Category Archives: Michigan Stem Cells

Even as research continues on stem cells in U-Ms laboratories, some patients and research volunteers at the U-M Health System already receive stem cell-related therapies.

Every year, more than 200 children and adults receive transplants of stem cells at U-Ms nationally known Blood and Marrow Transplant program. Most of them have leukemia, lymphoma or other cancers.

Since December 2011, this care has had a new home: a state-of-the-art inpatient and outpatient floor within the building that also houses the new C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital and Von Voigtlander Womens Hospital.

These transplants of stem cells taken from the bone marrow or blood of the patient or a donor can save the life of a child or adult.

To learn more about U-Ms program, visit this page.

To find out how you can donate your own marrow or blood stem cells to help a patient at U-M or one of the nations other stem cell treatment sites, visit the National Marrow Donor Programs Be the Match site.

When an idea is ready to make the jump from the research laboratory to the clinic or hospital, its time to do a clinical trial. These tightly controlled tests allow patients to be our partners in developing new treatments and tests.

Many clinical trials at U-M have studied new options for blood and marrow stem cell transplant patients. Some of these studies have led to important new discoveries about how best to treat patients with leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma worldwide. You can learn more about this research here.

Today, our researchers are starting to explore ways to use another kind of stem cell knowledge in fighting other diseases.

Our years of laboratory research on cancer stem cellsthe small number of cells that drive tumor growth and spread, and that are resistant to current treatmentsare now being translated into clinical trials to see how these cells can be stopped. The first trials are now under way.

Tomorrow, even more trials for other diseases could be available, as our laboratory research into other types of stem cells progresses.

To see a list of U-M stem cell trials that are currently seeking participants, visit http://www.umclinicalstudies.org and enter stem cells into the search box at the top of the page.

To learn more about how we protect the health and safety of people who take part in all types of clinical trials at U-M, visit this page.

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University of Michigan Stem Cell Research | Treatment and ...

Detroit Michigan Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cell Therapy in Detroit Michigan is a process whereby stem cells from one area ofthe body are relocated to an area of injury or disease. In Stem Cell Therapy, therelocated stem cells form into the type of cell that the body needs to heal the injury.Stem Cell Therapy has the potential to not only heal the injury or disease, but alsoreverse the effect of diseases.

A variety of diseases are being treated by Stem Cell Therapy in Detroit Michigan. Diseasesand injuries range from COPD, arthritis, sports related injuries, Crohns Disease,neurological disorders and many more. The process by which Stem Cell Therapy takesplace in Detroit Michigan takes just a few hours. The cells are pulled through fat tissue orbone marrow in one area of the body, typically the pelvic area, and are immediatelydisposed into the area of the injury

If you would like to learn more about regenerative medicine or how it can help you, please call us at (248) 876-4242.

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Detroit Michigan Stem Cell Therapy - americanregen.com

ANN ARBORAn experimental drug combined with the traditional chemotherapy drug cisplatin, when used in mice, destroyed a rare form of salivary gland tumor and prevented a recurrence within 300 days, a University of Michigan study found.

Called adenoid cystic carcinoma, or ACC, this rare cancer affects 3,000-4,000 people annually, and typically arises in the salivary glands. Its usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, is very resistant to therapy, and theres no cure. People may have read about ACC in the news lately, because elite professional runner Gabe Grunewald is currently undergoing her fourth round of treatment since her 2009 ACC diagnosis.

Typically, oncologists treat ACC tumors with surgery and radiation. They rarely use chemotherapy because ACC is extremely slow-growing, and chemotherapy works best on cancers where cells divide rapidly and tumors grow quickly, said Jacques Nr, a U-M professor of dentistry, otolaryngology and biomedical engineering, and principal investigator on the study.

The Nr lab treated ACC tumors with a novel drug called MI-773, and then combined MI-773 with traditional chemotherapy cisplatin. MI-773 prevents a molecular interaction that causes tumor cells to thrive by disarming the critical cancer fighting protein, p53.

Study co-author Shaomeng Wang, U-M professor of medicine, pharmacology and medicinal chemistry, discovered MI-773, which is currently licensed to Sanofi.

Researchers believe that blocking that interaction sensitized ACC cancer cells to cisplatina drug that under normal conditions, wouldnt work. When administered to the mice with ACC tumors, the cisplatin targeted and killed the bulk cells that form the tumor mass, while MI-773 killed the more resistant cancer stem cells that cause tumor recurrence and metastasis.

This drug MI-773 prevents that interaction, so p53 can induce cell death, Nr said. In this study, when researchers activated p53 in mice with salivary gland cancer, the cancer stem cells died.

The key is that in many other types of cancer, p53 is mutated so it cant kill cancer cells, and this mutation renders the MI-773 largely ineffective. However, in most ACC tumors p53 is normal, and Nr said researchers believe this makes these tumors good candidates for this combined therapy.

Researchers performed two different types of experiments to test ACC tumor reduction and recurrence. First, they treated tumors in mice with a combination of MI-773 and cisplatin, and tumors shrank from about the size of an acorn to nearly zero.

In the second experiment, the acorn-sized tumors were surgically removed, and for one month the mice were treated with MI-773 only, with the hope of eliminating the cancer stem cells that fuel recurrence and metastasis.

We did not observe any recurrence in the mice that were treated with this drug after 300 days (about half of mouse life expectancy), and we observed about 62 percent recurrence in the control group that had only the surgery, Nr said. Its our belief that by combining conventional chemotherapy with MI-773, a drug that kills more cancer stem cells, we can have a more effective surgery or ablation.

One limitation of the study is that its known that about half of all ACC tumors recur only after about 10 years, and this observational period was only 300 days.

In a typical metastasis, the cancer cells spread through the blood to other parts of the body. But ACC cancer cells like to move by crawling along nerves, and its common for ACC tumor cells to follow the prominent facial nerves to the brainpicture a mountain climber ascending a ropewhere its often fatal.

Research is still too early-stage to know how humans will respond, and the drug will work primarily in tumors where p53 is normal. If p53 is mutated, which is fairly common in other tumor types, this drug wont work as well, Nr said.

The work was funded by the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation, U-M and the National Institutes of Health.

The study, Therapeutic Inhibition of the MDM2-p53 interaction prevents recurrence of adenoid cystic carcinomas, appeared earlier this year in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

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Combination of traditional chemotherapy, new drug kills ...

1. What is Stem Cell Therapy?

Stem cell therapy uses a patients own stem cells to treat minor to moderate conditions formally where surgery would be the primary option. Stem cell therapy is an alternative to surgery through an office based procedure. Through advanced technology stem cell therapy is now a quick and easy alternative to surgery.

2. What are stem cells?

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Stem cells are the only cells in the body able to morph into other types of specialized cells. Stem cells are found in many parts of the body but are concentrated in the bone marrow. Through a simple and nearly painless office procedure a small amount of bone marrow can be aspirated from the patient and then concentrated with a centrifuge. The stem cells are then re-injected back into the site of injury or damage. When the patients own stem cells are injected into a damaged joint, they appear to amplify the bodys own natural repair efforts by reducing inflammation, accelerating healing, and preventing scarring and loss of function. It is not only a powerful approach to all stages of arthritis but can be used for treatment of ligament, tendon, cartilage, and even bone problems.

3. Regenerative Growth FactorsStem cells have high natural growth factors that promote healing. These growth factors also naturally decrease inflammation.

4. How is it performed?

Patients stem cells are obtained from their pelvic (hip) bone. The practitioner then concentrates the stem cells over 10 fold in a special centrifuge.

5. How long does it take?This office or surgery center based procedure takes 30 minutes. Patients can leave at the conclusion of the procedure.

6. Does it hurt?

A local anesthetic is used. This results in minimal discomfort.

7. How Well Does it Work?There have been numerous clinical studiesthat show significant and lasting reduction in pain for a variety of injuries. Common injuries include early to advanced arthritis, knee and shoulder pain.

8. How long does it last?

Multiple clinical studieshave shown that when effective, the results last many years.

9. Is there scientific evidence that stem cells work?Yes see the article section

10. What percentage is effective?

85%

11. When can I expect to feel better?

Most patients feel no improvement for at least 3 weeks and possible 6-8 weeks. Once you feel improvement, you will notice continued improvement expanding over 6 months.

12. What is the recovery like after a stem cell procedure?There may be some mild soreness in the joint for up to a week after the injection. Heavy exertion should be avoided during this period. Anti-inflammatory products such as aspirin, motrin, advil, Aleve should be avoided for the first 2 weeks as it can adversely affect the stem cell function. Taking Tylenol is ok.

13. What is the difference between adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells?Adult stem cells are found in mature adult tissues including bone marrow and fat, while embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are not found in the adult human body. ESCs are obtained from donated in vitro fertilizations, which raise many ethical concerns. Because ESCs are not autologous, there is a possibility of immune rejection. Adult stem cells do not raise ethical issues nor pose any risks for immune rejection.

14. Will my body reject the stem cells? Is Stem Cell therapy safe?No, the stem cells come from your own body and are used immediately. Therefore, there is no risk of rejection and virtually no risk of infection.

15. Is this an alternative to a knee replacement?

Stem cells can be highly effective in substantially reducing pain in patients with even advanced arthritis. In addition to the stem cells, bone marrow also contains many powerful growth hormones and anti-inflammatory proteins that will greatly reduce inflammation and promote healthier tissue.

16. Can stem cells grow cartilage in my knee?

Stem cells have been shown in many studies (see studies) to have the power to grow cartilage in certain types of procedures, micro fractures, and tibial osteotomies. The ability for cartilage to form after an injection in the absence of a surgical procedure is still an active area of academic research.

17. Can stem cells help optimize my results from a surgical procedure?

This depends on what type of procedure is done. Microfracture surgery is a common surgical procedure done to restore the cartilage surface in your knee. If your doctor preforms this procedure on you, there are numerous scientific articles (see here) that show a far more robust cartilage healing response when an injection is given post operatively

18. What does it cost?

Most insurance will not cover stem cell procedures. Ask your doctor for payment options.

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Stem Cells FAQ Michigan Stem Cell Institute

Dr Bryant Villeponteau the formulator of Stem Cell 100 and other Life Code nutraceuticals was recently interviewed by Dr Mercola who owns the largest health web site on the internet. Dr. Villeponteau is also the author of Decoding Longevity an new book which will be released during December. He is a leading researcher in novel anti-aging therapies involving stem cells an area in which he has been a pioneer for over three decades.

Stem cell technology could have a dramatic influence on our ability to live longer and replace some of our failing parts, which is the inevitable result of the aging process. With an interest in aging and longevity, Dr. Villeponteau started out by studying developmental biology. ?If we could understand development, we could understand aging,? he says. Later, his interest turned more toward the gene regulation aspects. While working as a professor at the University of Michigan at the Institute of Gerontology, he received, and accepted, a job offer from Geron Corporation?a Bay Area startup, in the early ?90s.

?They were working on telomerase, which I was pretty excited about at the time. I joined them when they first started,? he says. ?We had an all-out engagement there to clone human telomerase. It had been cloned in other animals but not in humans or mammals.?

If you were to unravel the tip of the chromosome, a telomere is about 15,000 bases long at the moment of conception in the womb. Immediately after conception, your cells begin to divide, and your telomeres begin to shorten each time the cell divides. Once your telomeres have been reduced to about 5,000 bases, you essentially die of old age.

?What you have to know about telomerase is that it?s only on in embryonic cells. In adult cells, it?s totally, for the most part, turned off, with the exception of adult stem cells,? Dr. Villeponteau explains. ?Adult stem cells have some telomerase ? not full and not like the embryonic stem cells, but they do have some telomerase activity.?

Most of the research currently being done, both in academia and industrial labs, revolves around either embryonic stem cells, or a second type called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Dr. Villeponteau, on the other hand, believes adult stem cells are the easiest and most efficient way to achieve results.

That said, adult stem cells do have their drawbacks. While they?re your own cells, which eliminates the problem of immune-related issues, there?s just not enough of them. Especially as you get older, there are fewer and fewer adult stem cells, and they tend to become increasingly dysfunctional too. Yet another hurdle is that they don?t form the tissues that they need to form

To solve such issues, Dr. Villeponteau has created a company with the technology and expertise to amplify your adult stem cells a million-fold or more, while still maintaining their ability to differentiate all the different cell types, and without causing the cells to age. Again, it is the adult stem cell?s ability to potentially cure, or at least ameliorate, many of our age-related diseases by regenerating tissue that makes this field so exciting.

Dr Villeponteau believes you can add many years, likely decades, to your life simply by eating right, exercising (which promotes the production of muscle stem cells, by the way) and living an otherwise clean and healthy lifestyle. Extreme life extension, on the other hand, is a different matter.

His book, Decoding Longevity, covers preventive strategies to prolong your life, mainly diet, exercise, and supplements. A portion of the book also covers future developments in the area of more radical life extension, such as stem cell technology.

If you would like to read the entire interview here is a link to the text version:

Transcript of Interview With Dr. Bryant Villeponteau by Dr. Joseph Mercola

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Anti-Aging, Regeneration and Stem Cell Supplements

University of Minnesota groundbreaking gene therapy research

Lindsey Seavert, KARE 3:22 PM. CDT September 07, 2017

Andrea and RyanShaughnessy, from the Traverse City, Michigan area, have been at the University of Minnesota Masonic Childrens Hospital for nine months, as their son, Anderson, 2, underwent two blood stem cell transplants for Hurler Syndrome. (Photo: KARE 11)

MINNEAPOLIS - The FDA just recently approved the first gene therapy available in the United States for childhood leukemia, ushering in a new frontier in medicine to reprogram a patient's own cells to attack a deadly cancer.

The breakthrough is also bringing a long-awaited promise at the University of Minnesota for children undergoing treatment for rare, life-threatening diseases.

An estimated 20 families whose children have undergone blood stem cell transplants for rare metabolic diseases, have joined together to launch a crowdfunding campaign to help U of M doctors research safer, more effective therapies, including new gene therapy that could bring life-saving impact for their children.

Andrea and Ryan Shaughnessy, from the Traverse City, Michigan area, have been at the University of Minnesota Masonic Childrens Hospital for nine months, as their son, Anderson, 2, underwent two blood stem cell transplants for Hurler Syndrome.

The rare genetic disease, affecting 1 in every 100,000 children, occurs when the body has a defective gene and as a result, cannot make an important enzyme. Children with Hurlers Syndrome have a life expectancy of 5 to 10 years old.

Time is not on our side, the more we can do earlier on, the better off it is for his long-term survival and development, said Andrea Shaughnessy. If we could help keep anybody else from living in our shoes because it is so hard, you know it might not be able to directly impact the help Anderson needs today, but it doesnt mean that we cant help others so they can have a better outcome and life expectancy tomorrow.

The Shaughnessy family made the second donation to the crowdfunding campaign, called the Pediatric BMT Metabolic Program Research Fund.

I think its really inspiring they are doing this, said Dr. Weston Miller, a U of M pediatric blood and marrow physician overseeing many blood stem cell transplants. Research is expensive and really driving novel therapies and improving on existing therapies takes time and money.

Dr. Miller noted the lack of research and development for rare diseases, and said the gene therapy reduces the health risks associated with undergoing and surviving blood stem cell transplants.

Really the unifying theme of all these novel therapies is going to be make it safer and more effective, said Dr. Miller. So, what we of course wish and hope for is we can find a way to have effective therapies and look Mom and Dad in the eye, and say there is closer to 100 percent they will be walking out of here.

The families from across the country and world have a goal to raise $1 million to fund research projects that might otherwise never make it to the laboratory.

We are pretty proud of this team and we know they can do it, its amazing the tenacity they bring, said Andrea Shaughnessy.

The crowdfunding page details their plea for support.

They have helped countless families from all around the world navigate the uncertainty of a life-threatening diagnosis and make heart-wrenching decisions. They go above and beyond, whether it is Google translating an email to correspond with parents in other countries or wearing a Minions shirt. They have revolutionized the way the diseases are treated, drastically improved the quality of life for many of their patients, and given families hope.

2017 KARE-TV

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Families raise money for research into rare diseases - KARE

Illustration incorporating gene-expression maps and cell images from the new research. Credit: University of Michigan

Every day, 17 million HIV-infected people around the world swallow pills that keep the virus inside them at bay.

That is, as long as they swallow those pills every day for the rest of their life.

But no matter how many drugs they take, they'll always have the virus in them, lurking in their white blood cells like a fugitive from justice.

And if they ever stop, HIV will come out of hiding and bring down their immune system from the inside out, causing the disease known as AIDS and potentially spreading to others before killing them.

Now, new research into HIV's hiding places reveals new clues about exactly how it persists in the body for years. The discovery could speed the search for drugs that can flush HIV out of its long-term hideouts and cure an infection for good.

In a new paper in PLoS Pathogens, a team led by University of Michigan researcher Kathleen Collins, M.D., Ph.D. reports that HIV hides in more types of bone marrow cells than previously thought - and that when these cells divide, they can pass the virus's genetic material down to their "daughter" cells intact.

This keeps the infection going for years, without tipping off the armed guards of the immune system.

Collins and her colleagues made the discovery in bone marrow samples donated by dozens of long-term HIV patients treated at U-M's academic medical center, Michigan Medicine, and at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Using funding from the National Institutes of Health, they found that HIV can hide in hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), which also serve as the parents of new blood cells that replace worn-out ones on a regular basis. HIV tricks the cells into incorporating the virus's genetic material into the cells' own DNA.

"Looking for the cells that harbor functional HIV is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Our new results expand our understanding of the type of cells that can do it," says Collins, a professor of Microbiology and Immunology and of Infectious Disease at the U-M Medical School. "It's like a cancer biology problem, only the 'mutation' in the cells is the inserted viral genome."

HPCs are made by hematopoietic stem cells, the "master cells" of blood production found in the marrow. Previous research had shown that HIV can hide for years in the bone marrow.

But it was not known whether the virus persisted only in stem cells or whether the reservoir could include more differentiated progenitor cells. Demonstrating that progenitor cells form a long-lived reservoir of virus expands the number of cell types that need to be targeted.

By demonstrating that HIV genetic material can lurk in blood progenitor cells, the researchers extend other recent studies indicating that such cells can live for years, says Collins, whose lab team included lead author Nadia Sebastian, a U-M M.D./Ph.D. student.

She notes that from the point of view of the virus, finding a harbor in this kind of cell means it can hedge its bets, giving it a chance at survival and eventual reproduction if its host's defenses weaken. The virus that causes chicken pox - varicella - also does this, hiding out in nerve cells just under the skin for years until it awakens and causes the painful condition called shingles.

Knowing exactly what cells harbor HIV over the long-term is crucial to battling persistent infections. Other research has focused on the T cells that carry out key immune system functions.

"Having established this, now we're poised to ask if we can treat HIV infection by targeting hematopoietic progenitor cells," she explains. The team is evaluating potential drugs that could kill just these cells.

The research team on the new paper also includes former U-M stem cell researcher Sean Morrison, Ph.D., who now leads a research center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Morrison's lab uses mice as a model to study stem and progenitor cells.

They find in the new paper that in order for HIV to infect a progenitor cell, that cell must have a type of receptor on its surface, called CD4, that the virus can attach to. Additionally, the researchers show that two subtypes of HIV can infect these cells: those that use the CXCR4 co-receptor to enter cells as well as those that use CCR5, which expands the types of HIVs that can potentially cause reservoirs.

Finding those progenitor cells in the marrow of the human patients who agreed to undergo a biopsy for the sake of pure research was tricky, Collins says. But thanks to them, researchers are a step closer to a day when HIV infection is no longer a life sentence for millions of people around the world.

"Moving from the state we're in, where patients will always have to be on these drugs, to a better form of therapy where they can stop, would have a huge effect," she says. "Today's medications have side effects, as well as financial costs. To get to the next step, we need to target the types of cells that form a latent infection, including these progenitor cells."

Explore further: Scientists find that persistent infections in mice exhaust progenitors of all blood cells

More information: Nadia T. Sebastian et al, CD4 is expressed on a heterogeneous subset of hematopoietic progenitors, which persistently harbor CXCR4 and CCR5-tropic HIV proviral genomes in vivo, PLOS Pathogens (2017). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006509

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Cells that stand in the way of HIV cure: Discovery expands understanding of marrow's role - Medical Xpress

A new study shows that a combination of turmeric and piperine can limit the growth of stem cells for breast cancer -- the cells that conventional treatment have the hardest time eliminating.

My friend Madhuri Kakarala is a physician at the University of Michigan; she's a cancer specialist and a PhD researcher. But she's also a nutritionist, and, like me, during her final years of medical studies she was diagnosed with cancer -- a stage IV cancer of the thyroid. Madhuri decided to invest all her talent as a researcher and clinician in the task of getting well, and she rapidly arrived at the conclusion that nutritional change could significantly improve her response to her cancer treatment.

Because Madhuri is from an Indian background, she was most interested in the medical and culinary traditions of her country, and particularly fascinated by the promising effects of turmeric in the prevention and treatment of cancers.

This month Madhuri published an important article on the effect of turmeric on breast cancer stem cells. [1] Stem cells are at the center of a theory that seeks to explain why cancer can sometimes return, despite apparently effective treatment. This is because even when all the cancer cells have been eliminated these cancer stem cells that have lied dormant and escaped treatments may be able to form entire new colonies of cancer cells. So to prevent relapse, it's essential that we learn how to eliminate the stem cells. But unfortunately, because they don't actively renew themselves through cell division like other cancer cells do, most existing treatments that target cancerous cells (like radiotherapy and chemotherapy) aren't effective against stem cells. For this reason, the pharmaceutical industry has a whole sector of research devoted to developing new therapies to target and destroy stem cells.

For several years now, Madhuri's lab at the University of Michigan has been studying the effect on breast cancer of curcumin -- one of the most active substances in turmeric -- and piperine, which is a substance active in black pepper. In her latest study she demonstrates that concentrations of curcumin and piperine which can be obtained through diet or from dietary supplements are capable of eliminating breast cancer stem cells, without causing any damage to the normal breast cells. In other words, this isn't a general toxic effect on cells, like conventional anti-cancer treatments have, but an ultra-selective impact on cancer stem cells alone.

"This shows that these compounds are not toxic to normal breast tissue," Madhuri says. "Women at high risk of breast cancer right now can choose to take the drugs tamoxifen or raloxifene for prevention, but most women won't take these drugs because there is too much toxicity. The concept that dietary compounds can help is attractive, and curcumin and piperine appear to have very low toxicity."

The possible anti-cancer properties of curcumin and piperine have been the object of many other studies. But this study is the first to show that they may have a targeted effect on stem cells. Medications like tamoxifen or raloxifene only act against cancers that are sensitive to estrogen. If curcumin and piperine can target stem cells, they have the potential to be useful in many types of breast cancer, particularly those that aren't estrogen-sensitive -- and these are often the most aggressive.

Madhuri's study was performed on cell colonies in Petri dishes, in lab conditions. So we haven't yet reached the stage of a clinical study that would establish guidelines for recommendations to take turmeric supplements at specific dosages for certain types of cancer. However, given that turmeric and pepper, taken as part of a normal diet, are practically never toxic in any way, it seems to me to be perfectly reasonable to recommend that all of us regularly consume a soupspoon of turmeric every day, with a pinch of pepper. You can use it in all your cooking, just like I've been doing for years.

CAUTION: Note that it is often safest to avoid turmeric during chemotherapy as well as a three days before and after the treatment. This is because it can rarely, but it can interfere with some chemotherapy treatments and reduce their benefits.

REFERENCE 1. Kakarala, M., et al., Targeting breast stem cells with the cancer preventive compounds curcumin and piperine. Breast Cancer Research & Treatment, 2009.

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Turmeric and black pepper fight cancer stem cells

The Next Idea

Could the ancient search for the Fountain of Youth lead to Ann Arbor?

That's where a company called Forever Labs is working to solve the universal problem of getting old.

Its solution: store your stem cells when you're a young adult so you can use them as you age.

Forever Labs CEOSteven Clausnitzer and presidentMark Katakowski joined us today to talk about their plan, how stem cells work in our bodies, and why Southeast Michigan is fertile ground for companies such as theirs.

For a quick stem cells crash course,Katakowskiexplained that we have stem cells in just about every tissue of our bodies.

"They replace and they rejuvenate the tissue," he said. "Basically all systems of your body are replenished by stem cells to some degree."

(Subscribe to The Next Idea podcast oniTunes, or with thisRSS link)

"We isolate out your stem cells, and we ... freeze them at a temperature that essentially renders them biologically inert."

The number of stem cells in our bodies decreases over time, along with their level of activity and "therapeutic potential," he said. While that does reduce their immediate usefulness within the body, Katakowski told us this diminishing functionality is actually part of a defense mechanism against cancer.

"As cells get older, they get damaged," he said. "It's part of this natural process as cells grow older, the stem cells that have all this potential, that they start to decline in number and just kind of turn off over time."

Clausnitzer told us what they're doing at Forever Labs can be thought of as a kind of "stem cell time travel."

"What we're doing is we're storing that ability that you have which is amazing when we're younger and diminishes as you get older," Clausnitzer said. "We take your bone marrow, and we isolate out your stem cells, and we ... freeze them at a temperature that essentially renders them biologically inert."

Effectively, he told us, your stored stem cells stay the same age, ready to be reintroduced into your system when you're older.

To hear more about the process and potential health benefits of this "stem cell time travel," listen to our full conversation below.

Our conversation with Steven Clausnitzer and Mark Katakowski

Join the conversation onTwitterorFacebook, or let us know yourNext Ideahere.

GUESTS

Steven Clausnitzer is CEO of Forever Labs.

Mark Katakowskiis president of Forever Labs.

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Michigan company mines stem cells in search of Fountain of ...

Governor Rick Snyder says he is opposed to provisions in Republican budget plans that would restrict how money is spent on embryonic stem cell research at public universities.

Republican lawmakers are renewing efforts to enact additional rules surrounding the voter-approved amendment that allows public funds to be used for the research.

Voters approved the amendment to the state constitution in 2008.

Since then, Democrats have blocked efforts by opponents of embryonic stem cell research to demand reports or enact additional restrictions on it, but now Republicans are in charge in the Legislature.

Governor Snyder is a Republican who supports the voter-approved amendment and stem cell research.

The governor says he wishes Republican lawmakers would leave stem cell research out of the debates on university spending:

"I think we need to focus on higher education, not stem cells. We passed a constitutional amendment on that topic some time ago and we need to follow through on what our voters said."

The governor has the authority to veto budget line items.

The governor and the Legislature are continuing to negotiate on the budget with the goal of having it wrapped up by June first.

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stem cell research | Michigan Radio