Many new technologies, including life-saving medical discoveries, come about because of the relentless drive and passion of dedicated teams, often inspired by the passion of visionary individuals. Such is the case of International Stem Cell Corporation, a California-based company which has developed a powerful new stem cell technology called parthenogenesis that addresses one of the major challenges in stem cell science, the problem of immune-rejections.
Parthogenesis involves using unfertilized human eggs to create parthenogenetic stem cells, cells that can be immune-matched to millions of people because they are based on the rejection set of only one person instead of a combination set from two people. As such, a relatively small number of hpSC lines could provide sufficient immune-matched cells to cover a large percentage of the world’s population. It’s a technology that promises to significantly advance the field of regenerative medicine, and one with a compelling story behind it.
ISCO co-founder, Dr. Elena Revazova, was a world-renowned Russian scientist when she lost her daughter to diabetes. Shortly after, her husband passed away. Alone and determined, Dr. Revazova emigrated to the United States, where she worked as a volunteer research scientist. She dedicated every waking moment to finding a cure for diabetes. In the process, Dr. Revazova created the first non-embryonic human stem cells, a new class of stem cells that promise to change health care. She now holds 57 patents, including the patent on the process of creating human stem cell extracts from unfertilized eggs, rather than embryos.
The company is now focused on using hpSC to treat severe diseases of the eye, the nervous system, and the liver, where cell therapy has been proven clinically yet is limited by the availability of safe immune-matched human cells. Most recently ISCO has successfully demonstrated to the scientific community how neuronal cells based on their proprietary stem cell platform can be used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
For additional information, visit www.InternationalStemCell.com
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