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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2983
igaa057.2983
Abstracts
Session 7540 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
The Hype and Hope of Stem Cell Rejuvenation
Harris Melissa  
Unversity of Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”819 819
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Adult stems play a major role in keeping our bodies in good working order by replenishing tissue as it wears out, and by providing new cells in the event of injury or damage. Unfortunately, the biological process of aging does not discriminate, and all cells, including our stem cells fall prey to getting older. Failing stem cells contribute to characteristics of aging and degenerative disease, and regenerative medicine research has focused on identifying ways in which stem cells can be used or rejuvenated to alleviate the symptoms of old age. Stem cell rejuvenation, however, has also inspired companies to provide services for harvesting and storing young stem cells with little real idea of how these stem cells might be used or their efficacy. In this seminar we will review what is known about the way in which stem cells fail, and the hype and hope surrounding stem cell rejuvenation.