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September
1, 2006 |
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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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Job &
Fellowship Connections |
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Monthly Journal |
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eNews
Archives |
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BMT Tandem
Meetings
Feb. 8-12, 2007
Keystone, Colorado |
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Calendar |
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• September
Third Annual Symposium on Controversies and Clinical
Challenges in Myeloma, Lymphoma and Leukemia
Physicians’ Education Resource Conference
Sept. 8-10
Ritz-Carlton
Sarasota, Florida
Targeted and Tailored Therapies in Hematology/Oncology
Loyola University Chicago Cardinal Bernardine Cancer Center
Sept. 9
Swissotel
Chicago, Illinois
Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development:
Maximizing Opportunities for Treatment
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Sept. 12-15
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Myeloproliferative Disorders: Molecular Pathogenesis and
Therapy
European School of Haematology
Sept. 14-16
Grand Savoy Hotel
Madeira, Portugal
German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology
(DGTI)
in collaboration with the International Society for Cellular
Therapy-Europe (ISCT-Europe)
39th Annual Congress
Sept. 19-22
Congress Centre Messe
Frankfurt, Germany
American Society of Multicultural Health and Transplant
Professionals (ASMHTP)
14th Annual Conference
Sept. 22-24
Hyatt Regency
Dearborn, Michigan
6th Annual Somatic Cell Therapy Symposium
International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
with AABB and the FDA
Sept. 25-27
Bethesda, Maryland
International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH)
35th Annual Scientific Meeting
Sept. 27-30
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota
10th Biennial National Symposium on Hematopoietic Cell
Transplantation
Stanford University School of Medicine
Sept. 28-30
Fairchild Auditorium
Stanford, California
• October
American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG)
56th Annual Meeting
Oct. 9-13
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, Louisiana
Current Concepts in Cancer Pain Management
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Oct. 12-13
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland
6th Annual Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine Conference
Strategic Research Institute
Oct. 16-17
Rennaissance Pittsburgh Hotel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
32th Annual Meeting
Sheraton Hotel & Marina
Oct. 16-20
San Diego, California
American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
2006 Annual Meeting
Oct. 21-24
Miami Beach Convention Center
Miami Beach, Florida
Mouse Models of Cancer
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Oct. 25-28
Hyatt Regency Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Stem Cells in Cancer and Regenerative Medicine
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Oct. 27-29
J.W. Marriott Hotel
Houston, Texas
• November
International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer
Therapeutics
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Nov. 7-10
Prague Congress Centre
Prague, Czech Republic
European Society of Gene Therapy (ESGT)
14th Annual Congress
Nov. 9-12
Athens Hilton Hotel
Athens, Greece
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
19th Annual Council Meeting
Nov. 10-12
Hilton Minneapolis Hotel
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tumor Immunology: An Integrated Perspective
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Nov. 29-Dec. 2
InterContinental Miami Hotel
Miami, Florida
• December
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
48th Annual Meeting
Dec. 9-12
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
46th Annual Meeting
Dec. 9-13
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, California
2007
• January
Advances in Cancer Research
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Jan. 21-15
Hilton Waikoloa Village
Waikoloa, Hawaii
Oncogenomics 2007
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Jan. 31-Feb. 4
Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs
Phoenix, Arizona
• February
BMT Tandem Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and CIBMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 8-12
Keystone Conference Center
Keystone, Colorado
2008
BMT Tandem Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and CIBMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 13-17
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel
San Diego, California
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Top
Stories |
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Mesenchymal cells rely on environment to differentiate
Mesenchymal stem cells rely on the "feel" of their
surrounding environment to determine how to differentiate,
according to a study published in the August 25 issue of the
journal Cell. These cells sense their environment by
the force it takes them to push against surrounding objects. The
amount of force the stem cell needs to move its cellular muscles
triggers an internal chemical signal that, in turn, directs the
cell to differentiate.
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Method developed to extract stem cells without harming embryo
Advanced Cell Technology Inc. has developed a method to
produce human embryonic stem cells without harming the original
embryo. The method, which involves extracting a single cell from
the embryo and growing it in the lab, may help overcome ethical
concerns that have held back funding for embryonic cell research.
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Patients show some sperm production after
transplant
Long-term survivors of diseases requiring hematopoietic stem
cell transplantation show some recovery in sperm production.
According to a study published in the August 1 issue of the
journal Blood, patients showing some spermatogenesis were
significantly younger at the time of transplantation (median age
19 years) and had a longer interval since the transplant (12
years).
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Four factors induce adult cells to act
embryonic
Introducing four factors appears to lend differentiated
fibroblast cells the pluripotency normally reserved for
embryonic stem cells. According to a report published in the
August 25 issue of the journal Cell, Japanese researchers
have used these factors to successfully induce differentiated
cells taken from mouse embryos or adult mice to behave like
embryonic stem cells.
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Word from President
Robert Negrin, MD
A few issues ago when Armand Keating was president, he
used this column to make a startling announcement.
"Glance down at your computer keyboard and grab on with
both hands to steady yourself,” he cautioned. “The unheard
of is about to be announced. It’s with great pleasure that
I tell you that ASBMT dues are about to be lowered.”
He then asked you to lean a little closer to your computer
screen so that he could see your amazed expression!
I thought this month I’d use this column to close the
information loop — to tell you the results of that dues
reduction. Last year dues were lowered by $50 to their
current rate of $175 for members and associate members and
$125 for affiliate members. (We continue to waive the $75
membership fee for trainees.)
First, though, let me give you several paragraphs of
background on why ASBMT leaders went along with this
lunatic idea of a dues decrease.
• Annual membership dues, which accounted for about 14
percent of ASBMT revenues, had been raised in 2001 because
of the costs for moving our journal to a monthly
publication schedule and for other urgent needs that
threatened a deficit.
• You stood by the Society when those times were lean. In
fact, our membership enrollment actually grew the year the
dues were increased. You helped us through that difficult
period and ASBMT leaders, in good faith, wanted to return
dues to their pre-2001 levels.
• There was a desire for faster growth, and lower dues
might bring in more members. The BMT community is a small
corner of medicine, and we need as many members as
possible to grow our journal subscriptions and royalties;
increase registration at our annual meeting; gain the
attention of advertisers, exhibitors and symposium
sponsors; and have as much critical mass as possible for
our relations with insurers, legislators, regulators and
our medical colleagues.
So did it work? You can decide:
• Membership growth accelerated by three-fold. In the
previous three years through 2004, the Society’s member
growth had averaged 6 percent per year. Last year it
jumped by 18 percent.
• The “cost” to the Society for the dues reduction was
about $57,000. That’s the amount we “lost” if you add up
all those $50 bills. But this cost was offset by $27,500
in “found" revenues from new members. The net cost to the
Society for the 18 percent membership growth was $29,500,
or about 2 percent of total revenues.
• Not reflected in those figures is the important “found”
revenues from anticipated new registrations for our annual
meetings, more subscribers for our journal that in turn
prompts more advertising income, and the greater size for
our Society — all of which may be expected to recur and
compound in the years ahead because of the larger
membership base.
We closed out 2005 with expenses up by 2 percent for the
year and income up by 11 percent. From this side of the
decision, the lunacy of that dues decrease has all the
appearance of wisdom and shrewd calculation.
If you have been clutching your keyboard all this time,
you can release it now and go recruit your colleagues.
Some of them probably are not yet members of this
remarkable, economical medical society.
– Rob |
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Clinical Research |
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Molecule developed to make cancer cells self-destruct
Scientists at the University of Illinois have created a
synthetic molecule that causes cancer cells to self-destruct,
according to a report in the August 27 issue of the journal
Nature Chemical Biology. Researchers discovered that a
molecule called PAC-1 triggered a protein called procaspase-3 to
turn into caspase-3, an enzyme that initiates cell suicide.
Single-dose chemotherapy and a transplant improves breast
cancer survival
A single course of high-dose chemotherapy followed by
autologous stem cell transplantation provides greater overall
survival for patients with breast cancer, compared with tandem
high-dose chemotherapy and a transplant. According to a study
published in the August 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical
Oncology, median overall survival was 29 months for one dose
versus 23.5 months for tandem doses.
Adding interferon to a transplant improves outcome
Adding interferon after an autologous stem cell transplant
provided 90 percent survival after more than five years in
children with recurrent or refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma,
according to a report in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal
Bone Marrow Transplantation. One patient who had cancer
progression after the transplant was treated with interferon and
is alive and cancer-free at 10 years after therapy.
Pre-treatments for lymphoma may lead to MDS, ALL
Treatment administered before high-dose chemotherapy or
radiation regimes may contribute to the development of
myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myelogenous leukemia after
autologous stem cell transplantation to treat lymphoma.
According to a report in the Aug. 1 issue of the Journal of
Clinical Oncology, independent risk factors for these
complications were: more than five days of apheresis needed to
harvest sufficient stem cells, prior exposure to radiation
therapy and four or more chemotherapy regimes.
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Pharmaceutical News |
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StemCells Inc. licenses products from Stem Cell Therapeutics
StemCells Inc. has entered into a license agreement with
Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. in Canada that gives StemCells
access to Stem Cell Therapeutics' intellectual property
portfolio for use in drug discovery, screening and testing, and
therapeutic use of cellular compositions. Stem Cell Therapeutics
is engaged in treating certain central nervous system
disorders by stimulating endogenous neural stem cells.
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Association
News |
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Registration opens for 2007 BMT Tandem Meetings in Keystone
Online registration opens today and housing reservations
will open next Wednesday for
the 2007 BMT Tandem Meetings Feb. 8-12 in Keystone, Colorado. On
a single Web page, registrants can navigate to meeting
registration, housing reservations, preliminary program,
abstract submission and parallel conferences.
Abstract submission deadline is Oct. 9 for Keystone meeting
Abstracts for the BMT Tandem Meetings in Keystone are being
accepted through Oct. 9. Invitations for oral presentation will
be offered to about 75 authors whose abstracts receive the
highest scores from the review committees. ASBMT will provide
travel grants of $1,000 each to young investigators whose
abstracts are accepted for oral presentation.
Pediatric conference to be part of BMT Tandem Meetings
A one-day conference on blood and marrow transplants for
children and adolescents will convene Feb. 7, the day prior to
the BMT Tandem Meetings in Keystone. Organized by members of the
Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC), the
program is the newest among parallel conferences at the
meetings. The topics and presentations will complement those in
the main scientific program and will include oral presentations
of the best pediatric abstracts.
Nurses, pharmacists, data managers will meet early in
Keystone
Several parallel conferences annually held at the BMT Tandem
Meetings will convene prior to the five-day footprint of the Feb.
8-12 meeting. The schedule shift is necessary because of the
growth of the BMT Tandem Meetings and limited meeting space at Keystone.
The conferences will be:
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Transplant Nurses – Feb. 5-7 |
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Clinical Research Associates/Data Management – Feb. 5-7 |
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BMT Pharmacists – Feb. 6-8 |
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BMT Administrators – Feb. 8-9 |
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Free ASBMT membership for trainees
Postdoctoral fellows and physicians-in-training for blood
and marrow transplantation are eligible for free membership in
the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
During September and October, annual dues are waived for
new trainees who apply for membership in the Society. The
program is made possible again this year through a grant from PDL BioPharma, Inc.
New investigators eligible for $5,000 editorial awards
Each year ASBMT presents two editorial awards to new
investigators published in Biology of Blood and Marrow
Transplantation, the Society’s monthly peer-reviewed
journal. The awards recognize the best basic science and the
best clinical research articles.
CME audioconference offers guide for managing GvHD
A CME audioconference will present “A Clinician’s Guide for
Diagnosing and Caring for Patients with GvHD” on Sept. 27,
sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program. Corey Cutler,
MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School will discuss early symptoms
and cooperative care programs involving long-term care providers
and transplant center teams.
Web seminar explores best practices in BMT contracting
Experienced financial staff, as well as those new to BMT
administration, may benefit from an online seminar on “Best
Practices in BMT Contracting: How to Enhance Contract
Performance.” The Web-based seminar, sponsored by the National
Marrow Donor Program, will be Sept. 27.
Review evaluates transplants and aging
Age as a factor in outcomes and late complications of
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was explored at a
conference convened by the Seattle Cancer and Aging Program and
reported in the current issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow
Transplantation. “Surprisingly, response patterns for
autologous stem cell recipients suggested worse outcomes
compared with patients who had received allogeneic transplants,”
according to H. Joachim Deeg, MD, and co-authors of the review
article.
Looking to fill a staff position or expand your career?
There currently are 39 openings listed on the “Job
Connection” and the “Fellowship Connection” – ASBMT’s online
service for those offering or seeking employment and training
opportunities. Much like classified want ads in a newspaper or
journal, the listings can be searched free of charge by job
seekers, and there is a nominal fee for those announcing
available positions.
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