Category Archives: Maryland Stem Cells

The Children's Heart Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center is leading a first-of-its-kind clinical trial that will use stem cells to treat hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a congenital heart disease. HLHS leaves the left ventricle underdeveloped, and this procedure strengthens the function of the right side of the patient's heart.

Led by Sunjay Kaushal, MD, PhD, the HLHS Clinical Trial tests the effectiveness of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells in conjunction with the second palliative surgery, the Glenn (bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis) operation. These cells have been shown to remarkably improve cardiac function in adult hearts but have never been tested on the pediatric population until now.

After performing rigorous studies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for this trial.

In this Phase I trial, 30 HLHS patients will be enrolled at the time of the second palliative operation. The first 10 patients will receive the stem cells, and their results will be used to determine feasibility and safety.

After enrollment for the initial group is completed, the following 20 participants will be enrolled on a 1:1 basis, with 10 receiving the stem cell treatment and the other 10 being viewed as a control group (not receiving the stem cells).

The HLHS Clinical Trial will assess two major endpoints:

Treatment with allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells aims to strengthen the right ventricle, improving the function of the heart and thus the patient's quality of life. If the treatment is effective, this ground-breaking procedure could be applied to other complicated congenital heart diseases, such as dilated cardiomyopathy.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can regenerate through cell division and have the potential to develop into many different cell types under certain conditions, including those with a more specialized function such as cardiac muscle cells.

This trial uses allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells, which are from donated human bone marrow cells. These particular cells have the remarkable capability to escape immune response, are readily accessible, safe to use and proven to be effective in adult patients with heart conditions.

In this trial, the stem cells will be injected in the right ventricle during the second palliative surgery for HLHS patients. If effective, the cells will act as a biological factory, secreting proteins that will make the right side of the heart stronger.

To view eligibility requirements, visit the HLHS Clinical Trials page.

Call 410-328-3778 for participation information.

Philanthropy allows us to advance cutting-edge research, teaching and patient care. To make a gift in support of this groundbreaking research, please visit the University of Maryland Medical System Foundation secure online giving page and select Pediatric Cardiovascular Research Fund in the dropdown menu.

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Stem Cell Clinical Trial | University of Maryland Children ...

In May of 2017 the Baltimore Sun reported the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission had awarded $8.5 million to twelve institutions for twenty-nine research projects evaluating the use of stem cells to treat diseases including heart disease, muscular dystrophy, sickle cell disease and diabetes as well as other conditions. Six companies and six research institutions, including Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, will each receive a portion of the grant money.

Stem cell research in the United States has been slow to progress in part due to governmental legislation. In 2009, President Barack Obama lifted the eight-year-old ban on federally funded stem cell research. Although stem cell research has been slow to progress in the United States, globally stem cell research continues to advance with a large number of studies being published each year. The Stem Cells Transplant Institute in Costa Rica believes in the potential of stem cell therapy for residents of Baltimore, Maryland therapies that in trials have shown great promise, but are not yet approved by the FDA, but available in Costa Rica.

Stem cell therapy offers hope to millions of people suffering from inflammatory and degenerative diseases for which there are few treatment options. Researchers have shown stem cell therapy to be safe and potentially efficacious in a broad range of diseases. Under the direction of Dr. Leslie Mesen, the Stem Cells Transplant Institute provides government approved stem cell therapy for the treatment of; Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, COPD, myocardial infarction, critical limb ischemia, and erectile dysfunction.

Stem cells have great potential for treating disease by providing an unlimited source of cells for repairing or replacing damaged tissue. Stem cell treatment at the Stem Cells Transplant Institute is a safe, non-invasive, same-day procedure that takes only a few hours. Baltimore residents and those throughout the state of Maryland can experience the potential benefits of stem cell therapy by scheduling an appointment with the experts at the Stem Cells Transplant Institute. Many patients take the opportunity to make their trip an extended vacation to enjoy the beauty and rich culture of Costa Rica.

Whether you live in Baltimore, Frederick or Rockville, the temperatures in Maryland can be extreme. For those who want to escape the cold winters or hot, humid summers, Costa Rica offers comfortable year-round average temperatures of 70 to 81 degrees. There are several daily, 1-stop, low cost flights from Baltimore to Costa Rica. Schedule an appointment and let the experts at the Stem Cells Transplant Institute help you stay active and live your best life. Contact us today to see if stem cell therapy is right for you.

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Baltimore, Maryland Stem Cell Transplants, Montgomery ...

A green fluorescent protein-labeled neural stem cell clone contains the mother stem cell with neuronal and astroglial progeny within the mouse brain.

Image by Michael A. Bonaguidi, Johns Hopkins Medicine.

A Johns Hopkins team has discovered in young adult mice that a lone brain stem cell is capable not only of replacing itself and giving rise to specialized neurons and glia important types of brain cells but also of taking a wholly unexpected path: generating two new brain stem cells.

A report on their study appears June 24 in Cell.

Although it was known that the brain has the capacity to generate both neurons, which send and receive signals, and the glial cells that surround them, it was unclear whether these various cell types came from a single source. In addition to demonstrating that a single radial glia-like (RGL) brain cell is able to generate two very different functional cell types, the Hopkins researchers, by following the fates of single cells over time, found that a single brain stem cell can even produce two stem cells like itself.

Now we know they dont just maintain their numbers, or go down in number, but that stem cells can amplify, says Hongjun Song, Ph.D., professor of neurology and neuroscience and director of the Stem Cell Program in the Institute for Cell Engineering, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. If we can somehow cash in on this newly discovered property of stem cells in the brain, and find ways to intervene so they divide more, then we might actually increase their numbers instead of losing them over time, which is what normally happens, perhaps due to aging or diseases.

The researchers findings hinged on a decision to single out and follow lone, radial glia-like cells, instead of labeling and monitoring entire stem cell populations in the mouse brain. They took this approach because they suspected radial glia-like cells were essentially stem cells, having been shown in previous studies to give rise to neurons.

Using mice genetically modified with special genes that color-code cells for easy labeling and tracking, the Hopkins team injected a very small amount of a chemical into about 50 mouse brains to induce extremely limited cell labeling.

Its a simple idea that forced us to confront a lot of complex technical issues, Song says. With so many millions of cells in the relatively large mouse brain, labeling a single stem cell and then chasing its family history was like finding a needle in a haystack.

The scientists developed computer programs and devised a new imaging technique that allowed them to examine stained slices of the mouse brain and, ultimately, follow single, randomly chosen radial glia-like stem cells over time. The method allowed them to track down all the new cells derived from a single original stem cell.

We reconstituted single stem cells family trees to look at the progeny they gave rise to, says Guo-li Ming, associate professor of neurology and neuroscience and a member of the Neuroregeneration Program in the Institute for Cell Engineering. We discovered that single cells in an intact animal nervous system absolutely do exhibit stem-cell properties; they are capable of both replicating themselves and producing different types of differentiated neural progeny.

The team followed the fates of all the marked radial glia-like stem cells for at least a month or two, and examined some a full year later to discover that even over the long term, the mother cell was still generating itself as well as different kinds of progeny.

In addition, the researchers investigated how these RGLs were activated on a molecular level, focusing, in particular, on the regulatory role of an autism-associated gene called PTEN. Conventional wisdom was that deleting this gene led to an increase in stem-cell activation. However, the scientists demonstrated that was a transient effect in the mouse brains, and that, ultimately, PTEN deletion leads to stem-cell depletion.

Support for this research came from the National Institutes of Health, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation.

Authors of the paper, in addition to Hongjun Song and Guo-li Ming, are Michael A. Bonaguidi, Michael A. Wheeler, Jason S. Shapiro and Gerald. J. Sun, all of Johns Hopkins.

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Nervous System Stem Cells Can Replace Themselves, Give ...

The secret ingredient behind the next revolution in medicine lies within each of us. Special cells in our bodies, called stem cells, have the ability to both extensively self-renew and, through a series of highly complex molecular events, turn themselves into all of the unique cells found in the human body. Scientists harnessing this remarkable latter ability, referred to as pluripotency, are using stem cells to repair or regenerate damaged tissues and organs, providing potential treatments for diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and cancer. In addition, stem cells can be used to create specialized tissues to test out drugs before prescribing them to humans.

Scientists are also using stem cells to learn how the human body is made and why some cells develop abnormally and lead to problems such as birth defects and cancer. Because stem cells eventually differentiate into mature cells that have specific jobs to do, they are actually quite rare in adults, meaning that the stem cells that scientists and clinicians work with are often donated from embryos. Therefore, another intense aspect of investigation is learning how to derive fully functional stem cells from adult cells.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine has quickly become a leader in the field of stem cell research. The Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine opened in 2009 with the recruitment of Curt I. Civin, M.D., as its founding director. The mission of the Center is to bring together the scientific and clinical expertise necessary to discover how stem cells work and translate that knowledge into therapies for a wide variety of human diseases.

The Center is working towards several specific goals: developing a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment; encouraging rapid translation of discoveries into innovative and practical clinical applications that will enhance the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human diseases; collaborating with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to stimulate investment and local economic growth; educating the local community about stem cell research; and advocating for the State of Marylands continuing support of stem cell research.

Capabilities

The Center operates two collaborative activities that act in tandem to fuel stem cell research by enhancing stem cell production and facilitating their transition into numerous cell types.

The first collaborative activity grows a variety of stem cells from multiple species, particularly embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, which are cells that can be genetically reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells. Scientists from the University of Maryland, the National Institutes of Health, other universities and a myriad of biotechnology companies, will be able to expedite their research through access to the stem cells grown by this collaboration.

In our bodies, stem cells are very, very rare, says Civin. When we take them out and try to grow them in dishes, they prefer to die. Their second preference is to differentiate so theyre no longer stem cells. If theyre going to be used as therapeutic cells, or even used for research, wed like to be able to grow up lots and lots of them.

In the second collaborative activity, stem cells are modified genetically, providing scientists models for many different diseases. Cells are engineered to increase or decrease their production of certain molecules, a painstaking process that enables detailed mechanistic studies of cell function.

Researchers

More than 70 faculty scientists and physicians at University of Maryland contribute to the achievement of the Centers goals. In addition to the University of Maryland School of Medicine, members of the Center are affiliated with special laboratories, programs, and schools throughout the University of Maryland system. Faculty members are split into four Working Groups:

Scientific Highlights

Dr. Sunjay Kaushal uses stem cells removed during heart reconstruction surgery in children to treat patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure and congenital heart disease.

Dr. Ricardo Feldman is working to generate patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for modeling and treating Gauchers disease, Parkinsons disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Curt Civin is using next-generation gene editing in an effort to discover a cure for sickle cell anemiaone of the most common genetically inheritable diseases.

Collaborations

The Center has struck up a collaborative agreement between Maryland and California, two states at the forefront of stem cell research, to pool resources to help scientists in both states share their talents and discoveries.

The Center also collaborates closely with local biotechnology companies, such as Paragon Bioservices, Inc., one of the largest companies in the University of Marylands BioPark. Paragon worked with the Center to facilitate the research, commercial development and clinical application of stem cell-based technologies and therapies.

Weve been pushing the envelope on interacting with industry, says Civin. We go first to Maryland companies. We can go out and visit them, instead of just emailing and talking long distance about the process. Then we can do the first few experiments together in person to make sure were doing things right from the start.

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Excellence in Stem Cell Research | University of Maryland ...

2018 Awardees

Round 2

Clinical Grant Recipient:

Dr. Luis Garza

Johns Hopkins University - Stem Cell Therapy to Convert Stump Skin to Palmo-Plantar Skin in Amputees

Dr. Anthony Oliva

Longeveron, LLC - Longeveron Mesenchymal Stem Cells (LMSCs) to Improve Vaccine Response in Aging Frailty

Commercialization Grant Recipient:

Dr. Luiz Alvarez

Theradaptive, Inc. - Development of a Biphasic MSC Delivery System for the Repair of Osteochondral Defects

Validation Grant Recipients:

Dr. Warren Grayson

Johns Hopkins University - Oxygen-Delivering BiO2-Bone Scaffolds for Regenerating Vascularized Craniofacial Bone

Dr. Tonya Webb

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Convertible Natural Killer T cells for Immunotherapy

Discovery Grant Recipients:

Dr. Samarjit Das

Johns Hopkins University - Design and Use of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Bioreactors in Myocardial Preservation

Dr. Valina Dawson

Johns Hopkins University - Neurotoxic Astrocytes in Neurodegeneration

Dr. Ricardo Feldman

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Targeting a Novel Lysosomal Sphingolipid-Sensing Mechanism for Reversal of GBA1-Associated Neurodegeneration

Dr. Xiaofeng Jia

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Novel 3D Bioprinted Scaffolds to Promote Neural Crest Stem Cell Mediated Nerve Regeneration

Dr. Minjung Kim

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Reducing RAB GTPase14 to Drive in Vitro Human Erythropoiesis

Dr. Gabsang Lee

Johns Hopkins University - Optically-Induced VEFG Activation in Human Endothelial Cells

Dr. Rachana Mishra

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Mesenchymal Stem Cells Preserve Right Ventricular Function in a Neonatal Swine Model of Pressure Overload by Releasing GDF15 and miR-132 Enriched Exosomes

Dr. Satoru Otsuru

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Developing MSC-Derived Extracellular Vesicle Therapy for Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Dr. Pankaj Pasricha

Johns Hopkins University - Identification and Isolation of the Human Enteric Neural Stem Cell: Laying Foundation for Curing Achalasia

Dr. Arun Venkatesan

Johns Hopkins University - A Human Stem Cell-Derived Sensory Neuron Model of VZV Infection

Dr. Hilary Vernon

Johns Hopkins University - Development of an iPSC Derived Cellular Model of Barth Syndrome:

Towards Novel Therapeutic Discovery

Dr. Jiou Wang

Johns Hopkins University - A Novel 3D Microphysiological Brain Model for Studying Neurodegenerative Disease ALS/FTD

Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant Recipients:

Dr. Adriana Blazeski

Johns Hopkins University - Study of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy Using a Syncytial Model of hiPSCs

Dr. Muthukumar Gunasekaran

University of Maryland, Baltimore - Donor Derived Exosomes as Non-Invasive Serum Biomarker for Immune Rejection Following Human Neonatal Cardiac Progenitor Cell Transplantation

Dr. Kenji Johnson

Johns Hopkins University - Use of 3D Minibrain Organoids for Studying C9orf72 ALS/FTD Disease Mechanisms

Dr. Minseong Kim

Johns Hopkins University - Modeling of Parkinsons Disease using PD-Patients iPSCs-Derived Dopaminergic Neurons with Optical Controllable Alpha-Synuclein

Dr. Mehreen Kouser

Johns Hopkins University - Manganese-Enhanced MRI For Interrogating Astrocyte Replacement in A Mouse Model of ALS

Dr. Su Chan Lee

Johns Hopkins University - Generation of Cancer Progression Models through New Optogenetic Tool to Control p53 in iPSCs

Dr. Seungman Park

Johns Hopkins University - Functional Property Evaluation of iPSC-Derived Cardiac Tissues for Optimized Heart Disease Treatment

Dr. Wei Zhu

Johns Hopkins University - 3D Vascularized Hydrogel Scaffold to Carry Stem Cells for Traumatic Brain Injury Repair

More:
Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund: 2014 Awardees

By Paul NagourneyCatholic Online

"It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed ?" these words of Caiphas, aimed at convincing Pilate to Crucify Jesus, reflect the same issues wrongly posed by the popular media to the people of today. "Is it acceptable to kill human life of a fetus, so that others may benefit?"

Much discussion is occurring regarding the use of stem cells. As with any scientific discussion that enters the public domain, mass misinformation and exaggeration of facts is occurring, so that the faithful are cornered into the position to ask themselves whether stem cell research reflects the will of God, or whether this is a deception of the evil one, aimed at desanctification of human life. The Holy Fathers of the Church teach us that the "devil may appear as an angel of light ", could stem cells be one of these situations in which something is given to us that appears life promoting but really is a dangerous trap?

What are stem cells?

In order for us to understand the issues involved, and what exactly stem cells are, we are forced to take a quick lesson into the science of stem cells. A stem cell is a cell whose purpose is to generate new cells while having the ability to make copies of itself. Everyone has stem cells inside of them. For example, blood is made from stem cells in the bone marrow, after your skin is injured healing occurs because of stem cells in the skin, even after a stroke, although to a small extend, new brain cells are made from stem cells that are found in the brain. The younger an organism is, the more potent the stem cells are. For example, stem cells in a young person are found in higher numbers and have a higher ability to repair damaged tissue as compared to stem cells in an older person. So far there is nothing controversial, right? Right. The stem cells in the developed human can not make another human from scratch. They can make human tissues that are useful for repairing the human body, but they can not make a whole new human. They are not a new human life, but an extension of an existing life. These are adult stem cells.

The problems started when scientists wanted to analyze the earliest stem cell. Since stem cells from children are theoretically more potent than from adults, stem cells from embryos should be even more potent. According to this reasoning, the first cell in the development of a human life, the fertilized egg, is the most potent stem cell. Embryonic stem cells are made from the fertilized egg. They are essentially copies of the fertilized egg that can reproduce in the laboratory. These cells, because of their potential to create a completely new human, are considered by the Catholic Church a human life, and accordingly their manipulation is a sin . What is more disturbing is the horrendous desecration of human life that routinely occurs with these cells for the purposes of "research"...research that has little to do with advancement of human health. We will discuss two abominable acts that are routinely performed in the name of "science" which call to God for punishment. Two acts that are so horrendous that any God-fearing person who respects human life should be disgusted upon hearing about.

Desecration of human life: Worse than 'just' killing

We learn from the Bible and the traditions of the Holy Fathers that God hates unnatural acts. Acts such as homosexuality have led to destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Furthermore, we learn from the Bible that acts that defile the dignity of the human such as bestiality are also vile and punishable. So we know that embryonic stem cell research is condemned by the Church because it involves destruction of human life. But how many of us know the other side of embryonic stem cell research? The side that cries to the Heavens begging punishment? The dark side of embryonic stem cell research that conceptually is a "sin against the Holy Spirit " and accordingly is unforgivable?

The first is the generation of mangled human life in the test-tube called "embryoid bodies". In the same way that the fertilized egg after implanting into the mother's womb starts to develop into different tissues, the embryonic stem cell, when placed under "non-adherent" conditions starts to form layers of disorganized tissues. These include brain tissue, pancreatic tissue, and virtually any tissue that is found in the adult . This disorganized monstrosity, literally, a mangled human in a bottle, is subsequently broken down into specific cells, and the cells are then used for experimentation. If we as Christians really believe that life starts with the fertilized egg, and that we are "made in God's image", then is it not revolting to purposely transform the beauty of God into the disorder of the devil? Is not the devil described as "the king of chaos?."

The second terrible act performed in the name of science is the injection of these human lives into animals that lack an immune system. In the study of embryonic stem cells, researchers want to mimic what it would be like to administer an embryonic stem cell in a human, but since they are not allowed to do this, they administer the cells into mice that are genetically engineered not to have an immune response, this way the mice accept the human embryonic stem cells. One may ask, what happens when these human embryonic stem cells are administered into mice. If the cells have not been manipulated, they usually form a type of cancer called a teratoma . This human cancer in the mouse can be seen as the human tissue undergoing a state of disorganization, similar to that found in the embryoid body which we discussed above. If we as Christians really believe that embryonic stem cells are a human life, then why on earth would we allow for human life to be mixed with animals at a cellular level?

Medical problems with embryonic stem cells

Individuals not sharing respect for human life will answer the question posed by Caiphas, the same way that Caiphas answered it: "it is better for one life to be sacrificed in order for many lives to be saved". So let us examine the scenario in which we put aside our beliefs and ask ourselves whether embryonic stem cells actually have the potential to benefit humanity. The answer is a resounding "no". We will explain three fundamental points that demonstrate in a black and white manner that embryonic stem cells from a scientific point of view are not therapeutically useful, nor will be in the foreseeable future.

1. Embryonic stem cells cause cancer. The actual definition of an embryonic stem cell is based on its ability to cause the teratoma type of cancer in the mouse. Now what exactly is a teratoma? The word "teratoma" comes from Greek, which means "monstrous tumor ." This type of cancer occurs rarely in humans and is fatal if not surgically excised before spreading. Defendants of embryonic stem cell research tell us that teratomas will not occur if embryonic stem cells are used in medicine, since it is not embryonic stem cells that are given to people, but embryonic stem cells made into specific tissues that the patient needs. The problem with this argument is that biology is not perfect. Even if conceptually in 10 years it is possible to make, for example functioning liver cells from embryonic stem cells, how will it be possible to purify 100% only the newly generated liver cells and no left over cancer cells? It only takes one single cancer cell to cause a tumor to form. To this point, the defenders of embryonic stem cells will tell us that even if a tumor cell is left over, it will be rejected by the immune system. This is not correct since teratomas possess mechanisms to "hide" from the immune system, whereas normal tissue does not. An example of this is a mouse study in which teratomas developed and were not rejected, while the few embryonic stem cells that did differentiate into heart tissue were rejected by the animal .

2. It is not possible to generate equivalent of human adult tissues from embryonic stem cells. The embryonic stem cell represents the fertilized egg. It has the same immaturity as the fertilized egg. During normal development it takes numerous biological processes occur for a cell to "grow up" from the immature state of the fertilized egg to the maturity of, say a heart cell in a 63 year old person with heart disease. Since the embryonic stem cells are so immature, it is nave to think that by exposing the cells to certain chemicals we can "accelerate" their maturation from processes that take decades to the timespan of days. For example, embryonic stem cells treated with specific chemicals can mature into what resembles heart cells. These cells even beat in the test-tube ! However, these cells are not true heart cells since a lot of the properties of an adult heart cell are not possessed by these "accelerated maturity" cells. Accordingly, to date, no real tissue equivalent has been generated by embryonic stem cells.

3. Embryonic stem cells are not compatible with the recipient. Let us imagine that the problem of cancer, and the problem of lack of maturity, has been resolved. A very significant obstacle that few people talk about is the fact that the tissues generated from embryonic stem cells are not compatible with the general population. God has made humans very unique from each other immunologically. This is why recipients of organ transplants are required to take drugs that suppress the immune system. Even if people take immune suppressing drugs, the transplant surgeon will not perform the transplant unless the tissues are immunologically matched. The likelihood of finding immunologically matched organs is between 1in 100,000 to 1 in 10,000,000. At present there are approximately 100 embryonic stem cell lines, which are derived from approximately 100 individuals. Therefore even through using immune suppressive drugs (which are toxic and have many side effects), the ability of embryonic stem cells to be used on a widespread basis is impossible.

Adult stem cells as an alternative

It is sad that with all the media and public attention given to embryonic stem cells, the great promise of adult stem cells is largely forgotten. As we discussed at the beginning of the article, adult stem cells are found in all of our bodies and have the purpose of healing injured tissue. The only problem with adult stem cells is that these cells usually are not found at high enough concentrations at the areas where they are needed. For example, people who have a heart attack or stroke, contain much higher concentrations of stem cells in their blood compared to healthy people. This is because the stem cells start to migrate to the injured tissue in order to heal it but there are not enough of them to cause full healing. If one could increase the number of stem cells in the body then theoretically, one could enhance the ability of the body to heal itself. Indeed, this appears to be possible. Numerous studies have shown that augmentation of this natural process by administration of adult stem cells is highly beneficial to patients with diseases ranging from heart failure , to peripheral artery disease , to Crohn's Disease .

In contrast to embryonic stem cells, which have never been used in people and most likely will not be in the next several years, thousands of patients have benefited from adult stem cells. Unfortunately, in the US, adult stem cells can only be obtained by joining clinical trials, which may be found at the NIH website http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. The only alternative for patients seeking adult stem cell therapy is going outside to US to clinics such as http://www.cellmedicine.com which replicate the procedures used experimentally in the US for select patients that fit the inclusion criteria.

Conclusion: Adult stem cells are the Catholic Christian's response

In today's time of general godlessness and lack of respect for life, it is not only the responsibility, but the obligation, of the Catholic faithful to understand the fundamental difference between embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cell research is associated with not only killing of innocent life, but also obscene desecration of God's Image. Additionally, for the reasons mentioned, embryonic stem cells do not pose a scientific solution to health problems. They are a source of siphoning funds and attention away from real stem cell research that actually helps people's health. Adult stem cells, being part of the body that God gave to us are a great scientific discovery, whose translation into cures for horrible disease should be strongly endorsed by the faithful.

- - -

1 John 11:50. 2 St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. 3 Reverend Demetrios Demopulos, Ph.D. Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research, Volume III, Religious Perspectives, National Bioethics Advisory Commission, Rockville, Maryland, June 2000. 4 Matthew 12:31. 5 Kurosawa H. Methods for inducing embryoid body formation: in vitro differentiation system of embryonic stem cells. J Biosci Bioeng. 2007 May;103(5):389-98. 6 Mikkola et al. Distinct differentiation characteristics of individual human embryonic stem cell lines. BMC Dev Biol. 2006 Aug 8;6:40. 7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratoma . 8 Nussbaum et al. Transplantation of undifferentiated murine embryonic stem cells in the heart: teratoma formation and immune response. FASEB J. 2007 May;21(7):1345-57. 9 Abdel-Latif et al. Adult bone marrow-derived cells for cardiac repair: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2007 May 28;167(10):989-97. 10 Hernandez et al. Autologous bone-marrow mononuclear cell implantation in patients with severe lower limb ischaemia: A comparison of using blood cell separator and Ficoll density gradient centrifugation. Atherosclerosis. 2006 Sep 15; 11 http://www.osiris.com.

Catholic Online http://www.catholic.orgCA, USPaul Nagourney - Author, 661 869-1000

paul.nagourney@gmail.com

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Catholic response to stem cells - Featured Today ...

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As new medical discoveries increase through generations, humans become healthier, therefore, their life expectancy rises. Stem cell research, a relatively new field, investigates to improve and lengthen human life. The possibility of stem cells to develop prospering health makes them beneficial to the human race. Why do stem cell debates create such a large uproar. Stem cells posses the potential to arise into hundreds of different cells in the body- for this reason stem cells are also referred to as undifferentiated cells.... [tags: Biology, Stem Cell Debates]744 words(2.1 pages)Better Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research Needs to Be Funded - A mother has developed Alzheimers, preventing her from having a normal relationship with her family. A newly born baby girl has a spinal cord issue, making for many years of rehabilitation ahead her. A diabetic wife struggles to take care of her household duties because of constantly having to monitor her blood sugar and deal with insulin shots. With the development of stem cell research, and the more controversial embryonic stem cell research, every one of these instances could not only be cured, but prevented, within the next half century.... [tags: Stem Cell Research, medical,]1546 words(4.4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Support of Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Embryonic stem cell is one of the most controversial, widely discussed medical issues in the United States today. The medical use of stem cell raises difficult moral and political questions. To understand about embryonic stem cell. I thought we should discuss what embryonic stem cells are. According to Scientific American; June 2004, embryonic stem are derived from the portion of a very early stage embryo that would eventually give rise to an entire body. Because embryonic stem cells originate in this primordial stage, or having existed from the beginning.... [tags: Stem Cell Research]779 words(2.2 pages)Better Essays[preview] The Controversy Surrounding Stem-cell Research - Stem-cell research is a complex subject. First of all you need to know there are three main categories of stem cells. Embryonic, Fetal and Adult; not everyone is for or against all of these types. There are different sets on pros and cons to each of these types and I will address a few for each type. I believe the pros outweigh the cons in each of these and stem cell research is very beneficial for medical purposes. The term stem cell research was first used by gist Alexander Maksimov, a Russian histologist in 1908.... [tags: Stem-cell research, medical, ]625 words(1.8 pages)Better Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research Controversy - The controversy over stem cell researchs use in the medical field is almost two decades old. So why the sudden intense return of fierce political debates over an old issue. Its because President Obama recently revoked the ban on stem cell research, as he believes it holds the potential to revolutionize the medical industry in the years to come. As USA Today quoted him saying in March, after he stopped restricting federal funding for stem cell research, "At this moment, the full promise of stem cell research remains unknown and should not be overstated.... [tags: Medical Field, Stem Cell Research]:: 4 Works Cited 693 words(2 pages)Better Essays[preview] Understanding Stem Cell Research - Stem Cell Research Stem cell research is a new, inventive technology that will be and currently is saving lives. Stem cells have the ability to increase understanding of how diseases occur, generate healthy cells to replace diseased cells, and test new drugs for safety and effectiveness. (Mayo Clinic Staff). These special cells have become a new and better way of treating diseases such as; heart disease and diabetes. Scientists have discovered that if these cells are under the right conditions, the stem cells will divide.... [tags: bone marrow, perinatal stem cell]1162 words(3.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] State-Funded Stem Cell Research - Scientists are attempting to expand on stem cell research, while aspiring towards new medical advancements, but Maryland is questioning State-funded research (Department of Legislative Services, Office of Information Systems [DLSOIS], 2011). Stem cells have the ability to regenerate themselves and produce specialized cell types (Academy of Sciences, 2009). After a stem cell divides, the stem cell can continue to exist as a stem cell, or turn into a unique cell, like a red blood cell (Institutes of Health, U.S.... [tags: Stem Cell Research ]:: 11 Works Cited 2162 words(6.2 pages)Term Papers[preview] Stem Cell Research is a Vital Necessity for Medical Advances in America - According to Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman and tragically became paralyzed, said, The greatest good for the greatest number of people means allowing embryonic stem cell research, which has the potential to help 150 million Americans who suffer from serious or incurable diseases or disabilities (Roleff 63). It is incredible how some of the smallest items like stem cells can have such a drastic impact on the world. Two types of these tiny cells are adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells.... [tags: stem cell]1383 words(4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Ethical Concerns of Stem Cell Research - Stem cell research has been met with major ethical concerns in the media and as a result the research has tried to address the concerns of funding and ethical dilemmas. There are 6 major concerns raised in the review, such as: Tumor Formation, Contaminating Animal Products, Genetic Compatibility, Funding Issues, Selecting and generating the Right cell type from transplantation and new approaches to generating embryonic stem cells (ES). In the use of stem cells, there is room for error, especially in transplanting cells to renew or help cells.... [tags: transplanting, research, disease, stem cell]920 words(2.6 pages)Better Essays[preview] Problems with Embryonic Stem-Cell Research - Recently in the scientific world, the field of embryonic stem cell research has become a popular topic and has been the subject for many heated debates. Experts in the field of stem cell research promise that this will be the future of medicine; that stem cells will be the cure to all the debilitating diseases and afflictions of today, such as Alzheimers disease, heart disease, cancer and nerve damage. The truth about embryonic stem cell research is that it is not as hopeful and as revolutionary as it seems.... [tags: Science / Stem-Cell Research / Ethics]:: 7 Works Cited 1427 words(4.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Legal History and Ethics of Stem Cell Research - An interesting aspect of stem cell research is how politically charged it was from its very beginning. Originally born into a conservative playing field, the bounds on stem cell research were never as open as they are now, having been suppressed by political opinion for several decades. Numerous accounts of voting to support stem cell research were blocked by individual opinions of people with the influence to do so. Today, stem cell research is more open and accepted, due to technological advancements, but I think more importantly, a changing political mood.... [tags: Stem Cell Research Paper]:: 9 Works Cited 2886 words(8.2 pages)Research Papers[preview] The Government Should Fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Millions of people die every year from diseases and accidents; the nightly news is filled with reports about the devastating effects of cancer, horrific accidents, and disasters that leave people disfigured or paralyzed. Embryonic stem cell research is a part of biomedical science and has the potential to ease the suffering of sick people by curing diseases and defects, creating organs and tissue for patients needing transplants or skin grafts, regenerating axons in spinal cord injuries, and creating new treatments, drugs, and immunizations.... [tags: Stem Cell Essays]:: 31 Works Cited 2402 words(6.9 pages)Research Papers[preview] Stem Cell Research: Should we legalize it? - Stem Cell Research: Should we legalize it. I. Introduction and History Is going against certain religious morals worth finding cures using experimental science. Many scientists are constantly trying to push the boundaries of science to find new things. This is especially true in the medical partition of experimental science. There are a great deal of scientists working everyday to find cures to todays diseases and illnesses such as Aids, cancer, Parkinsons, and Alzheimers disease. People live with these illnesses everyday of their lives, and the number of people with diseases rises day after day.... [tags: Stem Cell Research]1711 words(4.9 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Different Sides of Embryonic Stem Cell Research - The field of stem cell research remains highly controversial because of its ethical and moral values. Despite the news in 2006 that researchers had found a way to harvest human embryonic stem cells without having to destroy embryos, controversy still surrounds potentially life-saving stem cell research. (Gruen, 2007). Due to the strong emotional responses to some of the subject matter by the pro-lifers and certain religions and politics in general, I will attempt to explain different sides of embryonic stem cell research (ESC).... [tags: Stem Cell Biology]1641 words(4.7 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Heated Debate Concerning Stem Cell Research - Inside an embryo there are dozens of stem cells. They are basically empty shells, but the special thing about them is that they are pluripotent, meaning that they can develop in to any cell or organ in human body. That makes stem cell research a gigantic part of todays medical research. With enough research, stem cells can be a big help to the human kind. Their extraordinary abilities could help scientists return memory to Alzheimers patients, or grow a mans limb that had to be amputated due to some tragedy.... [tags: Stem Cell Research]:: 4 Works Cited 644 words(1.8 pages)Better Essays[preview] Characteristics, Sources and Function of the Mesenchymal Stem Cell - 2.2Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) MSC are initially recognized in the late 1960s by Friendenstein and colleagues, as an adherent, non-phagocytic, fibroblast-like population that could regenerate rudiments of normal bone in vitro and in vivo (Friedenstein et al. 1970; Friedenstein et al. 1974a; Friedenstein et al. 1974b). The group identified a homogenous spindle-shaped adherent cell population when they cultured whole bone marrow (BM) in vitro. Then, this assay was developed into colony forming unit-fibroblast (CFU-F) assay which is the standard method to identify MSC.... [tags: medicine, stem cell]1012 words(2.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research - Stem cell therapy is an exciting area of medicine that is both enthusiastically researched and hotly debated. It allows for the possible treatment of conditions that were previously thought to be untreatable. Imagine being one of the many individuals debilitated by injury or disease who have resigned themselves to the fact that it is a permanent affliction. Now, imagine being given hope that the condition could be cured, or at least, greatly improved. It has been suggested that stem cell therapy is the answer to treating many patients greatly improving their quality of life.... [tags: Multicellular Organisms, Stem Cell Therapy]1867 words(5.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Stem Cell Therapy - In order to discover the ways for the remedy of diseases, studies in therapeutic approaches have been doing widely and kept increasing at accelerated pace. A lot of research areas had emerged for that purpose including one of the most fascinating and highly active areas at present, stem cells therapies. Due to self-renewal property and differentiation capability of stem cell, it becomes a new hope in modern treatment. The first successful case of stem cell therapy in human was reported in 1959. Bone marrow restorations were observed in leukemia patients who received total body irradiation subsequent by intravenous injection of their twins bone marrow (Thomas et al, 1957).... [tags: Stem Cell Research, Argumentative, Scientific]1020 words(2.9 pages)Good Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research - As the research teams of the EuroStemCell project teach in their educational short film A Stem Cell Story, there are certain stages of development while in the uterus where most of our cells stop dividing and stabilize into a specific kind of cell. They do not mutate throughout our life. These cells are referred to as specialized cells. Once they are damaged or die they cannot regenerate themselves. There is one kind of cell that never specializes during development. They are called stem cells and they are the only known cells that can renew themselves.... [tags: embryo, embryonic stem cell, ethics]:: 13 Works Cited 1691 words(4.8 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] A Scientific Explanation of Stem Cells and Stem Cell Research - In general, a cell can be defined as a stem cell if two basic criteria are met. First, stem cell is capable of self renewal for indefinite period throughout life while maintaining undifferentiated state, i.e., the cell can divide and produce two identical daughter cells and thereby maintains the stem cell pool. Second, stem cell possesses capacity for differentiate into specialised and functional progeny under the right conditions, or given the right signals. It may divide asymmetrically to yield an identical cell and a daughter cell that acquires a particular cell types properties, such as morphology, phenotype and functional physiology that classified it belongs to a particular tissue (Bu... [tags: Science, Stem Cells, Stem Cell Research, ]610 words(1.7 pages)Better Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research:The Cure of Tomorrow - When one thinks of fatal diseases, what comes to mind. Cancer. Organ failure. Brain damage. All of those things and more could be a thing of the past with the incredible potential of stem cell research. Stem cells are like blank cells that can take the form of other kinds of cells. This gives them the ability to heal damaged areas, or grow replacement tissue for tissue that has been diseased. Stem cells can come from several different places, some of which cause lots of controversy and ethical debate.... [tags: health development, stem cells, cell line]:: 7 Works Cited 1044 words(3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Embryonic Stem Cell Research Provides Revolutionary and Life-saving Breakthroughs - "Stem cell research is the key to developing cures for degenerative conditions like Parkinson's and motor neuron disease from which I and many others suffer. The fact that the cells may come from embryos is not an objection, because the embryos are going to die anyway." -- Stephen Hawking The phrase stem cell calls to mind images of controversy: Pro-life picketers outside abortion and in-vitro fertilization clinics, patients with chronic disabilities waiting on a cure, scientists in a lab experimenting with a petri dish.... [tags: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Papers]3830 words(10.9 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Stem Cell Technology: Hypoxia and Its Contributions to Regenerative Medicine - Introduction Stem cell technology is developing rapidly to bring tissue and organ regeneration from the foreground of current research to the hands of physicians for therapeutic interventions of injuries. Though this field is rapidly progressing, several limiting factors have reduced the efficacy and survival of many transplanted cells. To understand the limitations, a deeper understanding of the chemomechanical environment of an injury is needed. Tissue and organ development from specific progenitor cells is tightly controlled by the surrounding biochemical environment.... [tags: science, medicine, stem cell research]:: 1 Works Cited 2526 words(7.2 pages)Research Papers[preview] Stem Cell Research - Stem cell research. Simple words that to some mean a lot more than a new potential scientific field. It is simply the creation or repair of another life form from an earlier form. Stem cells have the chance to change all that we know in the medical field as well as the potential to heal old wounds and heal damaged organs. This point causes much debate and anger of those opposed to stem cell research but they ultimately look at the process and not the form or result of it. Stem cell research has incredible potential.... [tags: Stem Cell Biology, argument]:: 5 Works Cited 1254 words(3.6 pages)Good Essays[preview] The Debate Concerning Stem Cell Research - "Stem cell research is the key to developing cures for degenerative conditions like Parkinson's and motor neuron disease from which I and many others suffer." -- Stephen Hawking As college students, it is important that we know and care about the issue of stem cell research. Stem cell research is currently legal in most countries. The United States, normally a leader in new frontiers, is one of the last to explore this territory. As it is slowly being pushed forward, we are going to have to know about it.... [tags: stem cell argumentative persuasive argument]:: 5 Works Cited 2276 words(6.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research Can Help the Sick - Stem cell research is a very complex argument. There are people that feel that stem cell research should not have even been introduced into our society. However, there are others that feel that stem cell research could change many lives. Those who feel it could change many lives are right in many peoples eyes. With the advancement of stem cell research, we would be able to help many people with such diseases as heart disease and Alzheimers. Stem cells could also help others with dibilating diseases and those who have suffered some very unfortunate accident.... [tags: Stem Cell Research]1012 words(2.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Stem Cell Debate is Not About Medical Benefits - In the final analysis, the debate about embryonic stem cell research is not primarily about medical benefits. In his great novel The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky raised the question whether it would be right to build a world without human suffering if "it was essential and inevitable to torture to death one tiny creature" such as an innocent child to achieve that end. Each of us must answer that ultimate question in the depths of his or her own conscience. The claim that destructive embryo research will achieve such a utopian end is, we believe, a hollow promise.... [tags: Stem Cell Research]:: 18 Works Cited 2601 words(7.4 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Supporting Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Supporting Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientific research has the ability to help the terminally ill and disabled. Some people find this research is morally wrong. If this research helps people with disease and disability would you condone it. Today in The United States there is controversy facing embryonic stem cell research.People are dying because of the legal and moral obstacles involved in embryonic stem cell research. American citizens with illnesses and disease could be treated if this research was to continue at a much faster pace.... [tags: Embryo Embryonic Stem Cell Cells Essays Papers]1525 words(4.4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Heated Debate Concerning Stem Cell Research - The Controversy Over Stem Cell Research In a lab at the University of California, a scientist carefully isolates several cells and locates them to a petry dish. A few days later, he returns to find the cells pulsating like a human heart (Gorman 58). This account has actually been occurring at several scientific labs across the nation. These cells, known as stem cells, produce nearly all the other cells and tissues found in the human body (Sobel Sep 4, 22). Intensive research has found that when these stem cells are grafted with human tissue, new tissue is formed and the diseases found in that tissue are cured.... [tags: stem cell argumentative persuasive argument]783 words(2.2 pages)Better Essays[preview] A Conservative Argument against Stem Cell Research - A Conservative Argument against Stem Cell Research For the past few years stem cell research has been a widely debated topic; however, former President Clinton?s stance?allowing federal money to be spent on tightly controlled stem cell research?lead to intense debates over federal funding for stem cell research. There are four ways of obtaining stem cells, which are taken from embryos that are approximately one week old. They are using unwanted embryos from fertility clinics, embryos from aborted fetuses, cloned embryos, and embryos created for research purposes.... [tags: Stem Cell Research Essays Papers]:: 1 Works Cited 1166 words(3.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Its Time to Legalize Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Its Time to Legalize Embryonic Stem Cell Research In the United States of America, people have many rights and freedoms that are respected by the Federal Government. As stated in Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: There will never be a truly free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power (225). In the goal to make America a truly free and enlightened state, laws have been enacted to preserve individual rights. With the furthering of medical science, the issue of individual rights vs.... [tags: stem cell argumentative persuasive argument]:: 16 Works Cited 1770 words(5.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research - Stem Cell Research Stem cells are a large focus of study in today's biomedical world. Stem cell research offers the hope of transplants being done without the sacrifice of another person losing an organ. There are many different pros and cons when it comes to discussing the use of stem cells. In order to develop an opinion of whether or not stem cells should be used, one must first understand what they are and how they are used. ?Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cells types in the body.... [tags: Stem Cell Research Biomedical Science Essays]:: 5 Works Cited 974 words(2.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - Over the last decade the use of stem cells has been a controversial and heated topic. Debates have exploded over every aspect of stem cell research. It has been speculated by scientists that stem cell research may have the potential to cure harmful diseases or even regrow organs. However some find that the health issues seen in earlier attempts to use stem cell transplants and ethical controversies involved with extracting stem cells, make it very dangerous to further investigate. In actuality the fact remains that the potential cures that may come from stem cell research could prove to be some of the most significant advances in modern medicine to this day.... [tags: Why Stem Cells Are Important]:: 10 Works Cited 1670 words(4.8 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Advancements in medical technology has allowed for a new understanding of stem cells and further developments in research. The use of stem cells in regenerative medicine may hold significant benefits for those suffering from degenerative diseases. To avail such advancements in stem cell research could see the alleviation or complete cure of afflictions that take the lives of millions worldwide each year. (McLaren, 2001) A stem cell 1 is able differentiate into any somatic cell found in the human body, including those identical to itself.... [tags: use of stem cells in regenerative medicine]:: 13 Works Cited 1467 words(4.2 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Stem Cell Media Cultures - All cell culture procedures were performed under sterile conditions in laminar class II biohazard safety cabinet (ESCO). The cell cultures were incubated at 37oC in 5% CO2 humidified incubators (RSBiotech). MSC were cultured in MSC complete medium made up of Dulbeccos Modified Eagles medium with nutrient mixture F-12 (HAM)[1:1] (DMEM/F12) with GLUTAMAX -I (Gibco, Invitrogen, USA), supplemented with 10% pre-selected foetal bovine serum (Stem Cell Technology Inc.), 1% of Penicillin /Streptomycin (Gibco, Invitrogen), 0.5% Fungizone (Gibco, Invitrogen), 0.1% Gentamicin (Gibco, Invitrogen), with or without 40ng/ml basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) (Peprotech, USA) .... [tags: Stem Cells Media, science, cultures,]886 words(2.5 pages)Better Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research - Cells are the basic function of life. Cells are the fundamental unit of all living things, this include animals. Cell is the smallest structure in the human body and has all the properties of being alive. Cells can vary in different shape and sizes. The shape or the size cells are related directly to the function of the cells. (Fremgen & Frucht, 2009, p. 22) The human body has several different types of cells like cell membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus. Each cell has their job to do in the human body.... [tags: Stem Cells]:: 5 Works Cited 656 words(1.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research: The Endless Debate - The topic of stem cell research has long been debated over, and yet no consensus has been reached, since different views, and mixed feelings persist in the minds of people. Personally, I stand by the people who are in favor for the research. I believe that, stem cell research has many more pros than cons. There is tremendous potential in this research in finding treatments for diseases that are currently thought to be incurable. Therefore, the research should continue to be funded for, and should be encouraged further.... [tags: disease, treatment, embryo, stem cells]:: 7 Works Cited 1588 words(4.5 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Glycation and Mesenchymal Stem Cell Function - New cells are often produced in the body during growth and development. In addition, new cells also develop as the body repairs and remodels its tissues after an injury. These new cells come from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are considered as multipotent cells. MSCs are found in various parts of the body during growth and development, but in adults, they are present in the bone marrow, where they later differentiate, mature and migrate to become more specialized cells with unique functions.... [tags: msc, stem cells, advanced glycation]:: 4 Works Cited 920 words(2.6 pages)Better Essays[preview] Stem Cell Research - Stem cells have a history that is very short unlike other medical discoveries. According to history, stem cells were first used in 1950s, where a progressive advancement on its use has been carried out by physicians and clinicians. Research has been focused on finding stem cells in tissues of the body, where harvesting has been concentrated on all body tissue. It has been agreed that the process of harvesting or collecting stem cells depends on the source of the cell. This paper will consider the processes of harvesting stem cells and their methods.... [tags: Medical Discoveries, Stem Cells, Techniques]:: 5 Works Cited 916 words(2.6 pages)Better Essays[preview] Stem Cell Success or Moral Dilemma - ... Stem cells are being further researched for virology today and can commonly be found in the Influenza immunizations (Stem). In 1960, scientist made another amazing medical milestone was reached by transplanting cells into patients suffering from DiGeorge syndrome and was accepted as an effective form of therapy (Stem). Come 1968, Scientist made a breakthrough when the world's first bone marrow transplant was completed successfully. This experiment treated two siblings suffering from immunodeficiency, a destruction of the immune response system.... [tags: cell types, scientists, ethics]:: 9 Works Cited 1584 words(4.5 pages)Term Papers[preview] Stem Cell Debate - Embryonic stem cell research is a sensitive and highly debated topic. There are many advantages from researching this technology since it will beneficial to many people. In this essay, I will explain embryonic stem cells concept, and importance of utilizing it in medical development. Moreover, I will show the flaws in the arguments of those opposing use of stem cell. The county will fall behind that are utilizing this development if there is no logical conclusion to this important issue. The human body has more than 200 different types of cells.... [tags: embryonic cell, medical research]:: 1 Works Cited 1794 words(5.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Shoulc Stem Cell Research Be Cut? - Stem Cells are very unique types of cells that have an incredible potential to develop and transform into different types of cells in the body, not only producing brain cells, but containing the ability to produce more stem cells, known as a process called self renewal. So is it possible that stem cells can cure diseases and redevelop organs that are lost for some. There are multiple types of stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells (ES), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), and adult or somatic stem cells.... [tags: cell types, self-renewal, brain cells]1453 words(4.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Stem Cells are the Future of Healthcare - A mother cannot remember her childrens names anymore because of Alzheimers diseases. A daughter will never be able to walk again because of a car accident that has made her paralyzed from the waist down. A husband will never be able to see his wife again because he has become blind. But maybe these people will be able to remember, walk or see again. Someday all of the diseases in the world may be curable through stem cell research. Stem cells are very unique because they have the ability to morph into any of the over 200 cells that make up the human body.... [tags: Stem Cell Research ]:: 4 Works Cited 1311 words(3.7 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Stem Cells are the Future - The article Stem Cell Research, elaborates on the medical benefits that come from stem cell research. It defines exactly what stem cells are and how their abilities can be harnessed and applied to treat chronic human ailments and degenerative diseases. It goes on to present supporting and opposing views that challenge its progress and reviews the role the government is taking in the issue (Stem Cell Research). There is significant scientific information that supports the potential for stem cells to treat or possibly cure various diseases that afflict humanity.... [tags: Pro Stem Cell Research]:: 10 Works Cited 1625 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Embryonic Stem Cell Research: To Be or Not To Be? - When a patient is faced with a terminal illness or is told that they will never walk again, it may be difficult to find hope of any kind. Stem Cells provide a faint glimmer of hope, with all the amazing things they, in theory, are able to do and cure. What kind of stem cells are we talking about though. Embryonic, Adult, or Cord Blood. All these possess the ability to replicate themselves as well as become any type of cell (Harvard Gazette). As with any incredible feat there is more often than not a catch. Many questions arise when we think about the sacrifices, risks and benefits.... [tags: Medical Ethics ]:: 6 Works Cited 1864 words(5.3 pages)Term Papers[preview] Stem Cells and Parkinson's Disease - The goal of this paper is to compare the utility of adult, embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to treat Parkinsons disease. As such several things will be assessed, dosage of stemcells, improvement in motor function, in combination with the presence of -synuclein proteins and cell survival. To give a short overview of the steps that will be taken to complete the study. Obtaining stem cells, whether adult, embryonic or induced, shall be done using healthy mouse models and after ethical approval has been gained.... [tags: Stem Cell Research Study]:: 4 Works Cited 2615 words(7.5 pages)Research Papers[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - By lifting the funding and ethical ban on stem cell research scientists will have a better understanding the complexity and disarray of the cellular structure of humans with a lifted ban on federal funding to front the research of stem cell and stem cell development. Two types of stem cells are key to unlocking the complex coding of cellular make-up and those are embryonic and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cell research has created supposed ethical issues because those specific cells are taken from embryos that are not yet developed and those cells have no exact duty as opposed to adult stem cells which have particular duties throughout the body.... [tags: Medical Ethics ]:: 2 Works Cited 1086 words(3.1 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - Throughout our history, scientists continue to experiment and make discoveries that expand our knowledge of the world and the full potential of the matter around us. As the medical research of scientists improves, new treatments are found that enable people to have a longer lifespan and live healthier. Medical researchers continue to discover new medicines that help people overcome fatal diseases and allow them to achieve a more sustainable life. As scientists research the potential of treatment for diseases, there is a promising future in stem cells that offer a possible treatment for a wide variety of diseases.... [tags: Medical Science]:: 7 Works Cited 1504 words(4.3 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Controversy Of Stem Cell Research - The topic of stem cell research is highly controversial. Although most people who consider themselves "pro life" are the main opposition for this potentially beneficial research, most people do not fully comprehend what stem cells are, much less the implications of them. In a highly generalized statement, stem cells are cells with no specialization. This allows them to form into the majority of cells in the body, depending on where they were from. In this essay Im going to not only offer a plethora of information regarding stem cells, but make an in depth analysis of the question that everyone wants the answer to, should stem cells be used.... [tags: orthodox christianity, pro life]:: 9 Works Cited 993 words(2.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - Fatal diseases have been the cause of death for a large percent of the human race. About 5.8 million Americans have heart failure, 670,000 people are diagnosed with it each year, 23.6 million have diabetes, and one million live with Parkinsons disease (Watson, Stephanie, and Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D). Diseases such as above kill off important cells that reproduce rapidly to help the body function normally. Well, what alternatives does one have to turn to when the time clock runs out for all cells, resulting in death.... [tags: Medical Research]:: 13 Works Cited 1634 words(4.7 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Ethics of Stem Cell Research - Should we be using embryonic stem cells for the advancement of medical research. In the 1800s it was discovered certain cells could generate other cells. The 1900s brought upon more research in using stem cells. The ethical issue surrounding embryonic stem cells research arises because human embryos are destroyed in the process. I believe that the benefits outweigh the negatives and that a greater good can come out of using embryonic stem cells. The treatment of diseases and illnesses continually grows and improves.... [tags: Ethics ]:: 1 Works Cited 2355 words(6.7 pages)Term Papers[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - Imagine a world where the diseases we know today are virtually eradicated, and where incurable injuries are a thing of the past. Even though this sounds like a science fiction movie, advances in modern science are making this statement more of a reality than a dream. This can be accomplished through stem cell therapy and cell differentiation. Stem cell therapy is like an intervention, in which new cells are introduced into the body or tissue in order to treat a disease or injury (Haldeman-Englet, Chad).... [tags: Medical Research]:: 12 Works Cited 1061 words(3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - In a society where faster means better and technology has rapidly taken over the lives of people, the means of human health have changed. The advance in medical research has led to the development of using existing cells within the body and placentas of humans to heal critical injuries that usually take years to fully return to normal (Boniello). The cells are commonly referred to as stem cells which can turn into different types of cells depending on the injury, location, and what the body requires.... [tags: Medical Research]:: 8 Works Cited 1615 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Importance of Stem Cell Research - The greatest risk to scientific progress is to stop taking risks. Dr. Elias Zerhouni from the National Institute of Health gave this quote during an interview to a reporter in 2007. He was referring to Stem Cell research, a controversial medical issue of today. Louise Brown of Manchester, UK owes her life to scientists and doctors taking risks and exploring the world or Stem Cells. In 1978 she became the first baby to be born via in-vitro fertilization, a process where a womans egg is harvested and mixed with male sperm to become fertilized.... [tags: Medical Science]:: 11 Works Cited 2446 words(7 pages)Term Papers[preview] Embryonic Stem Cells: The Future of Medicine - Whereas there are many facets of medical research in the world at the present time, one of the more controversial continues to be stem cell research and more specifically, embryonic stem cell research. The percentage of groups and individuals who agree or disagree with this science are roughly equal on both sides of the argument. 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Free stem cell Essays and Papers - 123HelpMe

By Dr. Mercola

Kristin Comella,1 named No. 1 on the Academy of Regenerative Practices list of Top 10 stem cell innovators, has been a stem cell researcher for nearly two decades. In this interview, she discusses the enormous regenerative potential of stem cell therapy.

Comella, who holds degrees in chemical and biomedical engineering, began working with stem cells in graduate school, using a technique called magnetic cell sorting, which involves tagging nanoparticle magnets onto cells and then separating the cells based on the proteins they express.

"What we've learned over the years is that stem cells express different proteins than other kinds of cells in your body," she explains. "That began my career in the field of stem cells."

Over the years, she's worked for several different companies. At a start-up in Maryland, she used stem cells from bone marrow (culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cells) for meniscus regeneration. By placing these cells directly into the knee joint, you can repair or even grow back a damaged meniscus.

For a time, she also headed up the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility at Tulane University, which is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facility located at the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy. There, her work revolved around using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells for spinal cord regeneration.

For the past 13 years, she's worked for U.S. Stem Cell, a company founded in 1999. The company began bringing stem cells for cardiac care to the public. Muscle-derived stem cells can be used to repair heart damage associated with heart attacks. "Our company treated our first patient in 2001. Since that time, we've treated over 7,000 patients. We began looking at other indications about a decade ago. We also began looking at stem cells from a variety of different sources," she says.

The primary purpose of stem cells is to maintain, heal and regenerate tissues wherever they reside in your body. This is a continuous process that occurs inside your body throughout your life. If you didn't have stem cells, your lifespan would be about an hour, because there would be nothing to replace exhausted cells or damaged tissue. In addition, any time your body is exposed to any sort of toxin, the inflammatory process causes stem cells to swarm the area to repair the damage.

"As an example, you might have gone to the gym this morning [and] done some squats. As a result of that, you would get tiny tears inside the muscle. The stem cells that reside beneath the muscle would come out and repair all those tears.

The reason that, if you continuously go to the gym, you would start to build new muscle, is because those stem cells, hard at work underneath your muscle, are helping to repair and build that new muscle. This would apply to all of the tissues inside your body," Comella explains.

While it's easy to think of stem cell therapy as a magic bullet, it would be wise to implement strategies that nourish and thereby help optimize the stem cells you already have in your body. As noted by Comella:

"You have to create an appropriate environment for these cells to function in. If you are putting garbage into your body and you're constantly burdening your body with toxins, your stem cells are getting too distracted trying to fight off those toxins. By creating an appropriate environment, optimizing your diet and reducing exposure to toxins, that will allow the stem cells that we're putting in to really home in and focus on the true issue that we're trying to treat.

The other thing we've discovered over the years is that [stem cell therapy] is not the type of thing where you take one dose and you're cured forever. Your tissues are constantly getting damaged You're going to have to repeat-dose and use those stem cells to your advantage.

When you think about a lizard that loses its tail, it takes two years to grow back the tail. Why would we put unrealistic expectations on the stem cells that we're trying to apply to repair or replace damaged tissue? This is a very slow process. This is something that will occur over months and may require repeat dosing."

Historically, stem cells were isolated from bone marrow, and have been used for bone marrow transplants for cancer patients since the 1930s. However, you can get stem cells from just about any tissue in your body, as every tissue contains stem cells.

Your bone marrow actually has very low amounts of mesenchymal stem cells, which are now believed to be the most important, from a therapeutic perspective. Mesenchymal stem cells help trigger an immunomodulatory response or a paracrine effect, which means they send signals out to the rest of your body, calling cells to the area to help promote healing.

"What we've discovered in more recent years is that a more plentiful source of stem cells is actually your fat tissue. [Body] fat can contain up to 500 times more cells than your bone marrow, as far as these mesenchymal type stem cells go.

One thing that's also critically important when you're talking about isolating the cells is the number of other cells that are going to be part of that population. When you're isolating a bone marrow sample, this actually is very high in white blood cells, which are pro-inflammatory."

White blood cells are part of your immune response. When an injury occurs, or a foreign body enters your system, white blood cells will attack. Unfortunately, white blood cells do not discriminate, and can create quite a bit of damage as they clean the area out.

Stem cells, in particular your mesenchymal cells, quiet down the white blood cells and then start the regeneration phase, which leads to new tissue. Bone marrow tends to be very high in white blood cells and low in the mesenchymal cells. Isolating stem cells from fat tissue is preferred not only because it's easier on the patient, but fat also contains a higher population of mesenchymal cells and fewer white blood cells.

"The benefit also of isolating [stem cells from] fat is that it's a relatively simple procedure. There's typically no shortage of fat tissue, especially in Americans," Comella says. "[Also], as you age, your bone marrow declines with regards to the number of cells in it, whereas the fat tissue maintains a pretty high number of stem cells, even in older individuals.

We can successfully harvest fat off of just about anyone, regardless of their age or how thin they are. The procedure is done under local [anesthesia], meaning that the patient stays awake. They don't have to go under general anesthesia. We can harvest as few as 15 cubic centimeters of fat, which is a very small amount of fat, and still get a very high number of stem cells."

A stem cell procedure can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000, depending on what you're having done, and rarely if ever will insurance cover it. Still, when you compare it to the cost of long-term medications or the out-of-pocket cost of getting a knee replacement, stem cell therapy may still be a less expensive alternative. Also, a single extraction will typically yield enough stem cells for 20 to 25 future treatments, should you decide to store your stem cells for future need.

"I think it's accessible for patients," Comella says. "It's an out-patient procedure. You plan to be in clinic for about two hours; no real limitations afterwards, just no submerging in water, no alcohol, no smoking for a week. But other than that, patients can resume their normal activities and go about their regular daily lives."

Interestingly, Comella notes that patients who eat a very healthy diet, focusing on organic and grass fed foods, have body fat that is very hearty and almost sticky, yielding high amounts of very healthy stem cells.

"We can grow much better and faster stem cells from that fat than [the fat from] somebody who eats a grain-based diet or is exposed to a lot of toxins in their diet," she says. "Their fat tends to be very fluffy, buttery yellow. The cells that come out of that are not necessarily as good a quality. It's just been very interesting. And of note, patients that are cigarette smokers, their fat is actually gray-tinged in color. The stem cells do not grow well at all."

What's been described above is what's called an autologous donation, meaning you're getting the stem cells from yourself. A number of companies provide non-autologous donations using cells harvested from other people, typically women, like amniotic or embryonic mesenchymal cells. This is an important distinction.

"There are now just a couple of studies that have been published comparing an autologous source, meaning cells from you own body, to an allogeneic source, meaning cells from someone else.

So far, what has been discovered is that the autologous cells, meaning your own cells, will outperform somebody else's cells inside your body. Now, this is not fully understood at this point. It may be that the environment that your cells function in, they're used to that environment. They recognize it. It's the same DNA and they can function well.

However, once you culture expand and get a pure population of these mesenchymal cells not necessarily the sample that's coming right off of the liposuction, but a sample that has been taken to the lab and grown those cells will not elicit an immune response if you use them in someone else. You could scientifically and medically use those in an unmatched person. However, there are some regulatory aspects of that with regards to the FDA."

In the U.S., there are a variety of new stem cell products available, referred to as amniotic, cord blood products or placenta products, which are prepared at a tissue bank. Such facilities must be registered with the FDA, and the products must undergo additional processing.

For example, they must be morselized, or snap frozen or blended in some way. Such processing typically breaks the membrane, releasing growth factors, and the resulting products are called acellular, meaning there are no living cells remaining in the sample.

The amniotic products available in the U.S. are not so much stem cell products as they are growth factor products. According to Comella, they can be useful in creating an immunomodulatory response, which can help to promote healing, but that still differs from the living stem cell procedures that can be done by either isolating cells from your fat or bone marrow. As a general rule, you don't achieve the clinical benefits when using an amniotic product, primarily because they don't contain living stem cells.

"I want to contrast that to what are called embryonic stem cells," Comella adds. "The products obtained from cord blood, from women who are having babies, are not embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are when you are first bringing the egg and sperm together. Three days after that, you can isolate what is called an inner cell mass. This inner cell mass can be used to then grow cells in culture, or that inner cell mass could eventually lead to the formation of a baby.

Those are embryonic stem cells, and those are pluripotential, meaning that they have the ability to form an entire being, versus adult stem cells or stem cells that are present in amniotic tissue, [which] are multipotential, which only have the ability to form subsets of tissue.

When you're dealing with different diseases or damaged tissue or inflammation, mostly you want to repair tissue. If somebody has damage in their knee, they don't necessarily need embryonic cells because they don't need a baby in their knee. They need new cartilage in their knee."

A common question is whether stem cells can cause overgrowth, leading to cancer or tumor formation. As noted by Comella, this is a problem associated with embryonic stem cells, which tend to grow very rapidly and can form a teratoma because of the rapid cell growth. Adult stem cells the cells obtained from your own body have growth inhibitions and will not form teratomas.

"The theoretical concern that has been addressed in animal models or in petri dishes is that if you take cancer cells that are growing in a dish and apply stem cells, it may make those cancer cells grow more rapidly. But this does not translate in-vivo to humans.

If there was truly an issue with applying stem cells to a patient who has cancer, we would know about it by now, because we've been dosing cancer patients with stem cells since the '30s. The safety profile is strong and there are tens of thousands of patients documented with these treatments," Comella says.

Another useful therapy is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Your peripheral blood contains platelets, which act as first responders when there's an injury. They come in and start the clotting mechanism, thereby preventing you from bleeding to death. They also give marching orders to other cells. For example, platelets can command stem cells to multiply and grow, or to differentiate and form new tissue.

These platelets also have many different growth factors associated with them, which can help to promote healing and stop inflammation. PRP involves taking a blood sample and then spinning the blood in a centrifuge to isolate the platelets. The platelet-rich plasma is then injected back into the area that is inflamed.

"One of the most common uses of platelet-rich plasma or PRP is in a joint. Now, platelets are going to be most successful in something that is rich in stem cells [such as] an acute or a very recent injury.

If you just hurt your knee, the first thing you should do is get PRP, because it's going to help promote healing, and those platelets will attach to the surface receptors of the stem cells that are already going to the area to promote healing. It would be like putting fertilizer on your seed, which are the stem cells.

If you have something more chronic, this tends to be a stem cell-poor environment. In other words, you have osteoarthritis or you've got knee pain that's 5 years old and it's been there for a long time; just putting PRP in it would be like putting fertilizer on dirt without planting a seed first."

The beauty of stem cell therapy is that it mimics a process that is ongoing in your body all the time. Your stem cells are continuously promoting healing, and they do not have to be manipulated in any way. The stem cells naturally know how to home in on areas of inflammation and how to repair damaged tissue.

"All we're doing is harnessing the cells from one location where they're sitting dormant and relocating them to exactly where we want them and we need them to work," Comella says. "Basically, anything inside your body that is inflamed, that is damaged in some way, that is lacking blood supply, the [stem] cells can successfully treat.

That means orthopedics, knee injections, shoulder injections, osteoarthritis, acute injuries, anterior cruciate ligament tears in your back back pain associated with degenerative disc disease or damaged tendons or ligaments, herniated and bulging discs. You can also use it in systemic issues, everything from diabetes, to cardiac, to lungs any tissue organ inside your body that's been damaged.

Autoimmune diseases [can also be treated]. The stem cells are naturally immunosuppressant, meaning they can help quiet down an over reactive immune system and help the immune system function in a more normal way. Neurological diseases, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's. All of these have to do with tissue that's not functioning properly. The cells can be used to address that."

It's quite impressive, the list of different diseases that could benefit from this intervention. That said, I want to reemphasize that this is not a magic bullet. However, you can dramatically improve the benefits of this intervention by combining it with other healthy lifestyle factors that optimize mitochondrial function, such as eating a healthy whole food diet, exercising, sleeping well, avoiding toxins and detoxifying from toxic influences.

Stem cells can also be used as part of an antiaging program. Comella has used stem cells on herself for several years, and report feeling better now than she did a decade ago.

"The ability to reduce inflammation inside your body is basically making yourself live longer. Inflammation is what kills us all. It's what makes our telomeres shrink. It's what causes us pain and discomfort. It's what makes the tissues start to die. The ability to dose yourself with stem cells and bring down your inflammation, which is most likely caused by any sort of toxin that you've been exposed to breathing air is exposure to toxins this is going to lengthen your lifespan.

I typically will do a dose every six to 12 months, regardless of what's going on. If I have anything that's bothering me, if I tweak my knee at the gym, then I absolutely will come in and do an injection in my knee. I want to keep my tissue healthy for as long as possible.

I want to stay strong. I don't want to wait until something is wrong with me. I think that this is the future of medicine. This is what we're going to start to see. People will begin to get their regular doses of [their own] stem cells and it'll just be common practice."

Keep in mind there's a gradual and progressive decline in the quality and the number of stem cells as you age, so if you're considering this approach, it would be to your advantage to extract and bank your stem cells as early on as possible. U.S. Stem Cell provides a stem cell bank service, so you can store them until a later date when you might need them.

"Your stem cells are never as young as they are right now. Every minute that you live, your telomeres are shrinking. The ability to lock in the youth of your cells today can be very beneficial for you going forward, and for your health going forward. God forbid something happens. What if you have a heart attack? You're not going to get clearance to get a mini-lipo aspirate procedure.

If you have your cells waiting in the bank, ready for you, it becomes very easy to pull a dose and do an IV delivery of cells. It's almost criminal that we're not doing this for every single one of our cardiac patients. This should be standard practice. We should be having every single patient bank their stem cells at a young age and have them waiting, ready and available. The technology is there. We have it. I'm not sure why this technology is not being made available to everyone," she says.

"I think stem cell therapy is very different than traditional medicine. Stem cell therapy may actually make it so that you don't have to be dependent on pharmaceutical medications. You can actually repair the tissue and that's it. This is a very different way of viewing medicine."

If you're interested in having this procedure done, contact the U.S. Stem Cell Clinic on USStemCellClinic.com. You could either have the procedure done at their facility, or if there's a physician in your area providing the service, you can go there. U.S. Stem Cell can help you locate a qualified doctor.

Oftentimes, practitioners will specialize in specific procedures, such as spinal procedures, or knee procedures. There's also a veterinary division, called Vet Biologics, which offers treatment to small pets like cats and dogs, as well as horses.

"One of the things that we've been treating recently is traumatic brain injuries," Comella says. "We had a woman who fell two stories and hit her head. She spent months in a coma and was not able to talk or walk or do any activities. By the time she came to us, it was two years after her injury. The best hospitals in the world told her this was her life 'You're never going to be able to talk or walk or take care of your young children again.' That was just not good enough.

She came to us and we began applying stem cells in a way to allow the cells to cross the blood-brain barrier and to get to her brain. After her first treatment, when she walked into the clinic on her own and began telling me, in full sentences, about the day she had the head injury, tears came down my face. This is the kind of thing that traditional medicine would say is impossible.

We've had patients who were wheelchair-bound, whether it's from multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's, up and out of their chair, literally jogging around cones. This is life-changing Patients who were told they weren't going to return to sports for years are back on the field and playing. There's just many ways that you can heal your tissue to change the course of an injury or a disease."

Continued here:
How Stem Cell Therapy Can Help Repair and Regenerate Your Body

By Dr. Mercola

Kristin Comella,1 named No. 1 on the Academy of Regenerative Practices list of Top 10 stem cell innovators, has been a stem cell researcher for nearly two decades. In this interview, she discusses the enormous regenerative potential of stem cell therapy.

Comella, who holds degrees in chemical and biomedical engineering, began working with stem cells in graduate school, using a technique called magnetic cell sorting, which involves tagging nanoparticle magnets onto cells and then separating the cells based on the proteins they express.

"What we've learned over the years is that stem cells express different proteins than other kinds of cells in your body," she explains. "That began my career in the field of stem cells."

Over the years, she's worked for several different companies. At a start-up in Maryland, she used stem cells from bone marrow (culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cells) for meniscus regeneration. By placing these cells directly into the knee joint, you can repair or even grow back a damaged meniscus.

For a time, she also headed up the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility at Tulane University, which is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facility located at the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy. There, her work revolved around using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells for spinal cord regeneration.

For the past 13 years, she's worked for U.S. Stem Cell, a company founded in 1999. The company began bringing stem cells for cardiac care to the public. Muscle-derived stem cells can be used to repair heart damage associated with heart attacks. "Our company treated our first patient in 2001. Since that time, we've treated over 7,000 patients. We began looking at other indications about a decade ago. We also began looking at stem cells from a variety of different sources," she says.

The primary purpose of stem cells is to maintain, heal and regenerate tissues wherever they reside in your body. This is a continuous process that occurs inside your body throughout your life. If you didn't have stem cells, your lifespan would be about an hour, because there would be nothing to replace exhausted cells or damaged tissue. In addition, any time your body is exposed to any sort of toxin, the inflammatory process causes stem cells to swarm the area to repair the damage.

"As an example, you might have gone to the gym this morning [and] done some squats. As a result of that, you would get tiny tears inside the muscle. The stem cells that reside beneath the muscle would come out and repair all those tears.

The reason that, if you continuously go to the gym, you would start to build new muscle, is because those stem cells, hard at work underneath your muscle, are helping to repair and build that new muscle. This would apply to all of the tissues inside your body," Comella explains.

While it's easy to think of stem cell therapy as a magic bullet, it would be wise to implement strategies that nourish and thereby help optimize the stem cells you already have in your body. As noted by Comella:

"You have to create an appropriate environment for these cells to function in. If you are putting garbage into your body and you're constantly burdening your body with toxins, your stem cells are getting too distracted trying to fight off those toxins. By creating an appropriate environment, optimizing your diet and reducing exposure to toxins, that will allow the stem cells that we're putting in to really home in and focus on the true issue that we're trying to treat.

The other thing we've discovered over the years is that [stem cell therapy] is not the type of thing where you take one dose and you're cured forever. Your tissues are constantly getting damaged You're going to have to repeat-dose and use those stem cells to your advantage.

When you think about a lizard that loses its tail, it takes two years to grow back the tail. Why would we put unrealistic expectations on the stem cells that we're trying to apply to repair or replace damaged tissue? This is a very slow process. This is something that will occur over months and may require repeat dosing."

Historically, stem cells were isolated from bone marrow, and have been used for bone marrow transplants for cancer patients since the 1930s. However, you can get stem cells from just about any tissue in your body, as every tissue contains stem cells.

Your bone marrow actually has very low amounts of mesenchymal stem cells, which are now believed to be the most important, from a therapeutic perspective. Mesenchymal stem cells help trigger an immunomodulatory response or a paracrine effect, which means they send signals out to the rest of your body, calling cells to the area to help promote healing.

"What we've discovered in more recent years is that a more plentiful source of stem cells is actually your fat tissue. [Body] fat can contain up to 500 times more cells than your bone marrow, as far as these mesenchymal type stem cells go.

One thing that's also critically important when you're talking about isolating the cells is the number of other cells that are going to be part of that population. When you're isolating a bone marrow sample, this actually is very high in white blood cells, which are pro-inflammatory."

White blood cells are part of your immune response. When an injury occurs, or a foreign body enters your system, white blood cells will attack. Unfortunately, white blood cells do not discriminate, and can create quite a bit of damage as they clean the area out.

Stem cells, in particular your mesenchymal cells, quiet down the white blood cells and then start the regeneration phase, which leads to new tissue. Bone marrow tends to be very high in white blood cells and low in the mesenchymal cells. Isolating stem cells from fat tissue is preferred not only because it's easier on the patient, but fat also contains a higher population of mesenchymal cells and fewer white blood cells.

"The benefit also of isolating [stem cells from] fat is that it's a relatively simple procedure. There's typically no shortage of fat tissue, especially in Americans," Comella says. "[Also], as you age, your bone marrow declines with regards to the number of cells in it, whereas the fat tissue maintains a pretty high number of stem cells, even in older individuals.

We can successfully harvest fat off of just about anyone, regardless of their age or how thin they are. The procedure is done under local [anesthesia], meaning that the patient stays awake. They don't have to go under general anesthesia. We can harvest as few as 15 cubic centimeters of fat, which is a very small amount of fat, and still get a very high number of stem cells."

A stem cell procedure can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000, depending on what you're having done, and rarely if ever will insurance cover it. Still, when you compare it to the cost of long-term medications or the out-of-pocket cost of getting a knee replacement, stem cell therapy may still be a less expensive alternative. Also, a single extraction will typically yield enough stem cells for 20 to 25 future treatments, should you decide to store your stem cells for future need.

"I think it's accessible for patients," Comella says. "It's an out-patient procedure. You plan to be in clinic for about two hours; no real limitations afterwards, just no submerging in water, no alcohol, no smoking for a week. But other than that, patients can resume their normal activities and go about their regular daily lives."

Interestingly, Comella notes that patients who eat a very healthy diet, focusing on organic and grass fed foods, have body fat that is very hearty and almost sticky, yielding high amounts of very healthy stem cells.

"We can grow much better and faster stem cells from that fat than [the fat from] somebody who eats a grain-based diet or is exposed to a lot of toxins in their diet," she says. "Their fat tends to be very fluffy, buttery yellow. The cells that come out of that are not necessarily as good a quality. It's just been very interesting. And of note, patients that are cigarette smokers, their fat is actually gray-tinged in color. The stem cells do not grow well at all."

What's been described above is what's called an autologous donation, meaning you're getting the stem cells from yourself. A number of companies provide non-autologous donations using cells harvested from other people, typically women, like amniotic or embryonic mesenchymal cells. This is an important distinction.

"There are now just a couple of studies that have been published comparing an autologous source, meaning cells from you own body, to an allogeneic source, meaning cells from someone else.

So far, what has been discovered is that the autologous cells, meaning your own cells, will outperform somebody else's cells inside your body. Now, this is not fully understood at this point. It may be that the environment that your cells function in, they're used to that environment. They recognize it. It's the same DNA and they can function well.

However, once you culture expand and get a pure population of these mesenchymal cells not necessarily the sample that's coming right off of the liposuction, but a sample that has been taken to the lab and grown those cells will not elicit an immune response if you use them in someone else. You could scientifically and medically use those in an unmatched person. However, there are some regulatory aspects of that with regards to the FDA."

In the U.S., there are a variety of new stem cell products available, referred to as amniotic, cord blood products or placenta products, which are prepared at a tissue bank. Such facilities must be registered with the FDA, and the products must undergo additional processing.

For example, they must be morselized, or snap frozen or blended in some way. Such processing typically breaks the membrane, releasing growth factors, and the resulting products are called acellular, meaning there are no living cells remaining in the sample.

The amniotic products available in the U.S. are not so much stem cell products as they are growth factor products. According to Comella, they can be useful in creating an immunomodulatory response, which can help to promote healing, but that still differs from the living stem cell procedures that can be done by either isolating cells from your fat or bone marrow. As a general rule, you don't achieve the clinical benefits when using an amniotic product, primarily because they don't contain living stem cells.

"I want to contrast that to what are called embryonic stem cells," Comella adds. "The products obtained from cord blood, from women who are having babies, are not embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are when you are first bringing the egg and sperm together. Three days after that, you can isolate what is called an inner cell mass. This inner cell mass can be used to then grow cells in culture, or that inner cell mass could eventually lead to the formation of a baby.

Those are embryonic stem cells, and those are pluripotential, meaning that they have the ability to form an entire being, versus adult stem cells or stem cells that are present in amniotic tissue, [which] are multipotential, which only have the ability to form subsets of tissue.

When you're dealing with different diseases or damaged tissue or inflammation, mostly you want to repair tissue. If somebody has damage in their knee, they don't necessarily need embryonic cells because they don't need a baby in their knee. They need new cartilage in their knee."

A common question is whether stem cells can cause overgrowth, leading to cancer or tumor formation. As noted by Comella, this is a problem associated with embryonic stem cells, which tend to grow very rapidly and can form a teratoma because of the rapid cell growth. Adult stem cells the cells obtained from your own body have growth inhibitions and will not form teratomas.

"The theoretical concern that has been addressed in animal models or in petri dishes is that if you take cancer cells that are growing in a dish and apply stem cells, it may make those cancer cells grow more rapidly. But this does not translate in-vivo to humans.

If there was truly an issue with applying stem cells to a patient who has cancer, we would know about it by now, because we've been dosing cancer patients with stem cells since the '30s. The safety profile is strong and there are tens of thousands of patients documented with these treatments," Comella says.

Another useful therapy is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Your peripheral blood contains platelets, which act as first responders when there's an injury. They come in and start the clotting mechanism, thereby preventing you from bleeding to death. They also give marching orders to other cells. For example, platelets can command stem cells to multiply and grow, or to differentiate and form new tissue.

These platelets also have many different growth factors associated with them, which can help to promote healing and stop inflammation. PRP involves taking a blood sample and then spinning the blood in a centrifuge to isolate the platelets. The platelet-rich plasma is then injected back into the area that is inflamed.

"One of the most common uses of platelet-rich plasma or PRP is in a joint. Now, platelets are going to be most successful in something that is rich in stem cells [such as] an acute or a very recent injury.

If you just hurt your knee, the first thing you should do is get PRP, because it's going to help promote healing, and those platelets will attach to the surface receptors of the stem cells that are already going to the area to promote healing. It would be like putting fertilizer on your seed, which are the stem cells.

If you have something more chronic, this tends to be a stem cell-poor environment. In other words, you have osteoarthritis or you've got knee pain that's 5 years old and it's been there for a long time; just putting PRP in it would be like putting fertilizer on dirt without planting a seed first."

The beauty of stem cell therapy is that it mimics a process that is ongoing in your body all the time. Your stem cells are continuously promoting healing, and they do not have to be manipulated in any way. The stem cells naturally know how to home in on areas of inflammation and how to repair damaged tissue.

"All we're doing is harnessing the cells from one location where they're sitting dormant and relocating them to exactly where we want them and we need them to work," Comella says. "Basically, anything inside your body that is inflamed, that is damaged in some way, that is lacking blood supply, the [stem] cells can successfully treat.

That means orthopedics, knee injections, shoulder injections, osteoarthritis, acute injuries, anterior cruciate ligament tears in your back back pain associated with degenerative disc disease or damaged tendons or ligaments, herniated and bulging discs. You can also use it in systemic issues, everything from diabetes, to cardiac, to lungs any tissue organ inside your body that's been damaged.

Autoimmune diseases [can also be treated]. The stem cells are naturally immunosuppressant, meaning they can help quiet down an over reactive immune system and help the immune system function in a more normal way. Neurological diseases, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's. All of these have to do with tissue that's not functioning properly. The cells can be used to address that."

It's quite impressive, the list of different diseases that could benefit from this intervention. That said, I want to reemphasize that this is not a magic bullet. However, you can dramatically improve the benefits of this intervention by combining it with other healthy lifestyle factors that optimize mitochondrial function, such as eating a healthy whole food diet, exercising, sleeping well, avoiding toxins and detoxifying from toxic influences.

Stem cells can also be used as part of an antiaging program. Comella has used stem cells on herself for several years, and report feeling better now than she did a decade ago.

"The ability to reduce inflammation inside your body is basically making yourself live longer. Inflammation is what kills us all. It's what makes our telomeres shrink. It's what causes us pain and discomfort. It's what makes the tissues start to die. The ability to dose yourself with stem cells and bring down your inflammation, which is most likely caused by any sort of toxin that you've been exposed to breathing air is exposure to toxins this is going to lengthen your lifespan.

I typically will do a dose every six to 12 months, regardless of what's going on. If I have anything that's bothering me, if I tweak my knee at the gym, then I absolutely will come in and do an injection in my knee. I want to keep my tissue healthy for as long as possible.

I want to stay strong. I don't want to wait until something is wrong with me. I think that this is the future of medicine. This is what we're going to start to see. People will begin to get their regular doses of [their own] stem cells and it'll just be common practice."

Keep in mind there's a gradual and progressive decline in the quality and the number of stem cells as you age, so if you're considering this approach, it would be to your advantage to extract and bank your stem cells as early on as possible. U.S. Stem Cell provides a stem cell bank service, so you can store them until a later date when you might need them.

"Your stem cells are never as young as they are right now. Every minute that you live, your telomeres are shrinking. The ability to lock in the youth of your cells today can be very beneficial for you going forward, and for your health going forward. God forbid something happens. What if you have a heart attack? You're not going to get clearance to get a mini-lipo aspirate procedure.

If you have your cells waiting in the bank, ready for you, it becomes very easy to pull a dose and do an IV delivery of cells. It's almost criminal that we're not doing this for every single one of our cardiac patients. This should be standard practice. We should be having every single patient bank their stem cells at a young age and have them waiting, ready and available. The technology is there. We have it. I'm not sure why this technology is not being made available to everyone," she says.

"I think stem cell therapy is very different than traditional medicine. Stem cell therapy may actually make it so that you don't have to be dependent on pharmaceutical medications. You can actually repair the tissue and that's it. This is a very different way of viewing medicine."

If you're interested in having this procedure done, contact the U.S. Stem Cell Clinic on USStemCellClinic.com. You could either have the procedure done at their facility, or if there's a physician in your area providing the service, you can go there. U.S. Stem Cell can help you locate a qualified doctor.

Oftentimes, practitioners will specialize in specific procedures, such as spinal procedures, or knee procedures. There's also a veterinary division, called Vet Biologics, which offers treatment to small pets like cats and dogs, as well as horses.

"One of the things that we've been treating recently is traumatic brain injuries," Comella says. "We had a woman who fell two stories and hit her head. She spent months in a coma and was not able to talk or walk or do any activities. By the time she came to us, it was two years after her injury. The best hospitals in the world told her this was her life 'You're never going to be able to talk or walk or take care of your young children again.' That was just not good enough.

She came to us and we began applying stem cells in a way to allow the cells to cross the blood-brain barrier and to get to her brain. After her first treatment, when she walked into the clinic on her own and began telling me, in full sentences, about the day she had the head injury, tears came down my face. This is the kind of thing that traditional medicine would say is impossible.

We've had patients who were wheelchair-bound, whether it's from multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's, up and out of their chair, literally jogging around cones. This is life-changing Patients who were told they weren't going to return to sports for years are back on the field and playing. There's just many ways that you can heal your tissue to change the course of an injury or a disease."

Visit link:
How Stem Cell Therapy Can Help Repair and ... - Mercola.com

Jim Siegel

August 12th, 2017

A SpaceX Dragon capsule is grappled by the space stations roboticCanadarm2 onApril 10, 2016. (Click for full view) Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The cargo aboard NASAs scheduled Aug. 14, 2017, commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) could help more people than just the six astronauts and cosmonauts currently living there. With more than three tons of experiments and materials being ferried, SpaceXs Dragon capsule promises to benefit people ranging from those suffering from Parkinsons disease, to those seeking bio-engineered organs, to soldiers on the battlefield.

NASA Astronaut Jack Fischer works within the Japanese Experiment Module on CASIS PCG 6. CASIS PCG 7 will utilize the orbiting laboratorys microgravity environment to grow larger versions of Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), implicated in Parkinsons disease. Photo & Caption Credit: NASA

In 2008, NASA awarded two contracts one to Orbital Sciences (now Orbital ATK) and one to SpaceX for commercial resupply services to the orbiting lab. At the time of the award, NASA ordered eight flights from Orbital, valued at about $1.9 billion, and 12 flights from SpaceX, valued at approximately $1.6 billion. SpaceX flew its first mission under the contract in October 2012 (Orbital flew its first mission a little over a year later in January of 2014).

The CRS-12 missionis currentlytargeted to launch at 12:31 p.m. EDT (16:31 GMT) on Aug. 14. When it flies, it will mark the 12th ISS resupply mission that SpaceX has carried out (one Commercial Orbital Transportation Services mission and 11 Commercial Resupply Services missions have successfully traveled to the Space Station).

The companys Dragon spacecraft will ride a Full Thrust Falcon 9 rocket, roaring away from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A. Assuming an on-schedule launch, the spacecraft should arrive at the ISS on Aug. 16 with some 6,415 pounds (2,910 kilograms) of cargo. Only about a quarter of the manifest will be crew supplies, vehicle hardware, spacewalk equipment, and computer resources.

The remainder of the spacecrafts manifest is comprised of hardware and supplies to support dozens of the approximately 250 science and research investigations that will occur on current and upcoming ISS missions.NASA hosted an Aug. 8 pre-flight science briefing featuring the principal investigators of five of these experiments.

About a third of the CRS-12 cargo mass will be a refrigerator-size package designed to measure dangerous, life-threatening cosmic rays. This project, called the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass investigation (CREAM), features instruments to measure the charges of cosmic rays ranging from hydrogen nuclei up through iron nuclei, over a broad energy range. According to principal investigator Eun-Suk Seo of the University of Maryland Institute for Physical Science and Technology, once the ISS astronauts unpack it, the modified balloon-borne device will be placed on the Japanese Exposed Facility for a period of at least three years.

According to NASA, humans aboard long-duration, deep-space explorations such as those to the planet Mars are thought to likely face serious health consequences from exposure to high-energy galactic cosmic rays, including direct damage to DNA and changes in the biochemistry of cells and tissues.Seo said that people on Earth are protected from these rays by the Earths atmosphere and magnetic field; to the extent that some solar radiation does get through, it is roughly the same as that of starlight.

Mice for NASAs Rodent Research 9 experiment will reside in a Rodent Habitat module while aboard Dragon and the International Space Station. Photo Credit: Dominic Hart / NASA

Even astronauts aboard the ISS are somewhat protected by the Earths magnetic field. However, beyond the outer zone of the Van Allen radiation belt extending 8,100 to 37,300 miles (13,000 to 60,000 kilometers) from Earth long-term exposure is thought to be very serious, according to the space agency.

CREAM experiments conducted in six balloon flights at 25-mile (40-kilometer) altitudes over Antarctica have yielded a limited understanding of galactic cosmic rays. The three-year CREAM mission aboard the space station will significantly expand knowledge of cosmic radiation and what it might take to protect interplanetary travelers in the future.

As many as 1 million Americans live with Parkinsons disease, with a worldwide total thought to exceed 10 million. One of the experiments aboard CRS-12 is aimed at helping to find a cure for this affliction.

One aspect of Parkinsons under investigation involves a protein called LRRK2. Defining the shape and morphology of this protein would help scientists better understand the pathology of the disease and aid in the development of effective therapies that might slow or stop the progression of this neurodegenerative disorder. Unfortunately, according to Marco Baptista, director of research and grants for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Earth-grown versions of the LRRK2 protein are too small and too compact to study.

However, Baptista and other principal investigators from the University of Oxford, Goethe-University (Frankfort), and the University of San Diegobelieve that versions of the protein grown in microgravity may be larger and better-defined, lending themselves to detailed analysis. Aboard the ISS, a CASIS PCG 7 automated biotechnology device will produce samples of the LRRK2 protein.

The project hardware includes a Microlytic Crystal Former Optimization Chip (16 Channel) plate. It will be launched frozen and then transitioned to ambient temperature on the ISS to start the nucleation and crystallization process. Following a growth period of up to 21 days, the hardware will be moved to refrigerated storage for the return flight to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.

Another experiment aboard CRS-12 is focused on helping solve health problems, this one relates to the use of stem cells to grow replacement lung tissue in patients with lung diseases or conditions.

Joan Nichols, a professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases and Associate Director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston), provided a brief explanation. According to Nichols, the cells will be flown live in tissue culture bags to the ISS via conditioned stowage assets at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) within BioCell Habitat containers. Once on board, the BioCell habitats will be placed inside chambers that should provide temperature and carbon dioxide control for the cell cultures.

Kestrel Eye will test the possibility of building and launching clusters of small, relatively inexpensive satellites that have sufficient optical capability to provide useful, real-time information over an extended period of time. Photo Credit: U.S. Army

The cells will be cultured for approximately five weeks with periodic sampling. Once the cultures have grown for a predetermined amount of time, a 4.5-milliliter sample will be pulled from the bag and frozen at minus 176 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 80 degrees Celsius) for the remainder of the flight and then minus 68 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) or colder for return. The cells remaining within the bags will also be stored for the return flight.

The stem cells wont be the only live cargo aboard CRS-12. As was explained by Michael Delp, principal investigator for Rodent Research-9 from the Florida State University, 20 mice will be the focus of an investigation related to musculoskeletal and neurovascular systems of astronauts in long-term interplanetary travel. Delp noted how this experiment is aimed at three particular biomedical aspects: visual impairment caused by lack of sufficient movement of fluids in the brain; fluid movement into and out of the brain; and biomechanical movement, especially in cartilage tissue.

Delp said that rather than collecting data from the mice, the plan will be to observe their behavior with video monitoring. Further, he said the mice would be brought back alive for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean and then rushed for observation and evaluation to the office of Xiao Wen Mao, one of the co-investigators, at Loma Linda University.

One final project covered during the Aug. 8 science briefing involves space-based support for the military.

Chip Hardy, Kestrel Eye program manager for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Army Forces Strategic Command, presented an overview of providing real-time information to ground troops regarding enemy location and movement. Currently, there are military satellites that can provide fairly detailed visual images or video. However, these satellites are very expensive, relatively few in number, and provide useful information only if in the proper orbital attitude.

The NanoRacks-SMDC-Kestrel Eye IIM project will test the possibility of building and launching clusters of small, relatively inexpensive satellites that have sufficient optical capability to provide useful, real-time information over an extended period of time. According to the NASA media briefing release, it is a monolithic design, with dimensions of 15 inches 15 inches 38 inches (38 centimeters 38 centimeters 96.5 centimeters) with integrated command data and handling system, attitude controls and solar arrays for power. The primary payload is a medium resolution electro-optical imaging system, an element of which is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) telescope.

Following an anticipated October 2017 deployment using the ISS NanoRacks Kaber deployer, the NanoRacks-KE IIM will begin its nominal mission operations limited by its expected six-month orbital lifetime.

There may also be civilian applications for this potential optical platform, such as to monitor the weather or natural disasters.If this test is successful, Hardy noted that the next step might be one of a number of alternatives, including a low-volume production run or the substitution of a different optical technology.

Many organizations and teams of students have seen their experiments fly to the International Space Station, one of them, DASA, is looking forward to having their experiment travel to the International Space Station as part of CRS-12s payload.

To see an idea that started a few months ago as a sketch on a piece of paper actually takeshape and fly to space is a rare opportunity, DASA team member KatherineStecher said via a release. The anticipation has definitely built, and I cant wait to see what answers ourexperiment brings back.

Video courtesy of the Center for the Advancement of Science In Space

Tagged: CRS-12 Dragon International Space Station Lead Stories NASA SpaceX

Jim Siegel comes from a business and engineering background, as well as a journalistic one. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, an MBA from the University of Michigan, and executive certificates from Northwestern University and Duke University. Jim got interested in journalism in 2002. As a resident of Celebration, FL, Disneys planned community outside Orlando, he has written and performed photography extensively for the Celebration Independent and the Celebration News. He has also written for the Detroit News, the Indianapolis Star, and the Northwest Indiana Times (where he started his newspaper career at age 11 as a paperboy).Jim is well known around Celebration for his photography, and he recently published a book of his favorite Celebration scenes. Jim has covered the Kennedy Space Center since 2006. His experience has brought a unique perspective to his coverage of first, the space shuttle Program, and now the post-shuttle era, as US space exploration accelerates its dependence on commercial companies. He specializes in converting the often highly technical aspects of the space program into contexts that can be understood and appreciated by average Americans.

See the article here:
Science and technology to get boost from CRS-12 mission - SpaceFlight Insider