The World Of Regeneration — Regenerative Medicine
“The Regenerative medicine revolution is upon us. Like iron and steel to the industrial revolution, like the microchip to the tech revolution, stem cells will be the driving force of this next revolution” — Cade Hildreth
Yay, confetti strands! 🎊 Now I know many of you may think that it has come out of party poppers. Honestly, it also looks like spaghetti 🍝strands too, doesn’t it?
No? 🤔 … Darn, I knew I should have made them yellow!
As much as they may look like party popper 🎊 confetti or even food (spaghetti), they are called what stands in the scientific world as “ 1EXZ”. Before I start talking more in detail about this topic, let's get into the article! ⏭️
Stem Cell Factor 🧫
You may have heard of blood stem cells 🩸right?
In short stem cell factors are substances that mainly cause blood stem cells (When a small cell can develop into all the types of blood cells — white blood cells — red blood cells).
1EXZ is a stem cell hormone/growth factor. Stem cell factors are also known as cytokines. Cytokines — small proteins in the body that are importantly used towards controlling the growth 📈 of other immune stem cells and specific blood cells. It affects the growth of all the blood cells and other cells that help the body's immune responses.
Cytokines
The cytokines bind 🪢 to the CKIT Receptor — Which is mainly known for causing specific blood cells to grow (These binds create what is called a stem cell factor)
The binds which create the stem cell factor are known as “ushers”. The ushers direct the HSCs (hematopoietic stem cells) to the stem cells’ niche — the hematopoietic system, skin, intestine, brain and muscle.
Hematopoietic System — Hematopoietic Stem Cells
An immature cell that can develop into all types of blood cells, including white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Hematopoietic stem cells 🧫 are found in the blood circulating in the body 🩻 and the bone marrow. Also called a blood stem cell.
In the process of learning about regenerative medicine 💊 and using the creative mindset, I created a model of the stem cells factor 🧫. Lets get onto what I made.
Firstly, there are the “helices”. They are what form the “spagetti” and the “confetti” shape : the curvy spiral-like orange and green curls that there are many of (If you were to count closely there are 15 to be precise but there is a core of 4).
“Wait, Jaspreet. So am I supposed to eat those, use them in a party or…?”
❌ Nope. (unfortunately) They are actually referred to spiral chains ⛓️ of atoms ⚛️. They are mainly found in nucleic acids, proteins or polymerics molecules 🧬.
Nucleic Acids — This is where kinetic information is stored and allows cells to produce all the necessary protein structures in living organisms.
Proteins — A molecule made up of amino acids. Proteins are needed for the body to function properly.
Polymeric Molecules — A polymer is any of a class of natural or synthetic substances composed of very large molecules.
Now look at these arrows around 3D models ⬇️— Do you see those orange and green arrows🧐?
Now look at the arrows, how many arrows you see in the picture?
There are 8 in total — yes it’s very hard to count them at first.
What you have been taking a look at and counting are called Beta sheets!
Beta Sheets — They’re stretches of polypeptide chains around 3 to 10 amino acids long. Polypeptide chains are part of the protein-creation and production process. Beta sheets assist with the process.
“Beta whaaaaaat?”🫤
Now, the best part (in my opinion, but then again spaghetti/confetti)… the 1EXZ. You see those pretty orange and green dots (thank you for complimenting my color choice)!
Those are the 1EXZ themselves. They’re in my opinion, the stars of the whole show!
Why do we/should we care?
This is really cool. Like really cool. Stem cell factors play a huge role in the hematopoietic process and facilitate it a ton.
Specifically, they promote cell survival, proliferation, adhesion, differentiation, and activation of hematopoietic cells. Meaning that they help them turn into blood cells.
Hematopoietic stem cells are responsible for the renewal of many types of cells in our bodies through a process we call hematopoiesis. They also form important organs 🫁.
Connection Between Hematopoietic process and Regenerative Medicine
Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) regeneration is the remarkable process by which extremely rare, normally inactive cells of the bone marrow can replace an entire organ if called to do so by injury or harnessed by transplantation.
Bone Marrow — The soft, spongy tissue that has many blood vessels and is found in the center of most bones.
HSC research is arguably the first quantitative single-cell science and the foundation of adult stem cell biology. Bone marrow transplant is the oldest and most refined technique of regenerative medicine. Here we review the intertwined history of the discovery of HSCs and bone marrow transplant, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of HSC self-renewal, and the use of HSCs and their derivatives for cell therapy.
There are a ton of their findings that have contributed to clinical trials and applications. Learn more about stem cell factors ➡️ here and ➡️ here.
Here’s a video I made explaining this! ⬇️
It talks about what I said above, goes in-depth on hematopoietic stem cells, and has a bit of added failed (nonetheless hilarious) humor.
Transcript (this is in breif, I may have deferred a bit in the video talking more in detail, but it’s the gist) :
Hello!
Now, you see, in my opinion, the best part? The 1exz. those are the pretty orange and green dotsyou see. Yep, those ones right there. They’re the “star of the show”, as I like to call them.
Cool, so you know about the parts. Now we’ll go over what it actually is. It’s a stem cell factor. Stem cell factors are cytokines, which are growth factors, interferon, interleukin secreted by specific cells in the immune system and have an effect on other cells, that bind to the CKIT-receptor.
They essentially work as an usher of sorts for hematopoietic stem cells to get to their niche. Hematopoietic stem cells are a type of stem cells, which are cell blueprints found in different places in the body. Hematopoietic stem cells can become ANY type of blood cell. like your favorite Transformer. I have absolutely no idea if the joke I made made sense or not, I have a very limited grasp of transformers.
Moving on, I hope you enjoyed and learned from my video! Have an amazing day or night, wherever you are! Thank you and check out my article on this on medium coming out within a few days. (this article)
Key Takeaways
- I built a model of 1exz, a stem cell factor.
- Stem cell factors are cytokines (growth factors, interferon, interleukin secreted by specific cells in the immune system and have an effect on other cells) that bind to the CKIT receptor. They work as ushers and facilitators for hematopoietic stem cells.
- My video talks about hematopoietic stem cells in depth, and the content of this article as well.
Thank you for reading this article! If your interested to learn more about Regenerative Medicine, you can check out this article A Detailed Overview of Regenerative Medicine!
— Written by Jaspreet Multani
