Neil Riordan, PhD speaks at the Riordan-McKenna Institute and Stem Cell Institute fall seminar in Southlake, Texas on October 10, 2015.
Dr. Riordan discusses:
- How our lab selects uses specialized screening techniques to select only the stem cells that we know will be the most useful for our patients. Only about 1 in 100 cords pass this screening process.
 - How umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) control inflammation, modulate the immune system and stimulate regeneration.
 - How the number and function of our own stem cells decline over time.
 - How MSC secretions promote healing
 - Where MSCs are found in our body
 - First clinic trial in the US using umbilical cord tissue-derived stem cells
 - How MSC doubling times dramatically decrease as people age, which is why cord cells are much more robust than a patient’s own cells as they age
 - The origin of Medistem Lab in Panama
 - Why the Stem Cell Institute and Medistem Labs are in Panama
 - Stem cell therapy laws and approvals around the world
 - Global interest in mesenchymal stem cell therapy research
 - Current clinical trials using mesenchymal stem cells
 - Clinical trials in Panama
 - Collaborations with corporations and educational institutions
 - Mesenchymal stem cell selection, donor selection, and testing
 - Brief tour of Medistem Panama stem cell laboratory
 - Isolation and production of mesenchymal stem cells
 - Discovery of mesenchymal stem cells in menstrual blood
 - Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell studies for rheumatoid arthritis
 - The role of T-regulatory cells in rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis
 - Treating spinal cord injuries with mesenchymal stem cells
 - Mechanism of mesenchymal stem cells on spinal cord injury. They are not becoming tissue. It’s their secretions that allow the spinal cord to heal itself.
 - Umbilical cord MSC studies on spinal cord injury
 - Data from Stem Cell Institute spinal cord injury patients
 - Video from treated spinal cord injury patients
 - Postnatal MSC safety
 - MSCs and cancer risk – MSCs have been shows to actually inhibit tumor growth
 
 