NEW YORK STEM CELL SUMMIT

Last week, I was in New York City attending a Stem Cell Summit. Also attending were over 50 Stem Cell Company CEO’s from all over the world as well as a number of venture capitalists, investors, researchers, and medical practitioners. The conference, itself, was a fascinating look into what is in store for us in the future from the world of Stem Cell Therapy. In my last post, I wrote about some of the potential for Stem Cells. What is on the horizon is truly mind-boggling.

In particular, there are major developments in the areas of Orthopedics such as regenerating joint cartilage, shortening recovery time for fractures by two-thirds, and options for herniated vertebral disc sufferers. There is a tremendous amount of work also being done for Diabetes, many forms of Cancer, congestive heart failure as well as for heart attack and stroke victims. I even heard from Veterinarians who are already using stem cells for racehorses and pets with great success.

The future potential for many more health benefits is vast. All of the CEO’s present admitted that we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what stem cells may be able to accomplish. One area I found particularly fascinating was in the regeneration of bone and cartilage in degenerated joints and fractures. Stem cells are already being used to avoid amputations in diabetics with severe peripheral vascular disease. The stem cell procedure actually helps them to grow new blood vessels, which supply blood to extremities threatened by lack of oxygen. All of the presentations focused on the thrilling work of finding cures for conditions that are currently incurable. Still, no one is even talking yet about my interest in the potential of stem cells with respect to prevention, anti-aging and life extension.

I have been working with a company called Neostem, which is a stem cell collection service. We collect stem cells from healthy, relatively young people, and then store them in a cryobank for future use. The beauty of this unique approach is that the stem cells are available on an as-needed basis. Stem cells are generally only given to the person who donated them. This is the other reason that our approach is so powerful. These stem cells are in better shape than the individual recipient because they were collected when the person was younger.

In other words, they are not used like blood donations. So, there is no risk of rejection, and since the individual will only receive his own cells, there is also no risk of transmissible disease. In a way, it is a form of “Bio-Insurance”. You can imagine that the process can provide a great sense of security when an individual knows that his stem cells are safely stored away in a cryobank if needed at some future date.

I should know. I have already put mine away and it makes me feel really good. What we are now discussing is the possibility of re-infusing them back into the donor every year or so, as a way to help maintain the equivalent, youthful age as when the cells were originally collected. I have also spoken to researchers about using them to treat women after menopause. In theory, we would inject them into the ovaries to “wake them up” as a way to start producing female hormones again. No one knows if this is possible. But, can you imagine what kind of breakthrough it represents if the procedure works?!