Expanding the Frontiers of Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy

Hey, everyone! I've got a few different things to talk about for my Week 4 post, and I'll get right into it. BARNWATCH AND CHEYENNE As I said in my last post, I had to spend the night at the ranch two Fridays ago watching Cheyenne and Lansdowne (mainly Cheyenne). Staying up late into the night was quite an interesting experience. Although my shift was only until 2 A.M., I ended up watching the horses until 4 A.M. with Nikash, whose shift was from 1 A.M. to 4 A.M. We had a pretty nice setup, with my laptop playing YouTube videos sitting right next to the laptop with live camera footage of the horses, and didn't observe anything unusual. But that was only until 3 A.M., when Cheyenne suddenly got down on the ground and started shaking and rolling quite violently. Because the two signs that horses are about to go into labor are either their water breaking or them lying down, we thought it was about to happen and ran to wake our mentor up. However, it ended up being noth...

Hey, everyone! I've finished thoroughly reading the papers (on cancer and stem cells) that I mentioned and will be talking about what I've learned in this post. I'll also discuss the SOP's I talked about in previous posts. But, before I start, important updates on the horses! Cheyenne has been raised to orange alert and Lansdowne is on yellow alert. Because horses typically give birth during the night time, I will be going to the ranch later tonight (from 11 P.M. to 2 A.M.) on "barn-watch" duty, monitoring the two horses and being prepared to alert the team if either goes into labor. In my Week 4 post, I'll make sure to talk about this experience, as well as everything else I've done during my fourth week with AniCell.  This post, as the title states, will be about two different types of complicated papers. SCHOLARLY ARTICLES GALORE The first type of complicated paper I'll be discussing is, you guessed it, scholarly articles. As of now, I...

Normally, my Week 3 wouldn't be over until ranch duty ends tomorrow, but unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to the ranch again this week (due to a piano competition). However, this does mean an earlier post for all my fans who I know are dying to read more. 😛 One quick update on the ranch before I begin: Cheyenne is not yet on yellow alert, but she is close to giving birth. Also, there's a new horse at the ranch now. She's a beautiful white mare named Lansdowne.  Lansdowne Checking Out Her Temporary Home LET THE LAB WORK BEGIN Tuesday: As I mentioned in my previous post, Lil gave birth last week, so we finally had collection material to work with. Although we currently have both amniotic fluid and amnion, we spent this week working only with the amniotic fluid. You might remember this from one of my earlier posts, but amnion/amniotic fluid contains three substances that make it ideal to be processed into a treatment: extracellular matrix, g...

Sorry this post is slightly later than usual, but another week is over, and I've got some exciting news to share!  Before I start, slight clarification: I'm not the only intern currently working with AniCell. I work with Irene and Nikash, two of my friends from school who are also conducting their Senior Project in conjunction with an internship at AniCell. On Saturdays, I also work with Sarah, an intern from a different high school. MORE LIFE ON THE RANCH (LITERALLY) Remember how I said we were waiting for the horses to give birth? Well, on the 17th, one of the mares (Lil) gave birth to a healthy filly! Lil was expected to deliver that night, but she unexpectedly went into labor around 2:00 P.M. I wish I could say I was there to see it happen, but the interns weren't notified in time due to the surprise factor involved. I do have some pictures though! Beautiful Filly Lil Finally Meets Her Baby Unfortunately, this week's "Life on th...

Double post today! In this one, I'll be discussing what I did during my first week with AniCell.  Before I start, let me explain something important about working with AniCell. It involves two very different, but equally important, tasks: 1) Working in a lab  –  this is where the final product is produced 2) Working on a ranch  –  this is where amnion (used to make the final product in the lab) from a pregnant mare is collected during the birth of a foal Although the lab portion is expected of working with a biotechnology company, the second part might come as a surprise to many of you (it definitely did to me). However, because AniCell performs everything from collection to production by themselves, caring for the mare and taking the proper steps necessary for effective collection is just as crucial as engineering the final product.  LIFE ON THE RANCH I work on the ranch every Saturday. Last week, I got to interact with the pregn...

Now that I've established a fair understanding of my project, this post will explain the basic science behind AniCell's treatments.  SCIENCE TIME! AniCell Biotech has a very simple philosophy: you can't do better than nature, so use what it gives you. Going off of this, their treatments primarily rely on naturally collected amnion, a great source of stem cells, and recycling this into a usable product. But what exactly is amnion?   As seen in this diagram of a human embryo, the amnion is one of the extraembryonic membranes or "layers" produced during gestation. Other notable ones include the allantois (not pictured) and the chorion. All three of these layers are potential sources of stem cells, but due to certain problems* with the chorion and the allantois, AniCell only uses the amnion to produce their treatment. Amnion also contains two substances in addition to stem cells that make it optimal for usage as a treatment: 1) Extracellular matrix...

Hello! This post, including a project abstract and additional details about my project, will outline the specifics of what I am trying to achieve through my research. PROJECT ABSTRACT The largest growth spurt we experience isn’t when we’re 12 or 13 – it’s the nine months we spent in the womb, rapidly growing and developing. AniCell Biotech capitalizes on this fact, using amnion to produce stem cell based treatments for otherwise unhealable wounds. Primarily focused on animal wounds at the moment, their product has generated tremendous results, greatly reducing the risk of infection and the need for euthanizations by bringing about quick and effective healing. As displayed by AniCell’s success, stem cells have tremendous potential to be an integral part of medicine’s future. My project takes inspiration from this and attempts to expand the applications of stem cells, starting with the improvement of existing animal treatments. By conducting independent research on stem ce...