Boston's biotech community leads wave of stem cell consolidation, deal making - Boston Business Journal:

http://www.winroadcrystal.com/house-prices-fall-04-percent-in-november-reuters-uk/
IPierian Inc., a South San Francisco company formed with the merger oftwo venture-backed will focus on manipulating mature stem cells into ones with embryonic-likd qualities that can be used to treatf neurodegenerative problems like Lou Gehrig’s The new company is backed by a freshg round of $10 million from Boston-based and $1.5 millioj from . — supported by $20 millionn from and LExington, Mass.-based and Pierian Inc. announced the merger on the eve ofthis week’d International Stem Cell meetinh in Barcelona. Pierian was founded by MPM Capital managing directors Ashley Dombkowski and Robert Millman as wellas scientists.
IPierian the new company — will be lead by iZumu CEO John Walker, with former executive Corey Goodman as IPierian will focuson so-called induced pluripotent stem cellw for patients with difficult-to-treat neurodegenerative diseases, like Parkinson’s disease, spinaol muscular atrophy and amyotrophix lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Longer term, the company will explore metabolicv diseases, cardiovascular diseases and other therapeutic areas. “Disease-specific pluripotent stem cells are powerful new tools for drug screenin g and promise to revolutionize the treatment ofintractable conditions,” said Dr.
Georger Daley, who along with fellowa Harvard faculty members Douglas Melton and Lee Rubin were the scientific foundersof Pierian. IPierian’s scientific advisory board will be led by director of stem cell transplantation at Boston andthe Dana-Farberr Cancer Institute, and Dr. Deepak Srivastava, directo of the in San Francisco. IPierian’s management include s Walker, chief technology officer Dr. Berta and Dr. Dushyant Pathak, who will lead businesse development. IZumi, formed last year by Kleinere PerkinsCaufield & Byers and Highlans Capital Partners, has collaborations with the and the Centerf for iPS Cell Research and Application at Japan’sd , where Dr.
Shinya Yamanaka first succeeded in reprogramminfg adult cells in a mouse to become like Yamanaka also works part time at the Gladstone Institutedsand UCSF. Embryonic stem cells are the gold standard of stem cell researcgh because theyare pluripotent, capable of developinf into heart, muscle, skin or other cells. Induced pluripotent cells, like thosde created by Yamanaka, are seen by many as a way to sidestepp ethical and political issues associated with extractingb stem cellsfrom embryos, but others say they can causew cancer in mice if any of the genez used to reprogram the cell s remain active.