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| March 1, 2010 |
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Clinical
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Association
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BMT Tandem Meetings |
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Calendar |
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Job &
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Monthly Journal |
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eNews
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| Calendar |
• March
Regenerative Medicine: Advancing Next Generation Therapies
13th Annual Hilton Head Workshop
March 10-14
Sea Pines Resort
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Clinical Practice Guidelines and Quality Cancer Care
National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
March 10-14
Westin Diplomat
Hollywood, Florida
Annual Winter Symposium: Management Promoting a Healthy Relationship with the Allograft
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
March 11-14
Rancho Las Palmas
Rancho Mirage, California
Bone Marrow Failure Disease Scientific Symposium
Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation
March 11-12, 2010
Bethesda Hyatt Hotel
Bethesda, Maryland
Association of Community Cancer Centers
36th Annual Meeting
March 17-20
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront
Baltimore, Maryland
American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB)
14th Annual Spring Conference
March 20-23
Renaissance Hotels & Resorts
Hollywood, California
European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)
36th Annual Meeting
March 21-24
Austria Center Vienna
Vienna, Austria
• April
American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPH/O)
23rd Annual Meeting
April 7-10
Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Acute Leukemia Forum 2010 Advances and Controversies in the Biology and Therapy of Acute Leukemia and Myelodysplasia
Hemedicus Acute Leukemia Forum
April 9
Parc 55
San Francisco, California
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
101st Annual Meeting
April 17-21
Washington Convention Center
Washington, D.C.
Bioprocessing and Barriers to Clinical Applications of Stem Cell Therapies
5th Annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium
April 21
BioPharmaceutical Technology Center
Madison, Wisconsin
• May
American Transplant Congress
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
May 1-5
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, California
Immunology 2010
American Association of Immunologists (AAI)
May 7-11
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland
14th Annual International Congress of Hematologic Malignancies: Focus on Leukemias, Lymphomas and Myelomas
Physicians’ Education Resource
May 17-21
Fairmont Château Whistler
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT)
13th Annual Meeting
May 17-22
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, D.C.
International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
16th Annual Meeting
May 23-26
Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
American Society for Apheresis (ASFA)
30th Annual Meeting
May 26-29
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
• June
8th Annual International Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Symposium
Cord Blood Forum
June 3-5
Hyatt Regency San Francisco at Embarcadero Center
San Francisco, California
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
46th Annual Meeting
June 4-8
McCormick Place
Chicago, Illinois
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| Top
Stories |
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Scientists identify area from which hematopoietic stem cells arise
Biologists have identified and recorded, using time-lapse imaging, the specific region from which adult blood stem cells arise during embryonic development of vertebrates. According to a report in the advance online edition of Nature, hematopoietic stem cells arise directly from the cells lining the floor of the dorsal aorta.
Anti-inflammatory agent shows promise in treating GVHD
An anti-inflammatory agent called ATL146e may significantly improve the likelihood of success for bone marrow transplants by preventing or halting the progression of graft-versus-host disease. According to a report in the February issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, treating mice before the disease took hold reduced the severity of the disease, and in mice that already had the disease, this treatment reversed its progression.
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 A Word from President John Barrett, MD
Of all the professional associations in which I have had the privilege to serve, ASBMT stands out as the most functional. This reflects the strong collegiate and businesslike backbone that the organization has had since the late 1990s. This coincides with the tenure of Alan Leahigh, who leaves us as executive director. To recognize Alan’s efforts, it was only fitting that he received the Extraordinary Service Award at this year's ASBMT meeting in Orlando, where we bid him farewell in his retirement. But like all things in ASBMT, there is a smooth transition. Thomas L. Joseph, MPS, CAE, our new executive director, comes with very strong credentials and more than 20 years of experience in running large medical associations.
Improvements Continue - The Executive Committee along with the Board of Directors recently updated the strategic plan. We aim to fulfill our mission, “the professional association dedicated to improving the application and success of blood and marrow transplantation and related cellular therapies.” Our objectives cover research and education, public policy (where we advocate for policies that benefit transplant patients and families), practice (development of guidelines that support clinical practice of stem cell transplantation), reimbursement (achieving coverage for transplant procedures by private and public health care) and workforce issues (in particular strengthening the transplant workforce). All of this will help us meet our vision where “ASBMT strives to be the leading organization promoting research, education and clinical practice in the field of blood and marrow transplantation and related cellular therapy.”
ASBMT continues to work with other organizations to achieve these objectives. For example, we are assisting the National Marrow Donor Program in its aim to increase unrelated donor transplants and will participate with them in the fall at a meeting with hospital managers and administrators to explore healthcare system capacity to support cellular therapies. ASBMT continues to look for opportunities to collaborate with transplant organizations around the globe, such as the European Group for Bone Marrow Transplantation.
We will be evaluating the process of evidence-based reviews and seeking to make further improvements in their applicability. Expectations are high as we begin planning for a spectacular 2011 BMT Tandem meeting in Hawaii with Dr. Elizabeth Shpall as the scientific director.
Expansion - As a new initiative, I have asked Dr. Helen Heslop to chair a Task Force on Cellular Therapy to find ways for ASBMT to provide a home for the exploding field of novel cell therapies. The application of largely uncharacterized cell therapies (e.g. immune cells, non-hematopoietic cells such as mesenchymal stromal cells) or simply the application of hematopoietic cells for non-standard indications, with the added complexities of gene modification, raises issues of good manufacturing practice, regulatory control and outcome assessment.
ASBMT will also continue its collaboration with the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). These efforts are well-placed to provide long-established expertise in hematopoietic cell therapy while enriching our experience in these new areas of clinical research by allotting time at the BMT Tandem meeting to developments in specific areas of cell therapy, such as cardiac disorders. Our calendar is full! Over the months, I will strive to bring you the big picture of our achievements and challenges.
– John
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| Clinical Research |
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Cells from induced pluripotent stem cells exhibit early aging
Therapeutic cell types obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells exhibit abnormal expansion and early cellular aging, meaning further study is needed before these cells can be expanded into homogenous populations suitable for use in drug discovery and clinical translation. According to a report in the advance online edition of Stem Cells, when compared with replacement cell types derived from embryonic stem cells, those from induced pluripotent cells show significantly increased cell death, severely limited growth and expansion capability, and substantially reduced capacity to generate blood progenitors.
Trial to begin on umbilical cord stem cells for cerebral palsy
Work is about to begin on the first federally approved clinical trial regarding the effectiveness of using stem cells from stored umbilical cords to treat symptoms of cerebral palsy. This research, to be conducted at the Medical College of Georgia, will focus on 40 children ages 2 to 12 whose umbilical cords were stored at birth; half of the participants will receive a placebo.
Molecule improves quality of induced pluripotent stem cells
A molecule called Tbx3 significantly improves the quality of induced pluripotent stem cells, according to a report in the advance online edition of Nature. Adding this molecule to the cocktail of chemicals needed to reprogram differentiated cells produced induced pluripotent cells that were much more efficient in recapitulating the entire development process.
Stem cell reprogramming method does not use viruses
The use of minicircles (rings of DNA about half the size of those usually used) to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells avoids the need to use viruses and does not permanently alter a cell’s genome. According to a report in the advance online edition of Nature Methods, this minicircle reprogramming vector is made of only the four genes needed to reprogram the cells and does not contain bacterial DNA.
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| Association
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A. John Barrett installed as ASBMT President
A. John Barrett, MD, section chief for stem cell allotransplantation in the Hematology Branch of the NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, has been installed as ASBMT president. Elizabeth J. Shpall, MD, the Ashbel Smith Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the newly elected vice president, to become president in 2012.
BMT Tandem Meetings establish new attendance record
Registration for the BMT Tandem Meetings in Orlando was 2,561 – more than last year’s total of 2,457 in Tampa.
Claim CME online by March 31 for the Orlando sessions
March 31 is the deadline for claiming continuing medical education (CME) credit for sessions attended at the 2010 BMT Tandem Meetings. Evaluations and CME credit applications are online. A certificate can be printed at the conclusion of the online session.
BMT Tandem Meetings abstracts are searchable online
Abstracts accepted for the 2010 BMT Tandem Meetings were published in the February issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (Vol. 16, No. 2, Supplement 2) and also are indexed and accessible online.
Six abstracts chosen as best at Tandem meetings
A total 498 abstracts submitted by investigators in 35 countries were accepted for the 2010 BMT Tandem Meetings. Six of the abstracts were selected for awards by the abstract review committees.
Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Jon van Rood
The 2010 recipient of the ASBMT Lifetime Achievement Award is Jon van Rood, MD, PhD. Dr. van Rood was recognized for his pioneering work in the field of human leukocyte antigens (HLA). The award, presented at the President’s Dinner at the BMT Tandem Meetings, is supported by Pfizer Inc.
Two new investigators win BBMT editorial awards
Two medical scientists are the recipients of editorial awards for new investigators for their articles published this past year in Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
April 1 deadline for clinical research training course
The ASBMT Clinical Research Training Course for fellows-in-training and junior faculty is returning to Park City, Utah. Applications are being accepted through April 1 for the course, which will be held July 14-19.
2010 version of RFI forms released
The 2010 update of the ASBMT 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.
AAP policy statement
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently debuted its new policy statement on minors serving as hematopoietic stem cell donors.
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