Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a new stem cell technology to aid in the better and faster healing of complicated bone fractures. This technology, which involves the isolation of stem cells from the bone marrow, has been already used successfully in the treatment of severe fractures in seven patients at the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem.
Up to today, the standard treatment in clinical orthopedics for serious bone loss has encompassed basically two options: amputation or long periods of disability. Equally, prosthetic implants have proven inefficient in the long term. When there is too much loss of bone, the fracture may not heal, and this is the case of more than a million people per year, just in the United States.
In the last years, there have been promising advances for biological therapy to treat complicated fractures and skeleton disorders, specifically by using mesenchymal or multipotent stem cells (MSC’s), which can differentiate between various cell types. These cells are unique adult stem cells that can be rapidly isolated from various places in the body, mainly bone marrow and fat tissues, and used to repair different injured tissues like bone, cartilage, tendons, intervertebral discs, and even heart muscle.
The way in which MSC isolation is normally conducted is lengthy, expensive, and also harmful to the healing quality of the cells, because it requires long periods of growth inside incubators. It was urgent to find a way that would allow for the immediate use of stem cells; the regenerative medicine field was begging for one, and the Hebrew University heard them.
The technology this group developed is called immuno-isolation. Basically, MSC’s are sorted out in a bone marrow sample by using a specific antibody. It was proven that this technique made it possible to immediately use the cells to create new bone tissue in lab animals. After this discovery, several scientists from different interested parties joined forces to establish a clinical-grade protocol for the use of immuno-isolated MSC’s.
The head of orthopedics at Hadassah University Hospital, the Good Manufacturing Practice facility at Hadassah, and the Gazit group at the Faculty of Dental Medicine, conducted a clinical trial in order to establish the foundation for the use of immuno-isolated MSC’s in orthopedic surgery.
Seven patients have benefited so far from the treatment of combining their own immuno-isolated MSC’s and blood products. The procedure lasted a few hours and didn’t require the growing of cells in a lab.
This success is expected to touch other skeleton injuries, like degenerated intervertebral disks and torn tendons. It is expected that this treatment will help tackle morbidity in patients with skeletal fractures and diseases, and will help re-establish function and quality of life for many people.
In hopes of making this technology available to many more, the university has licensed the immuno-isolation technology to TheraCell Inc. in California since July 2009. This organization will develop and commercialize this technology thoroughly for advanced regenerative medical purposes, like spinal fusion.
The mission of life sciences consulting firms is to help pharmaceutical companies land opportunities like this one, where they are able to change lives for the better, showing care and respect for patients in need, while staying at the head of innovation.
Archive for the Category ◊ university of technology ◊
Do you wish to study in UK? Are you on a lookout for UK based colleges specializing in business, IT or English study programs? Why not try CTL, College of Technology London. This college which is counted amongst one of the most influential private institutions of UK has some unique characteristics. As a matter of fact, it is this unique characteristic that makes CTL one of the most sought after colleges of UK. There are not many private UK colleges that award full fledged university degrees to their students. However, CTL is an exception.
The college works in close association with University of Wales Lampeter and Learning & Skills Council. A student enrolling in one of the courses available at CTL would be entitled to a full fledged university degree which is a rare thing to be found in UK where mostly all the universities are state funded. Also, another interesting fact about CTL is that it provides graduation in a much lesser time. Normally, it takes 3 years to complete your undergrad degree program. But in CTL one can finish it up within a matter of 2 years! Thus, you get to save a whole year’s worth of tuition fees.
Coming back to CTL’s location. Well the college is located in the beautiful triangle position in London. On west- there is London city, on south –there are London docklands and on north east- there is Stratford which is incidentally also the location for 2010 Olympics. Living in such a beautiful campus would be an experience in itself! The accommodation is well taken care of by the CTL itself. A student can choose from
Self catering flats Twin sharing flats and private rooms
The college is famous for its excellent business prgrammes, IT courses and academic English study programs. Following are key facts and stats of CTL
Student population-20,000-24,999
Total staff-more than 5,000
Facilities- Spacious classrooms equipped with all the modern day gadgets, wi-fi enabled computer labs, libraries & reading rooms, cafes, student centers , international student support groups [student loans and grants assistance, health and medical insurance, airport pick and drop, post collection and student services intranet].
All in all CTL College looks like a very promising option!
Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised an additional 10,000 university places in England in 2009, for students wishing to study maths, science, technology and engineering. With student applications up by 50,000 on last year before the government’s recent announcement, finding the physical space within classrooms, laboratories and lecture theatres to accommodate the additional courses is likely to be a headache for many facilities managers.
Further education colleges face similar problems with student numbers increasing as young people make the decision to continue in education, largely due to the very limited employment opportunities in this recessionary period. Colleges however, may face potentially greater issues, with only 13 of the planned 180 rebuilding and renewal projects being given provisional approval due to lack of funding. With the current trend of increasing student numbers looking set to continue, there also is a strong possibility that the current mix of available space will be unable to fulfil the needs of the future.
Finding That Elusive Space The Mosaic Way
Mosaic (EU) Limited, trading under the name of Mosaic Space UK, was incorporated in the United Kingdom in 2007 specifically to address the problems of planning, optimisation, systems implementation and data analysis in education estates management. The UK launch of the company’s RUIS software (Room Utilisation Information System) in September 2009, provides facilities managers within educational establishments with a simple, yet highly effective method of analysing, planning and forecasting space utilisation.
Mosaic’s RUIS software provides room utilisation analysis and reporting, space planning tools, timetable usage spread analysis and learning environments modelling. The system can operate in a number of modes either as a stand-alone module, on an intranet or on the internet. Using data which can be imported from popular timetabling packages such as Syllabus Plus and CELCAT, the system can set room utilisation targets for room frequency (RFF), seat occupancy (SOF), utilisation, area per seat, maximum hours per week and maximum load per event. The software also supports multiple utilisation targets, allowing planning across a number of discrete areas to be targeted at the same time.
RUIS also incorporates a powerful filtering wizard, allowing space managers to filter data by campus, building, room type and room with other filtering options available for week range, days, start & end times, room size and event size. Comprehensive utilisation reports and charts provide an at-a-glance view of actual utilisation, required rooms and timetable usage profile to name but a few. Comparison reports can also be generated to view utilisation between multiple planning periods, compare one year or term with another and room audit results with timetable bookings.
Striking examples of effective space and utilisation planning using RUIS software includes one Australian University, where a planned 16 classroom extension was reduced to just 12 new rooms, following an evaluation using RUIS. The resultant saving, in the order of AUS$17,000,000 was split between the purchase of leading edge technology and equipment for the University and making some of the new space flexible in the way in which it could be used. This benefited both the University and local community, as the room could serve as a 300 seat lecture theatre and could be converted to a flat floor conference or event venue as required..
A second facility evaluating the need for additional classrooms found that not only did they already have enough space, they actually had space to spare which was then rented out to a local college, generating additional revenues for the University in question.
The trend for numbers of people in higher and further education looks set to continue to rise, based upon the current governments target of 50% of young people experiencing higher education. This, together with the realistic possibility of cuts in public spending in the coming years, means that Mosaic UK and the company’s RUIS software look likely to be in demand.
The Directors of Mosaic Space UK are available to discuss:
• How universities can reduce the need for additional building development through effective use of spatial planning and timetabling
• How universities can in fact generate revenues by renting out additional space which has become available through effective spatial planning
• How universities can create flexible-use facilities on campus to offer significant benefits to both the university, the local community, staff and students
• A case study where having used the services of Mosaic and their RUIS space utilisation analysis software, one university in Australia was able to secure savings of AUS $17,000,000, which could then be spent on cutting edge technology and equipment for learning.
For more information visit the RUIS webpage: http://www.mosaicsd.com/ruis.htm