Category Archives: Alabama Stem Cells

The first commercial product from Hampton Creeks new clean meat production platform will likely be in the avian family, director of cellular agriculture Eitan Fischer told FoodNavigator-USA as the company best known for its work on plant-based proteins unveiled ambitious plans to explore the animal variety.

Fischer was speaking to us after Hampton Creek founder Josh Tetrick posted anarticle on linkedin explaining that producing 'clean' or 'cultured' meat (by culturing cells without raising or slaughtering animals) and plant-based meat/eggs, both stemmed from a desire to find kinder and more sustainable alternatives to industrial animal farming.

His comments came as Dr Eric Schulze, senior scientist at Memphis Meats probably the best-known clean meat company told delegates at the IFT show this week that his company aims to launch premium-priced clean meat products in high-end restaurants in 2019, and more mass market products in grocery stores in 2021.

Poultry will likely be first to market in late 2018, Fischer told us: We believe the first product released commercially will likely be in the avian family.

Longer term, however, the plan is to build a multi-species, multi-product platform spanning the entire range of meat and seafood, he said.

We haven't solved the meat and seafood problem until we are able to make all of these products.

Asked how long Hampton Creek had been working on the technology, and what kinds of scientists were working on the project, he said: We have been working on this for over a year. Many members of our 59-person R&D team are involved, between our molecular team, our analytical chemistry team, our process team, and our product development team.

We also supplemented the significant in-house expertise we had previously with additional, more specific specialists such as scientists with stem cell biology, medicine, and tissue engineering backgrounds.

"We believe that clean meat can be evaluated and regulated within existing regulatory frameworks... Clean meat is a food, not a drug, not a new animal drug or a food additive..." [read more on this at FoodNavigator-USA next week..]

Rebecca Cross, counsel,Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

We think its unlikely that families in Alabama (or anywhere in the world) will consistently choose plant-based alternatives over chicken, beef, pork, and seafood Over the past year, weve started the early work of expanding our platform to solve the technical challenges of scalable clean meat.

With plants providing nutrients for animal cells to grow, we believe we can produce meat and seafood that is over 10x more efficient than the worlds highest volume slaughterhouse.

Imagine choosing between a similarly priced pound of clean high-grade bluefin tuna belly or conventional tilapia from underwater traps. Or clean A5 Kobe beef versus conventional sirloin (corn-fed and confined). Our approach will be transparent and unquestionably safe, free of antibiotics and have a much lower risk of foodborne illness. The right choice will be obvious.

Weve started the process of licensing our discoveries to the worlds largest food manufacturers and, in the years ahead, well do the same with the worlds largest meat and seafood companies.

Josh Tetrick, founder and CEO, Hampton Creek

Fischer would not say what kind of stem cells the company is using, or whether the plan is to first proliferate cells in a stir tank bioreactor and then transfer them to a larger perfusion type bioreactor where they will mature and differentiate in to the different cell types (fat, muscle, connective tissue).

However, he confirmed that, We are building a platform that enables us to produce cells of different types including muscle, fat, and others, in a bioreactor-based process.

As for the go-to-market strategy, he said: We are exploring various options for the initial release but are most focused on how to get the costs down to parity or below current meat prices. We haven't truly solved the meat and seafood problem until we've done so.

The company has not said what it is using as a growth medium (the nutrient-rich bath the cells need to grow) but said its expertise in plant-based products had enabled it to develop a viable vegan alternative to animal serum.

"The entry of a billion-dollar company into the clean meat market sector is a vote of confidence in the technology, and we hope that Hampton Creek will be the first of many major food companies to dive into this incrediblypromisingfield."

Bruce Friedrich, executive director, The Good Food Institute

In a mapping document penned by the Good Food Institute earlier this month, the authors predicted that clean meat would likely come to market in phases, with the first products perhaps hybrids combining clean meat and plant-based meat; followed by ground meat products (nuggets, burgers); and finally those mimicking steaks or chicken breasts, which present significantly greater technical challenges.

The first products that come to market may be hybrid products wherein clean meat is included as a part of plant-based products that essentially require only cell lines, media, and proliferative bioreactors to come to fruition.

They add: The next commercial products will likely be ground meat mimics, where scaffolding can be minimal; more complex structures requiring vascularization or perfusion bioreactors are not necessarily required.

Finally, more structured tissues like those mimicking steaks or chicken breasts will require research and development in all of the areas outlined above. Thus, a consideration of target product(s) should drive the R&D focus.

Speaking at a webinar hosted by the GFI on June 8, Dr Specht added: "I think there's a lot of evidence to suggest that consumers would be interested in hybrid products," citing the success of products already on the market that feature combinations of regular meat and plant-based ingredients, such as mushroom blend burgers and sausages with 40% meat, which are marketing on a health and sustainability platform, and can also be more affordable.

"The phrase 'clean meat' is similar to 'clean energy' in that it immediately communicates important aspects of the technologyboth the environmental benefits and the decrease in food-borne pathogens and drug residues."

Bruce Friedrich, executive director, The Good Food Institute

This Good Food Institute schematic illustrates one conception of the clean meat production process at scale. The first stage is proliferation of the cells, followed by a differentiation and maturation stage where cells are seeded onto scaffolds and allowed to mature into the cell types required for meat.

Clean meat production begins with obtaining cell lines for the desired animal species (eg. chicken, pork, beef) that behave in a predictable way through many generations, while maintaining an unlimited capacity to reproduce/divide (ie. immortalized cell lines).

Next you have to proliferate cells, perhaps in a stir tank bioreactor where you might suspend your cells in the growth medium (both Hampton Creek and Memphis Meats claim to have found viable alternatives to animal serum read more about that HERE ) and stir them and keep them warm.

As for the next stage, where you want to encourage the creation of an organized pattern of muscle, fat, and connective tissue cells, this would probably require seeding onto scaffolding and then differentiating into the various cell types, the stage at which you get real fat cells forming and the muscle cells forming into fibers to give that authentic meaty texture, said Dr Specht.

Here, the scaffolding would need to be something that is subsumed within the final meat product so it would have to be made out of something that is degradable over time, or something edible that would not impact the taste or safety of the final product such as cellulose or collagen, she said.

To accommodate three-dimensional growth, the scaffolds must exhibit porosity for perfusing nutrient media [the nutrients have to be able to reach the cells], she added. Alternatively, they must support vascularization of the tissue itself, i.e., the formation of a network of vessels to allow nutrients to permeate the tissue. Several production methods, including 3D printing and spun-fiber platforms, allow fine-tuning of pore size and microstructures within the scaffold.

"Once you get to the scaffold stage, that area is less explored and has not yet been demonstrated at scale."

Interested in clean meat?

GFI senior scientist Dr Liz Specht will give delegates at FOOD VISION USA 2017 the lowdown on clean meat, while Alex Lorestani will explain how Geltor is producing gelatin without animals. See the latest speaker list HERE .

See the original post here:Hampton Creek to enter clean meat market in 2018: 'We are building a multi-species, multi-product platform' - FoodNavigator-USA.com

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Alabama Stem Cells | Stem Cell TV

Michael S. Beckenstein, M.D. a Birmingham, Alabama, plastic surgeon is the offering the only cosmetic stem cell therapy in Alabama. He first brought this latest therapy to his T3 hair restoration practice and has been successfully using this to treat hair loss in men and women. Stem cell therapy is gaining popularity in all fields of medicine especially orthopedics, cardiology, and regenerative medicine. Stem cells are being used to grow new cells and tissue like heart muscle cartilage, and other cells. Stem cells can build or regenerate new cells and tissues. Injecting them in and around surgical sites, such as tendon and ligament repairs helps create stronger repairs.

Stem cells can be found in bone marrow and fatty tissue. These cells can be easily harvested through needle aspiration. It is far easier and less painful to take these cells from fatty areas. we are well versed in performing liposuction, and how we obtain this fat specimens are ridiculously easy states Dr. Beckenstein. We use tiny cannulas, just as we do for liposuction, but real small, for the amount of tissue we take. We need only a minimal amount to obtain the cells we need. By using a highly specialized process, using incredible technology, true stem cells are concentrated into an injectable form. In order to obtain real stem cells, an amazing, staged process is needed and we use the Healeon technology, which is safe, fast, and enable us to yield 99% viable cells. Adds Dr. Beckenstein. these are real cells, there are many practices, and products that say they are stem cells, yet they are not! The patient must ask the right questions about this and obtain proof about what they are receiving.

Stem cells can be injected into the scalp to regenerate hair follicles allowing them to create thicker hair shafts, which thickens ones hair. T3 Hair Restoration is the first to introduce this to the southeast region and is seeing good success with this therapy. Stem cells can also be effective in regeneration of aging tissues such as skin and the underlying soft tissue. Injecting stem cells into these areas can create a more youthful, healthy appearance. while nothing is the fountain of youth Dr. Beckenstein cautions, this therapy can yield nice improvements for women and menalike.

For those seeking information on this exciting, revolutionary therapy for Alabama hair restoration or aging skin, please visit us online at http://www.msbmd.com or t3hair.net, or contact us at 205-933-9322?1-866-MSBMD77.

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Only Cosmetic Stem Cell Therapy in Alabama - msbmd.com

The doctors affiliated with National Stem Cell Centers in Houston, TX specialize in harvesting tissue and having the cells processed at our registered tissue processing lab.

The physicians follow compliant protocols where the tissue is not manipulated and there is no tissue or cell expansion.

We also do not use enzymes as per FDA guidelines.

Stem cell procedures hold great potential for the management of joint pain, arthritis, hair loss, cosmetic and other disorders as well as auto-immune, renal, and neurological disorders.

There are various types of stem cells, particularly as they pertain to potential procedures, including umbilical cord cells, adipose (fat-derived), amniotic cells, placenta, bone marrow, exosomes, and others.

The physician will go over your options during your complimentary consultation.

Dr. Baker is a general surgeon by training and a native of Northeast Texas.

His general surgery training makes him uniquely qualified as an excellent stem cell physician.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas with the highest honors,

Dr. Baker attended the University of Texas Medical School at Houston where he was awarded the prestigious Parents and Alumni Scholarship.

During medical school, Dr. Baker was selected to participate in the competitive summer research program and remained active in research throughout medical school.

Following medical school and research commitments, Dr. Baker moved to Phoenix, Arizona where he began his surgical education. It was in the Scottsdale area that Dr. Baker began to hone his artistic eye for body sculpting. Dr. Baker also garnered broad experience in regenerative medicine around this time as aesthetic improvement and restorative complementary medicine techniques often go hand in hand.

In the six years since Dr. Baker has treated thousands of cosmetic patients and a near equal quantity of functional medicine patients. He strives to remain on the cutting edge through continued education and a meticulous attention to detail for all of his patients with a willingness to think outside the box and look for options that traditional medicine might otherwise not consider.

Dr. Thiele is a General Surgeon with five years of training in general surgery.

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Management Wound which has helped hone his hair transplant techniques including FUT, graft harvesting, recipient site making, anesthesia, pain management and wound healing.

He has worked as a Physician at the East Texas Medical Center and Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler, and served as a Physician with VOHRA Would Physicians, TeleHealth, Murdock & Applegate Recovery.

He attended medical school at the University of Texas in Galveston and trained at Mercer University in Georgia and Charleston Area Medical Center in W. Virginia.

Dr. Thiele performs the FUT as well as FUE procedures at MAXIM Hair Restoration in Houston and Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Christopher Hankins is a plastic surgeon who trained on stem cell therapy with the world renowned regenerative surgeon Dr. David A. Mayer in New York City.

Dr. Hankins also specializes in face, breast, and body aesthetic surgery. He also has advanced training in hand surgery, breast reconstruction after cancer, and other reconstructive surgical procedures. This training enables him to perform stem cell harvests with relative ease, producing a great yield of tissue for processing.

Dr. Hankins completed five plastic surgery fellowships in the U.S. and U.K. including the Baylor College of Medicine, and a Hand Surgery fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Hankins completed his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Dr. Hankins served as the Medical Director of the Wound Care Center at the Lake Jackson Hospital. He is actively involved in study and clinical application of anti-aging medicine.

Dr. Hankins has authored 19 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, and serves on the editorial boards of four medical journals. He has been a presenter on a variety of topics worldwide.

Dr. Hankins has participated in plastic surgery medical missions to Peru, Bolivia, and Pakistan where he performed a number of surgical procedures on disadvantaged children and adults. He sits on the Boards of charitable foundations for children.

Schedule your complimentary stem cell therapy consultation today with one of our affiliated physicians in Houston, Texas, by calling (802) 278-5098 or submit the Contact Form on this page.

This location serves Houston, Sugarland, Katy, Heights, Austin, San Antonio and all of Texas.

Address:6910 Bellaire Blvd.,Building 9Houston, Texas 77074

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Stem Cell Therapy in Houston, TX | National Stem Cell Centers

First in the River Region Serving Pain Patients with Cutting Edge Interventional Pain Management CareSince 1993.

The mission of Central Alabama Pain Management Center is to provide compassionate cutting edge care to the River Region citizens. In that vain, CAPMC is thrilled to announce the addition of Orthobiological Regenerative Medicine procedures. We now use your Platelets and Stem Cells to promote natural healing of your degenerative Joints and Discs of your Spine.

Interested?

Call us to schedule an evaluation to determine if you are a candidate for Regenerative Interventional Care.

Generally our patients are referred to our practice. We do, however, accept self referral in some instances.

Your evaluation and treatment begins with our physicians face to facevisit. We do not use nurse practitioners or physicians assistants to perform your evaluation. At that time of your examinationyour treatment plan will be determined for you.

Services offered include the following:

Medication optimization and management

Interventional Nerve Blocks ranging from Epidurals,transforaminals nerve root blocks, facet joint blocks, large joint injections andRadiofrequency Neuroablation

Dorsal Column Stimulator Trials, surgical implantation, and reprogramming service are available

Proliferative (Prolo) Therapy stimulates Ligament and Tendon healing

Regenerative Medicine services range for Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections to Stem Cell harvest and re-implantationfor management ofdegenerative joints and discs.

All though we no longer implant Intrathecal Pain Pumps, we do continue to manage our previous implants.

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Central Alabama Pain Management Center Established 1993

Stem cell therapy has actually become a popular debate in the worldwide medical scene. This highly controversial treatment has received mixed viewpoints from various stakeholders in the healthcare market and has likewise attracted the attention of politicians, religious leaders and the general population at large. Stem cell treatment is thought about a revolutionary treatment for people experiencing a large range of degenerative conditions. Some typical concerns regarding this therapy are responded to listed below.

Stem cells can be described as blank state or non-specialized cells that have the ability to become specialized cells in the body such as bone, muscle, nerve or organ cells. This suggests that these unique cells can be used to regrow or establish a vast array of broken cells and tissues in the body. Stem cell therapy is therefore a treatment that targets at accomplishing tissue regrowth and can be utilized to treat health conditions and health problems such as osteoarthritis, degenerative disc illness, spine injury, muscular degeneration, motor nerve cell illness, ALS, Parkinsons, cardiovascular disease and much more.

Stem cells can be extracted from a young embryo after conception. These stem cells are commonly described as embryonic stem cells. After the stem cells are extracted from the embryo, the embryo is terminated. This is generally one of the significant causes of controversy in the field of stem cell research study. Many individuals suggest that termination of an embryo is dishonest and unacceptable.

Stem cells can still be gotten through other ways as they can be found in the blood, bone marrow and umbilical cables of adult people. Normal body cells can also be reverse-engineered to become stem cells that have actually restricted abilities.

Being a treatment that is still under studio, stem cell therapy has actually not been totally accepted as a feasible treatment choice for the above discussed health conditions and illnesses. A lot of research is currently being carried out by scientists and medical specialists in numerous parts of the world to make this treatment sensible and effective. There are however different restrictions imposed by federal governments on research including embryonic stem cells.

Presently, there havent been lots of case studies carried out for this type of treatment. However, with the few case studies that have actually been carried out, among the major concerns that has been raised is the increase in a clients risk of establishing cancer. Cancer is caused by the quick multiplication of cells that tend not to die so easily. Stem cells have actually been connected with comparable growth elements that may result in formation of tumors and other cancerous cells in clients.

New research study has actually nevertheless shown promise as researchers target at developing stem cells that do not form into tumors in later treatment stages. These stem cells can therefore effectively transform into other types of specialized cells. This treatment is for that reason worth investigating into as numerous clients can gain from this innovative treatment.

Find a stem cell doctor in Mobile AL 36607

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Main address:Alabama

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Stem Cell Mobile Alabama 36607

Stem cell treatment has become a popular debate in the global medical scene. This extremely questionable treatment has gotten mixed viewpoints from numerous stakeholders in the healthcare industry and has actually also attracted the interest of politicians, spiritual leaders and the general population at large. Stem cell therapy is considered a revolutionary treatment for people dealing with a wide variety of degenerative conditions. Some common questions concerning this treatment are answered listed below.

Stem cells can be referred to as blank state or non-specialized cells that have the capability to become specific cells in the body such as bone, muscle, nerve or organ cells. This implies that these special cells can be utilized to regrow or develop a vast array of broken cells and tissues in the body. Stem cell therapy is for that reason a treatment that aims at achieving tissue regeneration and can be utilized to treat health conditions and health problems such as osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, spine injury, muscular degeneration, motor nerve cell illness, ALS, Parkinsons, heart problem and much more.

Stem cells can be extracted from a young embryo after conception. These stem cells are commonly referred to as embryonic stem cells. After the stem cells are extracted from the embryo, the embryo is terminated. This is generally among the major causes of debate in the field of stem cell research. Lots of people suggest that termination of an embryo is dishonest and undesirable.

Stem cells can still be gotten through other methods as they can be found in the blood, bone marrow and umbilical cables of adult humans. Normal body cells can also be reverse-engineered to become stem cells that have restricted capabilities.

Being a treatment that is still under research, stem cell treatment has not been totally accepted as a sensible treatment option for the above discussed health conditions and illnesses. A great deal of research study is presently being performed by researchers and medical professionals in numerous parts of the world to make this treatment viable and efficient. There are however various restrictions enforced by federal governments on studio involving embryonic stem cells.

Presently, there have not been numerous case studies carried out for this kind of treatment. Nevertheless, with the few case studies that have been carried out, one of the major issues that has actually been raised is the boost in a patients threat of establishing cancer. Cancer is brought on by the quick reproduction of cells that tend not to die so easily. Stem cells have been connected with comparable development aspects that may cause formation of tumors and other cancerous cells in clients.

New research has actually nevertheless shown guarantee as researchers focus on establishing stem cells that do not form into growths in later treatment stages. These stem cells can therefore successfully change into other kinds of specialized cells. This therapy is for that reason worth researching into as many clients can benefit from this innovative treatment.

Need a stem cell therapy in Birmingham AL 35282

4.96

Main address:Alabama

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Stem Cell Birmingham Alabama 35282

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USA College of Medicine - University of South Alabama ...

Neuro-oncologists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Jiaotong University have found a new treatment that inhibits glioblastoma growth.

Researchers led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Dr. Ichiro Nakano and the Xi'an Jiaotong University's Dr. Maode Wang found a way glioma stem cells are maintained inside molecules, and they experimented to see it could be used in treating glioblastoma. The scientists created a small molecule inhibitor that they tested to see if could be used as a therapeutic target in glioblastoma.

The group conducted the test after it found that an another inhibitor of cancers that were past early stages, called OTS167, did not work in treating glioblastoma in another experiment.

Nakano's research facility unveiled that NEK2, kinase enzyme, grew following OTS167 treatment. Researchers then built a different inhibitor, CMP3a, via computer to slow growth in pre-clinical models. They experimented with CMP3a, which revealed that the CMP3a prevented glioblastoma from getting bigger in mice.

When the CMP3a was used with radiation, researchers unveiled that the combination kept glioblastoma from getting bigger in culture.

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Researchers find new glioblastoma inhibitor - Patient Daily

Scientists have created an electronic wafer that reprogrammed damaged skin cells on a mouse's leg to grow new blood vessels and help a wound heal.

One day, creator Chandan Sen hopes, it could be used to be used to treat wounds on humans. But that day is a long way off as are many other regeneration technologies in the works. Like Sen, some scientists have begun trying to directly reprogram one cell type into another for healing, while others are attempting to build organs or tissues from stem cells and organ-shaped scaffolding.

But other scientists have greeted Sen's mouse experiment, published in Nature Nanotechnology on Monday, with extreme skepticism. "My impression is that there's a lot of hyperbole here," says Sean Morrison, a stem cell researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "The idea you can [reprogram] a limited number of cells in the skin and improve blood flow to an entire limb I think it's a pretty fantastic claim. I find it hard to believe."

When the device is placed on live skin and activated, it sends a small electrical pulse onto the skin cells' membrane, which opens a tiny window on the cell surface. "It's about 2 percent of the cell membrane," says Sen, who is a researcher in regenerative medicine at Ohio State University. Then, using a microscopic chute, the chip shoots new genetic code through that window and into the cell where it can begin reprogramming the cell for a new fate.

Sen says the whole process takes less than 0.1 seconds and can reprogram the cells resting underneath the device, which is about the size of a big toenail. The best part is that it's able to successfully deliver its genetic payload almost 100 percent of the time, he says. "No other gene delivery technique can deliver over 98 percent efficiency. That is our triumph."

To test the device's healing capabilities, Sen and his colleagues took a few mice with damaged leg arteries and placed the chip on the skin near the damaged artery. That reprogrammed a centimeter or two of skin to turn into blood vessel cells. Sen says the cells that received the reprogramming genes actually started replicating the reprogramming code that the researchers originally inserted in the chip, repackaging it and sending it out to other nearby cells. And that initiated the growth of a new network of blood vessels in the leg that replaced the function of the original, damaged artery, the researchers say. "Not only did we make new cells, but those cells reorganized to make functional blood vessels that plumb with the existing vasculature and carry blood," Sen says. That was enough for the leg to fully recover. Injured mice that didn't get the chip never healed.

When the researchers used the chip on healthy legs, no new blood vessels formed. Sen says because injured mouse legs were was able to incorporate the chip's reprogramming code into the ongoing attempt to heal.

That idea hasn't quite been accepted by other researchers, however. "It's just a hand waving argument," Morrison says. "It could be true, but there's no evidence that reprogramming works differently in an injured tissue versus a non-injured tissue."

What's more, the role of exosomes, the vesicles that supposedly transmit the reprogramming command to other cells, has been contentious in medical science. "There are all manners of claims of these vesicles. It's not clear what these things are, and if it's a real biological process or if it's debris," Morrison says. "In my lab, we would want to do a lot more characterization of these exosomes before we make any claims like this."

Sen says that the theory that introduced reprogramming code from the chip or any other gene delivery method does need more work, but he isn't deterred by the criticism. "This clearly is a new conceptual development, and skepticism is understandable," he says. But he is steadfast in his confidence about the role of reprogrammed exosomes. When the researchers extracted the vesicles and injected them into skin cells in the lab, Sen says those cells converted into blood vessel cells in the petri dish. "I believe this is definitive evidence supporting that [these exosomes] may induce cell conversion."

Even if the device works as well as Sen and his colleagues hope it does, they only tested it on mice. Repairing deeper injuries, like vital organ damage, would also require inserting the chip into the body to reach the wound site. It has a long way to go before it can ever be considered for use on humans. Right now, scientists can only directly reprogram adult cells into a limited selection of other cell types like muscle, neurons and blood vessel cells. It'll be many years before scientists understand how to reprogram one cell type to become part of any of our other, many tissues.

Still, Morrison says the chip is an interesting bit of technology. "It's a cool idea, being able to release [genetic code] through nano channels," he says. "There may be applications where that's advantageous in some way in the future."

Excerpt from:
A Chip That Reprograms Cells Helps Healing, At Least In Mice - Alabama Public Radio

Nina Martyris is a literature-focused freelancer. Her writing has appeared in NewYorker.com, The Paris Review Daily, The Guardian, NPR and elsewhere.

Sixteen years ago, life seemed perfect for drama teacher Heather Harpham when she fell in love with Brian Morton, an award-winning novelist equipped with a "sly, sly humor." Sure, they were a study in opposites he was a disciplined, "diffident, sexy, Jewish intellectual," she a California free spirit; he ate broccoli with brown rice and garlic sauce for dinner every night, she strayed toward salty snacks and ice cream; her apartment had big, colorful posters, his had black-and-white postcards. But they were young, in love, and living in New York, and these differences only proved to be thrillingly attractive.

One difference, though, was insuperable: She wanted kids, he didn't. Neither made any secret of where they stood on the issue.

When Harpham learned she was pregnant, they broke up, and she went back to her mother's studio in California to have the baby. Lonely and furious, she was nevertheless determined to bring up her child "one-handed." Hours after the birth of her daughter, however, came a devastating diagnosis: The baby's bone marrow couldn't make red blood cells. She would require an immediate blood transfusion and frequent ones thereafter four in the first three months as it turned out to stay alive.

In her new memoir, Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After, Harpham relives the heartbreak, hope, and terror she experienced as she watched her infant daughter cross the abyss of a life-threatening disease. Into this tension-torqued story of sickness and health, she works in the fraught tale of her own evolving relationship with Morton, loading the memoir with an added intensity.

Acutely aware that her little girl, Gracie, is a victim of bad blood in more ways than one bad blood between her parents and her own malfunctioning red blood cells Harpham is a tight coil of fear and anger. Her mother, stepbrothers, and friends in California form a protective cordon around her and the baby, but their loyalty only serves to throw Morton's absence into high relief. Four months after Gracie's birth, Morton, who has called every night and been worried sick long-distance, asks if he can see his daughter. He arrives, and quite naturally, finds her irresistible.

Harpham is no longer "one-handed," but her anger doesn't dissolve overnight it's just that saving Gracie becomes the focus of her parents' world. The transfusions stabilize her, but the odds of her living past 30 are not high. There is one solution: A stem-cell transplant from a donor who is a close match. A sibling would be the answer. It would mean having another child. But what are the chances of a sibling being a perfect match? Even if there's a match, what are the chances of the transplant being successful? Failure would be fatal. Should they go ahead? It's an agonizing decision only Gracie's parents can make.

In sharp and vivid prose, Harpham tunnels through the harrowing months ahead filled with hospitals, needles, and ICUs. While the book could have benefitted from some pruning, what keeps the reader reading is the writing. Apart from the long, twee title, Harpham's language is crisp, tersely evocative (the baby freshly conceived inside her is a "grain of rice with a heartbeat"), and most bracingly for a book whose currency is pain, funny. Harpham admires Morton's sly humor, but she, too, has a gift for comedy that glints through at dour moments. It's hard not to smile, albeit with a catch in your throat, when she says her unsmiling newborn, "barely past blob status," looks "alarmingly like Alfred Hitchcock" and emits high-pitched squeaks like "a small wind instrument" and who, after a few hours out of her mother's womb, begins "to smell less like apples and more like an element, tin or iron."

Iron, of course, is the elixir the baby needs to survive, and Harpham's humor has an aching edge to it. It provides the gritty foil to lighter moments such as the hospital scene when Gracie first sets eyes on Gabriel, whose stem cells, if they turn out to match hers, could save her life. She doesn't know any of this, as she's not even two. Asked what she thinks of her brother, she peers into his face, strokes his hand, and announces: "Soft boy."

"My mom cried," writes Harpham. "Brian cried. I cried. Gabriel slept. Gracie looked at us all with baffled amusement what were we so worked up about?"

A heartfelt exploration of mortality and life, this memoir also explores the complex pulls and pushes of human relationships, and the deep debt we owe to family, friends, and modern medicine. At heart, it is a sobering mediation on the lasting impermanence of its titular emotion, happiness.

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'Happiness' Explores The Complex Push And Pull Of Human Relationships - Alabama Public Radio