Dr. Muhammad Irfan-Maqsood | Azerbaijan Technical University (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr. Muhammad Irfan-Maqsood

Background Pharmaceutical residues in the drinking water have become a major challenge of the mod... more Background
Pharmaceutical residues in the drinking water have become a major challenge of the modern urban life because bioaccumulation of these residues in human bodies has been considered the major cause of trending disorders such as infertility, drug resistance, hormonal imbalance etc. Although proctocols have been implemented to detect and deliminate these residues to purify the drinking water but inspite of huge efforts, the untraceable amount of these substances remains intact.

Purpose of study
Considering the singnificance of detection of pharmaceutical residues in drinking water, the current study was perform to develop a novel approach to measure the untraceable amount of Cetirizine and Fexofenadine by using an in-lab developed nanosheets of graphene oxide to act as suitable adsorbents of compounds of the antihistamine family.

Methods
These graphene nanosheets were characterized following the adsorption kinetics, contact time, temperature, pH, desorption rate, volume effect on adsorption and desorption concentration. FT-IR and XRD methods were also used to detect the nanoparticles.

Results and conclusion
It was observed that the best pH for Cetirizine and Fexofenadine adsorptionis 3 and 6, respectively by using methanol as an optimal solvent. The quadratic equation of both drugs paints a clearer picture of absorption. The validation test of the sample condensation by graphene oxide adsorbent exhibited that using the synthesized adsorbent, the analysis power of these drugs in water samples can be enhanced from mg/L units to μg/L, which helps analyze very small amounts of these compounds in aquatic environments. On the other hand, the maximum adsorptioncapacity of 28.2 and 26.42 mg/g for Cetirizine and Fexofenadine, respectively, indicates the high adsorptioncapacity of this substance to treat pollution of wastewater discharged by pharmaceutical factories.

Journal of Cellular Immunotherapy, 2015

Journal of Genes and Cells, 2016

Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Journal, 2016

Novel findings on fabrication techniques for bioactive materials, discovering further basic knowl... more Novel findings on fabrication techniques for bioactive materials, discovering further basic knowledge about wound healing process, and availability of stem cells as alternative candidate for differentiated cells have highly encouraged scientists for developing new bioengineered skin substitutes (BSS) that offer an effective remedy for a specific wound type. However, technical, clinical, legislative and economic reasons hamper widespread commercialization and clinical translation of BSS. Among the various types of strategies that target skin repair and regeneration, tissue engineering with stem cells is most promising route. Tissue engineering by cooperation of several disciplines forms a context on which the commercial development of BSS is possible to provide benefits for patients who currently have limited or no cure options. The principles of tissue engineering are to initiate cell cultures in vitro, grow them in monolayer or on porous scaffolds and transplant the composite into a patient with a specific wound indication in vivo. The potential for creating of custom-designed biomaterials and availability of stem cells from either autologous or allogenic sources have helped to produce novel innovative BSS. Currently, wide range of skin substitutes are already being fabricated for clinical use in different wound indications but not yet definitively established. Therefore, many novel engineered constructs might be fabricated in the future. In this review, we describe the progress that has been made to date in the field of skin substitutes and the critical issues that are still hindering successful production and bench to bedside translation of BSS and restricting the availability of these innovative therapeutic constructs. Integrity of the science and technology, interdisciplinary expertise collaborations, and early interaction with regulatory entities such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), together with other critical determinants, is vital to the successful commercialization of tissue engineering products into the marketplace/clinic.

Neurodegeneration is a general term for the progressive loss of structure and/ or function of neu... more Neurodegeneration is a general term for the progressive loss of structure and/ or function of neurons, gives rise to dysfunction or death of neurons. Neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer´s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury (SCI) and brain ischemia (BI) occur as a result of neurodegenerative processes leading to different degrees of paralysis and loss of sensation and cognition in the patients. Unfortunately, no successful cure for neurodegenerative disorders has been developed so far, and most of the currently available pharmacological therapies are mainly palliative. In recent years, stem cells have provided a great opportunity to develop potentially powerful innovative strategies to cure neurodegenerative diseases. Stem cells transplantation is capable of restoring injured neuronal tissue by replacement of the damaged cells via using directly differentiated cells or by protecting of existing healthy neurons and glial cells from further damage, or by repairing through providing a conductive environment in favor of regeneration. Here we have brought together some of these examples, discuss possible therapeutic means using different types of stem cells, mainly adult stem cells (ASCs), to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Journal of Genes and Cells, 2015

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known with the potential of multi-lineage differentiation. Adva... more Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known with the potential of multi-lineage differentiation. Advances in differentiation technology have also resulted in the conversion of MSCs to other kinds of stem cells. MSCs are considered as a suitable source of cells for biotechnology purposes because they are abundant, easily accessible and well characterized cells. Nowadays small molecules are introduced as novel and efficient factors to differentiate stem cells. In this work, we examined the potential of glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) for differentiating chicken MSCs toward spermatogonial stem cells. MSCs were isolated and characterized from chicken and cultured under treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (RA) or glial cell derived neurotrophic factor. Expression analysis of specific genes after 7 days of RA treatment, as examined by RT-PCR, proved positive for some germ cell markers such as CVH, STRA8, PLZF and some genes involved in spermatogonial stem cell maintenance like BCL6b and c-KIT. On the other hand, GDNF could additionally induce expression of POU5F1, and NANOG as well as other genes which were induced after RA treatment. These data illustrated that GDNF is relatively more effective in diverting chicken MSCs towards Spermatogonial stem cell −like cells in chickens and suggests GDNF as a new agent to obtain transgenic poultry, nevertheless, exploitability of these cells should be verified by more experiments.

Cutaneous wound healing is a complex type of biological event involving proliferation, differenti... more Cutaneous wound healing is a complex type of biological event involving proliferation, differentiation, reprograming, trans/de-differentiation , recruitment, migration, and apoptosis of a number of cells (keratinocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, nerve cells and stem cells) to regenerate a multi-layered tissue that is damaged by either internal or external factors. The exact regeneration mechanism of damaged skin is still unknown but the epithelial and other kinds of stem cells located in skin play crucial roles in the healing process. In this work, a co-culture model composed of adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells and keratinocytes was developed to understand the cellular differentiation behaviour in wound healing. Human mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from waste lipoaspirates. Keratinocytes were isolated from neonatal rats skin as well from human adult skin. Both types of cells were cultured and their culturing behaviour was observed microscopically under regular intervals of time. The identity of both cells was confirmed by flow cytometry and qRT-PCR. Cells were co-cultured under the proposed co-culturing model and the model was observed for 7, 14 and 21 days. The cellular behaviour was studied based on change in morphology, colonization, stratification, migration and expression of molecular markers. Expression of molecular markers was studied at transcriptional level and change in cellular morphology and migration capabilities was observed under the invert microscope regularly. Successfully isolated and characterized mesenchymal stem cells were found to express keratinocyte lineage markers i.e. K5, K10, K14, K18, K19 and Involucrin when co-cultured with keratinocytes after 14 and 21 days. Their expression was found to increase by increasing the time span of cell culturing. The keratinocyte colonies started to disappear after 10 days of culturing which might be due to stratification process initiated by possibly transdifferentiated stem cells. It can be concluded that mesenchymal stem cells can regenerate the damaged skin if transplanted to damaged area but for their successful differentiation and enhanced regeneration, they need a population of keratinocytes in situ which need further experiments for validation of co-culture model and its potential for being used in clinics.

Keratinocytes are the main components of skin epidermis constituting more than 90% of it which ar... more Keratinocytes are the main components of skin epidermis constituting more than 90% of it which are responsible to regulate skin regeneration during external or internal injury. These cells can be found in a heterogenic form containing proliferative, terminally differentiated and transit amplifying (TA) cells located in basal layer, outer keratinized layer and intermediate layers, respectively when isolated from an adult skin. Efforts are going on to characterize keratinocytes precisely as in comparison with widely used stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their application in cutaneous wound healing as a translational approach in regenerative medicine. In this work, we have applied a comprehensive approach to identify and characterize keratinocytes which are a valuable tool in wound healing. Keratinocytes have successfully been isolated from adult skin and the ratio of proliferative, terminally differentiated and TA cells based on the expression of α6-integrin and CD71 was studied using flow cytometry after 7, 14 and 21 days of their culture in vitro. RT and qRT-PCR was applied to study the change in genetic expression and relativity of cytokeratin markers with the passage of time. PopUp culturing and population doubling time was performed to study the proliferative potential of heterogenic population of cells. Their colonogenicity and wound healing potential were also studied to explain their healing behaviour during the time of injuries. 47% keratinocytes after 7 days, 62% after 14days and 93% keratinocytes after 21 days of culturing. Expression of CD71 was also observed in cells as, 5% after 7 days, 22% after 14 days and 66% of keratinocytes after 21 days were positive for CD71 expression. Gradual increased expression of genetic markers, K10, K14, INV and P63 was observed using qRT-PCR. Studying comparative data, it can be concluded that keratinocytes after 14 days of culturing are better to use for clinical purposes. This comprehensive protocol could be a valuable addition in cutaneous biology helping researchers to identify keratinocytes and to use them for their pre-clinical studies.

Stem cell therapeutic research is passing through a transition phase between laboratory research ... more Stem cell therapeutic research is passing through a transition phase between laboratory research and health industry. According to the US data registry of clinical trials, more than 4776 studies have been registered, 2882 have been completed whereas 1894 studies are in process. Surprisingly, in spite of having huge research, there are two commercialized stem cell therapeutic products in global market and these two products are also not approved by FDA. As it has been discussed in literature, stem cells have been considered as promising candidates to treat non-curable diseases like cancer etc. More than 80% successful clinical trials have been done showing no or little side effects with much better efficiency than pharmacokinetics but still stem cell research is far from being commercialized. The major reason of stem cells non-commercialization is the gap among clinicians, researchers, industry experts and policy makers. A multibillion dollar grants and a very strong communication system between doctors, researchers, industrial experts, policy makers, regulating authorities, are the pre-requisite to commercialize stem cell therapy.

Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to... more Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to treat diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are seen as the most reliable cells applied in therapy over other stem cells because of their versatility. Bone and cartilage diseases (osteo-diseases) are the major target of therapy using MSCs. In this perspective, we have statistically analyzed the data available on clinical trials registry databases regarding the mesenchymal stem cell based therapy for a number of mentioned diseases and paid attention towards the osteodiseases. We report that MSC therapy for osteo-diseases needs optimization in its standards to achieve acceptable results so that we can apply it in daily routine clinical practice.

Cancer is the abnormality which happens in the cell cycle, resulting in uncontrolled cell divisio... more Cancer is the abnormality which happens in the cell cycle, resulting in uncontrolled cell division and is the second largest cause of deaths in the world accounting 13% of all deaths followed by the cardiovascular diseases. Finding a therapeutic solution for cancer is a continuous process. A number of therapeutic approaches like chemotherapy, preventive therapies, radiation and magnetic therapy, adjuvant therapy, Immunotherapy, gene therapy, cell transplantation therapy, Hyperthermia and surgery are under research in order to treat cancer. Targeted therapy is the most preferred way to treat cancer globally and researchers are focusing on the different ways of targeted therapy. Gene therapy with its first approved drug for cancer (Gendicine™) in China revolutionized the cancer drugs but a number of questions in scientific community around the world and its rejection in European and American market raised question marks on its authenticity as cancer drug. Successful clinical trials for mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) and engineered cells based therapy against cancer emerged the concept of gene and cell therapy for cancer and a number of clinical trials also produced successful results in this case. Engineered cells are a new era of targeted cancer therapy and have been considered by researchers, as a promising therapeutic candidate. Engineered cell therapy (combination of gene and cell therapy) as a part of targeted therapy of cancer may provide a valuable resource. T-Cell engineering has faced successful results, whereas MSC engineering is passing through a transition phase. Successful engineering of MSCs could be a hope for cancer patients in near future.

Journal of Cell and Molecular Research (JCMR) was first published in 2008 as the first journal in... more Journal of Cell and Molecular Research (JCMR) was first published in 2008 as the first journal in the field of cell and molecular biology research. The need for the establishment of JCMR was felt as a platform for the young cell and molecular biology researchers under the supervision of respective experts. JCMR was established to focus on almost all fields of cell and molecular research and some categorical publications were planned as focusing areas of modern and innovative research done by the young researchers. Genetics, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Cell Biology and Molecular Biology were remained the focusing areas of publications in the first five years of JCMR publications. The editorial board has proposed new strategies to increase the impact of the journal of cell and molecular research which include the focused publications and to fasten the peer-review processing of journal. Its indexing in international indexing databases like Scopus etc. will encourage the authors and editors as a milestone in the boosting of scientific quality data production.

Chromosome-centric human proteome project (C-HPP) is a recent initiative to rationalize and analy... more Chromosome-centric human proteome project (C-HPP) is a recent initiative to rationalize and analyze gene-protein and protein-protein interactions in normal and disease condi- tions. This initiative is aimed to generate the proteomic atlas explaining the molecular ar- chitecture of the human body and was initiated in response to the hurdles identified during analyzing the human genome project (HGP). A need for the experimental observation of translated proteins was felt to analyze precisely what is going on in the cell. 25 countries around the world are participating in the C-HPP. This symposium report will introduce the Y-chromosome HPP which is undergoing in Iran by eminent molecular biologists of Royan Institute, Tehran and its collaborates.

Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to... more Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to treat diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are seen as the most reliable cells applied in therapy over other stem cells because of their versatility.Boneandcartilagediseases(osteo-diseases)arethemajortargetoftherapyusingMSCs.Inthisperspective,wehave statisticallyanalyzedthedataavailableonclinicaltrialsregistrydatabasesregardingthemesenchymalstemcellbasedtherapy for a number of mentioned diseases and paid attention towards the osteodiseases. We report that MSC therapy for osteo- diseases needs optimization in its standards to achieve acceptable results so that we can apply it in daily routine clinical practice.

Rhamnolipids are well-studied glycolipids secreted by Pseu- domonas aeruginosa that have been fou... more Rhamnolipids are well-studied glycolipids secreted by Pseu- domonas aeruginosa that have been found to have excellent sur- faceactivity.Alreadyusedinvariousapplicationareas,including environmental, health, food, cosmetic, and oil industries, rham- nolipids are attractive candidates to replace chemically synthe- sizedsurfactantsbecausetheyarederivedfromanaturalsourceat high purities and have low toxicity levels. Production of rham- nolipids depends on several environmental and nutritional fac- tors,andthehighestyieldisestimatedtobe6g/L;recentadvances in recovery methods have resulted in 99.9% pure rhamnolipids. Rhamnolipids have several beneficial characteristics: they are easily degradable, nontoxic, nonmutagenic, and have the highest surface-tension-reduction index of any surface-tension reducing agent currently in use. They have broad potential applicability across industries. They can also be used in oil-spill management, environmentalmanagement,biodegradationandremediation,the uptake of heavy metals and environmental pollutants, and the production of skin-compatible biochemicals for use in cosmetics. Rhamnolipids have applicability as antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-algal, and anti-protist agents. In this review, we summarize the production parameters, properties, and industrial potentialofrhamnolipids,asthenextgenerationofbiosurfactants.

Background Pharmaceutical residues in the drinking water have become a major challenge of the mod... more Background
Pharmaceutical residues in the drinking water have become a major challenge of the modern urban life because bioaccumulation of these residues in human bodies has been considered the major cause of trending disorders such as infertility, drug resistance, hormonal imbalance etc. Although proctocols have been implemented to detect and deliminate these residues to purify the drinking water but inspite of huge efforts, the untraceable amount of these substances remains intact.

Purpose of study
Considering the singnificance of detection of pharmaceutical residues in drinking water, the current study was perform to develop a novel approach to measure the untraceable amount of Cetirizine and Fexofenadine by using an in-lab developed nanosheets of graphene oxide to act as suitable adsorbents of compounds of the antihistamine family.

Methods
These graphene nanosheets were characterized following the adsorption kinetics, contact time, temperature, pH, desorption rate, volume effect on adsorption and desorption concentration. FT-IR and XRD methods were also used to detect the nanoparticles.

Results and conclusion
It was observed that the best pH for Cetirizine and Fexofenadine adsorptionis 3 and 6, respectively by using methanol as an optimal solvent. The quadratic equation of both drugs paints a clearer picture of absorption. The validation test of the sample condensation by graphene oxide adsorbent exhibited that using the synthesized adsorbent, the analysis power of these drugs in water samples can be enhanced from mg/L units to μg/L, which helps analyze very small amounts of these compounds in aquatic environments. On the other hand, the maximum adsorptioncapacity of 28.2 and 26.42 mg/g for Cetirizine and Fexofenadine, respectively, indicates the high adsorptioncapacity of this substance to treat pollution of wastewater discharged by pharmaceutical factories.

Journal of Cellular Immunotherapy, 2015

Journal of Genes and Cells, 2016

Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Journal, 2016

Novel findings on fabrication techniques for bioactive materials, discovering further basic knowl... more Novel findings on fabrication techniques for bioactive materials, discovering further basic knowledge about wound healing process, and availability of stem cells as alternative candidate for differentiated cells have highly encouraged scientists for developing new bioengineered skin substitutes (BSS) that offer an effective remedy for a specific wound type. However, technical, clinical, legislative and economic reasons hamper widespread commercialization and clinical translation of BSS. Among the various types of strategies that target skin repair and regeneration, tissue engineering with stem cells is most promising route. Tissue engineering by cooperation of several disciplines forms a context on which the commercial development of BSS is possible to provide benefits for patients who currently have limited or no cure options. The principles of tissue engineering are to initiate cell cultures in vitro, grow them in monolayer or on porous scaffolds and transplant the composite into a patient with a specific wound indication in vivo. The potential for creating of custom-designed biomaterials and availability of stem cells from either autologous or allogenic sources have helped to produce novel innovative BSS. Currently, wide range of skin substitutes are already being fabricated for clinical use in different wound indications but not yet definitively established. Therefore, many novel engineered constructs might be fabricated in the future. In this review, we describe the progress that has been made to date in the field of skin substitutes and the critical issues that are still hindering successful production and bench to bedside translation of BSS and restricting the availability of these innovative therapeutic constructs. Integrity of the science and technology, interdisciplinary expertise collaborations, and early interaction with regulatory entities such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), together with other critical determinants, is vital to the successful commercialization of tissue engineering products into the marketplace/clinic.

Neurodegeneration is a general term for the progressive loss of structure and/ or function of neu... more Neurodegeneration is a general term for the progressive loss of structure and/ or function of neurons, gives rise to dysfunction or death of neurons. Neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer´s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury (SCI) and brain ischemia (BI) occur as a result of neurodegenerative processes leading to different degrees of paralysis and loss of sensation and cognition in the patients. Unfortunately, no successful cure for neurodegenerative disorders has been developed so far, and most of the currently available pharmacological therapies are mainly palliative. In recent years, stem cells have provided a great opportunity to develop potentially powerful innovative strategies to cure neurodegenerative diseases. Stem cells transplantation is capable of restoring injured neuronal tissue by replacement of the damaged cells via using directly differentiated cells or by protecting of existing healthy neurons and glial cells from further damage, or by repairing through providing a conductive environment in favor of regeneration. Here we have brought together some of these examples, discuss possible therapeutic means using different types of stem cells, mainly adult stem cells (ASCs), to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Journal of Genes and Cells, 2015

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known with the potential of multi-lineage differentiation. Adva... more Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known with the potential of multi-lineage differentiation. Advances in differentiation technology have also resulted in the conversion of MSCs to other kinds of stem cells. MSCs are considered as a suitable source of cells for biotechnology purposes because they are abundant, easily accessible and well characterized cells. Nowadays small molecules are introduced as novel and efficient factors to differentiate stem cells. In this work, we examined the potential of glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) for differentiating chicken MSCs toward spermatogonial stem cells. MSCs were isolated and characterized from chicken and cultured under treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (RA) or glial cell derived neurotrophic factor. Expression analysis of specific genes after 7 days of RA treatment, as examined by RT-PCR, proved positive for some germ cell markers such as CVH, STRA8, PLZF and some genes involved in spermatogonial stem cell maintenance like BCL6b and c-KIT. On the other hand, GDNF could additionally induce expression of POU5F1, and NANOG as well as other genes which were induced after RA treatment. These data illustrated that GDNF is relatively more effective in diverting chicken MSCs towards Spermatogonial stem cell −like cells in chickens and suggests GDNF as a new agent to obtain transgenic poultry, nevertheless, exploitability of these cells should be verified by more experiments.

Cutaneous wound healing is a complex type of biological event involving proliferation, differenti... more Cutaneous wound healing is a complex type of biological event involving proliferation, differentiation, reprograming, trans/de-differentiation , recruitment, migration, and apoptosis of a number of cells (keratinocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, nerve cells and stem cells) to regenerate a multi-layered tissue that is damaged by either internal or external factors. The exact regeneration mechanism of damaged skin is still unknown but the epithelial and other kinds of stem cells located in skin play crucial roles in the healing process. In this work, a co-culture model composed of adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells and keratinocytes was developed to understand the cellular differentiation behaviour in wound healing. Human mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from waste lipoaspirates. Keratinocytes were isolated from neonatal rats skin as well from human adult skin. Both types of cells were cultured and their culturing behaviour was observed microscopically under regular intervals of time. The identity of both cells was confirmed by flow cytometry and qRT-PCR. Cells were co-cultured under the proposed co-culturing model and the model was observed for 7, 14 and 21 days. The cellular behaviour was studied based on change in morphology, colonization, stratification, migration and expression of molecular markers. Expression of molecular markers was studied at transcriptional level and change in cellular morphology and migration capabilities was observed under the invert microscope regularly. Successfully isolated and characterized mesenchymal stem cells were found to express keratinocyte lineage markers i.e. K5, K10, K14, K18, K19 and Involucrin when co-cultured with keratinocytes after 14 and 21 days. Their expression was found to increase by increasing the time span of cell culturing. The keratinocyte colonies started to disappear after 10 days of culturing which might be due to stratification process initiated by possibly transdifferentiated stem cells. It can be concluded that mesenchymal stem cells can regenerate the damaged skin if transplanted to damaged area but for their successful differentiation and enhanced regeneration, they need a population of keratinocytes in situ which need further experiments for validation of co-culture model and its potential for being used in clinics.

Keratinocytes are the main components of skin epidermis constituting more than 90% of it which ar... more Keratinocytes are the main components of skin epidermis constituting more than 90% of it which are responsible to regulate skin regeneration during external or internal injury. These cells can be found in a heterogenic form containing proliferative, terminally differentiated and transit amplifying (TA) cells located in basal layer, outer keratinized layer and intermediate layers, respectively when isolated from an adult skin. Efforts are going on to characterize keratinocytes precisely as in comparison with widely used stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their application in cutaneous wound healing as a translational approach in regenerative medicine. In this work, we have applied a comprehensive approach to identify and characterize keratinocytes which are a valuable tool in wound healing. Keratinocytes have successfully been isolated from adult skin and the ratio of proliferative, terminally differentiated and TA cells based on the expression of α6-integrin and CD71 was studied using flow cytometry after 7, 14 and 21 days of their culture in vitro. RT and qRT-PCR was applied to study the change in genetic expression and relativity of cytokeratin markers with the passage of time. PopUp culturing and population doubling time was performed to study the proliferative potential of heterogenic population of cells. Their colonogenicity and wound healing potential were also studied to explain their healing behaviour during the time of injuries. 47% keratinocytes after 7 days, 62% after 14days and 93% keratinocytes after 21 days of culturing. Expression of CD71 was also observed in cells as, 5% after 7 days, 22% after 14 days and 66% of keratinocytes after 21 days were positive for CD71 expression. Gradual increased expression of genetic markers, K10, K14, INV and P63 was observed using qRT-PCR. Studying comparative data, it can be concluded that keratinocytes after 14 days of culturing are better to use for clinical purposes. This comprehensive protocol could be a valuable addition in cutaneous biology helping researchers to identify keratinocytes and to use them for their pre-clinical studies.

Stem cell therapeutic research is passing through a transition phase between laboratory research ... more Stem cell therapeutic research is passing through a transition phase between laboratory research and health industry. According to the US data registry of clinical trials, more than 4776 studies have been registered, 2882 have been completed whereas 1894 studies are in process. Surprisingly, in spite of having huge research, there are two commercialized stem cell therapeutic products in global market and these two products are also not approved by FDA. As it has been discussed in literature, stem cells have been considered as promising candidates to treat non-curable diseases like cancer etc. More than 80% successful clinical trials have been done showing no or little side effects with much better efficiency than pharmacokinetics but still stem cell research is far from being commercialized. The major reason of stem cells non-commercialization is the gap among clinicians, researchers, industry experts and policy makers. A multibillion dollar grants and a very strong communication system between doctors, researchers, industrial experts, policy makers, regulating authorities, are the pre-requisite to commercialize stem cell therapy.

Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to... more Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to treat diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are seen as the most reliable cells applied in therapy over other stem cells because of their versatility. Bone and cartilage diseases (osteo-diseases) are the major target of therapy using MSCs. In this perspective, we have statistically analyzed the data available on clinical trials registry databases regarding the mesenchymal stem cell based therapy for a number of mentioned diseases and paid attention towards the osteodiseases. We report that MSC therapy for osteo-diseases needs optimization in its standards to achieve acceptable results so that we can apply it in daily routine clinical practice.

Cancer is the abnormality which happens in the cell cycle, resulting in uncontrolled cell divisio... more Cancer is the abnormality which happens in the cell cycle, resulting in uncontrolled cell division and is the second largest cause of deaths in the world accounting 13% of all deaths followed by the cardiovascular diseases. Finding a therapeutic solution for cancer is a continuous process. A number of therapeutic approaches like chemotherapy, preventive therapies, radiation and magnetic therapy, adjuvant therapy, Immunotherapy, gene therapy, cell transplantation therapy, Hyperthermia and surgery are under research in order to treat cancer. Targeted therapy is the most preferred way to treat cancer globally and researchers are focusing on the different ways of targeted therapy. Gene therapy with its first approved drug for cancer (Gendicine™) in China revolutionized the cancer drugs but a number of questions in scientific community around the world and its rejection in European and American market raised question marks on its authenticity as cancer drug. Successful clinical trials for mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) and engineered cells based therapy against cancer emerged the concept of gene and cell therapy for cancer and a number of clinical trials also produced successful results in this case. Engineered cells are a new era of targeted cancer therapy and have been considered by researchers, as a promising therapeutic candidate. Engineered cell therapy (combination of gene and cell therapy) as a part of targeted therapy of cancer may provide a valuable resource. T-Cell engineering has faced successful results, whereas MSC engineering is passing through a transition phase. Successful engineering of MSCs could be a hope for cancer patients in near future.

Journal of Cell and Molecular Research (JCMR) was first published in 2008 as the first journal in... more Journal of Cell and Molecular Research (JCMR) was first published in 2008 as the first journal in the field of cell and molecular biology research. The need for the establishment of JCMR was felt as a platform for the young cell and molecular biology researchers under the supervision of respective experts. JCMR was established to focus on almost all fields of cell and molecular research and some categorical publications were planned as focusing areas of modern and innovative research done by the young researchers. Genetics, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Cell Biology and Molecular Biology were remained the focusing areas of publications in the first five years of JCMR publications. The editorial board has proposed new strategies to increase the impact of the journal of cell and molecular research which include the focused publications and to fasten the peer-review processing of journal. Its indexing in international indexing databases like Scopus etc. will encourage the authors and editors as a milestone in the boosting of scientific quality data production.

Chromosome-centric human proteome project (C-HPP) is a recent initiative to rationalize and analy... more Chromosome-centric human proteome project (C-HPP) is a recent initiative to rationalize and analyze gene-protein and protein-protein interactions in normal and disease condi- tions. This initiative is aimed to generate the proteomic atlas explaining the molecular ar- chitecture of the human body and was initiated in response to the hurdles identified during analyzing the human genome project (HGP). A need for the experimental observation of translated proteins was felt to analyze precisely what is going on in the cell. 25 countries around the world are participating in the C-HPP. This symposium report will introduce the Y-chromosome HPP which is undergoing in Iran by eminent molecular biologists of Royan Institute, Tehran and its collaborates.

Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to... more Stem cell therapy in recent years has gained much attention as the modern therapeutic approach to treat diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are seen as the most reliable cells applied in therapy over other stem cells because of their versatility.Boneandcartilagediseases(osteo-diseases)arethemajortargetoftherapyusingMSCs.Inthisperspective,wehave statisticallyanalyzedthedataavailableonclinicaltrialsregistrydatabasesregardingthemesenchymalstemcellbasedtherapy for a number of mentioned diseases and paid attention towards the osteodiseases. We report that MSC therapy for osteo- diseases needs optimization in its standards to achieve acceptable results so that we can apply it in daily routine clinical practice.

Rhamnolipids are well-studied glycolipids secreted by Pseu- domonas aeruginosa that have been fou... more Rhamnolipids are well-studied glycolipids secreted by Pseu- domonas aeruginosa that have been found to have excellent sur- faceactivity.Alreadyusedinvariousapplicationareas,including environmental, health, food, cosmetic, and oil industries, rham- nolipids are attractive candidates to replace chemically synthe- sizedsurfactantsbecausetheyarederivedfromanaturalsourceat high purities and have low toxicity levels. Production of rham- nolipids depends on several environmental and nutritional fac- tors,andthehighestyieldisestimatedtobe6g/L;recentadvances in recovery methods have resulted in 99.9% pure rhamnolipids. Rhamnolipids have several beneficial characteristics: they are easily degradable, nontoxic, nonmutagenic, and have the highest surface-tension-reduction index of any surface-tension reducing agent currently in use. They have broad potential applicability across industries. They can also be used in oil-spill management, environmentalmanagement,biodegradationandremediation,the uptake of heavy metals and environmental pollutants, and the production of skin-compatible biochemicals for use in cosmetics. Rhamnolipids have applicability as antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-algal, and anti-protist agents. In this review, we summarize the production parameters, properties, and industrial potentialofrhamnolipids,asthenextgenerationofbiosurfactants.