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 (https://asymmetrex.com/)
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.
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