(Bio-)medical height increase research projects

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Quote from: Harald Oberlaender on January 20, 2018, 01:23:46 PMDear TIBIKE200,
of course it wouldn´t work with donating before getting additional information, That´s why I said, that I would have to find a researcher, who doesn´t want to protect his ideas with strict confidentiality agreements. Of course this researcher would have to explain his research project idea to the general public. Only if we find such a researcher, a small donation attempt would make sense.

Dear Body Builder,
I don´t think, that it would take so long to develop a safe and effective biomedical height increase therapy, if sufficient funding was available, e.g. the Hong Kong research proposal is based on rabbit studies with a tissue engineered growth plate implant. The bioengineered growth plate was implanted into partially damaged proximal tibial physes of adolescent rabbits.  The implanted 3-D chondroycte pellet incorporated well with the host tissue with no sign of rejection. The next step would be to produce artificial growth plate in a larger size for complete growth plate reconstruction and future clinical application in humans. As there are already promissing animal studies, human clinical trials could be realistic within 3-4 years after we find a funding source.
Concerning short term possibilities I am also quite optimistic concerning spinal disc regeneration research. With some specific modifications for the indication "height increase" this could lead to a safe and effective torso lengthening method. A very interesting biotech company in this field of research is e.g. Mesoblast. They are currently doing phase 3 human clinical trials with a disc regeneration therapy: http://www.mesoblast.com/product-candidates/spine-orthopedic-disorders/chronic-discogenic-low-back-pain We haven´t contacted Mesoblast yet, but we will surely do so, if we find a funding source.

Best wishes
Harald

If you can't share information, then which of the research projects do you think is more promising?

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Dear jojo,
CRISPR is a specific form of gene therapy called gene editing, as it can edit and "repair" faulty genes. Other gene therapies work by adding a healthy gene with a gene vector (= a gene "taxi" e.g. a harmless virus or a liposome). In the past gene delivery into enough cells has been the most important obstacle. But the gene vectors have improved significantly during the last few years and now several gene therapies are approved around the world, e.g. against blood cancer ( http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-gene-therapy-for-blood-cancer-20171018-story.html ) and against hereditary blindness ( http://ir.sparktx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/fda-approves-spark-therapeutics-luxturnatm-voretigene-neparvovec ). This is also good news for other indications, as most gene therapies have a similar principle.

Dear myloginacct,
my personal favorite is the Canadian research proposal concerning a medical device technology (probably in combination with a stretching device). The technology has already been tested in human patients for jaw and tooth growth indications. The researchers think, that the same technology has probably also the potential to grow other bones (e.g. leg bones) in adults - in the best case non-invasively. The Technology Transfer Office suggests the following way to commercialization: in the first 2 years a specific bone growth and height increase device is developed and tested in rabbits (cost: about 270.000 dollars), during the next 1,5 years the device is tested in dogs (cost: about 750.000 dollars). After that the technology could e.g. be licensed to an existing medical company, which conducts the final human trials and brings the medical device to the mass market. Seed investors would receive a significant percentage of the licensing deal with the company. The founding of a start-up company would also be an interesting option.

Best wishes
Harald

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It's such a shame that the only person I've ever seen talking about funding height increase research is a scammer like this guy.

The sheer amount of research and upcoming treatments for male pattern baldness make it seem like heaven compared to being short. Having nothing but an athletically crippling surgery as a "fix" for the problem is so depressing.

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Quote from: extremis on January 25, 2018, 06:25:09 AMThe sheer amount of research and upcoming treatments for male pattern baldness make it seem like heaven compared to being short. Having nothing but an athletically crippling surgery as a "fix" for the problem is so depressing.

Probably because balding slowly creeps up on older men, and it's associated with aging, much like graying hair. Suddenly losing your hair due to illness, hormonal change, or accidents like fire can also have an immediate emotional impact, which is more jarring than height that is for the most part static.

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Quote from: extremis on January 25, 2018, 06:25:09 AMIt's such a shame that the only person I've ever seen talking about funding height increase research is a scammer like this guy.

The sheer amount of research and upcoming treatments for male pattern baldness make it seem like heaven compared to being short. Having nothing but an athletically crippling surgery as a "fix" for the problem is so depressing.

The social issue of height sooner or later will came out,it is a matter of time
We could wait it or do something:we could start a crowdfunding with all the active members of the forum and then we could delegate someone trustworthy to contact more trasparent researchers
This person could be for example the admin/user MUSE which had spent a lot of time contacting doctors through the world for the forum,so he already has informations or atleast can get some tips.Obviously he would be paid
If there is the willing,everything can be tried
I'm asking to not be selfish,100€ for a new hope is nothing considering that all of us are projecting to spend more than 10.000€ for a risky operation
At this point what we have to loose ?
Think about this,all of you

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Quote from: The Dreamer on January 25, 2018, 02:16:32 PMThe social issue of height sooner or later will came out,it is a matter of time
We could wait it or do something:we could start a crowdfunding with all the active members of the forum and then we could delegate someone trustworthy to contact more trasparent researchers
This person could be for example the admin/user MUSE which had spent a lot of time contacting doctors through the world for the forum,so he already has informations or atleast can get some tips.Obviously he would be paid
If there is the willing,everything can be tried
I'm asking to not be selfish,100€ for a new hope is nothing considering that all of us are projecting to spend more than 10.000€ for a risky operation
At this point what we have to loose ?
Think about this,all of you

I like the way you think. You have initiative and hope. I'm just not hopeful. We'd get at most 50 users donating. We'd need to crowdfund it on a big site and we'd need to have an extremely competent manager, good logistics, and super good transparency.

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Quote from: myloginacct on January 25, 2018, 05:45:32 PMI like the way you think. You have initiative and hope. I'm just not hopeful. We'd get at most 50 users donating. We'd need to crowdfund it on a big site and we'd need to have an extremely competent manager, good logistics, and super good transparency.

No one is denying that LL is actually the most realistic option
But in tandem of LL's project we could start to support an alternative option.At this point we don't loose anything
I feel there is the need for a new hope

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Quote from: Android on January 25, 2018, 08:19:08 AMProbably because balding slowly creeps up on older men, and it's associated with aging, much like graying hair. Suddenly losing your hair due to illness, hormonal change, or accidents like fire can also have an immediate emotional impact, which is more jarring than height that is for the most part static.

That's an interesting theory. It's certainly possible. My personal theory is that short stature has less funding/interest behind it because it's rarer than male pattern baldness.

http://www.americanhairloss.org/men_hair_loss/introduction.asp

QuoteAndrogenetic alopecia or common male pattern baldness (MPB) accounts for more than 95% of hair loss in men. By the age of thirty-five two-thirds of American men will experience some degree of appreciable hair loss, and by the age of fifty approximately 85% of men have significantly thinning hair. Approximately twenty five percent of men who suffer with male pattern baldness begin the painful process before they reach the age of twenty-one.

So by 21, 25% of men will have begun balding noticeably, and by 35, the figure rises to ~66.6666666666...%

Meanwhile, the posters on this board who are noticeably short are at the 13th percentile (for a 5'6" man) or below for male height. It's a much rarer problem to have, which unfortunately means it naturally gets less attention. If being short was as common as balding, we'd have a much better solution than distraction osteogenesis by now.

Quote from: The Dreamer on January 25, 2018, 02:16:32 PMThe social issue of height sooner or later will came out,it is a matter of time
We could wait it or do something:we could start a crowdfunding with all the active members of the forum and then we could delegate someone trustworthy to contact more trasparent researchers
This person could be for example the admin/user MUSE which had spent a lot of time contacting doctors through the world for the forum,so he already has informations or atleast can get some tips.Obviously he would be paid
If there is the willing,everything can be tried
I'm asking to not be selfish,100€ for a new hope is nothing considering that all of us are projecting to spend more than 10.000€ for a risky operation
At this point what we have to loose ?
Think about this,all of you

This is an excellent idea and is in fact what I was getting at with all my posts about how we should focus on research and such on this forum. I would be more than happy to contribute to such an effort, both in terms of money and time.

The only reason I hadn't suggested it yet is basically this:

Quote from: myloginacct on January 25, 2018, 05:45:32 PMI like the way you think. You have initiative and hope. I'm just not hopeful. We'd get at most 50 users donating. We'd need to crowdfund it on a big site and we'd need to have an extremely competent manager, good logistics, and super good transparency.

Our community just isn't big enough. We need more people, or at least short men who are wealthy and would be willing to contribute large amounts. My entire modus operandi at this point is working to make as much money as I can so that I can afford to contribute to an effort like this.

I've been reaching out to other short men who are interested in increasing their height, telling them about this site. Sadly the fact that the focus is on distraction osteogenesis puts many of them off (understandably, they don't want to have a barbaric surgery like this done, even though their height makes them miserable), but there's really not many other options. There are no old forums for height increase efforts/research that are active.

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Yeah buddy, the last time someone made great recommendations(SYSOP aka. Apo) such as this, patients got sent to Sarin for some butchering. This is obviously some kind of scam. Its more realistic to cure cancer sooner than this, and its hilarious that 300,000 euro could do all this when it would take millions to billions  

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Quote from: Hamiltonzac on January 26, 2018, 05:40:22 AMYeah buddy, the last time someone made great recommendations(SYSOP aka. Apo) such as this, patients got sent to Sarin for some butchering. This is obviously some kind of scam. Its more realistic to cure cancer sooner than this, and its hilarious that 300,000 euro could do all this when it would take millions to billions

Leave out the posts of user Harald,we are talking about a generical crowfunding
I basically see 2 categories that can be against this proposal:fools and CLL doctors
Fools because they are not willing to spend a little sum which won't stop them from doing LL
The second category is pretty obvious:if we manage to find an alternative to LL,hungrymoney like Paley will loose a millionaire business
To which one do you belong ?
I bet those doctors are paying users to discourage proposal like this or to obstruct any attempt of research
The height question has to be highlighted first of all by short people,has to be brought at the attention of researchers
If we won't do this,crappy problems like baldness will continue to get attention instead of height
LL is not the future,as a community we can do this