Don A. Kleinsek, Ph.D.

Dr. Kleinsek is a businessman, inventor, author, educator, researcher and biotech pioneer.

His stated goal in science is to increase human longevity, noted as lifespan, while maintaining an optimal healthspan.  This goal implies the reversal of systemic aging. 

Accompanying this endeavor is his interest in cryonics, both from a science challenge and as a practical means of preserving one’s identity.

To achieve this goal Dr. Kleinsek delved into many areas of medical science to incorporate.  This includes enzymology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular genetics, cell biology, hormone action and diseases in gerontology.

He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin, with a BS in chemistry and a PhD in physiological chemistry. He was a postdoctoral fellow and faculty member for eight years in molecular genetics and cell biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He graduated magna cum laude in chemistry, and gained the highest score in graduate Ph.D. work in physiological chemistry and performed breakthrough research in his field during studies on age-related increases in cholesterol.

Seeking expedited and effective medical solutions for the marketplace, he was one of the very early entrepreneurs to enter into the dawn of the biotechnology era in the 1980s.  Kleinsek founded the first U.S. based aging biotech company, GeriGene Medical Corporation. Currently the Company’s patented cell therapy products are cures for a variety of age-related conditions (97 applications), in which some are being readied for commercialization.

Don Kleinsek opened up a new phase in the aging field utilizing personalized medicine and cellular therapeutics. He is a veteran in the field of gerontology, accenting the translation of aging research projects into clinical products that reach the commercial sector. In addition, he has published breakthrough research on age-related increases in cholesterol and on the genetic basis of aging. The commercialization of his cholesterol discoveries has been credited as pivotal in 35 patents issued to drug companies involved in the annual $20 Billion statin drug market. This number one drug in national sales has been labeled by many physicians as having the greatest impact in life-saving medicine in the last 30 years.

Scientifically, several breakthrough discoveries were made by Kleinsek including:

– the ultra-purification of the cholesterol producing enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, leading to the statin medicines.  Previous attempts to purify this critical enzyme by others failed for over a decade.

• Development of a simple spectrophotometric assay to monitor cholesterol enzyme activity
• First to show that aging occurs at the genetic level in vitro
• First to isolate a gene expressed, from in vitro aged cells, called fibronectin

– first to establish the genetic pathway involved in cellular quiescence (the inhibition of cell growth due to growth factor deprivation) as being distinct from that in cellular senescence (inhibition of cell growth due to a normal and finite replicative lifespan).  Both cellular processes were previously thought to utilize the same genetic pathway.

• Introduced to the field of aging a tool to discover differential gene expression that occurs during aging
• His initial work has shown that aging is a multi-genic phenomenon 
• Inventor of the Cellagen process, which uses cell therapeutics as the basis for founding Cellagen,LLC, has led to patents and patent applications on age-related conditions at the organ level to regain tissue functionality.  Urinary incontinence, scars, wrinkles, hormone production using cell therapeutics is among the applications of this technology.
• Introduced with patent applications to the aging field, cell therapeutics and young blood utilization for systemic aging and its reversal.
• Invented a patented on clean room technology, applied to both room facilities and bench top isolation chambers, at the gold standard of a Class 1 rating.

Kleinsek has more than 40 years of business experience in the life science industry.  This includes Founder, Chairman and CEO of 4 biotechnology companies, President and Director of a non-profit foundation as well as animal husbandry operations in the Agricultural Industry

His management responsibilities in corporate teams involved: Selling programs, technology and services, Acquiring financing, Implementing equity investment vehicles,  Application and management for loans and grants, and Negotiation of sales and purchasing worldwide

He has served on the Board of Directors with: American Aging Association, Founding Board of American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, and Founding Board, Global Health Information and Medical Research Institute.

In addition, Kleinsek has been a member of following professional societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Federation for Aging Research, American Chemical Society, American Society of Microbiology, Gerontological Society of America, New York Academy of Science, and the Tissue Culture Association.

Conduction of his research through the years and various entities was obtained through financing at several different levels including university, government (NIH), non-profit foundations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology investments.