Share the Science: Dr. Charles Cox Jr – Cellular Therapies for Neurological Injuries

Dr. Cox is the George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences and directs the Pediatric Surgical Translational Laboratories and Pediatric Program in Regenerative Medicine at the UTHealth Medical School. He also directs the Pediatric Trauma Program at the UTHealth Medical School/Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.
Recently, Dr. Cox completed the first acute, autologous cell therapy treatment Phase I study for traumatic brain injury in children (aged 5-14) in a collaborative effort between leading institutions in the Texas Medical Center including The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital, MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital, and The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy (CAGT) at Baylor College of Medicine.  The study has evolved to include analysis of the use of cord blood stem cells in treating traumatic brain injury and the role of heterologous cellular therapies.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Dr. Cox to “Share the Science” where he will go into great detail about various stem and progenitor cellular therapies as potential treatments for neurological injuries, the differences between these many cell types, preclinical and early clinical trials occurring in the field, and future outlooks.

Attendees of this webinar will have the opportunity to learn about:

• Historical perspective of the development of preclinical data in the field
• How to differentiate between various cell types
• Benefits of potential pleiotropic mechanisms of action
• How to be a better critical reviewer of the literature

Attendees will also be invited to ask Dr. Cox questions live during this event.

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We wish to thank Dr. Charles Cox Jr. for volunteering his time to speak on
Share the Science and sharing his valuable insight on cellular therapies for neurological injuries.
We also wish to thank our generous sponsors, Mediware Inc., who continue
to support cord blood education through our “Share the Science” series.

​Get Involved. Join the #cordbloodmovement!

Cord blood saves lives. Let’s stop throwing it away. ​

​Dr. Wise Young’s accolades are many yet what makes him a leading researcher in the cord blood industry is his commitment to bringing treatments to people with spinal cord Injuries.
During the live #ShareTheScience presentation, Dr. Young spoke in great detail about his current research and goals for the future. His presentation led the group to discussing a variety of issues including the fact that cord blood supplies could very quickly be depleted as major medical advances are made using cord blood. Indeed, there is precedent for this if we consider that just a few decades ago cord blood was not used at all and now it is used to treat over 80 different diseases including leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell and thalassemia.
Many health professionals agree that cord blood holds many distinct advantages.  Learn the facts on cord blood here.
In this short video interview, we asked Dr. Young to speak about briefly about his own groundbreaking research using cord blood to treat spinal cord injury and progress that is being made in the field. He also expanded on the group’s discussion about cord blood supplies, public banking and health care costs for these new therapies. He placed a particular focus on India and third world countries where most families cannot afford treatments or private cord blood banking.  Regarding India, he spoke extensively about the opportunity and challenge which lies before us to make cord blood therapies and storage more accessible in order to fight thalassemia (read a related guest post on India from Jeevan Blood Bank).
The overriding message. . . medicine is advancing fast!  The world needs more cord blood.

About Dr. Young
Dr. Wise Young, M.D., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, founding director of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience is recognized as one of the world’s outstanding neuroscientists.
Dr. Wise Young built and trained a 25 center clinical trial network in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, where human clinical trials using umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells and lithium are underway. In the initial results from the phase II trial in Kunming, China, 75% of the participants (15 out of 20) recovered walking with a rolling walker. He is establishing clinical trial networks in the United States, Norway, and India. Phase IIB trials started in 2015, and phase III trials are getting underway this year.

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Share it and then join us for our next
Share the Science webinar or live event!
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Share the Science LIVE at BMT Tandem: Dr. Miguel-Angel Perales, Immune System Reconstitution Post-Transplant

We encourage health professionals and current medical students in the area to attend. If you have a family member about to undergo a stem cell transplant, you may also find this presentation of particular interest. Join us by reserving your place now (free).
Immune reconstitution following a stem cell transplant is crucial for patients. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) is an established treatment for hematologic malignancies. However, it is associated with significant adverse events, including infection, relapse, and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). An important variable that may affect these outcomes is the recovery of the immune system after transplant.  Surprisingly, there are no FDA approved methods or strategies for immune reconstitution. Several preclinical and clinical studies have identified promising therapeutic strategies for immune regeneration.
In this live presentation, Dr. Perales will review immune reconstitution following HCT, with a particular emphasis on factors that contribute to delayed immune recovery post transplant, including graft source, and the clinical consequences. He will also discuss current clinical and research assays to monitor post-HCT immune recovery and highlight some of the potential strategies that are currently under investigation to enhance immune recovery in HCT recipients.

​Dr. Miguel-Angel Perales
from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
presents
“Immune Reconstitution after Stem Cell Transplantation:
Challenges and Opportunities”
LIVE at BMT TANDEM 2017
Gaylord Palms Convention Center, Room: Miami 1
Thursday, February 23rd, 2017
7:00-8:30 am Eastern Time
Free to register. Open to the public.

As a leading researcher, Dr. Miguel-Angel Perales  is the deputy chief of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Service and director of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Fellowship Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He has more than 130 publications, including peer-reviewed articles, position papers, guidelines, book chapters, editorials, and invited reviews.
In addition to his many accolades, Dr. Perales a member of the board of directors of Be The Match (National Marrow Donor Program – NMDP) and serves on committees for several organizations, including the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN), the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), and the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

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We wish to thank Dr. Perales for volunteering his time to speak on
Share the Science and sharing his valuable insight stem cell transplants.
We also wish to thank our generous sponsors, Mediware Inc., who continue
to support cord blood education through our “Share the Science” series.