What is Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative Medicine harnesses the power of stem cells to repair, regenerate or replace diseased cells, tissues and organs. Through it, we might one day be able to reverse the effects of cardiovascular disease, or allow children with diabetes to live without insulin injections or pumps.

Areas of Regenerative Medicine Research

The multidisciplinary field of Regenerative Medicine includes several research areas, including stem cell biology, cellular therapy and tissue engineering.

Stem Cell Biology

Stem cells are undifferentiated, or unspecialized, cells that are capable of renewing themselves indefinitely. Under the proper conditions, they have a unique capability to give rise to specialized cell types (e.g., muscle cells, neurons, heart cells, etc.).

They can be used to treat diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s diseases, spinal cord injury, heart disease, diabetes or osteoarthritis.

Cellular Therapy

Many disease conditions are caused by the malfunction or death of specific cell types. For example:

• Parkinson’s disease is caused by the death of a special type of neuron in the brain.
• Type I (or juvenile) diabetes is caused by the death of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
• Heart failure, a potentially fatal condition that can develop following a heart attack, may occur because cardiac muscle cells die or can’t function properly.

Currently, scientists are developing cellular therapies—the transplantation of live cells—to replace defective cells and attempt to restore normal function in a wide range of organs.

Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering combines the principles of material engineering and bio-medical sciences to develop bio-artificial tissues and organs that can be used as ‘replacement parts’ to repair or replace damaged or diseased organs.

The process generally involves growing various cell types onto three-dimensional scaffolds, which are then implanted into the patient. These scaffolds are carefully designed to allow the cells to develop into tissues that mirror the natural structure and function of the damaged body part.

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