I had stem cell IV and injections 1 week ago. Stem cells were harvested from adipose tissue. Looking for recommendations or any suggestions to maximise recovery and benefit from stem cells, and also what to avoid. I’ve been given limited and conflicting info so feeling unsure.

I’ve been told to avoid NSAIDs but am struggling to control pain. Abdomen is very bruised and very sore from harvest. Joints injected are very sore and looking swollen.

Is there any window in recovery timeline that nsaids are ok, or different types that might be less harmful? Or is this fresh since procedure the most risky for NSAIDs?

Also wondering about other random things that could help or hinder - red light therapy, hyperbaric, etc. vitamins? Peptides?

And is Tylenol ok? I’ve seen conflicting info also about THC - any insight would be appreciated. If it came to it, would THC in CBD oil be less harmful than alcohol and/or NSAIDs?

Also random, but would antidepressants affect stem cells - was prescribed to start a few weeks pre op but didn’t want to start new meds prior, now worried about risking stem cell so haven’t started but want to know if it’s an option or not worth it specifically in regards to stem cells. .

Thanks heaps for any suggestions!

I am looking for help with PRP protocols (centrifuge settings) for orthopedic applications. I know there’s plenty info online (studies, manufacturer guidelines…) but clinical best practice usually trumps all that. Plus it seems there’s little consensus in general.

Thank you

I feel way better after stemcell iv its prob best decision I made during this trip. Is it placebo or its normal to feel this way 1-2 weeks post stemcell?

Been researching stem cell therapy options for orthopedic and joint-related issues here in our area. Then I noticed there are huge differences between clinics when in terms of treat approach, pricing and patient evaluation.

For those who have gone through the research process or actually received treatment, what factors do you think the most important when choosing a provider? Particularly interested in how much physician involvement there was, what kinds of questions were asked during consultation, their red flags, and especially the cost.

I think pricing can be all over the place and its quite difficult to distinguish if you're even comparing similar services. based on my research, seems like some providers include more physician involvement and follow-up care. Others just keep pretty straightforward. This is just my impression though

I just thought about it since I'm currently researching for better and affordable option. You know like Regen Md and similar clinics

But if you have like any additional insights, I won't mind😊

​

June 2026

The first early human eggs from stem cells

Summary

Conception’s mission is to turn stem cells into human eggs and redefine fertility. 

We want to share an exciting update that we have generated the first early human egg cells (‘primary oocytes’) derived from stem cells. After performing a simple blood draw, we converted blood cells into stem cells, and then coaxed those stem cells into becoming miniature human ovaries that contain the early eggs.

While there is still work ahead to grow these eggs to full maturity, we think this is a major scientific advance.



Figure 1 – Human follicles, the base units of the ovary. Contains an early-egg cell surrounded by support cells that help it grow.

Why this matters

Making viable eggs from stem cells has already been accomplished in mice. In 2016, our collaborator Katsuhiko Hayashi demonstrated that mouse skin cells can be turned into ‘induced pluripotent stem cells’ (iPSCs, which are engineered cells capable of becoming any kind of cell in the body) and then turned into usable eggs. These eggs produced healthy pups that lived normal lifespans and reproduced naturally, having healthy pups of their own.



Figure 2 – Adult mice from eggs derived from pluripotent stem cells (Hikabe et al., 2016)

This process, known as "in vitro gametogenesis” (IVG), has been far easier to achieve in mice than in larger animals. Still, given how dramatically impactful this technology could be, it is well worth pursuing for human application.

IVG has the potential to redefine reproduction worldwide. From a simple blood draw, one could make as many healthy eggs as a family needs. 

This capability could create freedom from biological and genetic limits. It could dramatically expand families’ options for having healthy children and enable women to have children at a much older age– all without the hormone injections or surgical retrieval currently required for IVF.

The technology is one of the most complex therapies ever to be developed. We are not making just a single cell type; we are building entire mini-ovaries in the lab derived from stem cells, as the whole organ is important for proper egg development. We’re excited that we’ve made hugely significant progress towards this goal, and we wanted to share a peek into our process.

Our Approach: Making mini-ovaries in the lab 



Figure 3 – Conception's overall process for making egg cells from stem cells.

Conception's thesis is simple: there are no useful shortcuts. A cell that expresses a few egg markers is not enough. We need to rebuild, as closely as possible, the sequence that nature uses — and benchmark our cells against human development at every major step.

Our approach follows the major steps of egg development above in Figure 3. After taking a blood sample, we turn a subset of blood cells into iPSCs, and then guide the iPSCs toward becoming each of the kinds of cells found in a developing ovary: ‘primordial germ cells’ are the cells that will eventually become eggs, and ‘ovarian helper cells’ are the supporting players that provide essential signals for the eggs. Together, these cells form ‘mini-ovaries,’ small 3-dimensional “balls of cells” that mimic a true human ovary.

Below on the left, you can see what our mini-ovaries look like with the naked eye. The middle image shows thin slices of those same mini-ovaries on a microscope slide; each white circle is one slice of a mini-ovary. These slides are then used for our image analysis on the right where we stain the mini-ovaries with cell and stage-specific dyes to understand how they are developing.



Figure 4 – Examples of Conception's mini-ovaries

In our research, we generate thousands of mini-ovaries, containing millions of future egg cells, to study, improve, and benchmark their development in parallel. 

Inside the mini-ovaries, primordial germ cells are surrounded by the ovarian helper cells they need to begin moving through the next three stages of egg development: 

1. The primordial germ cells progress toward ‘oogonia’

2. The oogonia enter into meiosis, the special cell division needed to make eggs

3. As they become early egg cells, they form follicles, the essential ovarian units that house each egg

Along the way, we rigorously benchmark cell identity against a massive internally-assembled reference atlas of human ovary molecular data. This atlas includes millions of datapoints spanning a wealth of sequenced features capturing many layers of cell biology. Comparisons to this atlas (including with proprietary deep learning models) allow us to confidently chart our path forward biologically, while confirming the fidelity of our protocol and thus the quality of our cells. 

One of the most important measures of success for us is function - can these cells faithfully perform the same roles of cells in a real ovary? We’ll walk through how we benchmark that in each step below.

1. Our mini-ovaries help develop future eggs

An early sign of success for our mini-ovaries is that we see their organization closely mimics the structure of a developing human ovary. Oogonia form small “nests” – special ovarian structures surrounded by a thin boundary layer (in blue below) where future egg cells stay connected in groups and chains (in magenta). In the ovary, these structures help separate and organize developing egg cells, so seeing them form in our mini-ovaries is a sign that the tissue is developing the same way as it would in the human body.



Figure 5 - Example of Conception's stem cell-derived mini-ovary (left) compared to natural human ovary (right).

All of the cells shown on the left were derived from stem cells. They independently start forming these ovarian structures without any natural human cells in the culture, and without forcing the cells artificially into these shapes. We find this remarkable to observe.

2. Our future egg cells progress through meiosis

Most cells in our body contain two sets of chromosomes - one inherited from each parent - whereas egg cells contain only one. Meiosis is one of the defining events in egg development, and it’s how the egg ends up with one set of chromosomes. It must happen with extraordinary precision because chromosomal mistakes can lead to failed pregnancies or genetic abnormalities.

Meiosis is one of the hardest things to get right. Chromosomes have to pair with their matching partners, exchange DNA, and (in the body) remain organized for decades. This is why the next result was so important to us: in our iPSC-derived cells, we see the machinery of meiosis assembling as it should.



Figure 6 - Meiosis I progression steps. Conception's stem cell-derived (top and right) vs. natural human (bottom) future egg cells.

Stem cell-derived germ cells show assembly of the meiotic chromosome-pairing machinery. This is an essential proof point for any credible path toward human IVG.

A useful way to picture this process is as a zipper forming along each chromosome pair. In our cells, key structural proteins of the meiotic machinery load onto chromosomes in long, continuous tracks, consistent with the cells progressing through early meiosis. 

We are not only looking at gene markers turning on but we see cellular machineries appearing in the right place and order, all in a system that is fully derived from stem cells.

We also see the broader molecular signatures expected as our cells transition toward early egg cells. We see key primary oocyte genes activate, including genes involved in egg growth, formation of the zona pellucida (the protective “egg shell” around the oocyte), and programs that help protect developing eggs.



Figure 7 - Early-egg cell markers. Conception's stem cell-derived (top) vs. natural human (bottom) early-egg cells in follicles.

Together, this all shows that our stem cell-derived cells are moving through meiosis and activating early egg cell genes as should be properly happening at this stage.

3. We can make fully iPSC-derived follicles

After entering meiosis, future eggs in the human ovary enter a long resting period. At this stage, the cell helps form a primordial follicle: one egg cell surrounded by a single layer of tightly connected support cells. This is the basic and most important unit of the ovary.

Below you can see on the left, side by side with follicles from an actual human ovary on the right, what we believe are the first human follicles ever created entirely from iPSCs. The developing egg cells are shown in magenta, the surrounding support cells are shown in yellow, and the blue shows the thin boundary that wraps around each follicle. As the early egg cells undergo meiosis, the yellow support cells attach to them and begin to nurture them. They organize into a single flattened layer around each early egg cell and deposit the thin boundary, recreating the defining structure of early human ovarian development.



Figure 8 - Early-egg cell markers - Conception's stem cell-derived follicles (left) compared to natural human follicles (right).

Generating fully stem cell-derived follicles, with early egg cells progressing through meiosis, is a major step toward making viable mature eggs. To our knowledge, this is a world first.

What’s next for stem cell-derived eggs

While we’ve come a long way, there is still more work to be done. The biggest remaining step for us is to grow our iPSC-derived follicles from the early stage (primordial) to the last “antral” step. At the antral stage, the oocytes have grown larger and are at the point where an IVF physician would collect them surgically. We believe this should be quite doable, as we have previously accomplished this with donated human tissue (below).



Figure 9 - Lab grown human follicles, cells originating from donated human ovary tissue. Primordial to antral follicle stages

Beyond that, our focus will be on validating the safety of our process and quality of our eggs. The bar for safety with this technology is incredibly high, and we take that responsibility very seriously. Before this work could be considered for clinical use, we need to deeply characterize each step of the process, both for existing progress and for fully mature egg cells in the future. This includes deeper animal model development and validation for safety as well.

If you think this is cool, please reach out

We are very excited to share a small taste of what we’re working on, and we would love to hear from you if you could benefit from our work. Feel free to email us at hello@conception.bio. 

And if you think you have the skills to contribute, please take a look at our job openings. We believe this is the most challenging and exciting research project in biotech, and it could end up as one of the most impactful technologies of our lifetimes. We are very actively hiring, so if a role looks like it could be a fit, please apply or email us.

Thank you to all full-time team members Abbie Groff, Andrew Denys, Angelica Aguilar, Anouk Killaars, Bianka Seres, Christina McKee, Christine Mowad, Cierra Walker, Darrin Goodness, David Read, Ellen Gregory, Emily Dwyer, Erika Paulson, Gabe Manske, Görkem Garipler, Hadja Stringfellow, Isabella Bagdasarian, Isabella Saldana, Jasmine Temple, Jason Lee, Jen Trecartin, Jennifer Shah, Jeremy Lotto, Kim Savio, Lauren Byrnes, Martin Kinisu, Matt Krisiloff, Megan Sheridan, Nate Meyer, Navied Akhtar, Raphael Hernandez, Ryuta Yokogawa, Sam Dattilo, Savannah Bever, Si Yi Zhang, Silvia Llonch, Tessa Bertozzi, Tiama Hamkins-Indik, Tisha Bohr, Valentina Podhajny Rey, Valeria Aviles, Yuri Murphy. Thank you to part-time and past team members who have contributed as well.

Pretty cool.

https://www.fda.gov/media/193424/download?attachment=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

This is from a company called Orca Bio in Sacramento, it appears to be their first approval, with a handful of others in the pipeline.

Real broad strokes of what this is:

The therapy is called TREGZI, it's used for people with blood cancer.

If you have blood cancer, not that long ago we discovered you can take someone else's blood stem cells and transplant them into you, which helps your body make healthy blood, but sometimes comes with a condition called graft-vs-host disease (GVH).

Kinda similar to how your body can reject an organ transplant, but it's really nasty when it happens as it's systemic. Ironically, the only proven mesenchymal stem cell therapy (ryoncil) is used for this, it can calm the immune system down in GVH.

TREGZI, from what I understand, seems to handle all of that in one. It's a combination of allogeneic (donor-derived) blood stem cells, with engineered T-Regs (special immune cells) that fight off cancer and GVH.

They did a Phase 3 trial, showed it worked, FDA approved yesterday. I'm not a regulatory expert, but I imagine in 6-12 months it may be covered by insurance, medicare, etc.

When my dad was a little boy, his mom passed from Leukemia, so this hits home.

I am 39 M with an autoimmune disorder who developed issues from working a full-time computer desk job over the last year to the point that I've now had to leave my job entirely. To be honest I did have a single course of stem cells about a year ago, however I was still full-time working my computer job at the time and thus I was not able to adhere to their advice to stop straining the area, so I didn't really get the full effect of the treatment I feel. Now the symptomology has gotten work, but I am now off of work. Is it worth doing it now that I can completely devote myself to recover and anti-inflammatory methods to make the most of it?

I'm looking to learn more about the nuts and bolts of stem cell manufacturing for medical purposes but most of the resources I've found online are either marketing material from biotech companies, individual research papers or textbooks written 20 years ago.

Does anyone have any resources they can recommend that can get anyone up to speed on the big picture view of the technology? Specifically a textbook or encyclopaedia would be great

Has anyone had stem cell treatment for vascular dementia? Any honest feedback you can share. TIA

Hi! 25F from Turkey! I'm diagnosed at 14 years old. I always had very fragile skin and body also oestroposis started so I'm looking for treatment options. My diagnose is due to Autoimmune disease. Is there anyone try stem cells?

Two people were the first to receive the therapy for a condition that damages the spinal cord and optic nerve

I will post an update before unsubscribing. The only things I've seen in this sub are people begging and the mods allowing it to happen so I'll leave something beneficial before I leave.

I used MedicalMex, a medical concierge service in Tijuana Mexico, for a stem cell treatment for my neck and back. It was under $8,000 in cash, it included an MRI, a meeting with the doctor to go over everything, and then the procedure the next day where they injected 70 million stem cells divided between my neck injuries and spine injuries. It is a month later and I feel like my back has not felt this good in 20 years.

I was in the military and survived three combat tours with a plane crash and being blown up by IEDs multiple times. When I got out of the military I did physical therapy and all of the visible injury area was no longer visible on MRI but the pain was still there. I looked relatively normal other than the fact that I carried a cane with me in case I fell, but the pain was pretty extreme. I previously received 8 sessions or so facet injections over the past 20 years and the Department of Veterans Affairs was going to start cutting nerves so that I felt less pain, but which meant muscles would degrade and I would not be able to walk straight again.

Stem cells seem to have fixed everything. I'm in my '40s and my back feels like I'm 20 again (before the plane crash). 🤣 I didn't see much about MedicalMex when I was signing up for them except for people doing gastric bypass surgeries so I wasn't sure, but I couldn't be happier and I'm going to go again if I have any more issues.

Supposedly this stuff is supposed to get better and better in my back is going to keep healing. This really was life-changing for me. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop as if it's going to wear off like the facet injections, but there's no pain killer in me or anything. I just don't hurt because I'm healing.

Hey everyone, I’m part of a medical concierge based in Singapore that connects patients to Stem Cell therapy clinics across Asia. Since most of the content here revolves around the options in the western world, I thought some different insight could be helpful.

Common questions we get which I will answer first:

Is there stem cell therapy in Singapore?
It’s very limited. Here, it’s mostly restricted to clinical trials or hospital-based procedures for specific conditions like blood disorders. If a private clinic is promising "miracle" cures for anti-aging or general wellness, be very careful as that’s not the norm for standard clinical practice here.

Which countries are best for it?
It depends on what you're looking for:

Japan: The "gold standard" for safety. They have incredibly strict, government-enforced laws for regenerative medicine. 

South Korea: A great middle ground with world-class hospital infrastructure and high-end tech.

Malaysia: An accessible hub with clear regulatory frameworks that allow for more flexible treatment options. 

What types of SCT are available?:
Both are available in Asia, but the region has developed different specialties:

Autologous (Your own cells): This is the gold standard in Japan. Since they’re your own cells, the risk of rejection is essentially zero. 

Allogeneic (Donor cells): These are "off-the-shelf" donor cells, widely available in Malaysia. They’re convenient and potent, but you need to be diligent about verifying the lab's sterility and sourcing. 

I’m not a doctor, but I’ve spent a lot of time vetting the logistics and regulations in these regions. Happy to help anyone figure out more!

Has anyone done stem cell treatment for rotator cuff tear? I have a slight tear so I’m considering treating with stem cells. I’m not sure what levels of treatment there is but I’d be looking for basic or not a large dosing, but I’m also curious where can I go that will be cheap? Is a clinic in Tijuana the best route? I think CPI clinic was one i was considering. Does anyone have experience with cpi or other clinics in Tijuana or the states for cheap?

I have been doing endless research and my husband told me about some shit that he heard on Joe rogan about stem cell research. I am desperate so I did some research and they arw starting to study this stuff for people with damaged sciatica nerves. Mine is fucked so just seeing if anyone has heard of this stuff. It isn't legal in US but they do have clinics in Tijuana that do the procedure. I'm kinda desperate st this point.

Georgia just joined Utah, Florida, Tennessee, and a few others in the pipeline in "allowing" umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells, and I've gotten tons of questions about them from patients, ranging from:

• What are these?
• Aren't they a scam?
• I just attended a timeshare-like dinner on a clinic trying to sell me a 25K umbilical cord stem cell package, what the hell was that? (These are happening, stay away)

There's a ton of misinformation, mostly from clinics, but also social media about what stem cells are and what they do, and it feels timely to start putting together some stem cell 101 posts for CCI patients because there is a lot happening in the field that is likely to impact your care in the near future, for the positive, but also some negative.

I also find it really unique and cool that patients are fascinated by stem cells and want to learn, you don't see that with pharmaceuticals.

But, on the bad side, most of us rely on a handful of salespeople doctors for information, which is often riddled with smoke and mirrors and half-truths to the unsuspecting/desperate/vulnerable. I feel it's brainwashing people making a not-so-great patient environment and I actually expect that trajectory to get worse over the next few years.

I don't have any stem cells or procedures to sell you, so in the hopes of making a dent in that, maybe some neutral education can be beneficial. Will do my best not to get zesty, but no promises 😎.

For a bit of hope, I didn't coin this, but someone mentioned stem cells will do for chronic disease what antibiotics have done for infectious disease and I believe that to be true. Meaning, probably, one day things like Alzheimers, spinal cord injury, TBI, CCI, you name it, may be a pretty simple fix at your local Walgreens, or maybe an Amazon robot that comes to your house. Sounds wild, but things are accelerating, and it could happen in some of our lifetimes.

Some people know, but I don't flaunt it on here. In my alter ego, I'm a B2B journalist on regen med. I get to interview these labs and clinics similar to how I do for this sub. What's being worked on behind the scenes in these labs is super cool. Maybe someday I'll connect the right lab to the right CCI hands...

If there's interest in this, LMK and I'll continue, though it'll be sporadic as usual. The topics I had in mind are:

• What are mesenchymal stem cells, what do we know/don't know? Why are they so controversial? What does real stem cell research look like? (Hint - not "this" 🫠)
• How are they regulated? It sounds boring but it's a huge deal. Once you understand this, the mess we all live in (do stem cells work for CCI?) begins to make a lot more sense. The regulatory environment is partially to blame for our situation and needs to change. Maybe that could make some good patient advocates.
• What are the next-generation stem cell therapies? What are companies working on that might impact CCI care, and how far out is that?

Unless people want other topics. As always, I'm not a doctor or scientist, just a dingus on the internet, so talk to yours before taking on any new therapy.

With that, let's start with the basics:

What is a stem cell?

You may have heard of people getting "stem cells" and some miraculous yet mysteriously anecdotal recovery. Sometimes that's a PICL patient, Joe Rogan, or someone on Facebook who went to Mexico, and think to yourself, "I need to try stem cells".

Then, hopefully not the hard way, you learn how this side of healthcare colors well outside of the lines of traditional healthcare, and is rife with scams.

YGLT

It's been going on for decades, and sadly, CCI patients have been thrown right into the lion's den. However, on the positive side, CCI is a prime target for stem cell/regen med technology. We just need to get through this awkward early phase.

You should know first and foremost that "stem cells" is actually a very broad term; there are buttloads of types of stem cells that do many different things. Here are 2 examples of stem cells in action:

1 - Skin. Over your life, you've had 100s, maybe 1000s of pimples, scrapes, or bug bites that you scratched off, and this broke the skin enough to bleed. You damaged that skin.

But, as long as the cut isn't big enough to scar, it turned back into regular ol- skin, and you forgot it even happened. If it didn't, or if you could see a heatmap of all those, you'd be decimated, but you're not.

How? Skin stem cells! They live in your skin and regenerate normal skin when damaged. Pretty cool.

2 - Blood. When you donate blood, they take that away from you, it's gone. But, over a few weeks/months, your body magically "tops you back up" with more blood. You can do this again, and again, and people do (I hate needles so not me).

How? Blood stem cells! Also known as hematopoietic stem cells, which live in your bone marrow.

When the body senses you're low on blood, it tells those blood stem cells to turn into blood cells. Or, if the body senses an infection, it tells them to turn into white blood cells and go attack the infection. These are also useful as a stem cell therapy for people with blood disorders, you can transplant healthy people's blood stem cells into another with good success in things like Leukemia. Interestingly, if you're an organ donor and pass away, they may also take your blood stem cells for this use case, they just did the first deceased donor last year I believe with good success.

You have stem cells in the cornea of your eye, inside your colon, almost all over. But their use case is usually specific to that tissue. For instance, blood stem cells don't become skin, skin stem cells don't become blood, colon stem cells don't become nerves, etc.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the biggest interest for CCI, you can think of them as orthopedic stem cells, though they have a few other use cases. Probably next article topic.

Where did they come from?

This is actually one of the most interesting pieces that almost no patient, and even many doctors, don't know much about, but how they got there in the first place is shaping the next generation of stem cell therapies.

Just as a sidenote which will tie into the below: Stem cell therapy, in a nutshell/completely broad stroke, is a crossroads between 2 sciences:

- Developmental biology: The study of how you became what you are, meaning how did the sperm/egg meet, form a baby that grows up, becomes an adult, then dies, and everything in between.

- Medicine: What can we apply to heal a person?

To answer the question of how you got those stem cells in the first place and why that matters for chronic conditions, we're gonna go into the weeds just a tiny bit, but all you need are the broad strokes so don't worry or ChatGPT for a simpler explanation.

In short, sperm meets egg, forms a single-celled organism called a Zygote. That Zygote is actually a stem cell, the most powerful type there is, and unlike the previously mentioned stem cells (blood, colon, etc) which are limited in what they can do, this will eventually turn into every single tissue of your body from tooth to blood, and create/store extra stem cells around those tissues for when things go wrong.

The very general process is like this:

Sperm meets egg, makes a zygote (one master "totipotent" stem cell) -> turns into an embryo (cluster of "pluripotent" stem cells that can turn into any type of specialized stem cell) -> specialized stem cells (blood, mesenchymal, colon, whatever type of tissue-specific stem cell) -> turn into tissue.

Ignore the left side, here's a quick chart of this process:

https://preview.redd.it/sbls4mcs6j8h1.png?width=850&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b5c34edc7b83ab78508137757d31fbe46079f49

And don't forget, it also stores some for later. All from a single cell which is pretty incredible.

https://preview.redd.it/f4scrlm0qi8h1.png?width=1149&format=png&auto=webp&s=240f0aff0243723a7e09458cbd1b5e329ccde533

One thing that stem cells can do is divide/duplicate themselves over and over and over, similar to bacteria growing on your kitchen counter, and that's what the Zygote does as it travels down the fallopian tube.

When it lands in the uterus, it's now a cluster of super powerful stem cells that can turn into any type of those specialized stem cells (like the MSC, colon, etc), which will then turn into your tissues. The only thing it can't become is that single master stem cell (zygote) from the previous step that made these ones.

This cluster is called the embryo. This ability to turn into any type of stem cell is called "pluripotent", whereas something like a blood or mesenchymal stem cell which can only turn into a few things is called "multipotent".

How does this tie into the potential next generation of stem cell therapies?

We could use embryonic stem cells to make anything in your body. You could turn them into neural stem cells and build a spinal cord, you could turn them into a new set of pearly whites, really anything, with the right lab and scientist of course.

However, there's an ethical dilemma, because it can involve abortion (although usually IVF), and a lot of the funding was cut off for that reason.

But, about 20 years ago, scientists in Japan discovered something pretty amazing. They learned how to take adult skin cells, insert some genetics and the right lab conditions, and reverse them in time back into pluripotent stem cells, which can then be turned into anything like embryonic stem cells.

So you can take a sample of my skin, reverse it back to a pluripotent stem cell, multiply it a bunch of times, turn that into a neural stem cell, and build me a new spinal cord from my own cells and transplant it into me. In fact, Israel did that in mice a couple years ago with good results, and last year they apparently did it in humans, but no word on how that went probably for a long time.

https://regmedfoundation.org/2025/09/09/worlds-first-spinal-cord-transplant-to-take-place-in-israel-could-allow-patients-to-walk-again/

This whole thing is called "induced pluripotent stem cells" or iPSCs, as you're "inducing" them to become pluripotent. That discovery won the nobel prize.

Here's a really simplified chart of iPSCs:

https://preview.redd.it/zvr8ui2z6j8h1.png?width=548&format=png&auto=webp&s=b7440432fb4a24fd956f4a6a42f099232b7acd6b

How could this impact CCI?

So if the problem at its core is that ligaments have been damaged, causing the head to wiggle on the spine, irritating everything. The goal of most treatments is to take mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are essentially musculoskeletal stem cells (fat, bone, muscle, cartilage, ligament, tendon, though they have other uses too), put them on the ligaments, and hope for the best.

But, at least the way it's done right now, it comes with many problems and may not work that well especially the older you are. There is a lot more to it than just spray the ligament with stem cells and hope for the best... stem cells aren't magic, and they don't speak english, so you can't just tell them what to do. They talk to each other through what's called cell signaling. An example of that would be inflammation, which gives off a chemical signal to those cells, telling them "we're busted up come help", the environment (also known as the "niche") matters a lot, and many other things.

To name some of the biggest problems I see with what we do today:

1 - The source: MSCs are found in many places. Fat is rich in them, but it requires an enzyme to break the fat away, and the FDA doesn't like that (this can be explained in the regulatory article, it's baffling). The uterus is also rich in them, menstrual blood contains MSCs, but there's a marketing problem with that amongst others (although it's picking up in the veterinary space).

Your bone marrow also has some MSCs, but it's a tiny tiny number. As you age, that number declines, and they become less functional, which is one reason kids "bounce back" while adults do not. They've also likely taken in every toxin/stress that you have. Every hot pocket, every polluted breath, etc.

Clinics whose tool is to take your bone marrow, spin it, and inject it that day will often highlight cases from older people in hopes of convincing you to swipe your card. Not that it can't or hasn't been shown to work, but I don't buy it, sorry.

Lastly, on different sources, not every MSC is the same, and I don't think we really know the differences in what a fat-derived MSC might do vs a bone marrow-derived or what your MSCs might do in my body. Cart is before the horse by a wide margin.

2 - Invasive harvest: Clinics will try to downplay this as NBD, but I've had several bone marrow aspirations. Getting your hips drilled into sucks. Additionally if you're doing PICL or another anesthesia-required procedure, you're doing double anesthesia that day. The second time you wake up, you feel like ass.

3 - No idea what you're getting: This carries from point 1. Some clinics will give you a "TNCC" with your bone marrow aspiration, but even that's rare. TNCC is total nucleated cell count, or a count of how many cells they got out of you. That is not a stem cell count, the MSCs in there, according to the peer-reviewed literature, is about .001-.01%. So if you got a TNCC of 1 billion, this means 10-100K MSCs.

That alone is a massive difference in dosage. I don't buy that a 10x potential difference in dosage doesn't affect outcomes... hence why, if you ask, the answer is never "it doesn't matter", but rather "we haven't seen any difference". Two very different answers. You really don't know what you got sadly.

But, that's just how things are in this first wave. The way things are going is likely to be mass-produced, off-the-shelf stem cell therapies, for which every lot (batch) will go through a third-party lab to characterize how many stem cells and what else is in there. They're actually required to give you the third-party lab results in Florida, though it's not the whole picture.

The economics of doing third-party lab testing for every bone marrow draw don't make sense, but when produced in bulk, they do, so that could be huge.

Now, how could iPSCs be used? For one, you could turn them into an almost unlimited amount of MSCs, without a bone marrow harvest. One company is making them for research purposes, calling them iMSCs:

https://www.reprocell.com/clinical-stem-cell-services/gmp-imsc-and-msc-production

But, on top of that, if you have nerve damage, maybe in your spinal cord/brainstem, you could also make neural stem cells and inject those too. Or maybe your jugular has taken a hit, you could engineer those too.

There's a future for that, but the current problem is the cost. If you're making them for an individual, each dose costs about $500K-1M per patient, though it's coming down with automation. Cost-per-dose is top of mind and there's some amazing tech in the pipe.

Additionally, there's the risk of tumors from pluripotent stem cells. Early on, China threw them into the market, and I believe a bunch of patients got cancer, and they halted a lot of it, but that part's getting better too.

The first iPSC-derived therapy in the world actually got approved in Japan just a few months ago, where most of this stuff is happening.

As a sidenote, I interviewed one of the japanese guys from the nobel prize lab. He's starting an iPSC company in california, and when trying to explain iPSCs to immigration, they were really suspicious because they had no idea wtf he was talking about lol. But he says in Japan, everybody knows them! That will change in time. Once that seal breaks... Anyways.

Is there something between today's bone marrow concentrate and iPSCs that could help CCI?

The answer is yes, probably, and I'll hold off on too much until the next post about mesenchymal stem cells, the various sources, and things you could do to them to make them potentially more effective.

That's when things get pretty controversial and scammy, yet hold a ton of potential if done right. We'll dig into why everybody goes to Mexico (I wouldn't do this) for stem cells, the new state laws, what's in the pipeline for MSCs (some companies seem to have actual tissue regeneration demonstrated; it's cool), and some pointers on how to stay safe as a patient.

Stay tuned!

I've noticed an interesting trend over the last few years.

Many affluent individuals seem to be spending significantly more on longevity, preventive medicine, health optimization, stem cell therapies, and anti-aging interventions than on traditional luxury status symbols.

A decade ago, success was often measured by the car you drove or the watch you wore.

Today, some people appear to view healthspan as the ultimate luxury.

If you had to choose between:

• A new luxury car worth $150,000
• Or an additional 10–15 years of healthy, active life

which would you choose?

Do you think longevity medicine is becoming the new luxury market?

And what treatments, technologies, or lifestyle interventions do you believe have the greatest potential to extend healthspan over the next 10 years?

I'm curious to hear different perspectives from this community.

Hi everyone,

I've been developing (as a thought experiment / early research concept) a project called HÉLIX — a non-invasive system for longitudinal bone growth in adolescents (potentiation) and potentially adults (recreating functional growth plate-like tissue). Core idea: Instead of trying to build a "perfect" growth plate, create an imperfect but smart, zonated artificial one that is continuously corrected via feedback. Main modules: EXO: Wearable exoskeleton with controlled axial traction, mechanical pulses, sensors (strain, alignment) + AI for real-time adjustments. BIO: Zoned hydrogel scaffold (GelMA/alginate/hyaluronic acid + nano-HA) implanted or injected at the former epiphyseal plate region. MSCs or chondrocytes + hypoxia-mimicking environment initially. Controlled Release: PLGA microspheres or stimuli-responsive systems for temporal/spatial delivery of PTHrP (to delay hypertrophy), IGF-1/TGF-β3 (proliferation), and later BMPs/VEGF (controlled ossification). Feedback loop: Sensors + IA adjust traction, factor release and possibly piezoelectric stimulation to maintain proliferative zone, prevent premature bone bridging and asymmetry. This draws heavily from current literature on growth plate tissue engineering (zoned hydrogels, PTHrP-loaded PLGA in GelMA scaffolds, Ihh-PTHrP loop, hypoxia for chondrogenesis, etc.). Main challenges I'm aware of: Long-term maintenance of cartilaginous phenotype. Controlled vascularization without early ossification. Integration with mature bone in adults. Safety (asymmetry, tumors, immune response). What do you think? Has anyone seen similar integrated approaches (mechano + controlled release + closed-loop)? Any papers, labs or critical flaws I should consider before going deeper? Thanks in advance! Open to collaboration/feedback.