{"243191":{"#nid":"243191","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Trend Highlights Collaborative University Breakthroughs in Biosciences","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith an aging population and a struggling health insurance industry, the art and science of \u0022making it all better\u0022 will be making a lot of money in the very near future. Georgia Trend recently spoke with a number of bio-related innovators and researchers from the state\u0027s universities to discuss the current state of affairs in this rapidly expanding market. Federal research unding and university collaboration are key to keeping this industry alive and kicking.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe full article is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch1\u003ECell Mates\u003C\/h1\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECollaborative university efforts are driving ground-floor biotech discoveries.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003EBy Jerry Grillo\u0026nbsp;\u003Cp\u003ENick Boulis has the audacity to believe, out loud, that discoveries and therapies designed to improve the human condition \u2013 world-changing breakthroughs that have been happening and are happening right now in Georgia \u2013 are just as important as fighter planes or even football.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESure, he might be bordering on sacrilege, but Boulis is a groundbreaking Emory neurosurgeon working on cutting-edge therapies to treat some of mankind\u2019s most devastating, incurable (so far) maladies. So he comes to his blasphemy from an honest place.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are those who actually think it might be almost as important as throwing a football,\u201d Boulis says in almost hushed tones.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI want people to get excited about the fact that we are pioneers in biomedicine, that we have earned hometown bragging rights, and we should have civic pride and invest in this kind of work the way we invest in our sports teams or our war machine, because it means Georgia and Atlanta are really badass.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe kind of badass work Boulis is talking about encompasses the relatively new field of regenerative medicine \u2013 the process of repairing, replacing or regenerating damaged human cells, tissues, bones or organs, sometimes through stimulating the body\u2019s innate repair mechanisms, sometimes with the help of stem cells and the creation of tissues, organs and whatnot in the lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s a growing effort under the biotech umbrella, and its bringing together scientists from some of Georgia\u2019s leading research universities in a widespread collaborative endeavor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile Georgia leaders still warm themselves in the afterglow of last year\u2019s announcement that Baxter International is going to build a $1-billion plasma processing plant about 40 miles east of Atlanta, the really interesting stuff is happening in university labs and in clinical trials, where the long-promised potential of stem cell research grows ever closer to becoming a bedside reality.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe field is moving fast, and this is a really good sign for all of us in the future,\u201d says Steve Stice, professor and director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStice adds a critical \u201chowever.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe challenge, of course, is money, or the lack of it. Federal funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH, the largest source of support for medical research, comprises less than one percent of the total U.S. budget) has been declining steadily since 2003. And most recently, federally im-posed sequestration is forcing the NIH to cut about $1.55 billion from its FY 2013 budget, which means about 700 fewer grants this year. House Republicans have already suggested further cuts to NIH next year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMost people don\u2019t realize that science isn\u2019t done today [and] then there\u2019s a new drug tomorrow,\u201d Stice says. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening is jeopardizing our future.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBob Guldberg, executive director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Parker H. Petit (it\u2019s pronounced \u201cpetite\u201d) In-stitute for Bioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscience, goes to Washington, D.C., three times a year to review applications for the NIH group he leads.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd it\u2019s really depressing to read about this great science and that great research that is unfortunately not going to be funded because the funding rates have fallen so low,\u201d says Guldberg, who chairs the Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review (part of NIH).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI worry about younger investigators, new faculty and students; worry that they\u2019re going to see the landscape and come to the conclusion that research is just too difficult, so they won\u2019t get into the field,\u201d Guldberg says. \u201cThink about the long-term effects of that. The funding issue is slowly sapping the vitality from the U.S. research enterprise and innovation engine.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor people in the business of healing, like Dr. Boulis, the slowing trickle of public money reflects more than a troubled economy: There are some misplaced priorities at work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cWe can spend billions and billions on joint task force fighters. With the price of one of those planes we can do so much,\u201d says an annoyed Boulis. \u201cI doubt they\u2019re sequestering money for bombs. Whatever. The bottom line is, the main limitation is dollars.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoulis and his team at Emory won FDA approval to start clinical trials to inject neural stem cells into patients with spinal cord injuries, a planned venture that would happen at Emory and Shepherd Center in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re sitting in dry dock,\u201d Boulis says. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the money to do it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEven so, Boulis is conducting other revolutionary clinical trials and scientists are making discoveries that may lead to treatments for catastrophic neurological disorders, while Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Georgia Tech have just embarked on a $20-million partnership (they anted up $10 million each), bringing Tech\u2019s engineers together with Emory physicians at CHOA in a quest to develop medical technologies for pediatric care, with an emphasis on medical devices, nanomedicine and regenerative medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ENew Tools\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn April 2012, after a long search, Baxter International said it was coming to Georgia and creating 1,500 jobs at a plant it was going to develop near rural Social Circle. The Research Triangle, it ain\u2019t. But still, this is pretty huge for a state that has been trying for years to break into the biotech upper echelon. (We still lag far behind places like California, Massachusetts and, here in the southeast, North Carolina.)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe importance of that announcement to our industry can\u2019t be understated,\u201d says Russell Allen, president and CEO of the biotech industry trade organization Georgia Bio. \u201cIt puts us on the map, improves our image to the rest of the world as a serious bioscience presence.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn January (as it does every year), Georgia Bio announced its Deals of the Year in life sciences, recognizing significant transactions by pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Baxter was the easy winner in the Economic Development category for 2012.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe top deal in the Public\/Private Collaboration category was the CHOA-Georgia Tech joint investment, which is basically a sharp ramping up of a partnership that has existed for years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the things we find is, if you get a physician together with an engineer in the right setting, sometimes revolutionary things can happen,\u201d says Paul Spearman, chief research officer for CHOA. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s as simple as taking an engineer through the intensive care unit, and they\u2019ll look at these huge machines huddled around a tiny baby, and they are amazed at how the equipment hasn\u2019t been optimized to really facilitate pediatric care. Our physicians are thinking about using the machine that\u2019s available. The engineer is thinking, \u2018I could make this better.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEssentially, the goals are to improve the tools for treating childhood health issues, to scale machines, equipment and therapies designed for adults to fit children.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur healthcare system is built around treating end-stage disease,\u201d says Guldberg, who also is co-director of the Center for Pediatric Innovation at CHOA. \u201cIf we want to make our healthcare investment pay off, why not treat people before they get sick? Why not invest more in pediatric healthcare? That\u2019s a no brainer, especially when we\u2019re talking about potential regenerative medicine solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPediatric patients could be ideal for this. They have long-term functional needs \u2013 they need something that is going to grow with them, and children have the most regenerative physiology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegenerative therapies, especially those based on stem cell research, is still an emerging industry, and one with large dollar potential, says Guldberg, who wears many hats, including chair of the Americas chapter of TERMIS \u2013 Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, which is holding its international conference in Atlanta this November.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is becoming a very real industry that people are going to make money in and develop products. There is something on the order of 300 clinical trials out there now testing regenerative products,\u201d Guldberg says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has become an international ground floor hub with creation of its Stem Cell Engineering Center, which is helping to prepare a new generation of experts in the mass production and commercialization of stem cell technologies that will become tomorrow\u2019s medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere is going to be a need in the coming years for a workforce of people with training and background in manufacturing and bioprocessing,\u201d says Todd McDevitt, director of the Stem Cell Engineering Center.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThree years ago, with funding from the National Science Foundation, McDevitt led development of the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), which is designed to educate and train Ph.D. students in the translation and commercialization of stem cell technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe coolest thing was, companies began contacting us right away saying, \u2018Oh, you\u2019ve got students training for this?\u2019 So, we\u2019ve been very lucky, timing wise. I think we\u2019re a little ahead of the pack. We\u2019re sort of viewed in this area as leaders,\u201d says McDevitt, who has formed partnerships with groups in the United Kingdom and Portugal, \u201cwhere they have similar training programs and research centers focused on stem cell manufacturing, and people with experience.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo McDevitt\u2019s team is preparing the engineers who will be leaders in stem cell biomanufacturing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBiomanufacturing is important to the future of our country and also the future of mankind,\u201d says Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, which he describes as, \u201ca community of university faculty, staff and students who are really passionate about driving manufacturing innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur overarching goal for biomanufacturing is to turn stem cell biology into stem cell benefits, to create regenerative medical products from stem cell research.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWang says the idea is to achieve some form of scalable, mass production, but nothing like making cars or iPhones, where you\u2019re making millions of the same exact product.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re talking about \u2018mass customization.\u2019 Biomedical products will have to be highly customized, but efficient, affordable,\u201d he says. \u201cSo the question is, how do we turn scientific discovery into mass produced, customized products.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn biomanufacturing like this, the product is the process, and the process is the product.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn other words, they are basically inventing a new industry at the cellular level. Commercially developed stem cell products are projected to be a $10-billion industry within a decade.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ENot Science Fiction\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESteve Stice wants to be perfectly clear about this, just in case there\u2019s any lingering confusion: They\u2019re not building a race of pigmen in his lab at the University of Georgia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut they are doing stuff in real life that used to belong to science fiction and superhero stories.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStice\u2019s lab (along with UGA\u2019s Col-lege of Veterinary Medicine professor John Peroni and scientists from Baylor College, Rice University and the University of Texas) is developing something he calls \u201cfracture putty,\u201d a stem cell derived gel designed to dramatically accelerate the repair of broken bones (funded by the Department of Defense, DOD).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat we\u2019ve found in animal models is, we can reduce major healing down to two weeks,\u201d says Stice, who counts Guldberg as a key collaborator in the bone regeneration work. \u201cThis is very promising. If we can get additional funding from the DOD, that will help in leveraging investment from the private sector, and hopefully we\u2019ll be in clinical trials with humans in two years.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETen years ago, Stice started ArunA Biomedical, which is still discovering, manufacturing and commercializing human stem cell technology. (They were the first company to commercialize products derived from human embryonic stem cells.) Business is good.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI can\u2019t think of a pharmaceutical company that has not used our cells, some more than others,\u201d Stice says. \u201cWe\u2019re developing a product specifically for Parkinson\u2019s disease. There are close to a hundred publications out there from people who have used our cells.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome of it is hopeful \u2013 a group from Pfizer using ArunA cells to test new compounds for Alzheimer\u2019s disease; some, downright frightening \u2013 the DOD using ArunA cells to test for potential weapons of mass destruction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe bone regeneration product line is growing (a concept that, when you read it aloud, sounds like it was lifted from a Michael Crichton novel), and the company continues to make an impact in the development of neural stem cells. Stice says they\u2019re now developing astrocytes, which are the most abundant cells of the human brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of ArunA\u2019s happy astrocyte customers is Dr. Boulis, who is using some of the products developed in Stice\u2019s lab in his own work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor years Boulis has been trying to come up with ways to protect the nervous system or repair it. Much of his work has been focused on ALS (Lou Gehrig\u2019s Disease). In 2010, he made history with the launch of the first human clinical trials testing stem cells in patients with ALS.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeuralstem, a Maryland-based company, funded the trial at Emory. Boulis focused on very small doses with an emphasis on testing the safety of the procedure, which involved injections directly to first the lumbar spine (lower), then the cervical spine (upper).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe demonstrated we could do it, but there is such a low margin of error \u2013 one small misstep and you can make a patient a quadriplegic, which isn\u2019t doing him any favors,\u201d Boulis says. \u201cBut we showed that it can be done safely, and now we can move to the next level.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoulis was to begin a Phase II trial this fall, in which the injected dosage will be scaled up, so instead of testing only for safety, he hopes to gather some reliable evidence on the therapeutic benefits. The new trial will also include the Uni-versity of Michigan and Massachusetts General Hospital. Plus, Boulis is helping with clinical trials in Italy and assisting the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in upcoming trials, using different stem cell types.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey don\u2019t have a lot of extra money lying around in California, but they\u2019re making strategic investments in biotechnology,\u201d says Boulis, who wants the people of Geor-gia to recognize what the check signers in California already recognize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey\u2019ve inviting us to one of the three sites in their upcoming clinical trials, because they recognize that we are pioneers in this field. California has put billions of dollars into this, and it\u2019s brought a lot of world-class scientists to California.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCIRM was conceived and launched to address the absence of federal funding for stem cell work. I\u2019d like to think Atlanta and Georgia can do something similar and take this to heart and carry this forward, because I will submit that the places that do will be a lot richer at the end of the day.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Trends talks to GT researches Dr. Bob Guldberg and Dr. Ben Wang among other Georgia university researchers about advances and challenges in bioengineering research.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Trends talks to GT researches Dr. Bob Guldberg and Dr. Ben Wang about advances and challenges in bioengineering research."}],"uid":"27857","created_gmt":"2013-10-07 16:40:32","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:05","author":"Tracy Heath","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-10-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-10-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"155831","name":"Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"569","name":"bioengineering"},{"id":"14854","name":"biomanufacturing"},{"id":"11644","name":"Georgia Trend"},{"id":"215","name":"manufacturing"},{"id":"167413","name":"Stem Cell"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}