“The strangest discoveries can end up saving lives… like the discovery that skin could be grown in a dish”; so starts an inventive 16 page graphic story that tells a story of stem cells from lab bench discoveries to working therapy.  The graphic story, Hope Beyond Hype, grew from the desire of OptiStem, a large European consortium of stem cell researchers, to go beyond just explaining the science of stem cells.  They wanted to depict the process they undertake as they try to move stem cell research on towards clinical trials and therapies. 

An innovative resource produced by OptiStem

OptiStem (www.optistem.org) is a pan-European stem cell research project funded by the European Commission under FP7. It brings together scientists, companies and clinicians from 18 institutions across six countries.  During the course of the five year Optistem project members will carry out four different clinical trials concerning muscular dystrophy, severe corneal injury in the eye and severe damage to the oral mucosa (inside of mouth).   The OptiStem consortium wanted to develop this resource because they view it as very important that scientists engage with the public and patients about the process of developing new therapies, and that scientists and regulators also engage.

Science fact not fiction

Hope Beyond Hype starts with the true life story of two badly burned boys being treated with stem cell generated skin grafts in 1983. We then follow the successes and setbacks of a group of researchers working together to use stem cells to cure blindness, whilst being introduced to knotty issues that are part of the process, including stem cell regulation and the controversial ethical issues surrounding the subject. Whilst some of the story lines sound like science fiction they are in fact all true, despite the fact the script was written by the well-known Scottish Science Fiction writer, Ken Macleod.  Comic book artist Edward Ross illustrated the script with his clear, friendly and attractive artwork, whilst stem cell researchers from OptiStem provided the real-life examples of their research and experiences.

“As a science fiction writer I’m naturally interested in science, and I see engaging with real science as important to science fiction. I’m proud to have been able to contribute to this graphic story, which explains a vital new field of medicine and introduces complex issues of science policy in a clear, straightforward, and entertaining way.”

Ken Macleod, Writer

An interactive, multilingual comic

Intrigued? Hope Beyond Hype was launched online at www.eurostemcell.org/hopebeyondhype on International Clinical Trials Day, 18^th May 2012 and since then over 100,000 people have viewed the graphic story online! Readers will also be able to explore the scientific process portrayed in the comic in more depth using the soon to be launched interactive version of the graphic story. To reach the European community represented by OptiStem the resource will soon be available in French, German, Italian and Spanish.

“Not a day goes by without news of the promise the science of stem cells brings. In reality, the process of developing early research promise into actual therapy is a very long and complex one.  At OptiStem, we wanted to help people engage with the real-life process in a scientifically accurate way. Our aspiration is that Hope beyond Hype will be read and discussed by a broad range of people including patients, carers, teachers, patient advocacy groups, regulators and policy-makers.”

Professor Clare Blackburn, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and OptiStem

Notes:

• OptiStem is a pan-European stem cell research project funded by the European Commission under FP7. For further information visit www.optistem.org.
• Hope Beyond Hype can be found at www.eurostemcell.org/hopebeyondhype.
• EuroStemCell is European Commission-funded initiative which aims to disseminate reliable and good quality information and resources on stem cells. OptiStem and EuroStemCell work together closely to engage the public with the research of the OptiStem consortium. www.eurostemcell.org.
• The MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine is a world leading research centre based at The University of Edinburgh. Scientists and clinicians study stem cells, disease and tissue repair to advance human health. The centre’s research is aimed at developing new treatments for major diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, and liver failure. See also www.crm.ed.ac.uk.
• Edward Ross is a comic book artist based in Scotland. www.edwardross.co.uk.
• Ken Macleod is an acclaimed and award-winning Scottish science fiction writer based in Scotland. http://kenmacleod.blogspot.co.uk.

(1 votes)

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Friday at the ISSCR began with a session on the epigenetics of stem cells chaired by a familiar face; Sir Ian Wilmut, of Dolly the sheep fame. These talks focused on how our understanding of epigenetics has developed and also looked in depth at some of the underlying mechanisms that are potentially responsible for their establishment and maintenance. We were also treated to a talk from this years Outstanding Young Investigator Award winner, Belgian Cedric Blanpain. His postdoctoral work in Elaine Fuchs’ lab led to greater understanding of skin homeostasis, and he explained how he has now progressed to investigating how this information may be applied to understanding cancer stem cells.

Following on from the morning’s discussions, Epigenetics of Stem Cells was my concurrent session of choice for the afternoon. Here the talks focused on how researchers used different model organisms and cell lines to investigate the molecular mechanism of this histone modification-mediated form of gene expression control. Fly germline, mouse embryonic and female human iPS cells were examined in these different studies-a sharp reminder that evolutionarily we’re only a few mutations away from pot plants! However for me, the standout talks of this session were those by Sheng Zhong and Naoki Hattori both of whom described novel technological approaches to this field of research, describing comparative epigenomics (a bioinformatics based technique) and Proximity Ligation Assay (using fluorescent probes for methylation detection) respectively.

Finally, the undisputed highlight of the day, and the whole conference, was the appearance of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan at the closing ceremony of the conference. Neither spoke during the speeches of those on stage, but it was a great honour to have them attend. The speeches in question came from both ISSCR committee members and Japanese politicians. It was revealed that after last years devastating earthquake in Japan, there had been calls to reconsider the location for this 10th anniversary meeting, but the ISSCR board had never waivered in their decision to visit Yokohama. This faith in Japan was warmly acknowledged by both the Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture and the Mayor of Yokohama who both outlined their attempts to establish this part of the country as a “Life Innovation Zone” focusing on regenerative medicine.

The world will almost certainly be looking towards Japan for future innovation in the area of stem cell research and regenerative medicine. And with the incoming ISSCR president being Shinya Yamanaka, I’m sure we’ll be back in this beautiful country sooner than we think!

James

(2 votes)

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Less than two weeks to go until the deadline for our essay competition! How is it going? Have you finished your first draft? If you haven’t started yet, you still have time to finish an essay about the future of developmental biology before the July 2nd deadline. Good luck!

Here’s all the information from the original announcement, once more:

If you’d like to share your thoughts about the future of the field, the Node and Development invite you to participate in our essay competition “Developments in development”. Your essay can describe the direction of a particular area of research, the emergence of new techniques or model organisms, career prospects, ethics, publishing, policies or other topics that will shape the future of developmental biology research.

A panel of judges will select the top entries, after which a public vote on the Node will determine the final winner. The winning essay will appear in Development later this year. All finalists posted on the Node will receive an Amazon gift certificate worth £50.

Judges:
Olivier Pourquié – Editor-in-Chief of Development
Claire Ainsworth – science writer

This competition is open to anyone who is involved in developmental biology research, or related fields (such as stem cell science or genetics), or has been within the past three years. PhD students, postdocs, and lab heads all qualify! (N.B. Final year undergraduates and MSc students with at least a year or so of lab experience under their belt may also submit. As long as you know something about developmental biology.)

Please note that the final essays as selected by the judges will not be copy-edited before they appear on the Node. If you’re not confident about your English grammar and spelling, we recommend that you have a (near-)native speaker read over your essay before submitting it. The final winning entry will be copy-edited before publication in Development.

Deadline for submission is July 2nd, 2012 (noon GMT).
Maximum length: 2000 words
Please submit your essay, with a title and your name, as a Word attachment to thenode@biologists.com, and include a brief biography in your email (not in the essay).

More information can be found in the full competition rules, and in our terms and conditions for competitions.

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The winner of the last round of cover image voting is this widefield image of a pilidium larvae of the Nemertean ribbon worm, Cerebratulus lacteus. The image was taken by Joseph Campanale, Aracely Lutes, and Stephanie Majkut of the Woods Hole Embryology class of 2011. Congratulations!

Runners-up: Slipper limpet by Juliette Petersen and Rachel K. Miller; Five squid by Juliana Roscito; single squid by Lynn Kee.

We’ll have a next round of images up soon. In the mean time, you can follow along with the current Woods Hole Embryology course, which started a few weeks ago. Andrew Mathewson has posted his impressions of the first days of the course.

(1 votes)

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Registration for the Seventh International Chick meeting, ‘Chick 7: Avian Model Systems’, to be held in Nagoya, Japan in November 2012, is now open. Please visit the chick meeting homepage , to register. A small fee (15,000yen/10,000yen for students) will be charged which will include the mixers, lunches and the closing party.

We are also very pleased to announce a limited number of travel awards of 40,000yen for students/postdocs from outside Japan and of 15,000 yen for students/postdocs from Japan. If you wish to apply for the awards, please indicate on the registration page.

4 outstanding keynote lectures are programmed:

Makoto Manabe – A new look at the evolution of dinosaurs to modern birds
Craig Smith – Recent Advances in Our Understanding of Avian Sex Determination
Shinji Iijima – Germline transgenesis of chicken
Olivier Pourquie – Patterning of the vertebrate embryonic axis.

In addition, a number of speaking opportunities are available in most sessions. Please indicate during abstract submission if you would like to be considered as a speaker.

We look forward to welcoming you to Japan this November.

Please feel free to pass on this information to any of colleagues who may be interested.

(1 votes)

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Sitting down to write this reflection, it struck me that I couldn’t believe it has really been two weeks since I arrived in the quiet town of Woods Hole, MA for the Embryology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). Time has become an abstract concept for my fellow students and me; it seems like we just got here and yet have known one another for months. We engage in science almost every hour of every day. There is no work – only play. I was imaging immunostained plankton on a new Nikon A1 confocal microscope at 3am Saturday morning. I would have gone all night except I did not want to miss Nipam Patel’s famous butterfly lecture at 9am the same morning. Again, this isn’t work. I want to be doing this – and so does everyone else here.

I don’t know what generates the enthusiasm and energy at the MBL. In my graduate lab back at the University of Washington I am a hard worker, yet I don’t have the inclination (or ability) to maintain the pace that I have picked up here. It is not uncommon to work in lab until 2 or 3am, and yet we all eagerly attend lectures a few hours later and put in another 15+ hour day, six or seven days a week. Perhaps it’s the access to the best scientific equipment around – the sheer quantity of reagents and quality of microscopes available to us is stunning. However, more likely it’s being removed for six weeks from my regular graduate school environment. There is no pressure to generate actual data during my time here, no PI to disappoint, no lab meetings to prepare, and certainly no time to read current papers (I’ll have a lot of catching up to do in August!). There is only active experimentation. I am encouraged to ask my own questions and take ridiculous risks. I can do what interests me, even if there is no apparent face value for my field. For example, I spent last week honing my antibody staining skills by asking the question, “What is the prettiest combination of antibodies one can use on Drosophila embryos?” At the same time there is enough structure to ensure that I am learning the principles of developmental biology at an alarming pace.

I am a student of molecular biology but fairly new to the field of development, so I initially worried that I would struggle to keep up with students who were already experienced in developmental biology. These worries were unfounded as we all have as varied scientific backgrounds as our countries of origin. As one of five Americans in our class of twenty-four, this experience has allowed me to discover the commonalities in the language of science. Our techniques and questions might be different, but our curiosity and passion is matched. We were told that we would form bonds that will last the rest of our careers here, and two weeks in, I have little doubt that this was the truth.

When we are not actively manipulating embryos, world-renowned scientists distill their experience into our exhausted minds. We absorb as much as we can and then teach them drinking games in the wee hours of the morning. We have learned how to operate multitudes of imaging systems and practiced performing essential experimental techniques on more organisms than most people experience in a lifetime. In just two weeks we have been immersed in the history and current research directions of several models of development, including sea urchin, C. elegans, Drosophila, and many other invertebrates. Each model brings with it new opportunities and excitement, as well as traditions and challenges.

As we make the transition to vertebrate models, I am glad to take this moment to pause and reflect on my experiences so far. Six weeks is a long time to step out of one’s graduate research (and not to mention one’s life). It’s hard to assess what this time will mean to me in the years to come as I continue my own research. But if I were able to continue to engage as fully with the science of life as I have these last two weeks, I would never look back.

(15 votes)

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We are pleased to announce a call for applications for two MRC-funded postdoctoral researcher positions to investigate mechanisms of wound healing and inflammation in Drosophila embryos.  These positions in the labs of Paul Martin (Bristol, UK) and Will Wood (Bath, UK) will complement one another using fly genetics and live imaging opportunities to analyse fundamental aspects of wound repair and inflammation with a longer term view to translate these findings for design of therapeutics to improve wound healing in man.

These are 5 year positions funded by an MRC programme grant awarded jointly to Profs Martin and Wood and we are looking for applicants who have finished their Ph.D, or will do very shortly, and have a background in Drosophila cell/developmental biology.  For a review of our own studies and others in the field please see Razzell et al (2011) Disease Models and Mechanisms 4, 569, or embryo.wound.info

Work will be carried out both at School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol and Dept of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath.

The positions are available to start on August 1^st. Appointments will be made on Grade I (University of Bristol) and Grade 7 (University of Bath), with a salary starting at £30,122.  You will be considered for both positions at the University of Bristol and the University of Bath but you may express a preference.

Informal enquiries to Prof Paul Martin (paul.martin@bristol.ac.uk) or Prof Will Wood (w.wood@bath.ac.uk).  Please apply at www.bath.ac.uk/jobs or www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs  Closing date for this application is 9^th July.

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Patient associations and leading research funders have called on the European Parliament to continue EU funding for embryonic stem cell research. The Wellcome Trust issued the group’s joint statement last Friday 15th June, ahead of parliamentary debates this week in which MEPs will discuss the EU’s next major research and innovation funding programme, ‘Horizon 2020’.

Horizon 2020 will be the European Union’s major research funding programme from 2014 to 2020. The current draft version of the programme provides for funding of stem cell research, including work on embryonic stem cells. However, the group of patient associations and leading biomedical research funders have spoken out because, ‘these provisions are under threat from pro-life MEPs who believe that public funds should not be spent on embryonic stem cell research’.

The joint statement was issued by the Association of Medical Research Charities (UK), the British Heart Foundation, the European Genetic Alliances’ Network, the UK’s Medical Research Council, Parkinson’s UK and the charitable health foundation The Wellcome Trust. Together, they set out the medical, scientific and economic importance of embryonic stem cell research in Europe.

Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said,
“The European Parliament must send a clear sign that it recognises the importance of embryonic stem cell research. While the amount of funding allocated to such research under Horizon 2020 is likely to be only a small portion of the overall budget, to close down such a vital avenue of research would be a massive blow to European science. It will significantly set back research into very serious diseases including Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis and is likely to cost European research its competitive advantage.”

The joint statement considers how an end to human ES cell funding would affect Europe’s competitive position in the field, and also comments on the impact of the recent European Court of Justice case on stem cell patenting.

The statement points out that: ‘The field of research is complex. To enable scientists to best understand the massive potential of stem cells, scientists must be able to continue research in all avenues of stem cell research: this includes adult, induced pluripotent, embryonic and fetal stem cells. It is too early to tell which route will be most effective for ultimate clinical use, so it is essential to keep all avenues of research open’.

More information and link to the full joint statement

(2 votes)

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Since its establishment in the year 2002, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has made tremendous efforts in forming annual meetings for stem cell researchers to exchange information, in working with governments to better support our field, and most importantly, in educating the general public about stem cell research and its policies.  At the 2012 annual meeting, the ISSCR is now celebrating the 10th anniversary milestone together with growing members of approximately 4000.

As of next year, the ISSCR has a new commander-in-chief.  Shinya Yamanaka now holds the presidency and has outlined upcoming priorities of ISSCR.  According to his president-elect address, Yamanaka has no intention in “reprograming the ISSCR”, but wants to unite the stem cell research community in “bringing stem cells to clinics.”  Finding a new treatment is almost like completing a jigsaw puzzle, says Yamanaka; in order to win the puzzle, Yamanaka asks us to put together a stem cell piece, a DEVELOPMENTal biology piece, a tissue engineering piece, and a pre-clinical study piece.  Science pieces alone will not complete the puzzle, says Yamanaka and has emphasized the role of society in finding places for the pieces of ethics, patents, government regulations, and public educations. No player wants a missing/lost piece in a jigsaw puzzle. The president-elect wants us to complete the puzzle and bring stem cells to the patients by following a “mechanism” that consists of annual and regional meetings, online spaces, and published journals.  We all hope to see a complete picture of the jigsaw puzzle the next time we meet. Have a safe trip back home everyone.

(1 votes)

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Despite the unexpected cold summer weather (20°C/68°F), morning began early here in the city of Yokohama with a familiar breakfast at McDonald’s.  The second day of the conference began with the third plenary entitled, “Lost in translation: the difficult path for stem cells to the clinic.” Although recent advances in stem cell research reduced a gap between bench and bed and brought a great deal of hope from patients seeking curative treatments, challenges we the investigators face remained still and it was both necessary and obligatory for the members of ISSCR to recognize them.

From an industrial point of view, Ann Tsukamoto (StemCells Inc, USA) introduced highly purified expandable and bankable human neural stem cells (HuCNS-SC) and HuCNS-SC derived functional myelin producing oligodendrocytes which showed enhanced conduction velocity and up to 20 wraps of myelin sheaths in vivo. While Tsukamoto focused on the shiny path of clinical applications of stem cells closing her talk with promising pre-clinical trial data consisted of four Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD) patients, Masayo Takahshi (Riken CDB, Japan) emphasized reproducibility and safety of “donor cells” and the importance of “environmental conditions” of host where the cells would be transplanted into. In order to achieve reproducibility, Takahashi established a culture method which allowed to differentiate hES/iPS cells into mature retinal cells such as retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) and adapted autologous iPS cells to prevent host rejections. With her “reproducible and safe” iPS cell-derived RPE, Takahashi targeted a disease called, wet-type age-related macular degeneration (AMD) for which the cure remains unavailable and observed structural recoveries from RPE sheet transplanted monkeys.  Furthermore, to define the environmental conditions, Takahashi transplanted various cell lines into the subretinal space and observed rare incidents of tumorigenesis characterizing that the macular region was a “tumor suppressive environment”.

Near the end of the third plenary, the final talk was given by Jan Helge Solbakk, ethics and public policy committee chair of ISSCR.  Dr. Solbakk spoke for the “tragedy of translation”; he reminded us the investigators that millions of people have been watching a play called stem cell research: not in a sense of horseplay but in a sense of tragedy.  Solbakk pointed out that some have been played the tragedy of “moral superiority” and practiced “inferior science.”  Moral errors should be avoided, he said, but should play a tragedy of robustness, commitment, and fidelity, he added.  As we the investigators develop a “sociality” within the watching public including the patients, Solbakk asked us to share not only the successes of research but the failures as well.

Dongjin R. Lee

(3 votes)

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