CHA Bio Group head outlines vision for stem cells to fight diseases, extend life

Dr. Cha Kwang-yul, head of the CHA Global Research Institutes at CHA Medical Center and CHA Bio Group, outlined an ambitious vision to use stem cells to treat intractable diseases and potentially extend human lifespan, drawing global interest at an international conference in Busan. Cha delivered his keynote address, titled "Longevity and Reproductive Aging Using K-Cells," at the 16th World Congress of the International Society for Immunology of Reproduction, held Nov. 5-8, with about 400 participants attending. The presentation focused on K-Cell, a proposed cell resource intended to support the development of treatments for intractable diseases before expanding into research on aging and longevity. Cha outlined a donor-screening strategy that combines medical and infectious disease histories with age, clinical characteristics, three generations of family medical history and whole-genome sequencing to identify cells suited to specific therapeutic purposes. He also discussed genetic modification and somatic cell nuclear transfer, a technique that involves transferring the nucleus of a sel