About five years ago, b_b and I had an idea. We have been working on mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapies of neurological disease for more than ten years, and one thing that we know is that the cells lose their therapeutic potential with age.

b_b and I wrote a grant that proposed to transplant MSCs from young mice to older genetically matched mice, and to test whether or not it improved the health of the older mice, and increased their lifespan. Unfortunately, we did not get funded for that project. However, in the years since, people have basically performed our proposed experiment, and have reported that such a transplantation could extend the life of mice between 6-25% depending on the dose and approach.

Over the same timespan, the number of clinical trials using MSCs for treatment of human diseases has exploded. There are now approaching 500 registered clinical trials using MSCs in one form or another.

Last spring, I was on a call with b_b, ecib, thenewgreen, and elfassy, and I was lamenting the fact that I wanted to store my own MSCs so I could use them in the future. To that, thenewgreen, replied: "We should be doing that. Let's do that."

Fast-forward 15 months later, and we are doing that: http://www.foreverlabs.co/

We bank your young stem cells so that you can treat your older self. Stem cell time travel.

Forever Labs is now operational in MI and NC. We will be opening in the Bay Area of CA next. We credential top orthopedic surgeons and plastic surgeons to perform the procedure, and we have partnered with an orthopedic device manufacturer to help us reach out to these surgeons. Conveniently, many orthopedic surgeons are already using bone marrow concentrate (platelet rich plasma) to promote healing and reduce inflammation in orthopedic procedures. We are able to isolate the stem cells from those same procedures, giving patients the option to bank them at the same time.

The procedure is simple and takes about 15 minutes from lying down to standing up. My wife said it was a 3.5 out of 10 on a discomfort scale, and I agree. There is almost no recovery to speak of. b_b played hockey that same night. I had it done in March. My cells are now almost 4 months younger than me.

Things are going well, we are growing, and we are excited for what the future will bring.

That's what we have been doing.

Bonus points if you can guess what our logo is.