Here we report on some amazing papers published by graduate students and Faculty of the Panama College of Cell Science. Our 3-year online PhD degree in Stem Cell Medicine is the only one of its kind in the world, beginning with our founding in 2005.
The Curriculum of the Panama College of Cell Science is Here:
https://panamacollegeofcellscience.org/summary/curriculum/
The completion of the program requires a dissertation. All students, to date, have successfully written and published a dissertation with Faculty guidance.
Here are the titles of some very recent papers published by the graduate students of the Panama College of Cell Science, relating to stem cell therapeutics, as well as investigations into growth factors associated with saliva. Click on the Links to read the papers.
Habiba, Umm E (2024). 2024: Current Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis. figshare. Thesis. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25306234.v1
Bamara, Prosper (2024). Compendium of Factors for Optimization of the Ouchterlony Test. figshare. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.27074413.v2
Villalobos, Rodney (2024). Identification of Growth Factors and Cytokines in Saliva. figshare. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25048322.v1
Bekie, Christopher (2024). Saliva Distribution of Growth Factors and Cytokines Associated with Stem Cell Therapeutics. figshare. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.27216717.v1
In addition to our graduate students, the Faculty of the Panama College of Cell Science have also been engaged in advancing the field with particular current emphasis on the saliva testing of growth factors as a tool to demonstrate the effectiveness of stem cell therapeutics. In particular, a need has been shown to be able to assess the increase in such molecules as related to positive patient therapeutic results.
In 2016, Walter P. Drake summarized the importance of the “paired mice experiments” coming out of the Thomas A. Rando lab during the period 2005-2015 as demonstrating that it was serum factors from the young mouse, and not stem cells, that caused the regeneration of muscle injury in the conjoined aged mouse. [1,2,3,4]. Drake went on to postulate that.with respect to patient therapies, “the in vivo activation of dormant stem cell repair activity is the primary cause of increased therapeutic benefit to patients, not necessarily the injection of stem cells themselves.” [5]
By January 2023, Drake fully presented the expanded and better supported theory that: “This theory, that the activation of dormant stem cells in vivo by the external injection of cellular factors or other biologicals that cause the patient’s own stem cells to “wake up” and become activated, can explain virtually all of the observations of beneficial ‘stem cell therapy’ to date, including virtually all modalities”. [6]
At the same time, Drake and Hicks began detailing ways to release mesenchymal stem cells, growth factors, and cytokines from abdominal fatty tissue using various forms of abdominal lipolysis in a way to mimic the in vivo release following the mini-liposuction procedure commonly used in stem cell therapy worldwide. [7]
With their publication for the first time of a Table demonstrating that the identical growth factors and cytokines associated with the Stromal Vascular Fraction of stem cells used for therapy were also found in platelet rich plasma (PRP), Drake and Hicks went all in with their paper: “High Dose Light Activated PRP the New Stem Cell Therapy”, which threw away the need for any stem cells in therapy, and relied solely on the growth factors and cytokines present in light activated PRP, administered intravenously, to “wake up” dormant in vivo stem cells. [8]
Finally, a showing of inflammatory markers associated with various serious diseases being treated with stem cell therapy illustrated the idea that testing for these inflammatory markers prior to and after a stem cell therapeutic would give important objective proof of the efficacy of a treatment. [9]
There is a crucial need for objective testing in the stem cell therapeutics. The very important paper by Rodney V. Villalobos established that the very same growth factors associated with PRP and the Stromal Vascular Fraction are also present in saliva sets the stage for easy patient sampling prior, during, and after various therapies without the need for patient needle sticks. [10]
References:
1. Conboy, IM et al. “Rejuvenation of aged progenitor cells by exposure to a young systemic environment”, Nature (2005)433:760.
2. Carlson, ME et al., ““Imbalance between pSmad3 and Notch induces CDKinhibitors in old muscle stem cells”, Nature (2008) 454:528
3. Elabd, C et al., ““Oxytocin is an age-specific circulating hormone that is necessary for muscle maintenance and regeneration” Nature Commun. (2014) 5:4082.
4. Scudellari, M., ““Ageing research: Blood to blood”, Nature (2015) 517:426-429.
5. Drake, WP, The Importance of the Paired Mice Experiments to Adult Stem Cell Therapy”, Panama College of Cell Science, Publisher, 04/06/2016:
https://panamacollegeofcellscience.org/2016/04/06/the-importance-of-the-paired-mice-experiments-to-adult-stem-cell-therapy/
6. Drake, Walter P (2023). “Stem Cell Therapy Without The Stem Cells.” figshare. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21985202.v1
7. Drake, Walter P; Hicks, Sr., Laurence V. “Drake-Hicks Protocol For In Situ Release of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Cytokines Following Abdominal Lipolysis”, Panama College of Cell Science, Publisher, January 31, 2023.
Figshare. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21985640.v1
8. Drake, Walter P; Hicks, Sr., Laurence V. (2023) “High Dose Light Activated PRP the New Stem Cell Therapy”. figshare. Journal contribution.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23611734.v1
9. Drake, Walter P; Hicks, Sr., Laurence V. (2024). “Testing For Inflammatory Markers Associated With Most Diseases Treatable with Stem Cell Therapy”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377266647_Testing_For_Inflammatory_Markers_Associated_With_Most_Diseases_Treatable_with_Stem_Cell_Therapy
10. Villalobos, Rodney (2024). Identification of Growth Factors and Cytokines in Saliva. figshare. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25048322.v1
Panama College of Cell Science
(Since 2005)
3 Year Online Stem Cell Biology PhD
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Panama College of Cell Science 