This post is condensed from a report from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
Regenerative Medicine
Docs announce lab-made ‘mini retina’
Johns Hopkins researchers reported what may be a major breakthrough in vision-saving medicine, creating a functioning "mini retina" made out of human stem cells.
Axonia raises $2M in seed funding for nerve repair grafts
Michigan startup Axonia Medical the close of a $2 million seed financing round that the company plans to use to further develop its nerve repair and restoration technologies.
Axonia aims to repair damage associated with nerve injuries, such as peripheral nerve injury, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and stroke, and area with "a remarkable absence of viable treatment options," the company said.
AxoGen and Brigham win $1.9M Pentagon contract for nerve repair innovation
The U.S. Dept. of Defense awarded a pair of grants worth $1.9 million to AxoGen and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in support of their efforts to develop tools to aid in peripheral nerve surgeries.
Organogenesis sales rep charged with stealing $350k worth of skin grafts
A sales agent for Organogenesis Inc. is accused of stealing some $350,000 worth of skin grafts made by the Massachusetts regenerative medicine company, according to news reports.
Mercy Philadelphia Hospital accused Gary Dudek of the theft after an audit exposed the missing grafts, according to the New York Daily News.
‘Heart on a chip’ suggests a surprising treatment for a rare genetic disease
Hearing restoration has a sound future
By Jeffrey Holt
Can blood cells be rebooted into blood stem cells?
By Tom Ulrich
Think, for a moment, of a cell as a computer, with its genome as its software, working to give cells particular functions. One set of genetic programs turns a cell into a heart cell, another set creates a neuron, still another a lymphocyte and so on.
The job of controlling which programs get booted up, and when, falls in part to transcription factors—genes that act like molecular switches to turn other genes on and off.
Vital Therapies aims even lower with $12-per-share IPO | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — California biotherapeutics company Vital Therapies dropped its per-share price even lower, opening today at $12 per share in the hopes of raising $54 million. Shares are slated to open today on the Nasdaq market under the symbol "VTL."
First successful lab-grown vaginas herald disruptive innovation on the horizon
A team of researchers successfully implanted 4 young women with laboratory grown vaginas for the first time, representing an important breakthrough in regenerative medicine.
ReGen Biologics appeals loss to FDA
ReGen Biologics’ long battle against the FDA entered a new phase this year, with the medical device company’s appeal in a lawsuit it filed against the watchdog agency, its top regulator and the secretary of the U.S. Health & Human Services Dept. over the FDA’s decision to rescind the clearance granted to ReGen’s Menaflex knee implant.