a 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation
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We established the Young Blood Institute to study new uses for well established therapeutic plasma exchange therapies which have been used for decades to address autoimmunity. Our work has recently indicated previously undocumented potential to restore or revitalize hematologic and lymphatic systems function. We hope to advance new discovery and understanding of the potential for plasma exchange therapies to prevent the onset of many age-related disease conditions.
As a non-profit Clinical Research Organization, we function much like an academic institution, retaining the freedom and prerogative to seek new answers to age old questions, explore pioneering branches of study, and adapt our studies and protocols to original findings and observations. This flexibility helps to accelerate learning to discover novel approaches to evaluate and iterate upon research hypotheses more quickly than traditional clinical trial techniques. |
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Clinical Study Protocol
We study the use of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (TPE) as a preventive therapy for age-associated disease conditions. Used for many decades as a proven, well-established low-risk immunotherapy to treat a number of medical conditions, notably autoimmune disorders, TPE has the ability to remove pathogenic and pro inflammatory factors. Medical literature well documents its powerful, natural immunomodulatory effects. We simply apply this TPE to age-related conditions, which happen to share a remarkably similar profile as autoimmune diseases. A patient's plasma, which constitutes about 55% of total blood volume, cannot be completely replaced in one treatment safely; instead, we replace a majority of a patient's plasma initially and then replace plasma successively over multiple follow-on treatments.
However, insurance companies and the medical establishment do not yet recognize plasmapheresis as a preventative or prophylactic treatment modality for many age-related conditions. So we conduct our plasmapheresis treatment immunotherapies as a part of a broad and comprehensive clinical research study through the Western Internal Review Board (WIRB), one of the preeminent medical review boards in the United States. |
Our Team
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Our team of advisors includes some of the foremost pioneers of neurology, immunology, and aging science. Uniquely, we combine the best medical practices in immunology and apheresis developed over the last three decades with the latest scientific methods and research in blood and body biomarkers of the last 10 years.
Colin Masters AO BMedSc(Hons), MBBS, MD, Hon.DLitt W.Aust., FRCPath, FRCPA, FFSc, FAA, FTSE, FAHMS In 1984, Beyreuther and Masters purified and sequenced the amyloid constituent of the plaque in Alzheimer’s disease, and three years later, their group used this sequence to clone the gene encoding the Aβ amyloid peptide located on chromosome 21. These studies demonstrated that the Aβ amyloid was derived by proteolytic cleavage of a neuronal transmembrane receptor. Subsequent studies by many groups has shown that a variety of Aβ-amyloid oligomers lie at the centre of AD pathogenesis, and these are now the validated primary targets for both diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Masters and Beyreuther therefore defined the principal molecular and genetic pathways leading to the current Aβ amyloid theory of causation of Alzheimer’s disease. More recent studies from Masters and colleagues have also demonstrated the time-course over which the Aβ accumulates in the evolution of Alzheimer’s disease, using molecular PET- Aβ imaging, allowing the preclinical and prodromal stages to be identified during life. They have also identified some of the genetic determinants which affect the rates of cognitive decline. These insights into the natural history of Alzheimer’s disease will have a major impact on clinical trial design and provide prognostic information for subjects at risk. S. Mitch Harman, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Harman is an recognized expert on the effects of aging on hormone regulation and on hormone treatment of older men and women. He is board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology, is currently the Chief of the Endocrine Division at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS) where he is also chair of the Research and Development Committee, and also Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He has authored or co-authored numerous book chapters and research papers and served as president of American Aging Association. Dr. Harman graduated Miami Beach High School in 1960 and attended Emory University, where he graduated cum laude with a BS in biology in 1964. He completed a six-year M.D./Ph.D. program at the SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn in 1970 and a residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven in 1972. Dr. Harman was commissioned as an officer in the United States Public Health Service in 1972 and served as a Clinical Associate at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he did research and trained in endocrinology. Next, he moved to the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore, where he founded a lab for the study of aging of the male and female reproductive hormone systems and joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was promoted to CAPTAIN (O6) in the United States Public Health Service, and while at the NIA was Chief of the Endocrinology Section in the Laboratory of Clinical Physiology (LCP), and also served as acting Chief of the LCP and acting Clinical Director of the NIA. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins in 1984. In Jan., 2000 Dr. Harman retired from the USPHS to become the founding Director of the Kronos Longevity Research Institute (KLRI) in Phoenix, AZ, a not-for-profit that conducted research on human aging. At KLRI he organized two large multicenter clinical trials, investigating effects of hormone treatment of older men and women, results of which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Annals of Internal Medicine. In 2012, Mitch moved to the Phoenix VA to become Chief of the Endocrine Division and has served temporarily as both interim Chief, and acting Associate Chief, of the Internal Medicine Service. He remains active in research with current studies in the areas of diabetes and male reproductive endocrinology. Emeritus Investigators We thank Dr. Nikolich-Zugich for his service and expertise over many years with the Young Blood Institute. He provided foundational guidance to help establish our clinical study practices, protocols, and biomarkers. Janko Nikolich-Zugich, M.D., MSc, Ph.D. Dr. Nikolich-Zugich is internationally recognized as a leading immunologist and gerontologist. He received his M.D., MSc and Ph.D. in Immunology from Belgrade University School of Medicine. From 1987 to 1990, he worked as a Research Associate at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in the laboratory of Dr. Michael J. Bevan, FRS, NAS, HHMI. In 1990, he joined the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York as the Head of both the Flow Cytometry Core Facility and the Laboratory of T Cell Development, first as Assistant and then Associate Member. He served as Assistant Professor (1990-1996) and Associate Professor (1996-2001) at both the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences and the Division of Molecular Medicine in Cornell University School of Medicine. He was a recipient of the Pew Biomedical Scholar Award and the Louise and Allston Boyer Young Scientist Award. In 2001, Dr. Nikolich-Zugich assumed the position of Senior Scientist at the Oregon Health & Science University at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, along with joint appointments as a tenured Professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and a Senior Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. In 2008, Dr. Nikolich-Zugich moved to the University of Arizona to lead the Department of Immunobiology and the Arizona Center on Aging. His long-term interests include basic mechanisms of T-cell function, immunity to infection in older adults, vaccines and biomarkers of declining immunity in the elderly, immune rejuvenation, immune monitoring in chronic conditions of aging and the impact of inflammation and nutritional intervention in aging, immunity and metabolic disorders. He has published over 130 scientific papers and reviews describing his work. |