Bio Seeds, BioTime & Regenerative Medicine 1

There is a new medical revolution approaching.  It will radically alter the way we treat diseases.  It may cure a myriad of diseases that right now might prove fatal.


In the next year certain companies will be posed to change the rules of medicine in such a radical manner, that we may all have a hard time remembering how things were before.

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Regenerative Medicine
The miracle of regenerative medicine is to create living, functional tissues and organs.  The functional tissues will be used to repair defective organs and heal them.  The tissues and organs can be grown from the patient's own body so to avoid rejection when implanted in the body.  The startling fact is that today for the first time in the history of humanity, we may be able to retard or even stop aging.


Aubrey de Grey & Aging
There is a concept that has to be addressed today for aging to be stopped.  Our view of aging  has to change.  Aging has to be seen in a new light.  Aging has to be seen as a disease.  It is not a natural process anymore than any disease is.  Aging occurs as a result of the metabolism of the body.  As new cells are manufactured in the body to replace the old cells and tissues, some mistakes occur resulting in wrong copies of the original cells.  This is the origin of most of the horrible diseases none of us want to have when we are "old."
If you cannot see the embedded video here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/458q55b


BioTime

Michael West Ph.D.

This company is considered the front runner in the race toward an actual product that can be used to repair tissues and grow organs.  The main individual behind this company is Dr. Michael West, CEO of BioTime, Inc and Embryome Sciences, Inc. of Alameda California.  Before his arrival to BioTime he was Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. where he managed animal cloning, human somatic cell nuclear transfer, cell differentiation, and ACTCellerate, a technology for the multiplex derivation and characterization of clonal human embryonic progenitor cell lines.  Here is a short video of Dr. West explaining the technology that BioTime is working on.  If you cannot see the embedded video here is the link:http://youtu.be/YaGSYj2dpTg.


The ability to take an aging cell and reconstruct from it the original young cell that it once was has been already done.  This is a historic breakthrough.  This technology was patented by ACTCellerate Inc., under the leadership of Dr. West.  These cells can be patented because they have been isolated into a pure form.  Embryonic Progenitor Cells are key to any efforts to reverse aging.  These cells are patented under the name hES, human embryonic stem.  This technology was licensed to BioTime by ACTCellerate in 2009.  These hES cells,

...are designed to rebuild cell and tissue function lost due to degenerative disease or injury. The great scientific and public interest in regenerative medicine lies in the potential of hES cells to transform into any cell type of the human body. hES cells therefore show considerable potential as a source of new therapies for a host of currently-incurable diseases such as: diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, heart failure, arthritis, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, hearing loss, kidney and liver failure, as well as many other disorders that may be treated by replacing diseased or damaged organ tissues. In response to the unusual potential of the field, the State of California has allocated $3 billion over the next 10 years to fund basic research, and President Obama has lifted previous restrictions for federal funding of stem cell research.

BioTime now has over 140 different embryonic diverse human cells which will distributed to many parts of the medical community for the creation of therapies and drugs to reverse aging, will be released in February of 2011.  These embryonic cells are produced by a subsidiary of BioTime named, Embryome Sciences, Inc.  Embryome has been involved in some innovative medical breakthroughs in 2009:

The first product is a commercial database that provides the first detailed map of the embryome, thereby aiding researchers in navigating the complexities of human development and in identifying the many hundreds of cell types coming from embryonic stem cells. This map of the human and mouse embryome takes the form of a relational data base that would permit researchers to chart the cell lineages of human development, the genes expressed in those cell types, and antigens present on the cell surface of those cells that can be used in purification. Embryome Sciences launched this web-based database in June, 2008. The new website will also be used to market stem cell research products developed by Embryome Sciences and by other companies.**

You may be wondering what the procedure is to be able to mass produce the embryonic cells without the use of viruses to change them.  You might further ask why viruses are not desirable for delivering these changes into a cell.  There are fears that these viruses may also cause harmful effects to the body.  So it is desirable to find another delivery system.  This iPS technology is also patented by ACTCellerate and is called iPS Technology or induced pluripotent stem cells.

Recent scientific publications have reported the transformation of cells of the human body, such as skin cells, into an embryonic state that gives the cells the potential to transform into any kind of human body cell. Because this new technology does not involve human embryos or egg cells, and classical cloning techniques are not employed, iPS technology is considered an important new avenue in stem cell research. iPS is less controversial than embryonic stem cell technology that relies on cells derived from human embryos, and iPS may be practical for the development of therapeutic cell lines on a commercial scale.***

Another innovative product that BioTime has produced is blood plasma volume expander under the patented name Hextend.  These blood plasma volume expanders are explained as,

...a physiologically balanced intravenous solution used in the treatment of hypovolemia. Hypovolemia is a condition caused by low blood volume, often from blood loss during surgery or from injury. Hextend maintains circulatory system fluid volume and blood pressure and keeps vital organs perfused during surgery and trauma care. Hextend is the only blood plasma volume expander that contains lactate, multiple electrolytes, glucose, and a medically approved form of starch called hetastarch. Hextend is sterile to avoid risk of infection.

In case you need a refresher course on blood plasma.  Here it is.  If you cannot see the embedded video here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/4bz89kq.


In part 2 of this series we will discuss the history of this technology and its vast implications for the future of America and the world.