Regenerative Medicine is the newest practice in the overall study of medicine, and as the years pass it becomes an increasingly searched topic. It is, in layman’s terms, medicine that works to assist the body in repairing, or regenerating, itself. It is a revolutionary field, and interest in it seems to be growing exponentially year after year– which means that there are many medical professionals who are keen on making a name for themselves in this burgeoning field. However, they find that it is quite often more complicated than they may have originally anticipated, and this is often due to a variety of reasons.

Over our many years of experience in the field, we’ve been able to isolate four of the most common issues that physicians face when it comes to the task of setting up a successful regenerative medicine practice anywhere in the world: 

• Bulky Stem Cell Lab Equipment
• Expensive Stem Cell Technology
• Long, Complex Procedures
• Legal Red Tape 

Bulky Stem Cell Lab Equipment 

The needs of every stem cell clinic or regenerative medicine practitioner can differ, and quite often this difference in needs correlates to different necessities in terms of stem cell lab equipment. However, one thing is common among the most conventional laboratory setups– the size. Because of the fact that you’ll need multiple pieces of stem cell lab equipment for the use of autologous stem cell therapies (which are those in which the patient’s own cells are readministered)– including a laminar flow hood, a centrifuge, a shaking incubator, and a photoactivation device– these each take up space, and although individually none of them are particularly big, most people would find themselves needing to have a dedicated room for this specialty stem cell lab equipment. 

This can, without proper planning, convolute office layouts and create inefficiency– such as when a physician has to go from harvesting the sample, to isolating the stem cells, back into his operating area to finish the procedure. This is an inconvenience for doctors, yes, but it is especially felt by the patients who find themselves in compromising positions for longer periods of time than can be absolutely necessary– which can, in time, result in a downtick in business. 

Expensive Stem Cell Technology

Most doctors are familiar with the price of medical equipment– more often than not hardware like centrifuges or measurement devices can be priced well into the thousands, which can create problems for newer practitioners. Although the stem cell lab equipment required to begin in the field is expensive, because of the novelty of the treatments, and the promising results for a variety of conditions, it is a worthwhile investment for people who want to devote themselves fully into the field of regenerative medicine.

However, that is not the case for everyone– or even most people! There are many who are simply looking to incorporate some current regenerative medicine options into their practice, without paying an arm and a leg for the ability to do so. Because many people find themselves in this position, many do not take the leap required to set up a regenerative medicine lab due to the hurdle that this price point provides. 

Long & Complex Procedures

The current industry standards for the isolation of autologous derived stem cells generally fall under two fields– fat is collected from an area in which it is plentiful in the body, and the stem cells were then isolated and photoactivated by a physician using a combination of reagents and pieces of stem cell lab equipment. Only then has it been ready to be administered to a patient, and this procedure was often tiring for the physician, due to the nature of fat harvesting and the isolation process, and difficult for the patient, as they are on a table for the duration of the multi-hour time between the harvesting of fat and the final stem cell injection. 

Finding ways to streamline the process has been one of the problems that have vexed stem cell researchers for years, as it is the place where most practices see the majority of their complaints– in that their procedure took longer than expected, or that they felt nervous during the procedure. These are problems that arise from a lack of comprehensive protocols and procedures to ensure efficiency, but constant advancements are being made in research and development. 

Stem Cell Legislation

For a long time, it was the industry standard for a catalyst to be used in order to isolate the stem cells and growth factors that a physician would want to administer to a patient. However, as time went on and regenerative medicine gained more and more appreciators in the scientific and medical communities, the legislative landscape began to evolve in order to ensure that patients were treated safely. However, this has not been the case everywhere, and in one place in particular stem cell research has been stymied– making it difficult for research to be conducted, and for patients to be treated– and that is the United States. 

Among the guidelines that the FDA has put forward for the correct use of stem cells within their borders is a guideline on Minimal Manipulation. Minimal Manipulation is the concept that the sample of fat that is used to isolate stem cells should not have any chemicals or reagents used to do so. This is the reason that the United States is not the most friendly for stem cell research, as the use of an enzyme has become the industry standard in Asia, Europe, and South/Central America. However, for physicians practicing in the United States, it does not matter what other countries are doing, it matters what they can do– which is why we have devised an all-encompassing solution to the problems listed above. 

GCell 

GCell is a revolutionary new technology that holds the potential to become the future of adipose stem cell processing. The one single machine is a turnkey solution for physicians that are looking to incorporate adipose-derived stem cells into their practice. This is because of increased efficiency and a process that involves the mechanical breakdown of tissue samples. 

Mechanical Breakdown means that the GCell Machine uses a series of blades and extremely small filters to filter out the growth factors desired from the rest of the unnecessary tissue material, instead of an enzyme. This allows it to comply with the FDA’s Minimal Manipulation Guidelines.

What’s more, the GCell System’s mechanical breakdown process is not the multi-hour, tiring procedure that stem cell procedures once were in the very recent past. No, GCell can separate, filter and photo activate the stromal vascular fraction cells in order to obtain a final injectable therapy in under an hour.  

But there’s also the drastic reduction of overhead to consider. On average, it costs roughly twelve thousand dollars for someone to buy the laboratory equipment required to harvest stem cells through fat, but the GCell Machine provides this service at one-third of the cost. This machine’s portability, small size, and ability to accelerate the stem cell harvesting process makes it ideal for clinics that are just beginning to implement regenerative medicine into their practices, as it takes much of the guesswork out of adipose-derived stem cell harvesting. 

But there’s also the drastic reduction of overhead that comes with the GCell. On average, it costs roughly twelve thousand dollars for someone to buy the machinery required to harvest stem cells through fat. But the GCell provides this service at approximately one-third of the cost.

The GCell machine provides unparalleled convenience and efficiency to those physicians who do not want to dedicate a whole room to stem cell therapy the cost of an arm and a leg– it provides a simple, FDA-compliant solution for those that are searching for a simple way to incorporate regenerative medicine, because it takes much of the guesswork out of adipose-derived stem cell harvesting.