Robert Lanza
Encyclopedia
Robert Paul Lanza is an American
Doctor of Medicine
, scientist
, Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology
(ACT) and Adjunct Professor
at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University
School of Medicine
.
, Massachusetts
, and grew up south of there, in Stoughton
, Massachusetts.
Lanza "altered the genetics of chickens in his basement", and came to the attention of Harvard Medical School
researchers when he appeared at the university with his results.
Jonas Salk
, B. F. Skinner
, and Christiaan Barnard
mentored Lanza over the next ten years.
Lanza attended University of Pennsylvania
, receiving BA and MD degrees.
There, he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar.
Lanza was a Fulbright Scholar
. He currently resides in Clinton
, Massachusetts
.
s.
Lanza demonstrated that techniques used in preimplantation genetic diagnosis
could be used to generate embryonic stem cells without embryonic destruction.
In 2001 he was also the first to clone an endangered species (a Gaur
), and in 2003, he cloned
an endangered wild ox (a Banteng
) from the frozen skin cells of an animal that had died at the San Diego Zoo
nearly a quarter-of-a-century earlier.
Lanza and his colleagues were the first to demonstrate that nuclear transplantation could be used to reverse the aging process and to generate immune-compatible tissues, including the first organ grown in the laboratory from cloned cells.
Lanza showed that it is feasible to generate functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells under conditions suitable for clinical scale-up. The blood cells could potentially serve as a source of “universal” blood.
His team discovered how to generate functional hemangioblast
s (a population of "ambulance" cells) from human embryonic stem cells.
In animals, these cells quickly repaired vascular damage, cutting the death rate after a heart attack in half and restoring the blood flow to ischemic limbs that might otherwise have required amputatation.
Recently, Lanza and a team led by Kwang-Soo Kim at Harvard University
reported a safe method for generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Human iPS cells were created from skin cells by direct delivery of proteins, thus eliminating the harmful risks associated with genetic and chemical manipulation. This new method provides a potentially safe source of patient-specific stem cells for translation into the clinic.
has succeeded in getting stem cells to grow into retinal cells
. Using this technology some forms of blindness
may be curable, including macular degeneration
and Stargardt disease, a currently untreatable form eye disease that causes blindness in teenagers and young adults.
Advanced Cell Technology has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration
for human trials using human embryonic stem cells to treat degenerative eye diseases. This treatment for eye disease uses stem cells to re-create a type of cell in the retina that supports the photoreceptor cells needed for vision. These cells, called retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), are often the first to die off in age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases, which in turn leads to loss of vision. Several years ago, Lanza’s team found that human embryonic stem cells could be a source of RPE cells, and subsequent studies found that these cells could restore vision in animal models of macular degeneration.
In recent studies, the same team of researchers showed that their stem-cell therapy provides a long-term benefit in animal models of vision loss. The retinal cells achieved near normal function in animals that otherwise would have gone blind.
In September 2011, Lanza’s company received approval from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
to begin the first human embryonic stem cell trial in Europe. Surgeons at Moorfields Eye Hospital
in London will inject healthy retinal eyes into the eyes of patients with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, hoping to slow, halt or even reverse the effects of the disease.
. The essay addressed Lanza's theory, biocentrism, which places biology above the other sciences. Lanza's book "How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the Universe" followed in 2009. Reception to Lanza's theory has been mixed.
(NIH) Director’s Award for “Translating Basic Science Discoveries into New and Better Treatments”; a 2010 “Movers and Shakers” Who Will Shape Biotech Over the Next 20 Years (BioWorld, along with Craig Venter
and President Barack Obama
); a 2005 Wired magazine
"Rave Award" for medicine “For eye-opening work on embryonic stem cells”, and a 2006 Mass High Tech journal “All Star” award for biotechnology for “pushing stem cells’ future”.
, cloning
, stem cell
s, and world health.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology
Advanced Cell Technology
Advanced Cell Technology, Incorporated , is a biotechnology company located in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA. The company specializes in the development and commercialization of cell therapies for the treatment of a variety of diseases...
(ACT) and Adjunct Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
School of Medicine
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
The Wake Forest School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is affiliated with North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Physicians, forming part of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center system...
.
Biography
Lanza was born in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, and grew up south of there, in Stoughton
Stoughton, Massachusetts
Stoughton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,962 at the 2010 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, and from Cape Cod.-History:...
, Massachusetts.
Lanza "altered the genetics of chickens in his basement", and came to the attention of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
researchers when he appeared at the university with his results.
Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He was born in New York City to parents from Ashkenazi Jewish Russian immigrant families...
, B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American behaviorist, author, inventor, baseball enthusiast, social philosopher and poet...
, and Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Neethling Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant.- Early life :...
mentored Lanza over the next ten years.
Lanza attended University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, receiving BA and MD degrees.
There, he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar.
Lanza was a Fulbright Scholar
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
. He currently resides in Clinton
Clinton, Massachusetts
Clinton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,606 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Clinton, please see the article Clinton , Massachusetts....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
Stem cell research
Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world's first early stage human embryos for the purpose of generating embryonic stem cellStem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
s.
Lanza demonstrated that techniques used in preimplantation genetic diagnosis
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
In medicine and genetics pre-implantation genetic diagnosis refers to procedures that are performed on embryos prior to implantation, sometimes even on oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered another way to prenatal diagnosis...
could be used to generate embryonic stem cells without embryonic destruction.
In 2001 he was also the first to clone an endangered species (a Gaur
Gaur
The gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...
), and in 2003, he cloned
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
an endangered wild ox (a Banteng
Banteng
The banteng , also known as tembadau, is a species of wild cattle found in Southeast Asia.Banteng have been domesticated in several places in Southeast Asia, and there are around 1.5 million domestic banteng, which are called Bali cattle. These animals are used as working animals and for their meat...
) from the frozen skin cells of an animal that had died at the San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, is one of the most progressive zoos in the world, with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species...
nearly a quarter-of-a-century earlier.
Lanza and his colleagues were the first to demonstrate that nuclear transplantation could be used to reverse the aging process and to generate immune-compatible tissues, including the first organ grown in the laboratory from cloned cells.
Lanza showed that it is feasible to generate functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells under conditions suitable for clinical scale-up. The blood cells could potentially serve as a source of “universal” blood.
His team discovered how to generate functional hemangioblast
Hemangioblast
Hemangioblast is a multipotent cell, common precursor to hematopoietic and endothelial cells. Hemangioblast was first hypothesized in 1900 by W. His....
s (a population of "ambulance" cells) from human embryonic stem cells.
In animals, these cells quickly repaired vascular damage, cutting the death rate after a heart attack in half and restoring the blood flow to ischemic limbs that might otherwise have required amputatation.
Recently, Lanza and a team led by Kwang-Soo Kim at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
reported a safe method for generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Human iPS cells were created from skin cells by direct delivery of proteins, thus eliminating the harmful risks associated with genetic and chemical manipulation. This new method provides a potentially safe source of patient-specific stem cells for translation into the clinic.
Clinical trials for blindness
Lanza’s team at Advanced Cell TechnologyAdvanced Cell Technology
Advanced Cell Technology, Incorporated , is a biotechnology company located in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA. The company specializes in the development and commercialization of cell therapies for the treatment of a variety of diseases...
has succeeded in getting stem cells to grow into retinal cells
Retina
The vertebrate retina is a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical...
. Using this technology some forms of blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
may be curable, including macular degeneration
Macular degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field because of damage to the retina. It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms. It is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment in older adults...
and Stargardt disease, a currently untreatable form eye disease that causes blindness in teenagers and young adults.
Advanced Cell Technology has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
for human trials using human embryonic stem cells to treat degenerative eye diseases. This treatment for eye disease uses stem cells to re-create a type of cell in the retina that supports the photoreceptor cells needed for vision. These cells, called retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), are often the first to die off in age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases, which in turn leads to loss of vision. Several years ago, Lanza’s team found that human embryonic stem cells could be a source of RPE cells, and subsequent studies found that these cells could restore vision in animal models of macular degeneration.
In recent studies, the same team of researchers showed that their stem-cell therapy provides a long-term benefit in animal models of vision loss. The retinal cells achieved near normal function in animals that otherwise would have gone blind.
In September 2011, Lanza’s company received approval from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is the UK government agency which is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe....
to begin the first human embryonic stem cell trial in Europe. Surgeons at Moorfields Eye Hospital
Moorfields Eye Hospital
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS eye hospital located in London, United Kingdom. It is the oldest and largest eye hospital in the world and is internationally renowned for its comprehensive clinical and research activities...
in London will inject healthy retinal eyes into the eyes of patients with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, hoping to slow, halt or even reverse the effects of the disease.
Biocentrism
In 2007, Lanza's article titled "A New Theory of the Universe" appeared in The American ScholarThe American Scholar
The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to...
. The essay addressed Lanza's theory, biocentrism, which places biology above the other sciences. Lanza's book "How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the Universe" followed in 2009. Reception to Lanza's theory has been mixed.
Awards and public commentary
Lanza has received numerous awards, including a 2010 National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
(NIH) Director’s Award for “Translating Basic Science Discoveries into New and Better Treatments”; a 2010 “Movers and Shakers” Who Will Shape Biotech Over the Next 20 Years (BioWorld, along with Craig Venter
Craig Venter
John Craig Venter is an American biologist and entrepreneur, most famous for his role in being one of the first to sequence the human genome and for his role in creating the first cell with a synthetic genome in 2010. Venter founded Celera Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research and the J...
and President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
); a 2005 Wired magazine
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
"Rave Award" for medicine “For eye-opening work on embryonic stem cells”, and a 2006 Mass High Tech journal “All Star” award for biotechnology for “pushing stem cells’ future”.
Publications
Lanza has authored and co-edited books on topics involving tissue engineeringTissue engineering
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
, cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
, stem cell
Stem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
s, and world health.
Books
- 1984 Heart Transplantation: The Present Status of Orthotopic and Heterotopic Heart Transplantation ISBN 0-85200-862-7
- 1985 Medical Science and the Advancement of World Health ISBN 0-03-071734-5
- 1994 Pancreatic Islet Transplantation: Volume I Procurement of Pancreatic Islets ISBN 1-57059-133-4
- 1994 Pancreatic Islet Transplantation: Volume II Immunomodulation of Pancreatic Islets ISBN 1-57059-134-2
- 1994 Pancreatic Islet Transplantation: Volume III ImmunoisolationImmunoisolateIn general, immunoisolation is the process of protecting implanted material such as biopolymers, cells, or drug release carriers from an immune reaction. The most prominent means of accomplishing this is through the use of encapsulation....
of Pancreatic Islets ISBN 1-57059-135-0 - 1996 One World: The Health and Survival of the Human Species in the 21st Century ISBN 0-929173-33-3
- 1996 Yearbook of Cell and Tissue Transplantation ISBN 0-7923-3844-8
- 1997 Principles of Tissue Engineering ISBN 1-57059-342-6
- 1999 Cell Encapsulation Technology and Therapeutics ISBN 0-8176-4010
- 2000 Xeno: The Promise of Transplanting Animal Organs into Humans ISBN 0-19-512833-8
- 2000 Principles of Tissue Engineering, Second Edition ISBN 0-12-436630-9
- 2002 Methods of Tissue Engineering ISBN 0-12-436636-8
- 2002 Principles of Cloning ISBN 0-12-174597-X
- 2004 Handbook of Stem Cells: Volume 1 Embryonic Stem Cells ISBN 0-12-436642-2
- 2004 Handbook of Stem Cells: Volume 2 Adult and Fetal Stem Cells ISBN 0-12-436644-9
- 2006 Essentials of Stem Cell Biology ISBN 0-12-088442-9
- 2006 Methods in Enzymology: Volume 418 Embryonic Stem Cells ISBN 0-12-373648-X
- 2006 Methods in Enzymology: Volume 419 Adult Stem Cells ISBN 0-12-373650-1
- 2006 Methods in Enzymology: Volume 420 Stem Cell Tools and Other Experimental Protocols ISBN 0-12-373651-X
- 2007 Principles of Tissue Engineering, Third Edition ISBN 0-12-370615-7
- 2008 Principles of Regenerative Medicine ISBN 978-0-12-369410-2
- 2009 Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the Universe ISBN 978-1933771-69-4
- 2009 Essential Stem Cell Methods ISBN 978-0-12-374741-9
- 2009 Essentials of Stem Cell Biology, Second Edition ISBN 978-0-12-374729-7
- 2009 Foundations of Regenerative Medicine ISBN 978-0123750853
- 2010 Principles of Regenerative Medicine, Second Edition ISBN 978-0123814227
External links
- Personal website: blog, and archive of books, articles and news.
- Advanced Cell Technology website
- Robert Lanza – Biocentrism blog and archive of Lanza's biocentrism theory
- Lanza's essays on The Huffington Post