Science is working on it.

Aging is as much about the physical processes of repair and regeneration — and their slow-motion failure — as it is the passage of time. And scientists studying stem cell and regenerative biology are making progress understanding those processes, developing treatments for the many diseases whose risks increase as we get older, while at times seeming to draw close to a broader anti-aging breakthrough.

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Sitting on the front steps of her Cockeysville, Md., home a year and a half ago, Vanna Belton was startled and thrilled when her eyes focused on a car’s license plate. Essentially blind for more than five years, she suddenly could read the numbers and letters.

“When I realized I could see the license plates, we started walking around the neighborhood reading them,” said Belton, recalling the excitement she and her fiancee felt at that moment. “We drove around and read store signs. The Pennsylvania Dutch Market. The tanning salon.”

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Only 2 years after getting a stem cell transplant, half of volunteers showed improvement in their disability scores — a first for any MS therapy.

Dr. Richard K. Burt performed the first hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient in the United States at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Now Burt, Chief of the Division of Medicine-Immunotherapy and Autoimmune Diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, is making headlines again.

Read the Full Article at healthline.com »

Dear Friend of CelBank,

We're pleased to introduce you to Cel-Topics, a new educational series from CelBank. Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies are creating new treatments for diseases, injuries and chronic conditions that are already changing peoples' lives for the better. In our series, we will bring you relevant articles to keep you up to date on clinical studies, we'll introduce you to the scientists who are creating life-changing therapies and the people who have been impacted by regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies. Please send us your suggestions and topics you would like us to cover – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Adult stem cells are the key to new heart disease treatments
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 610,000 Americans die of some form of heart disease and approximately 735,000 people in the U.S. have a heart attack each year. Currently, there are medications and implantable devices to treat heart rate and rhythm problems and bypass surgery and stent implantation to help people whose cardiac arteries are blocked, but while these treatments can be effective, they do not treat the underlying damage that a heart attack or heart failure cause to the heart itself.

Researchers at several medical centers of excellence around the country, including the Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Regenerative Medicine Clinic at Cedars-Sinai, are involved in clinical trials to explore how adult stem cells can open new paths to safe, effective treatments that repair the physical damage that cardiovascular disease causes to the heart.

An unprecedented opportunity for the 21st Century.

Tune in to find out about the next revolution in medicine and how it can change your life. Featuring Curt Civin, Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Assistant Dean for Research University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Six-Time NFL Pro Bowl Wide Receiver to Help Launch Adult Stem Cell Banking Products for Pro Athletes to Offer Hope for Future Treatment of Disease or Injury

August 28, 2014 (Baltimore, MD) Next Healthcare (NHC), a Maryland biotech company, and Larry Fitzgerald, wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, today announced a partnership to launch CelBank PRO™, a regenerative medicine product intended for professional athletes.

Larry, a six-time NFL pro bowl wide receiver who has been playing for the Cardinals since 2004, is partnering with Next Healthcare to support the emerging field of regenerative medicine. Next Healthcare is a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine and is focusing CelBank PRO™ on the needs of the professional athlete.

Next Healthcare harnesses the power of the body’s built-in repair system, stem cells, by storing them in an FDA-registered tissue preservation lab for future adult stem cell therapeutic applications. Cells are harvested in a physician’s office through a simple skin or blood sample, banked, expanded, and when needed, returned to the person’s body for use. The cells have shown the ability to find and repair sites of damage. The simplest and most compelling therapies in regenerative medicine use the body’s own stem cells to heal damaged body tissues.

There is considerable excitement about the use of stem cells for cardiovascular disease. Stem cells are unspecialized cells with the unique property to self-renew or make copies of themselves and to differentiate into specialized cells. The goal of stem cell therapy is to enhance the body's natural process of regeneration. There are a considerable number of stem cells currently under investigation for patients with heart attacks, angina, heart failure, and peripheral arterial disease. We have made considerable progress but have many questions left to answer.

Timothy Henry, MD, FACC, is Chief of Cardiology at Cedars Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Henry earned his bachelor's degree at the University of North Dakota, graduated from medical school at University of California, San Francisco, in 1982, and was chief medicine resident from 1982--1986 at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He completed his training as a cardiology fellow, chief cardiology fellow, and interventional cardiology fellow at University of Minnesota in 1991. His research interests include interventional cardiology, acute myocardial infarction and novel therapies, including stem cell and gene therapy, for patients who are not candidates for standard revascularization techniques.