Time to start a stem cell bank account?

[cosmicalstorm]

I reflected over this a while ago. Is it a reasonable wager should the price come down?

By Andrew Cave
6:00AM BST 09 Sep 2013

Claiming to be a world first, the service has been developed by Scéil, part of Cellectis, a French genome technology company on the Euronext stock market.

Launched in Switzerland, Dubai, Singapore and the US two months ago, it involves taking cells from a small sample of the skin under local anaesthetic at a dermatologist, shipping them to Scéil’s laboratories and “rebooting” them into induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, otherwise simply known as stem cells.

These are frozen at -180C and stored to potentially repair damaged organs, rebuild tissue and fight disease in the future. The service is based on Nobel Prize-winning medical research by Prof Shinya Yamanaka in Kyoto, Japan.

“Shinya Yamanaka broke a paradigm of science,” says Cellectis chief executive André Choulika. “He discovered that you can take any cell of the body, put a cocktail of things inside and it then forgets the state it is in and comes back to the first stage of life, nine months before birth.

“These cells have the potentiality to give any kind of tissue of your organism. You freeze time at the second a sample is taken and the cells won’t age after this moment.”
Related Articles

Scéil’s service differs from cord blood banking, in which blood is taken from the umbilical cord for later use to reconstitute blood. “We believe it’s going to be very popular with a certain class of people who have everything they want but cannot go against ageing,” said Mr Choulika. “This is expensive, so only reserved for a certain class of people who can afford it.

“Twenty years ago only rich people had cell phones. Now everybody has them.”

Cellectis specialises in genome engineering and stem cell treatment. Since its foundation in 1999, Dr Choulika says the company has developed new classes of products in biopharmaceutical production, agrobiotechnology, induced stem cells and alternative fuels. The group is due to launch a trial later this year with University College London on potential genetic therapies for chronic leukaemia.

Last year, Cellectis had revenues of £27 million from deals allowing medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies to use its technobiology and research.

“Scéil offers people the best possible chance in the future,” said Dr Choulika. “People should be able to 'live young’ no matter how old they grow.

“We’re offering the potential for people to use their cells for their cure as soon as regenerative medicine treatments become available.”

Scéil says that IPS cells can be derived from adult cells at any time of life. However, due to human cell DNA degeneration over time, Scéil recommends that interested people should give their skin samples sooner rather than later.

Dr Choulika said Britain had been chosen for launch because medical regulations allow it to function. In France, in contrast, he said the service would not be permissible under current legislation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... elves.html

[K. A. Pital]

Fellow transhumanists, start gathering cash piles.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

By the time this is affordable, I'll be in my 60's. Time to rethink my work/life balance so I can afford to get in when it's still insanely expensive!