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Biotech / Medical : Geron Corp. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Savant who wrote (2354)	11/15/2000 8:50:24 AM
From: Savant	Respond to of 3576

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 15, 2000--Geron Corporation (Nasdaq:GERN) announced the publication of research findings which demonstrate that clonal populations of human embryonic stem (ES) cells retain indefinite replicative capacity and the ability to differentiate into other cell types in long term culture. The research confirms the potential of human ES cells as a unique source of replacement cells and tissues for regenerative medicine. Published today in the journal Developmental Biology, the work was undertaken by Geron scientists and academic collaborators. Human embryonic stem cell cultures have previously been reported to have the ability to replicate indefinitely and to be pluripotent, meaning that they can differentiate into many different cell types, such as heart muscle, liver, neural and bone cells. The newly published work was undertaken to address the critical question of whether the key properties of immortality and pluripotentiality previously demonstrated for human ES cell cultures were inherent to individual clonal human ES cells. By demonstrating that individual clonal human ES cells do possess these properties, this new work opens the door for genetically modifying ES cells for a wide range of applications, including human therapeutics and drug screening. "For example, we can now look at modifying these cells by gene transfer to enhance the isolation of pure populations of neurons for neurodegenerative disease while reducing the chance that they would be rejected upon transplantation," stated Jane Lebkowski, Ph.D., Geron's vice president of cell and gene therapy. The published work also reports that human ES cell clones maintain their telomere length in prolonged culture by continuously expressing telomerase. Telomeres are essential genetic elements at the ends of chromosomes which normally shorten in length with each cell division. Human ES cells are the only known normal human cells which have a high, continuous expression of telomerase. Because they express telomerase, human ES cells can proliferate indefinitely without aging. Geron's three proprietary platform technologies are human pluripotent stem cells, telomerase, and nuclear transfer. "Demonstrating that human ES cell clones express telomerase and therefore have indefinite replicative capacity, and form all types of cells in the body, confirms our belief that these cells can be manipulated, expanded, and used to develop therapeutics for regenerative medicine," noted Tom Okarma, Ph.D., M.D., Geron's chief executive officer. "These characteristics are what makes ES cells unique, and clearly distinguish them from adult stem cells, which have limited differentiation capability and limited capacity for scale-up. Our data indicate that human ES cells remain stable after over 250 population doublings. We believe that it will be possible to grow them in bulk for a broad range of therapeutic applications."