No. We will be storing your cells as whole hair follicles once we have deemed those cells as viable. When you have use of the cells in the future, we, or an accredited medical institution will isolate and grow the viable cells, called primary keratinocytes, and convert them into stem cells. Our process gives you the comfort that your cells are viable and that they can be converted into stem cells – but we preserve them as they are, in their best state to one day be converted by Acorn or a certified medical practitioner.
Archives: Acorn FAQ
Getting your DNA as a digital file is comparable to taking a picture of a person and not getting all the other information you might get from a live interaction with them. DNA alone doesn’t capture everything that your cells can uncover.
The live cells that Acorn collects through your hair follicles can be converted into iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells). iPSCs are stem cells that can become any type of cell in the human body. This is why they have the potential to be used in regenerative medicine and gene therapies. In addition, your follicle cells can also be leveraged as genetic sources of data to help you make better health decisions based on your genetic make-up. They can be used to analyze 100% of the full genome. In comparison, the DNA obtained from the cells of cheek swabs/saliva in current popular home collection kits is made up of dead cells. The services that use cheek swabs/saliva typically focus on less than 1% of a full genome. Also, cells collected in this way are not viable for use in medical therapy the way that live hair follicle cells could be used from Acorn’s non-invasive process.
Your cells are stored in a world class facility with state of the art cryogenic storage containers that have vault-like security, 24-7 monitoring and back-up systems. Acorn has taken its lead from generations of umbilical cord banking, sperm banking and oocyte (egg) freezing protocols to ensure your cell storage meets the same stringent conditions. The facility is one of the most secure, safe and high-quality bio-repositories in the world. Experienced staff, dual redundant alarm and real-time temperature monitoring systems, video surveillance and high security access restrictions all ensures continuous security. We operate within ISO and cGTP standards for cell processing and storage.
Acorn uses its advanced biological analytics to learn from your data and aims over time to offer additional services that provide health reports and insights based on your data that is relevant to you. To deliver our services to you, we use the most stringent security standards to keep and maintain data privacy at all times. You can refer to our full privacy policy at www.acorn.me for more information.
Yes, pulling out the hair follicle doesn’t stop hair growth. On average, most people have anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on their heads and naturally lose around 100 to 200 hairs per day that naturally grow back. Scalp hair grows in cycles – each hair follicle undergoes a growth stage that lasts anywhere from two to eight years, followed by a two-month resting stage where no growth occurs. At that point, the hair strand falls out and a new one begins to grow in its place. For a healthy person, this means between 80 and 90 percent of hair follicles are growing hair at one time, while the rest of the follicles are resting or shedding.
We test your cells for viability, and we consider them viable if they are healthy and still alive which makes them a viable source for future medical therapeutic use. We do this to ensure that your cells have the greatest potential of being leveraged later in life, and to ensure that you are storing valuable cells.
When your hair follicles arrive at our facility, they are first visually inspected. We then analyse them for contamination and analyze the cells in the follicles for viability. The hair follicles are then suspended in a liquid that helps protect the cells from ice crystal damage. They are placed in a scientifically controlled rate freezer which freezes them at a predetermined rate until they reach -150°C. Your hair follicles and the cells in them are then cryopreserved in vapour phase liquid nitrogen at -190°C in separate vials and stored in two separate cryotanks which creates redundancy of samples for your peace of mind and multiple future uses.
Yes, the medical community has been relying on cryopreservation to preserve sperm cells and oocytes (eggs) for generations already; and umbilical cord blood banking also uses cryopreservation. Acorn uses the same reliable process and adds its proprietary transport media to collect and ship the cells – which all enable lifelong cell preservation and viability. Cells and other human tissues can theoretically be safely and reliably preserved using cryopreservation indefinitely. That means that cryopreservation is a proven method that will reliably allow you to benefit from future medical innovations for many years to come.
Cryopreservation is the most widely accepted, medically-proven, method of safe long-term preservation of human samples, specifically cells, at very low temperatures to maintain their viability when thawed. The medical community has been using cryopreservation for generations already for fertility solutions involving the freezing of eggs; or with the preservation of sperm samples – all successfully generating 40 years of live births already.
Acorn was built on two very important fundamental principles: transparency and consent. We will never share identifiable personal data from your cells to any party – either overtly or surreptitiously; and we will always ask you to opt-in and provide explicit consent to any health-related studies, research or data that could help you or help others that would require your identifiable personal data. Acorn believes strongly that the future of the global digital economy and the communities that thrive in it will be built on transparency and consent. You always need to be fully aware of what is being done with your data and you must always consent to its use. You can read more in our privacy policy and terms and conditions of service on our website (www.acorn.me).
