0:00 Introduction and Pulmonary Case

Dr. Yi Song: If he didn’t do that, he would only have two years to live. And even though he has gone to his doctors at Johns Hopkins, they never tested his autoimmune. So the more you age, the more inflammation. Some people say stem cells can cause cancer. There were like three cases saying they happened. You hear about stem cell treatments everywhere online, but do you ever wonder how those cells actually find your specific inflammation?

I am pleased to have Eduardo Perez join us to talk about stem cell therapy. So don’t miss this episode on stem cell therapy experts and remember to subscribe.

Eduardo Perez: And this is actually where I might be asking you more questions than you’ll be asking me. It’s an honor to be here with you, Dr. Yi. I just got back from Synergy and saw the experience right on the outskirts of Medellin, Colombia. I was really impressed with the holistic approach and having an environment that is safe for everyone to go and see.

1:06 Personal Experience and Ankle Treatment

Eduardo Perez: My wife and I were blown away actually by Zinartique. Now, with that, I ask you because for those that did not know, we went there, I had a bad ankle and have not been able to move it around. Now, I’m three days post, and this is crazy, but it feels a lot better. It’s still sore because of the treatment. But I ask you, you put in 50 million umbilical cord cells around the traumatic area that I had. Can you explain to me what the procedure is, what the process is now, what those cells are doing in order to take the inflammation out of there and to actually heal that area?

2:04 How Stem Cells Work

Dr. Yi Song: According to the research available, the stem cells, once they are injected into your body, your joint, or through intravenous, they will stay inside your body for up to three months. They do not actually divide themselves. What they do is release growth factors and cell signaling molecules inside your body, inside the joints where they’re injected. Then the growth factor cell signaling molecules will attract your own body’s cells to come to the area where these cells are acting.

Once they enter through the intravenous, they will sense where your body has inflammation. Sometimes even though you don’t feel that side has inflammation, these cells can sense it because of the cell signaling from the inflammatory site. When they hone in, they have this property, according to a study even published back in 2017, they can hone into wherever your body has inflammation. Then they will attract your own body’s repair system to go to the site where they are honing in so that your body’s repair mechanism can be concentrated in the area where it needs to repair.

Eduardo Perez: In other words, they’re bossy influencers. That’s great because I think a lot of people don’t understand. They think that you inject the cells there and the cells immediately just repair it. No, they have to send signals then to your repair system.

The science to me is—and I’ve read so much about it—I understood what it does. But as a patient to have had it done previously on my knee and understand that my knee has been great ever since—and this was three years ago. And then now three days into it, I can sense that at least I have more range of motion with my ankle without pain. I had the range of motion before, but with pain, and now it’s just sore from the injections themselves. So I cannot wait to see what happens in the next coming days.

5:05 Recovery Timeline and Activity

Eduardo Perez: I think the listeners and viewers want to know, this was done three days ago. In a realistic approach, are we looking at maybe a week, a month, or three months from now before I should be pain free, or is each individual different?

Dr. Yi Song: Each individual is different. However, the average is that the first two days are very sore post-injection. It starts getting much better after the first 48 hours. Actually, it’s already probably a little bit better after 24 hours because the first 24 hours is the toughest. We want to prepare people to understand this; it’s not like you don’t feel anything and then you just feel great.

Eduardo Perez: She’s right. She’ll say it’ll be fine, but it’s painful. But I know it’s for the greater good. In this case, at least it was with my knee for the greater good. And now with my ankle, I’m hoping being 72 hours post that it’s for the greater good as well.

Dr. Yi Song: For most people, after three weeks, you can start doing some gentle exercises. If you’re a runner, or if you like playing basketball or volleyball, you can actually do a little bit.

Eduardo Perez: That’s good to know. Because at my age, at 56, it’s all about the golf right now. The point where even my wife was like, “we have to go see Dr. Yi,” is when I went to the beach. Because of the irregular sand with the ankle, it would affect the side of my foot as well. I cannot wait to go back to the beach and try to take some nice walks in the soft sand because that’s the one that really hurt.

7:06 Clinical Experience and Plasma Treatment

Eduardo Perez: As a patient, I will tell you that the process is phenomenal, but the experience itself is what made you stand out. Your team was gracious and welcoming. They understood that this is a process and they made me feel comfortable going into the procedure with the IV. 100 million umbilical cord cells were put into it. My blood was then spun as well. They took the plasma and combined it with 50 million cells and they were able to inject it into that area. And then you took the leftover plasma and you put it through the IV back into my system. Why?

Dr. Yi Song: Because we actually treated your platelet-rich plasma, the double spin one. Before the double spin, we treated it with laser. We used 660 nanometer and 850 nanometer light. According to some research, since we understand this light can actually stimulate the mitochondria in the cells, the mitochondria in the plasma can also be stimulated. Some people say there are very small amounts of cells called very small embryonic stem cells in your plasma. When you stimulate the plasma with light, those cells can be activated. We spin your blood again, put the plasma back into your body, thinking those activated embryonic-like stem cells can act together with the umbilical cord stem cells already in the IV.

9:31 Comparing Stem Cell Types

Eduardo Perez: What’s the difference between umbilical cord cells and my own cells, if they were to pull out my cells?

Dr. Yi Song: Umbilical cord stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells. There are like four different types of stem cells. When they tap into your bone marrow, what they obtain are also mesenchymal stem cells, but your bone marrow also has hematopoietic stem cells. Those are the stem cells that generate blood cells in your body.

The reason some people say stem cells can cause cancer is because mesenchymal stem cells are non-tumorogenic, but hematopoietic stem cells can be tumorogenic. When you obtain your own body stem cells from your bone marrow, sometimes you may have contaminated hematopoietic stem cells in it. Any proven cases about people getting stem cell injections into the joint then developing a tumor down the road—there were like three cases published—actually came from the bone marrow. There was contamination from the hematopoietic stem cells instead of purely mesenchymal stem cells.

11:13 Lab Expansion and Safety Protocols

Eduardo Perez: That I did not know. Now I have to ask with the umbilical cord stem cell, how do we know that cell is safe to put into my body?

Dr. Yi Song: This happens in the lab outside of the US because this is not done in the United States. Right now in the United States, you can grow the cells or separate mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow or fatty tissue, but you cannot use those cells grown in a lab in clinical applications. That’s why we did that in Colombia, because we can grow the cells in the lab.

When you separate the cells, mesenchymal stem cells have a property where they attach to the plastic where we are trying to grow them. Other types of cells, including hematopoietic stem cells, don’t have this attachment property. That’s how you separate them. Once you grow the mesenchymal stem cells in large amounts, you can run flow cytometry to make sure these cells are not contaminated. If you don’t expand them in a lab, you don’t have enough cells to run this test to see if you have contamination. The most cells you can get out of one umbilical cord is up to 25 million. In one treatment, you had 150 million cells.

Eduardo Perez: 50 in my ankle and 100 in my IV.

Dr. Yi Song: If you don’t grow them in the lab, you would have to get cells from five donors or even more just to obtain that 150 million.

Eduardo Perez: Wow, that’s a lot to process. Is this an outsourced lab or is this a lab that you also have at Synergy?

Dr. Yi Song: We’re actually building a lab at Synergy right now. Currently, we use a reputable lab. For the growing part, you only need one donor for two or three years because you can grow so much. Our clinic alone has obtained billions of cells from them in the past five years. In the past four years, they were only using one single donor, which is verified on their certificate.

15:28 Inflammation Tracking and Lung Fibrosis

Eduardo Perez: I went into Zenartique already having been treated with my knee, but I went in nervous because of the acute pain I already had in that area. The IV was seamless and easy. Once it goes into the bloodstream, how do those cells scatter around and go to work in your entire body?

Dr. Yi Song: Again, they’re attracted to where you have inflammation. If someone has heart conditions, the cells can go to the heart to do the repair and attract your own body’s repair system. If you have a lung issue, like a call I got from someone in Maryland who was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis—he’s 68 and has been fairly healthy, eats well, exercises. But he had COVID and then pneumonia two years ago. Over the past year, he felt shortness of breath and one lung had 10% fibrosis. Doctors at Johns Hopkins told him he had to get on anti-fibrosis medication or he would only have two years to live. With medication, he would have two to five years.

For intravenous injection of stem cells, he would probably need two or three treatments in the first six months. Through the vein, the first place the cells travel to is the lung. We also use an intranabularizer for him to inhale the stem cells directly into the lung so the cells can reduce the inflammation and the progression of the fibrosis. Once your lung is 70% fibrosis, you cannot breathe anymore because you don’t have oxygen exchange into your blood. That’s why you die.

18:44 Post-Treatment Care and Red Light Therapy

Eduardo Perez: What are my next steps to maintain this?

Dr. Yi Song: It’s not like stem cells will do the magic without anything else. You have to be on an anti-inflammatory diet so you don’t add more inflammation into your body. You also need adjunct therapies like red light to enhance the effect. We treated your plasma with 660 and 850 nanometer red light to stimulate the mitochondria. The stem cells will also transfer some of their mitochondria into your own body’s stem cells through vesicles called exosomes. We sometimes use exosomes for neurological conditions like dementia or Parkinson’s because they are smaller and cross the blood-brain barrier easier than stem cells.

In the joint, stem cells will stimulate your own body’s stem cells and transfer young mitochondria to wake them up. Your own body’s stem cells become young again—like maybe 20 years old—and can start doing the repair much more efficiently. They start chopping up the scar tissue so it’s not rough anymore. The reason you have inflammation in your ankle is from scar tissue; when you walk on sand, it rubs and causes friction. If you smooth it out, like with your meniscus surgery three years ago, you don’t have the pain anymore. Inflammation equals pain.

22:08 Informed Patient Advocacy

Eduardo Perez: I want to go back to my 20-year-old self but keep everything I know now at 56. I wanted to interview you because I think as a patient, we have to ask our doctors questions. Unfortunately, in the United States, it’s not FDA approved. We have to be open. We’re so hesitant to change or try new things. It’s been a great experience for me, and I wanted to share my experience and questions. Go in informed. Do your research. If you’re not satisfied, get a second opinion. It’s our body, and we have to make the decision on how we want to feel. Three years ago, my life changed with every step because I was pain free from that knee.

24:05 Dosage and Long-Term Results

Dr. Yi Song: It’s very important that the number of cells you use in the injection matters. Especially for an active lifestyle, if you use only 10 million or 20 million, you may not achieve the same effect. That’s why we use 50 million. Sometimes cost is a concern, but for older patients or severe injury, they might need two treatments if they only use 10 million cells. If you use 50 million cells for a joint injection, in most cases, you achieve long-lasting results as long as you don’t re-injure the area.

25:56 Facial Regeneration and Anti-Aging

Eduardo Perez: We did the joint one and it was painful. There was a little bit left over, so we went to the sides of the face. You also do stem cells for the face. What kind of procedure is that?

Dr. Yi Song: When you inject stem cells into the face, it stimulates your own body’s fibroblasts in the subcutaneous layer of your skin. This is not deep into the muscle like Botox. Botox makes your muscle not contract so you don’t have lines, but it doesn’t stimulate skin regeneration. Your fibroblasts are responsible for regeneration and generating collagen. They are in the subcutaneous layer, about 2 to 2.5 millimeters deep. When we do microneedling, it’s usually 2 millimeters deep. I actually did it myself on my face four days ago. I also get intravenous infusion every three or four months for maintenance and anti-aging.

The earlier you start with prevention, the better. The more you age, the more chronic inflammation your body generates because your body’s stem cell count declines. Your body needs constant regeneration, but if stem cells decline in number and capability, they cannot keep up with daily damage. That deficit builds up into chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is one of the 14 hallmarks of aging, along with things like telomeres, autophagy, and the gut microbiome.

30:46 Biohacking and Daily Maintenance

Dr. Yi Song: Biohackers try a lot of things, including red light. Localized red light prolongs the effect of stem cell treatment. You can also get a big panel—I just got one for $2,500—and do it 10 minutes every day in the morning. You lie in bed, do 10 minutes on the front and 10 minutes on the back. It’s very beneficial for anti-aging and helps with the aches and pains you usually feel when you wake up.

Eduardo Perez: I’ve been using my red light. Even on the plane on the way back, I put a boot on to stabilize it. I gotta save up for the $2,500 panel now. Don’t tell my wife. But you’re right, you have to invest in yourself.

Dr. Yi Song: Red light in the morning is good because it wakes up your body’s circadian rhythm to get ready for the day. You should protect your eyes with goggles or dark glass when doing the front, but for the back you don’t have to wear them. I shine it on the side of my face that I think is droopier.

34:16 The Consultation Process and Peptides

Eduardo Perez: Take me through the process. If someone wants to contact you, what are the next steps?

Dr. Yi Song: The regular procedure is to fill out a form first. We will do a complimentary assessment to see what’s going on in your whole body. For the guy with pulmonary fibrosis, we looked at whether an autoimmune condition was attacking his lung. We go through your whole health history. Not everybody needs stem cells immediately; sometimes we can change something for free that helps you feel better. We might also recommend peptides. Peptide injection is another way of reducing inflammation, though in my opinion it’s not as powerful as stem cell treatment. You can combine both.

Eduardo Perez: Are peptides more for microdosing? Everything needs to be done in the right way and proportion to be powerful. We need to recognize each person’s unique body and design a system for their specific condition.

39:13 Pre-COVID Cells and Immune Safety

Eduardo Perez: People ask if these cells are pre-COVID or post-COVID. Why is that important?

Dr. Yi Song: If you obtain cells from parents who were both vaccinated for COVID, it’s possible the baby’s umbilical cord stem cells can have the spike protein mRNA inside. That could cause autoimmune conditions because spike proteins are considered foreign. Mesenchymal stem cells themselves do not have the receptor to trigger an immune rejection; they are immunoprivileged and escape your own body’s immune reaction. This is why some people prefer cells from before the vaccine era.

41:01 Why Colombia: Environment and Food

Eduardo Perez: Why Colombia for you?

Dr. Yi Song: It’s a nice natural environment and the food is much fresher than what we have in the US. You need that for the healing process. In Colombia, the eggs are different because chickens are fed real food rather than synthetic feed or corn. The vegetables from farmers don’t last as long because they aren’t sprayed with preservatives. Every time I go there, I lose weight easily, but I gain it back when I return to the US.

43:43 Pharmaceutical Regulations and Natural Healing

Eduardo Perez: Why is this not regulated in the United States?

Dr. Yi Song: Umbilical cord stem cells cannot be patented as a drug because they are a natural ingredient. It’s not a homogenous ingredient; it has many sub-populations of mesenchymal stem cells. Some might repair better than others, but we don’t separate them yet. I believe anything as close to nature as possible works better than extracted ingredients. Big pharma’s goal is to extract active ingredients, like how statins are extracted from fungus. You can eat red yeast rice to lower cholesterol naturally, but when you extract the ingredient, it’s taken out of context. The current medical system was set up around 1900 by John D. Rockefeller and focused on drugs and surgery, taking natural healing out of the curriculum.

48:17 Final Thoughts and Future Episodes

Eduardo Perez: Here comes Dr. Yi to rattle all of that. I can’t wait to go back to Medellin to see the progress. Synergy is a great retreat with cabins and everything. I climbed the rock Guadalupe last time and I want to do it again without pain.

Dr. Yi Song: In Colombia, the mountains give you natural exercise. You don’t even need a gym. If you find our conversation helpful, please subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. We talk about everything from stem cells to holistic healing, all grounded in research and real results.

Eduardo Perez: It’s the culture, the people, and the food. I’m so happy I came to see you today.

Dr. Yi Song: Very nice having you here. Thank you.