THINK YOU KNOW THYMUS?
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY According to Dr. Stefanie Seltmann, head of Press and Public Relations for the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), German researchers have disproven “a dogma of immunology” that the thymus depends upon progenitor cells from the bone marrow to develop T lymphocytes.
In a July 2012 press release, Seltmann states that DKFZ researches have shown that “the thymus is obviously capable of producing mature T cells for several months without any supply from the bone marrow.” The animal experiments, conducted by Hans-Reimer Rodewald, head of the Division of Cellular Immunology, Vera Martins, and DKFZ colleagues, led to the startling observation that, when bone marrow is compromised, the thymus gland acts like a reservoir to ensure a steady production of immune cells. Read more about this in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
US-GERMAN BIO/MED-TECH INNOVATORS MEET IN DUAL CONFERENCES
The international innovation network NYCMedTech.com, and its counterpart in Frankfurt, Germany, announce dual programs for both chapters Sept 11 and 13, 2012 that will bring together many of the world’s preeminent leaders in bio/med-tech within an interdisciplinary setting conducive to the acceleration of emerging health solutions.
FRANKFURTMEDTECH, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012, FRANKFURT, GERMANY
Keynote speaker Robert Weiss, chairman and president of the X PRIZE Foundation, will discuss how the X PRIZE brings about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity, thereby inspiring the formation of new industries and the revitalization of markets that are currently stuck due to existing failures or a commonly held belief that a solution is not possible. Also presenting will be Heat Biologics (Heat) from North Carolina. Heat is a clinical-stage company focused on developing its novel “ImPACT” (Immune Pan-Antigen Cytotoxic Therapy) off-the-shelf therapeutic vaccines to combat a wide range of cancers and other diseases. More info at FrankfurtMedTech.de
NYCMEDTECH, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012, NEW YORK, NY
The NYCMedTech conference will begin with a presentation by David Roth, cochairman of Board of Directors at the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance (TBDA) and a managing director at Blackstone Real Estate Advisors of New York. Roth will discuss his decision to fund an X PRIZE challenge. Keynote speaker Dr. Eric Schadt, Mount Sinai Medical School, chairman and professor, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and director, Institute of Genomics and Multiscale Biology, will discuss his efforts to generate and integrate large-scale, high-dimension molecular, cellular, and clinical data to build more predictive models to better diagnose and treat disease. More info at NYCMedTech.com.
Vera C. Martins, Eliana Ruggiero, Susan M. Schlenner, Vikas Madan, Manfred Schmidt, Pamela J. Fink, Christof von Kalle, and Hans-Reimer Rodewald: Thymus-autonomous T cell development in the absence of progenitor import, Journal of Experimental Medicine, doi: 10.1084/jem.20120846