The discovery of stem cells has meant a continuous revolution in medicine. The cell therapy protocols for autism and cerebral palsy are examples of a new approach to a condition that is difficult to treat. Consuelo Mancias-Guerra is a pioneer in the field and her work at the University Hospital of the state of Nuevo Leon gives hope to families, improving the quality of life of patients diagnosed with these conditions.
IMPROVE THE CONNECTION OF THE NEURONS
Mancias-Guerra and her team started this project after having been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital, in the second half of 2012. She explained that the treatment involves applying cells from the bone marrow directly to the brain through the spinal cord to help establish a better connection between the neurons. These cells motivate the functional neurons of patients with cerebral palsy and autism: “For example, if you are working with 10 neurons instead of 30, the stem cells drive those 10 so they can perform functions like those of the other 20”, she explains.
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Consuelo Mancias-Guerra attended medical school at the “Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon” and graduated in general practice in 1992. She was formed in pediatrics from 1993 to 1996 and then Clinical Hematology from 1996 to 1998 in the University Hospital “Dr. José E. Gonzalez” of the same University in Monterrey. She became a fellow in bone marrow transplant and in cryopreservation of stem cells at the University of Texas at San Antonio from 1998 to 1999. She is certified by the Mexican Council of Hematology of Mexico. Since 1999, she has been the head of a private blood bank at the “OCA Hospital” in Monterrey and, since 2001, she became part of the Hematology Service of the University Hospital of Monterrey. There she started the cryopreservation laboratory and the first public bank of umbilical cord blood in Mexico.
Mancias-Guerra actively participates in the training of medical residents and doctoral students, she has written more than 20 publications in medical journals and 8 chapters in books on pediatrics and hematology. She has won several national medicine awards.
Her main area of interest for research is cell therapy, in which she has clinical trials underway and listed on ClinicalTrials.gov
