HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (PinkSheets: EHSI) greeted with interest a new study this week detailing Harvard researchers’ reversion of mature cells back into an adult stem-cell stage.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine have found that by mimicking a rare genetic disorder in a dish, they can rewind the internal clock of a mature cell and drive it back into an adult stem-cell stage. This new “stem cell” can then branch out into a variety of differentiated cell types, both in culture and in animal models. The study was published Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine.
“This research helps makes it conceivable that transplant patients may one day have some of their own cells extracted, reprogrammed, and grown into the desired tissue type for implantation,” said EHSI President and CEO Cindy Morrissey. “We will see more breakthroughs such as this emerge as more and more stem-cell research is funded and carried out.”
The Harvard researchers were studying the origins of Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), a horrific genetic disease that affects fewer than 1,000 people worldwide. The disease causes soft tissue to mutate into cartilage and bone. In trying to determine whether mutant FOP cells originated as blood-vessel-lining endothelial cells, researchers transferred the mutated gene that causes FOP into normal endothelial cells. Unexpectedly, the endothelial cells converted into a cell type nearly identical to what are called mesenchymal stem cells, or adult stem cells that can differentiate into bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and even nerve cells.
Further experiments proved that, instead of using the mutated gene to induce the transformation, researchers could achieve the same results by incubating endothelial cells with either one of two specific proteins (growth factors TGF-beta2 and BMP4) whose cellular interactions mimicked the effects of the mutated gene.
“It’s truly amazing how rapidly stem-cell research is accelerating around the world,” Morrissey said. “There is an undeniable demand for new medical innovations, and stem cells may hold the key to the greatest breakthroughs since Penicillin.”
Morrissey recently traveled to Europe to meet with scientists, consultants and academics about cutting-edge developments in the healthcare research industry there and to cultivate partnerships with overseas healthcare developers and entrepreneurs. This month, she established EHSI business offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and Warsaw, Poland. Those offices will allow the company to maintain long-term relationships with some of the world’s foremost stem-cell researchers and entrepreneurs based in Central and Western Europe.
Emerging Healthcare Solutions keeps a close eye on stem cell research worldwide. Earlier this year, the company signed a profit participation deal with Celulas Genetica, a biotech firm dedicated to developing radically new medical solutions using adult stem cell research.
EHSI invests in technology developed to compete in the stem-cell research industry alongside Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ:TEVA), Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN), Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) and Forest Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:FRX).
About Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. invests in and participates in the profits of emerging breakthrough medical technologies. The Company believes the secret of leveraging future value for its shareholders is the proper timing of its investment in promising new medical technologies. EHSI aims to capture future profits of promising new medical technologies by investing in these technologies at the inflection point of product development. We believe this model will deliver long-term positive results for our investors.
For more information, please visit http://www.EmergingHealthcareSolutionsInc.com.
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CONTACT:
Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
Cindy Morrissey, 713-821-1486
President and CEO
KEYWORDS: United States North America Texas
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Stem Cells Education University Health Biotechnology Medical Devices Research Science
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