Billy+Pfeiffer

MyRegeneration, Inc. **__About my Company__** **__The Founder__** The company was founded by Billy Pfeiffer in 2009 as a result of his work at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. It was there that Billy researched unique attributes of human cells and therapies to increase the safety of stem cells and somatic-cell nuclear transfer. He has presented his studies at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the California Institute or Regenerative Medicine and the University of California Stem Cell Research Center. Dr. Pfeiffer graduated from Stanford University. **__History of Therapeutic (Cell) Cloning__** In the mid 1800’s it was discovered that cells had the ability to produce other cells. In the early 1900’s, it was discovered that some cells had the ability to generate blood cells. In 1998, at the University of Wisconsin, the first embryonic stem cell lines were developed. In 1999 and 2000, scientists discovered that manipulating adult mouse tissues could produce different cell types. In January 2008, Stemagen, a Californian company, reported it had successfully cloned a human blastocyst. The Stemagen embryos were the first to be made with human adult skin cells through therapeutic cloning. **__Therapeutic (Cell) Cloning__** A cell is the basic structural unit of life. Humans have trillions of cells that are responsible for everything that you do, for example, breathing, providing energy or reproducing. Cells in a human body have many different functions and they ‘stem’ from simpler cells that are not yet specialized. These simpler cells are known as stem cells. This means that a stem cell is a cell that does not yet have a specific job in the body. Researchers are working on using embryonic stem cells, which have the unique ability to generate virtually all types of cells in an organism, to grow tissues in the laboratory that can be used to grow healthy tissue to replace injured or diseased tissues. A major benefit of therapeutic cloning is that the cells removed are pluripotent and can give rise to all cells in the body with the exception of the embryo. This means that pluripotent cells (artificially induced with specific genes) can potentially treat diseases in any body organ or tissue by replacing damaged and dysfunctional cells. The first step in Therapeutic Cell Cloning is to produce cloned cells from the affected person. The nucleus is removed from a somatic (not a sperm or an egg cell) normal body cell of the patient. It is transferred to an unfertilized human ovum which has had its original nucleus removed (enucleated). The nucleus has been removed to remove the host’s DNA. The egg, now containing the nucleus of a somatic cell, is shocked to stimulate the cell to divide. The cell is then directed to become the type of cell needed by the recipient. Once the cell has divided and reached the blastocyct stage(less than 150 cells or four days after fertilization), the inner cell mass which is rich in stem cells is then utilized to create embryonic stem cell lines. They are then infused into the patient where they are ideally integrated into the tissues, creating the structure and function as needed.
 * MyRegeneration, Inc. ** has been recognised internationally as a leader in Therapeutic Cell Cloning. The company is located in Niskayuna, New York and currently employs twenty-five researchers who have developed techniques that increase the viability and stabilization of stem cells. This new technology in cell therapies and treatments to replace dysfunctional or diseased tissue could potentially treat an enormous range of diseases that would affect millions of people. The company collaborates with Alcon Laboratories in Australia and the Foster Institute in London, England.

**blastocyst **

blastocyst.daviddarling.info ** Somatic-cell Nuclear Transfer ** **__Current Uses of Therapeutic (Cell) Cloning__** Stem cells are currently being used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, heart disease, skin grafts and blood diseases. A distinct advantage to this type of therapy is that the risk of immunological rejection is lessened because the recipient’s own genetic material is used. Three possible examples of therapeutic cloning being developed include the use of insulin-secreting cells for diabetes, nerve cells in stroke or Parkinson’s disease; or liver cells to repair a damaged organ. The use of stem cells has several advantages:
 * There would be no longer danger of rejection because the donor’s DNA would match the recipient’s DNA exactly.
 * Donors would not have to experience pain, inconvenience and potentially shortened life span to donate an organ.
 * The recipient would not have to wait for someone to die to receive an organ.
 * This could save the lives of people who would die waiting for an organ.



** Somatic-cell Nuclear Transfer ** **__MyRegeneration Looks to the Future__** The positive uses of stem cells are enormous but new research and ethical challenges must be taken into account before the public can reap the full benefits.
 * MyRegeneration, Inc. ** is actively looking to the future through its research on taking the nucleus out of an animal egg and then using the nucleus from a cell in an adult human to gain an unlimited supply of hybrid embryonic stem cells. The result would be that the egg’s DNA would cause the nucleus to go back to an embryonic state and allow the extraction of stem cells that would contain the DNA of the adult who donated the original cells. The major focus of **MyRegeneration** is to turn on the genes and stabilize the cells until they reach the blastocyst stage where there would be a cluster of approximately one hundred cells, which is vital for obtaining stem cells.

= ** __References__ ** = = =

“Blastocyst.” Available: http://www.daviddarling.info/images/blastocyst.gif

“Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.” Available: http://bhagia.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/scnt201.jpg

“Stem Cell Basics.” Explore Stem Cells. 2000-2012. Web. January 14, 2012. <[]>.

//“Stem Cell Information.” // Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Web. January 14, 2012. .

"Stem Cell Therapies In The Future." Genetic Science Learning Center. Learn Genetics. 31 December 1969. January 16, 2012. < []>.

"Your own stem cells can treat heart disease, study suggests." //ScienceDaily//, 17 Nov. 2009. Northwestern University. January 14, 2012. < []>.