Arizona State University scientists have discovered an unprecedented pathway in a fungus to produce telomerase RNA (TER) from a protein-encoding messenger RNA (mRNA). Unlike in animals and other fungi, this fungal TER is transcribed by RNA polymerase III, lacks a protective 5′ cap and it is processed from the 3′-untranslated region of an mRNA transcript. This telomerase has two essential structural domains that keep it active. For now, scientists have only observed this process in the fungus Ustilago maydis, or Mexican truffle. “In animals, and even in Ascomycota, which is another fungal phylum, the telomerase RNA is transcribed by RNA polymerase II as an independent gene. This is the only case among all different kingdoms in eukaryotes that the telomerase RNA is processed from the mRNA molecule. It is a very unusual biogenesis pathway.” Julian Chen told BioWorld.
Aspen Neuroscience Inc. has closed a series B financing of $147.5 million. The funds will help get its autologous neuron replacement candidate into a phase I/IIa study for Parkinson’s disease. Privately held Aspen has been talking about initiating the phase I/IIa clinical trial since at least 2019. But in April 2022, it came a lot closer to reality. That’s when the company launched its first patient screening studies at several sites in the U.S. Now, the trial-ready cohort study is designed to screen potential participants for the study.
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research in Japan have deployed improved genetically modified human stem cell-derived retinal transplants to treat rats with retinitis pigmentosa, a major cause of hereditary human blindness.
PERTH, Australia – Stem cell therapy company Mesoblast Ltd. provided new subgroup analyses from its phase III advanced chronic heart failure trial showing a greater treatment benefit from rexlemestrocel-L in high-risk patients with chronic heart failure and low ejection fraction (HFrEF) with diabetes or ischemia.
DUBLIN – Novadip SA raised €19 million (US$22.1 million) in a first close of a series B round to progress its autologous bone regeneration therapy, NVD-003, on either side of the Atlantic. The company is also working on an allogeneic regenerative approach, which is still preclinical.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s Alofisel (darvadstrocel) to treat complex perianal fistulas in patients with non-active or mildly active luminal Crohn’s disease. This marks the first allogeneic stem cell therapy to be greenlighted in the country.
Hebecell Corp. closed on a $53 million series A funding to continue advancing its off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell CAR-natural killer cell (PSC-CAR-NK) therapy program into the clinic. Allen Feng, Hebecell’s chief scientific officer, has worked in stem cell development for more than 16 years. He’s seen a lot of technological change, especially in the past two years. Everyone is using the same technology, he said, but added that Hebecell’s technology is different from anyone else’s. It’s much simpler technology and has “very good potential” to move into large-scale industrial production.
Multiple companies are pursuing CD47-blockade as a tumor immunotherapy approach. Sana Biotechnology Inc., too, is interested in the therapeutic potential of CD47 – but from a very different angle. By overexpressing CD47 on stem cells, researchers at Sana want to make transplanted cells invisible to the immune system.
LONDON – New guidelines for stem cell research open the door to extending the legal limit on human embryo research beyond the current 14-day maximum set down 40 years ago.
LONDON – New guidelines for stem cell research open the door to extending the legal limit on human embryo research beyond the current 14-day maximum set down 40 years ago. In revised guidelines, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has moved research on human embryos from category 3, which explicitly bans their study in culture post 14 days in any circumstances, to category 2B, in which research post 14 days would be permissible if there is a clear scientific rationale – and after a thorough specialized review.
