Described herein are methods for treating, repairing or ameliorating diseases, disorders, or injuries related to dry eye, osteoarthritis, tendon, ligament, bone repair, wound healing or wound-healing related disorders, alopecia or in skin rejuvenation or regeneration with platelet-like-cells or variants thereof (PLCs) or derivatives thereof or lysates thereof or the platelet rich plasma (PRP) derived therefrom. Also, described herein are methods for generating platelet rich plasma (PRP) from the PLCs or derivatives thereof or lysates thereof.

The present description relates to in vitro methods for culturing hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) under mild hyperthermia conditions (e.g., between 38° C. and 40° C.) in the presence of a pyrimidoindole derivative agonist of hematopoietic stem cell expansion. The combined use of mild hyperthermia and the pyrimidoindole derivative act synergistically to promote expansion of CD34+ HSCs and/or differentiation into progenitor cells (e.g., megakaryocytic progenitors). The present description also relates to in vitro expanded cell populations of HSCs and/or progenitors, as well as uses thereof in therapy (e.g., transplantation).

The invention concerns a pharmaceutical composition comprising a platelet lysate and its use to treat a wound, an anal fissure, vaginal atrophy or a wrinkle.

Methods for controlling a spinning membrane separator so as to limit fouling of the membrane by changing the rotation rate of the spinning membrane in response to the fouling rate, while maintaining a constant outlet cellular concentration. Increasing the spinner rotation rate will increase the strength of the Taylor vortices generated within the separator by the spinning of the membrane, which should reduce fouling of the membrane. The goal of the method is to rotate the spinning membrane at the slowest rate possible without unacceptable fouling. Two specific methods to control fouling are disclosed. In a first, unidirectional method, the spin rate of the membrane is only increased in response to undesirable fouling in order to prevent the fouling from continuing. In a second, bidirectional method, the spin rate of the membrane may be either increased or decreased in response to the measured fouling rate in order to maintain the fouling rate within a desired range.

Methods for obtaining purified populations of megakaryocytes and platelets by ex vivo culture of stem cells are provided herein.

Methods and systems for reducing bacterial contamination of platelets are disclosed. The methods and systems disclosed herein provide for the processing of a pre-determined volume of whole blood so as to reduce the risk that platelets separated and collected from the whole blood have a reduced risk of bacterial contamination.

The present disclosure relates to settling devices for separating particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields. The particle settling devices of the present disclosure may include a stack of truncoconical cones that may be arranged in opposite orientation, apex to base. Other embodiments include several concentric vertical tubes attached to conical surfaces at the bottom, with inclined settling strips attached to the vertical tubes in annular regions between the tubes. These devices are useful for separating small (millimeter or micron sized) particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields, such as biological (microbial, mammalian, plant, insect or algal) cell cultures, solid catalyst particle separation from a liquid or gas and waste water treatment.

A blood component separation device for separating a plurality of blood components from blood sampled from a blood donor, and collecting platelets, includes: an donor calculation unit that calculates a predicted platelet recovery rate from a hematocrit value of the blood and a platelet concentration of the blood, and calculates a recommended processing amount of the blood recommended for collecting a target number of units of platelets on the basis of the calculated predicted platelet recovery rate, wherein the operating unit sets the predicted platelet recovery rate calculated from any the hematocrit value and any the platelet concentration to be smaller by a predetermined value α when the blood donor is female than that when the blood donor is male.

Described herein are stem cells and stem cell compositions that can be used to treat soft tissue injuries, including tendon and ligament injuries. Also described herein are cellular scaffolds that can contain a stem cell or stem cell compositions described herein. Also described herein are soft tissue bioreactor devices. Also described herein are methods of using the stem cells, stem cell compositions, and soft tissue bioreactors and methods of treating tendon and ligament injuries.

A method of producing the constituents of a therapeutic product from mammalian cells is described herein. Cells are isolated from a mammalian source. The cells are exposed to supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO.sub.2) for 1 to 30 minutes, where the SCCO.sub.2 is maintained at a pressure of 1071 pounds per square inch (PSI) and a temperature of 31.1 to 45 degrees Celsius during the exposure. The exposure dissociates the cellular membranes of the cells to release intramembrane components therein to produce constituents of the therapeutic product. The mammalian cells may include at least one of platelets, stem cells, germ cells, and somatic cells. The methods described herein are particularly advantageous for releasing and capturing therapeutic intramembrane components from platelets and alpha-granules.