Mandate for Public Access to NIH-Funded Research Poised to Become Law

Another interesting find today, although the story is a couple weeks old.

In essence, the story says that under a mandatory policy, NIH-funded researchers will be required to deposit copies of eligible manuscripts into the National Library of Medicine’s online database, PubMed Central. Articles will be made publicly available no later than 12 months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

“American businesses will benefit tremendously from improved access to NIH research,” said William Kovacs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs. “The Chamber encourages the free and timely dissemination of scientific knowledge produced by the NIH as it will improve both the public and industry’s ability to become better informed on developments that impact them – and on opportunities for innovation.”

Like I said, interesting and may potentially impact many Labs in the area.

CRYO-CELL LAUNCHES C’ELLE, FIRST-EVER PROPRIETARY MENSTRUAL STEM CELL SERVICE

OK, not exactly a local story, but interesting none the less. As some of you may know, I am making a variety of stem cells from afterbirth tissue (placenta, amniotic tissue, Wharton’s jelly, umbilical cord), so why not from menstrual endometrium?

From C’elle’s web site

C’elle’s exclusive and revolutionary service provides women with the unique opportunity to collect and preserve vital stem cells that can be harvested from the body’s menstrual fluid during the menstrual cycle. Until now, menstrual blood has typically been discarded as unsanitary waste. However, exciting new research shows that menstrual fluid contains, self-renewing stem cells that can be easily collected, processed and cryo-preserved for potential cellular therapies that may emerge in the future.

I have to give credit to Attila at PIMM for posting this first. Hope he doesn’t mind me lifting a story from him and hopefully this kind of story will spur a bit of renewed interest in my little science experiment.

So, that’s the hype. Here is some of the the science behind it:

Comparative Matrix for Menstrual Stromal Cells and Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Cells

Cell Characteristics	C’elle (Menstrual Stromal Cells)	BM MSC (Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Cells)
Cell Collection Procedure	Non-invasive menstrual cup similar to insertion of a tampon	Harvest bone marrow in the OR mobilized adult peripheral blood
Cell Morphology	stromal, mesenchymal-like, spindle-shaped in culture	stromal, mesenchymal-like, spindle-shaped in culture (4)
Cell Surface Markers associated with mesenchymal cells	CD29, CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105, CD166 MHC I+ MHC II-	CD29, CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105, CD166 MHC I+ MHC II- (1)(3)
Markers associated with embryonic stem cells	SSEA-4, Oct-4	none
Differentiation capability	Neural, Cardiogenic, Chondrogenic, Adipogenic, Osteogenic	Chondrogenic, Adipogenic, Osteogenic (2)
MLR	Cells demonstarted a weak stimulatory response which suggests potential use in first-degree relatives	Do not elicit alloreactive lymphocyte proliferative responses (1)
Karotype	Normal karyotype	Normal Karyotye (3)

References:

1. Le Blanc K, Tammik C, Rosendahl K, Zetterberg E, & Ringdén O. (2003). HLA expression and immunologic properties of differentiated and undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells. Exp Hematol, 31(10), 890-896.
2. Pittenger MF, Mackay AM, Beck SC, Jaiswal RK, Douglas R, et al. (1999). Multilineage potential of adult human mesenchymal stem cells. Science, 284(5411), 143-147.
3. Kern S, Eichler H, Stoeve J, Klüter H, Bieback, K. (2006). Comparative Analysis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Bone Marrow, Umbilical Cord Blood, or Adipose Tissue. Stem Cells, 24(5), 1294 –1301.
4. Horwitz, Edwin M. (2007). Report on the Workshop “New Technologies in Stem Cell Research,” Society for Pediatric Research, San Francisco, California, April 29, 2006, Fundamentals of MSC Isolation and Purification.Stem Cells, 25(4), 1070 -1088.
5. Schachinger V, Erbs S, Elsasser A, Haberbosch W, Hambrecht R, et al. (2006). Intracoronary bone marrow-derived progenitor cells in acute myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med, 355(12), 1210-1221.
6. Horwitz EM, Prockop DJ, Fitzpatrick LA, Koo WW, Gordon PL, et al. (1999). Transplantability and therapeutic effects of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal cells in children with osteogenesis imperfecta. Nat Med, 5, 309–313.