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April 1, 2004 |
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Top
Stories |
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Legislation and Regulation |
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Clinical
Research |
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Pharmaceutical
News |
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Association
News |
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Calendar |
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eNews
Archives |
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Tandem BMT Meetings
Feb 10 - 14, 2005
Keystone, Colorado |
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(Note: Answers to this interactive poll are anonymous.)
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Last Month's
Poll Results
When you look around at your transplant colleagues, what
do you generally see?
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Individualists – each pursing his own agenda/doing her
own thing |
(22) 48% |
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Team players – eager to seek collaboration and
consensus |
(20) 43% |
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Followers – not wanting to get too far in front of
the pack |
(3)
7%
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Other |
(1)
2% |
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Calendar |
•
April
American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPH/O)
17th Annual Scientific Meeting
April 29-May 2
Westin St. Francis Hotel
San Francisco
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May
International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
10th Annual Meeting
May 7-10
The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland
California Blood Bank Society (CBBS)
with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
2nd Annual International Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation
Symposium
May 14-15
Hilton Los Angeles Airport
Los Angeles, California
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
American Transplant Congress
May 14-19
Hynes Convention Center
Boston
World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA)
5th International Donor Registry Conference
May 26-29
Keio University Mita Campus
Tokyo, Japan
• June
Canadian Hematology Society (CHS)
Annual Meeting
June 2
London Convention Centre
London, Ontario
Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG)
Biennial Meeting
June 3-6
London Convention Centre
London, Ontario
American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
40th Annual Meeting
June 5-8
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans
International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
2nd Annual Meeting
June 10-13
Boston Seaport Hotel
Boston
• July
International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH)
33rd Annual Scientific Meeting
July 17-20
New Orleans Marriott
New Orleans, Louisiana
Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS)
4th Annual Conference
July 18-23
Palais de Congres de Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• September
International Conference on Advances Against Aspergillosis
Sept. 9-11
Grand Hyatt San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Yale University and National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
Safeguarding Adult and Pediatric Stem Cell Donors: Basic
Science, Clinical, and Ethical Issues
Sept. 21-22
Bethesda, Maryland
• October
American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
30th Annual Meeting
Oct. 1-6
San Antonio Convention Center
San Antonio, Texas
American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT)
with the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
4rd Annual Conference on Mesenchymal and Nonhematopoietic Stem
Cells
Oct. 14-16
Wyndham Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
57th Annual Meeting
Oct. 23-26
Baltimore, Maryland
American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
54th Annual Meeting
Oct. 26-30
Toronto, Ontario
2005
Tandem BMT Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and IBMTR/ABMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 10-14
Keystone Resort
Keystone, Colo.
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Top
Stories |
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Mesenchymal stem cells attack cancer in mice
Tests in mice showed that mesenchymal stem cells taken from
bone marrow genetically engineered to carry interferon alpha
cured 70 percent of mice implanted with one kind of human
ovarian cancer. Speaking at a meeting of the American
Association of Cancer Research, scientists from the University
of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center said these cells were
effective in treating several types of leukemia, melanoma and
brain tumors.
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Swedish government backs therapeutic cloning
of early-stage human embryos
The Swedish government plans to submit a bill to parliament
allowing research on cloning of early stage embryos for
therapeutic purposes, known as somatic nuclear cell transfers.
However, the bill strictly forbids any medical application of
the research, as well as any human reproductive cloning.
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University of Texas receives $25 million donation for stem cell
research
An anonymous patient benefiting from work done at the
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston returned
the favor by giving a gift of $25 million to benefit stem cell
research. The school plans to use the money to recruit stem cell
research talent for a new Institute of Molecular Medicine for
the Prevention of Human Diseases when it opens in fall 2005.
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Adult stem cell research center opening in
Oregon
Oregon Health and Science University in Portland is opening
a stem cell research center, funded with $4.5 million from the
Oregon Opportunity, an OHSU fund to promote biomedical research.
Scientists at the Oregon Stem Cell Center, led by Marcus Grompe,
M.D., will focus on adult stem cells.
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Word from President Armand Keating, M.D.
You know those “Wish you were here” greeting
cards? The notes you send about an event you’d like to
have shared?
I had one of those experiences recently, and this is a
note to tell you about it.
It was during the Tandem BMT Meetings in Orlando. I had
the pleasure of hosting a breakfast meeting for some
fellows-in-training, one each from about 10 transplant
centers. They had been invited for an informal discussion
about ways ASBMT can better serve their needs and
strategies for their continued participation in the
Society after completing their training.
As you’d expect, this was an impressive group of young
people. They made you feel confident about the skills and
talent coming into our field. What you may not have
expected, though, was that their anxieties and concerns
aren’t that far removed from those that you and I had at
about the same point in our careers. I didn’t find it hard
at all to relate to the talk around the table.
There were two particular themes:
• their need for education beyond the basic laboratory
research and clinical training they were receiving at
their transplant and academic centers
• a need for senior mentors
My ears were especially perked when the discussion turned
to one of my recollected insecurities as a trainee – how
to become sure-footed in biostatistics. They also spoke of
their need to develop proficiency in writing grant
proposals. And there was agreement about the mysticism of
career paths – how to clear the fog about the range of
possibilities and opportunities after training.
We passed the coffee and considered mentoring – a
discussion that in no way reflected negatively on their
training centers, which frequently have outstanding role
models for guidance and counseling. Their thirst was more
for opportunities to interact with diverse internationally
recognized senior clinicians and investigators at other
centers. Extracurricular mentors can often provide helpful
advice and an objective, dispassionate point of view that
is especially important to a trainee. The very access to
an opinion leader in the field can be quite stimulating.
I have no notion that the bulk of trainee education
responsibility rests anywhere other than with the training
centers. Yet there are apparent, perhaps inherent, gaps
that ought to be filled, and maybe this is where our
Society can help.
The breakfast-table talk with the trainees is something
that I’m sharing with other leaders of our Society. We
have within ASBMT all the resources and savvy that the
trainees are seeking, be it in biostatistics, grant
writing, career counseling or mentoring. I’d love for us
to move on this in a big way, maybe with something
outrageously bold.
If you have an idea, we should do breakfast. Or don’t
hesitate to simply
e-mail it my
way.
– Armand |
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Legislation and Regulation |
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NMDP funding re-authorization urged
Efforts continue in the Senate on legislation to
re-authorize the National Marrow Donor Program. NASCAR champion
Jeff Gordon has joined in urging passage of a bill for renewal
in the five-year funding cycle.
Two New Jersey universities plan for state-funded stem cell
research institute
Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey have agreed to oversee a new
state-funded stem cell research institute, located in New
Brunswick. Gov. James E. McGreevey has called for $6.5 million
in state funds to help launch the project, which could cost $50
million over five years.
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Clinical
Research |
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Embryonic stem cells develop into bone marrow and blood
cells in mice
Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago have found
a way to reconstitute bone marrow and blood cells from embryonic
stem cells in mice, even in the event of a genetic mismatch.
Scientists induced mouse embryonic stem cells to develop into
bone marrow and blood precursor cells, then injected them into
the bone marrow of mice, according to results to be published in
the April 5 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
University of Minnesota hopes to be begin stem cell
clinical trials
If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves, the
University of Minnesota will become the first public institution
to conduct clinical trials of a therapeutic use of stem cells.
In two sets of trials, researchers will use stem cells taken
from adults and stem cells harvested from embryos.
Combining chemotherapy and stem cell therapy provides
better NHL survival
Treating adult patients suffering from aggressive non-Hodgkins
lymphoma with a combination of chemotherapy and hematopoietic
stem cells provided overall five-year survival rates of 71
percent, compared with 56 percent receiving chemotherapy and a
standard CHOP regimen. According to a study published in the
March 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine,
French doctors randomized 98 patients aged 15 to 60 to receive
one of the two protocols and followed their progress for a
median of four years.
Houston cardiologists set to begin injecting stem cells
into damaged hearts
In the first phase of a trial just approved by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration, scientists from the Texas Heart
Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital will inject stem
cells into the damaged hearts of six patients. Eventually they
plan to give 20 patients the therapy, while 10 will receive the
same treatment but no stem cell injection.
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Pharmaceutical News |
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Pluristem expands cord blood stem cells for use in adults
Pluristem Life Systems Inc. has developed technology to expand
the small amount of cord blood stem cells collected from
newborns to quantities large enough for use in more than one
adult. The company is seeking regulatory and FDA approval for
this technique, which involves using the company’s PluriX
bioreactor.
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Association
News |
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Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Donnall Thomas
A pioneer in blood and marrow transplantation for treating
leukemia and other blood cancers and diseases has been named
recipient of the 2004 ASBMT Lifetime Achievement Award. E.
Donnall Thomas, M.D., 1990 Nobel Laureate in Medicine, is a
member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle
and professor of medicine at the University of Washington.
Public Service Award goes to founder of nmbtLINK
Myra Jacobs, executive director and founder of the National Bone
Marrow Transplant Link, is the recipient of the 2004 ASBMT
Public Service Award.
Updated version of standardized RFI released
The 2004 update of the ASBMT Standardized Request for
Information (RFI) has been released, and the interactive forms
are available online. The RFI is used for submitting transplant
program data and information to third-party payers when they
request it.
Guidelines clearinghouse accepts multiple myeloma review
The ASBMT evidence-based review on multiple myeloma has been
accepted for listing with the National Guideline Clearinghouse,
a compendium of clinical practice guidelines for physicians, the
health care community and third-party payers.
Two new investigators win BBMT editorial awards
Two medical scientists are the recipients of editorial awards
for new investigators, based on their articles published this
past year in Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
Six abstracts chosen as best of Tandem BMT Meetings
A record 314 abstracts from 31 countries were accepted for the
2004 Tandem BMT Meetings in Orlando. Six of the abstracts were
selected for awards by the abstract review committees.
Deadline announced for acquired marrow failure research awards
New investigators and those with established track records
conducting research in acquired bone marrow failure diseases –
aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and paroxysmal
nocturnal hemoglobinuria – have until Nov. 30 to apply for
two-year awards totaling $60,000 from the Aplastic Anemia & MDS
International Foundation.
University of Michigan physician wins ASBMT/ESP Pharma Award
Pavan Reddy, M.D., an assistant professor of internal medicine
at the University of Michigan Medical School, is the recipient
of a New Investigator Award from ASBMT and ESP Pharma.
M.D. Anderson instructor wins ASBMT/Fujisawa Investigator Award
Sijie Lu, Ph.D., an instructor at the M.D. Anderson Cancer
Center at the University of Texas, Houston, is the recipient of
a New Investigator Award from ASBMT and Fujisawa Healthcare. |
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