The following is a brief article provided by Stem Cell Backup (click here), which discusses the importance of banking your cells for future therapeutic applications.
Growing replacement ears for injured soldiers. Allowing the paralyzed to walk again. Restoring sight to the blind. Curing multiple sclerosis. Growing transplantable lungs. This, and more, is being done today. The magic technology? The most basic there is, the patient's own cells. You are witnessing the dawn of a new era of medicine. Regenerative medicine—using your own stem cells to heal yourself—is no longer science fiction. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that “regenerative medicine is the vanguard of 21st century health care.” These experts estimate that half of Americans now under the age of 65 will receive regenerative therapies during their lifetime. Simultaneously, groundbreaking advances now mean scientists can use your own non-stem cells to make the stem cells used in regenerative medicine.
In 2006 a Japanese researcher did something that most researchers considered impossible, he 'reprogrammed' a normal skin cell and made it into a stem cell. The new technique was so effective and technically simple that thousands of research laboratories soon began using these 'induced' pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Even the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep abandoned cloning, saying "[Reprogramming is] 100 times more interesting [than cloning]…I have no doubt that in the long term, direct reprogramming will be more productive” (London Telegraph 11/10/08).
High expectations, to be sure, but iPSC are already exceeding them. Researchers have treated or even fully cured maladies like Parkinson's, heart attack damage and diabetes in test animals using iPSC. Additionally, iPSC have also been used to grow dozens of types of transplantable tissue, like retinas, and even fully-functioning organs, like livers. Medical experts expect iPSC to play a role in virtually every medical treatment of the future.
To help you take advantage of these dual advances, Stem Cell Backup banks your cells for your future use. Like many things in life, age matters. Research shows that cells taken from older patients are less effective for therapeutic use. By banking your own youngest, healthiest cells you can grow any kind of new tissue you need, whether heart, liver, or muscle.
"You are seeing the birth of a new industry," says Patrick O'Malley, president of Stem Cell Backup, "that has a strong precedent in the long-established cord blood industry. In the U.S. alone, over one million families currently bank their newborn child’s umbilical cord blood for future medical treatments. Banking your own cells is like cord blood for the rest of us." Mr. O’Malley points to the universal consensus of medical experts who expect great things from this new form of personalized medicine, "Every knowledgeable expert says that this technology is transformational. The Nobel Laureate for Medicine said, 'This is going to be the way forward. …We’ve all been waiting for this' (WSJ 11/21/07). Doctor Oz predicted on Oprah that a patient’s own cells will be used to cure Parkinson's disease in 8 or 9 years."
Stem Cell Backup was founded in 2008 to allow individuals to take advantage of new discoveries in stem cell medicine. After extensive research and testing, the company began accepting client samples in 2011. Stem Cell Backup is the first and only company to allow individuals to easily, safely, and inexpensively save their own cells for use in future medical therapies. It has a processing laboratory in the U.S. and is currently identifying local partner candidates in European and Asian markets.
For those who want to take advantage of this unique service, visit http://www.stemcellbackup.com/ for further details.
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