Immortality is the sole domain of the Almighty. But “virtual
immortality” is fast-becoming the domain of groundbreaking stem
cell therapies. These therapies fall generally under the banner
of “Regenerative medicine” — a field of medical innovation that
seeks to reverse cellular aging by using rejuvenated cells to
repair parts of the body that have been damaged due to illness,
injury or age. You may have seen the video of my rejuvenated
heart muscle cells. Starting with fibroblasts, or skin cells,
from inside my left bicep, we increased the number of cells many
times through routine cell propagation techniques. Then, we used
genetic engineering technologies to convert some of those cells
into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, identical to the
embryonic stem cells that I grew from. The scientific term for
those cells is “immortal,” because they don’t age. This is
because their telomerase genes are active, which causes the
clock of aging, telomere loss, to constantly reset. For new
readers, our cells have ab