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About My Direct Upline
Dr. Rivka Rachel received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude
in Biomedical Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in
1989, and attended medical school at the Medical College of
Wisconsin, also in Milwaukee, graduating in 1992. During medical
school she was awarded the Frankow Award for Outstanding Academic
Achievement and was elected a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor
Society.
Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin Having
determined since high school to pursue the goal of becoming a brain
surgeon, after medical school she began a residency in Neurosurgery
at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals. While
fascinated by the ability to treat neurological conditions
surgically and convinced that there is nothing so beautiful and
awe-inspiring as the living human brain under the microscope, the
inability of medicine to cure many neurological conditions such as
spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and aggressive forms of
glioma, was unsatisfying. "How many times can you tell a
patient or family members that someone will likely never walk again
or smile or ever do the things that they have always done?" she
asked herself.
Columbia University The desire to contribute to human
health and wellbeing on a more basic level led Dr. Rachel to pursue
graduate studies in neuroscience at Columbia University in the
Center for Neurobiology and Behavior. There she was introduced to
molecular biology in the laboratory of Eric
Kandel, author and editor of the preeminent neuroscience
textbook Principles of Neuroscience, and co-recipient of the 2000
Nobel Prize in Medince or Physiology for his work on learning
and memory.
After a year in the Kandel lab, Rivka's sense of wonder at
viewing life under the microscope led her on to the laboratory of Carol
Mason, a respected neuroanatomist, where she completed her PhD
thesis on development of the visual system in albino mice and
received her degree with distinction. During work on transgenic mice
for this project, she discovered a novel mouse mutant with a defect
in a gene important for neural development. The gene defect in this
mutant, named Circletail
for its curly tail in heterozygotes, was eventually identified
through collaborations with laboratories in England and the National
Institutes of Health as Scribble, a gene important for planar
polarity in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Scribble interacts
with other genes including Vangl2, also in the planar polarity
pathway, to accomplish the orderly arrangement of cells in the plane
of a tissue. Examples of tissues that show planar polarity include
the compound eyes of Drosophila (fruit flies), the scales and fur of
various animals, and the inner
ear of mammals.
National Cancer Institute This first-hand introduction to
genetics led Rivka in 2001 to a top-notch genetics laboratory at the
National
Cancer Institute run by Nancy
Jenkins and Neal Copeland (now at A-Star in Singapore). First as
a postdoctoral fellow and later as a staff scientist at NCI, she
investigated numerous mouse models of human disease, including
retinal degeneration, lymphoma, and nervous sytem development. She
would have continued this work indefinitely, were it not for the
onset of a serious illness in a close family member.
She left NCI in 2006, to care for her family. During the course
of investigating treatment options, Rivka found a product that
stimulates the natural release of adult stem cells. Realizing the
potential of adult stem cells to repair and regenerate tissues
throughout the body, she began searching the scientific literature
for results on adult stem cell research. The fascinating results of
this search are visible here in the form of short synopses of
articles relevant to anyone interested in improving their health and
understanding what adult stem cells can do.
Dr. Rachel currently serves as a consulting editor for International
Biomedical Consultants and is an Independent Distributor for
StemTech HealthSciences, producer of StemEnhance. The opportunity to
combine her long-term research and healing-related goals has come
full circle with the ability to help people experience the benefit
of a natural means of optimizing their health.
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