regenerative medicines. Among the participants there were a number of clinical and industry experts who pursued heterologous stem cell treatments. To a large extent, heterologous stem cell transplantation treatments involve evaluating bone marrow-derived or fat-derived cells as possible therapies for illnesses and disorders in other organs and tissues. Sherley suggested that such clinical trials were motivated primarily by the easier access and greater availability of these types of cell preparations instead of good biological rationale. This intentional provocation got the conference off to energetic discussion that continued throughout the day.

As the co-chair of the conference’s first-day’s focus on stem cell medical engineering, Sherley shared with attendees Asymmetrex’s essential technological basis, which is the asymmetric self-renewal of adult tissue stem cells. Sherley related how all Asymmetrex’s innovative technologies for advancing stem cell medicine were derivative of the company’s superior research position on asymmetric self-renewal, which is the unique property of adult tissue stem cells that defines their function in the body. Adult tissue stem cells multiply to continuously replenish expired mature tissue cells without losing their own stem cell identity. Because embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells do not have asymmetric self-renewal, they are incapable of providing lasting cellular therapies.

Sherley described how each of Asymmetrex’s patented technologies for stem cell medicine was based on asymmetric self-renewal. Asymmetrex holds patents for the only method described for routine production of natural human tissue stem cells that retain their normal function. The company also holds patents for biomarkers that can be used to count tissue stem cells for the first time. The company’s most recently developed technology was invented with computer-simulation leader, AlphaSTAR Corporation. In partnership, the two companies created a first-of-its-kind method for monitoring adult tissue stem cell number and function for any human tissue that can be cultured. This advance is the basis for the two companies’ AlphaSTEM technology for detecting adult tissue stem cell-toxic drug candidates before conventional preclinical testing in animals or clinical trials. Asymmetrex and AlphaSTAR plan to market the new technology to pharmaceutical companies. The implementation of AlphaSTEM technology would accelerate drug development and reduce adverse drug events for volunteers and patients. At full capacity use, AlphaSTEM could reduce U.S. drug development costs by $4-5 billion each year.

About Asymmetrex (http://asymmetrex.com/)

Asymmetrex To Present At Chicago Stem Cell Conference

by Asymmetrex on March 18, 2015

Boston Stem Cell Biotech Start-up Asymmetrex Will Present Essential Technologies for Stem Cell Medical Engineering at Chicago Stem Cell Research Conference

At the upcoming 5th World Congress on Cell and Stem Cell Research, taking place in Chicago next week (March 23-25), Asymmetrex, LLC will lead the symposium on Stem Cell Medical Engineering. The company’s director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., will also open the congress with a keynote address on factors that currently drive developments in regenerative medicine.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 18, 2015

In the vast flow of new scientific research, discoveries, and information, it is not uncommon for important scientific advances to go unappreciated, or even just unnoticed, for surprisingly long periods of time. The Boston stem cell medicine technology start-up company, Asymmetrex is working to make sure that its growing portfolio of adult tissue stem cell technology patents obtains wide notice, appreciation, and investment.

In late 2014, the company started a digital media campaign to achieve greater visibility for its patented technologies that address the major barriers to greater progress in stem cell medicine. These include technologies for identifying, counting, and mass-producing adult tissue stem cells. The two presentations scheduled for the 5th World Congress on Cell and Stem Cell Research in Chicago continue Asymmetrex’s efforts to better inform medical, research, and industrial communities focused on advancing stem cell medicine of the company’s vision for implementation of its unique technologies.

Asymmetrex holds patents for the only method described for routine production of natural human tissue stem cells that retain their normal function. The company also holds patents for biomarkers that can be used to count tissue stem cells for the first time. The company’s most recently developed technology was invented with computer-simulation leader, AlphaSTAR Corporation. In partnership, the two companies created a first-of-its-kind method for monitoring adult tissue stem cell number and function for any human tissue that can be cultured. This advance is the basis for the two companies’ AlphaSTEM technology for detecting adult tissue stem cell-toxic drug candidates before conventional preclinical testing in animals or clinical trials. Asymmetrex and AlphaSTAR plan to market the new technology to pharmaceutical companies. The implementation of AlphaSTEM technology would accelerate drug development and reduce adverse drug events for volunteers and patients. At full capacity use, AlphaSTEM could reduce U.S. drug development costs by $4-5 billion each year.

About Asymmetrex (http://asymmetrex.com/)

Immortal Strands | Stem Cell Medicine

by Asymmetrex on March 12, 2015

Immortal Strands- Still Alive and Well

Another arrow aimed at the heart of Cairns’ immortal strand “hypothesis” is a coming soon attraction in the journal Stem Cell Research. Such reports are of interest to Asymmetrex, because the company’s most specific adult tissue stem cell biomarkers are based on immortal strands. While other reports that have argued against the existence of immortal strands in adult tissue stem cells, this newest one is by far the weakest. The authors base their conclusions on gene mutation fractions determined by next generation sequencing of tumors, which is their specialty. This experimental design itself should give pause to everyone. The authors’ association between the age of tumor diagnosis and the number of tumor gene mutations may have nothing to do with normal tissue stem cell functions. It is telling that the authors have not reported direct sequencing of stem cell-enriched tissue cell preparations from individuals of different age. Certainly, this approach would be better than extrapolating to normal cells from genetically distant complicated tumors. The authors also make the error of estimating the number of cell mutations that accrue per cell generation without multiplying the DNA mutation rate (est. 10^-10) by the number of DNA bases per cell (est. 6 x 10⁹). If their method were otherwise working, this error alone could explain their findings. Even forgiving their errors of design and computation, the authors commit a greater scientific trespass by wielding their new model for interrogating tissue stem cell mutation rates as if it were proven, when in fact it is likely to be anything but.

Undermining Stem Cell Medicine

by Asymmetrex on March 2, 2015

Because of the imperfect nature of biomedical research, even outstanding scientists may make problematic recommendations for public science policy. Preeminent stem cell biologist Dr. Mahendra Rao is promoting cost-effective strategies for establishing public banks of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Dr. Rao presented his iPSC bank concept for drug development applications in a recent lecture at the 2014 World Stem Cell Summit; and in a recent report he recommended strategies for developing banked iPSCs for cell therapies. The main motivation given for these banks is the prospect of using iPSCs in drug development and cell therapy – applications, which even Dr. Rao acknowledges face major biological roadblocks. Because of the now routine quality of iPSC production, Dr. Rao argues that we should invest in public banks that would integrate distributed resources to produce more and better cells in less time. However, he minimizes the inherent mutation and immature development problems of iPSCs, and he does not address their inability to renew human organs and tissues like adult stem cells. Pouring money into iPSCs would certainly not be wasted, but misappropriating what can be achieved with them undermines efforts with adult stem cells, which can actually advance stem cell medicine.