Alcor, Cryonics, Jerry Cooley, John Cole, Platelet-Rich Plasma, PRP

PRP Activation with Calcium Gluconate

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PRP Activation with Calcium Gluconate

— Dr. John Cole made an interesting update to his “looking for PRP volunteers” thread (since removed) on the Bald Truth Forums. He is trying out the following PRP activation formulations (he seems to prefer calcium gluconate over calcium chloride):

“1. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) Vs. PRP plus CG plus recothrombin
2. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) Vs. PRP plus CG plus autologous thrombin
3. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) Vs. PRP plus CG plus ACell
4. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) Vs. PRP plus CG plus AmnioFX
5. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) AmnioFX plus ACell Vs. PRP plus CG plus AmnioFX
6. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) Vs. Ultrasound cell lysis to release growth factors of PRP plus CG
7. PRP plus calcium gluconate (CG) Vs. PRP plus CG plus dalteparin plus protamine microparticles.”

— While we are talking about the details of PRP, on October 10 Dr. Jerry Cooley posted the following (link no longer working) on the Hair Restoration Network forums:

“About PRP, that’s a great question. Actually, there a lot of different ways to ‘do’ PRP. Adding ACell is just one variable. Some of these other variables are: the device used to centrifuge the blood, the concentration of platelets achieved, the total volume injected, the size of the syringe and needle used to do the injecting, the level in the scalp it is injected, whether the PRP is ‘activated’, the use of microneedling, etc. All of these can affect the result in my opinion.”

— Although I discussed PRP a lot in this post, I still think that its a gamble when it comes to regrowing lost hair. If you do go for this procedure, it is probably worth contacting Dr. Joseph Greco first and then contacting other doctors for a second and third opinion. [Update: Dr. Greco sent me some feedback that I have pasted in the comments to this blog post].

— Prolific hair loss forum participant “Hellouser” is planning to attend the 9th World Congress for Hair Research in Miami from November 18-21, 2015. I suspect that this Congress will be the best one yet. Last year I asked blog readers to raise funds for “Desmond” from Australia to go to the 8th World Congress for Hair Research in South Korea, and this year I am asking people to help raise funds for “Hellouser” from Canada to attend this Congress in the US. Desmond’s videos from last year’s conference were excellent and an absolute must watch. I hope “Hellouser” also manages to film many of the most anticipated presentations this year. Please see his gofundme page for more.

— I covered Samumed in a detailed post last year. It seems like the company updated its clinical trials page last month and might still be recruiting volunteers (although one forum member said they stopped after getting too many calls). I called their Ohio testing location and left a voicemail on 10/16/15 and will update this section if they call me back. Update: Ohio location staff called me back on 10/19/15 and are still accepting volunteers this week.

Perhaps of more significance, Samumed is a Silver level sponsor of the earlier mentioned upcoming 9th World Congress for Hair Research. They are clearly not going away, and their Wnt pathway activation strategy is entirely different from what other companies such as Allergan, Histogen and Replicel are doing.

— An interesting new study tiled “The In-Vitro Development of Polarized Hair Bearing Skin” using LGR6+ epithelial stem cells. A bit too technical for me to analyze in detail in this brief updates post.

And now on to medical items of interest:

— Deleting genes could bolster lifespan by 60 years. Only done in yeast cells as of now, but perhaps Liz Parrish can help speed this up in humans too?

— George Church and colleagues do it yet again. They modify 62 genes in pigs used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. Humanity is a giant step closer to the day when organs can be harvested from pigs and implanted into humans without fear of rejection.

— If organ donations from pigs take too long to become a reality, there is always the possibility of ever improving artificial organs. The third ever patient to be fitted with an artificial Carmat heart is doing well six months post transplant. He is 73 years old. The first such patient died 2.5 months after getting an artificial heart and the second such patient died 9 months after getting an artificial heart due to a motor control malfunction.

— I was unaware that earlier this year US based Alcor cryogenically preserved its youngest ever patient: a two-year old Thai child (just her brain). Now the BBC has published a very good article with video covering the family. Both parents are highly educated medical scientists and really believe that we are not too far from when science can bring back the dead. So long as they or their brains have been frozen immediately upon death.

I am very creeped out by this, but at the same time fascinated. The parents seem like very reasonable and compassionate human beings. Also see last month’s NY Times front page article on Kim Suozzi’s brain preservation via cryonics.

An interesting side note: I met this lady at a conference in 2008 and she told me that she was involved in the freezing of baseball legend Ted Williams at Alcor in 2002. She told me that even at the age of 83, his legs were extremely muscular!

— DARPA seems to treat bodies with light, electricity, sound and magnets. Make sure to read my posts on electricity and hair growth and sound and hair growth.

BioViva, Gene Modification, Gene Therapy, Liz Parrish

Liz Parrish Treated With Gene Therapy to Reverse Aging

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On rare instances I blog about medical issues that are either unrelated to hair loss or perhaps/potentially related to hair loss. This post is an example of the latter, since gene therapy could end up also being the ultimate solution for hair loss and be safe enough to be used regularly for cosmetic purposes...although I would never go through it for such reasons.

Update: Liz Parrish updates us in this October 15 video, and she is not pleased at some of the negative coverage she has received.

Update: This story is now getting more coverage: "A Tale of Do-It-Yourself Gene Therapy".

BioViva CEO Elizabeth (Liz) Parrish has been in the news a lot lately and I highly recommend viewing three of her recent videos and a podcast interview from this year that I have embedded all the way at the bottom of this post. BioViva seems to be a legitimate and respectable company based on its stellar advisory board.

Ms. Parrish herself is extremely intelligent and well spoken as you will be able to see in the videos at the end of this post. I also find her to be very sincere. Her 20 years of being a vegetarian and her initial interest in childhood diseases are further positives in the compassion department in my opinion. Hopefully that translate to her really meaning what she says when it comes to gene therapy being available for all at a low cost or for free in the future.

Liz Parrish Reddit AMA

Earlier today, Ms. Parrish participated in a very interesting AMA on Reddit that is worth a thorough browse. I was watching/reading the Ask Me Anything (AMA) live, and got a major shock when Ms. Parrish announced that she recently became the first patient (“patient zero”) to get gene therapy to reverse aging using her company’s proprietary technology.

She underwent this therapy several weeks ago (at least based on the date of the initial press release from September 30), and announced on Reddit for the first time today that she herself was “patient zero.” Apparently her whole procedure was filmed by a professional film crew and I am hoping that it turns into a documentary that airs on national tv.

I was surprised that Liz Parrish was the first patient to undergo this treatment, especially since she is only 44 years old and can perhaps afford to wait for a few years prior to getting gene therapy. After all, BioViva has a lab in Colombia and has received interest from clinics in the Bahamas and Mexico per the third video below. I assumed that BioVia would initially be testing their anti-aging gene therapy on Colombians or on aging/sick people from around the world who were willing to fly to Colombia/Bahamas/Mexico and so on. Ms. Parish claims that she felt it was the ethical thing to do to get herself treated first before trying this on other people.

From a hair loss perspective, Ms. Parish mentions that hair loss and gray hair are a sign of aging in the Reddit and in one of the below videos if I recall correctly. Perhaps this genetic treatment when perfected as much as possible will lead to a reversal in gray hair and regrowth of lost hair? Even if this particular gene therapy does nothing for hair, it will represent a watershed moment in the use of genetic modification in humans. Many hair loss researchers have stated that gene therapy is the ultimate solution to hair loss.

It should be noted that there are already many gene therapy treatments undergoing clinical trials on humans, but this one was the first one that was done to reverse aging and probably the first one that was filmed and will hopefully be shown on tv some day soon. Moreover, Ms. Parrish is going to update us on her overall health and condition on a regular basis.

She claims that she feels more energetic and sleeps better at the moment in comparison to prior to getting injected, but it is too early to make any conclusions. We are finally moving from mice and rats to humans (frustrated mice and rat hating long time hair loss forum members and blog readers really have to see the cartoon at 19:15 in the first video and Liz Parrish’s comments immediately thereafter).

From July 2015:

From August 2015:

And finally, below is a great podcast interview in which I love the fact that she is highly critical of the patent-minded and money-minded modern pharmaceutical/medical industry complex.