If the world’s leading stem cell researchers were asked to describe characteristics of the ideal stem cell, I personally believe their descriptions would include the following set of features: 1). the ability to differentiate into many types of cells; 2). non-invasive collection techniques from non-controversial sources; 3). the availability of a vastly renewable cell source; 4). low immunological reaction to mitigate tissue matching considerations; 5). demonstrated safety: not likely to produce cancer.

Human beings begin life as a single stem cell for thirty minutes from the moment of conception when a woman's egg is fertilized by her partner's sperm. Shortly thereafter, this single stem cell begins to multiply into hundreds of millions of stem cells as the embryo develops during the early stages of pregnancy. At around 120 days from conception, during the formative stages of the fetus, stem cells begin the process of differentiation at which time they begin to transform into every other cell type in the body such as heart, muscle, nerve, bone, etc. This process continues throughout the final stages of pregnancy until birth. Throughout adult life, our bodies continue to produce stem cells that serve as a vital source of regeneration and repair.

I hypothesized that menstrual fluid potentially contained a viable source of non-differentiated stem cells that may be utilized upon harvest, or cryopreserved for the future, to provide an ideal source for a vast range of regenerative stem cell therapies. Given lifetime experiences with our “Monthly Miracle®”, there is something very powerful about the focused, collaborative and innovative chemistry of women. I explored the concept with Dr. Julie Allickson, Cryo-Cell’s V.P. – R&D and Laboratory Operations, who partnered with me to design and develop protocols necessary to test this hypothesis.  Little did we know at the time that we were about to discover what may possibly become a seismic breakthrough in stem cell science. Menstrual flow contains millions of unique and amazing adult stem cells that demonstrate properties similar to bone marrow and embryonic stem cells. These stem cells multiply rapidly and have potential to differentiate into possibly every other cell type in the human body.  Is it conceivable that C’elle® menstrual stem cells could potentially become the Holy Grail of stem cells?
In November, 2007 Cryo-Cell announced its discovery of novel stem cell technology and launched the world’s first-ever commercial service allowing women to collect and cryopreserve their own menstrual stem cells for future therapeutic use by the donor or possibly a first-degree relative. The proprietary service, C’elle, is protected by Cryo-Cell’s expansive intellectual property portfolio and C’elle patent pending worldwide technology. Cryo-Cell has executed research partnerships with several leading stem cell researchers who initiated promising preclinical (non-human) studies to develop therapies to potentially treat diabetes, cardiac, stroke, vascular regeneration and breast cancer. We invite you to visit our website at www.Celle.com to subscribe to this exclusive cutting edge service that may potentially impact your life or loved ones as future therapies emerge.