Regenerative Medicine
The Future of Healing
Products:
1) iCell® Cardiomyocytes- These human heart cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS)can be used to aid in drug discovery and for research in drug toxiticy screenings.
2) iCell® Endothelial Cells- These interior surface blood vessel cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and are designed for use in drug discovery, tissue regeneration, and other regenerative medicine related topics.
3) iCell® Neurons- These human neuron cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) can be used to aid in preclinical drug discovery, neurotoxicity testing, disease modeling, and basic cell research.
4) iCell® Hepatocytes- These high quality human liver cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) are designed for use in drug discovery and testing and disease research.
1) Cellular Dynamics International
Cellular Dynamics International take human skin or blood cells and grows them in special conditions to produce induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). CDI uses patented methods to direct the cell differentiation process into a certain type of cell, including cardiomyocytes (heart cells), neurons (brain cells), hepatocytes (liver cells), and more. These cells can be used for research and tissue regeneration experiments.
Click on any company or school logo to take you to the company's website.
2) Shinya Yamanaka
Products/Treatments:
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1) Artificial Liver- The UMPC team has developed an artificial liver that is composed of both synthetic materials and live liver cells and can filter blood like a natural liver. The product is not being implanted in patients yet but will be in the near future.
2) Hattler Catheter®- a type of artificial lung ventilator that can give the patient's lungs a break while they are healing after surgery or infection. The Hattler Catheter oxygenates blood before it enters the lungs. It is not being used in patients yet but is being readied for clinical trials.
Six years ago, Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, discovered that by adding six genes to the adult skin cells of mice, he could make these cells act like stem cells. He called them induced pluripotent cells. Before his discovery, only embryonic stem cells had the ability to turn into any type of cell. Since the use of embryonic stem cells is highly controversial, Yamanaka's discovery is very important. All over the world, scientists are using Shinya Yamanaka's findings to conduct research of their own in hopes of curing diseases that were never curable before.
3) UMPC
4) UC Davis
5) University of Winconsin-Madison
6) Stanford School of Medicine
The McGowan institute at UMPC uses regenerative medicine technologies to help cure some of the world's most challenging medical problems. Some of the diseases that the institute is working on include diabetes, organ failure, spinal cord injuries, and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. The institute is working on increasing the quality of life to patients awaiting a donor liver by developing an artificial liver, composed of both synthetic materials and live liver cells, that will last until the patient can get a transplant. Also, UMPC has made strides in orthopedic research and is doing clinical trials to help those with arthritis by injecting the patient's own cartilage made from their stem cells back into the joint. This is just some of the ways that the McGowan institute at UMPC has helped increase the quality of life of those with serious diseases.
UC Davis is a leader in regenerative medicine research. They have done research in a variety of categories including:
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Peripheral vascular disease (preventing amputations)
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Hearing loss (inner ear hair cell repair)
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Osteoporosis (bone and cartilage regeneration)
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The repair and regeneration of a variety of organs (liver, lung, bladder, kidney, etc)
UC Davis has already initiated chemical trials using adult stem cells to treat many of these diseases and is anticipating clinical trials using adult stem cells in retinal occlusion, peripheral vascular disease, and heart attacks. Not only is UC Davis using stem cells to conduct clinical trials and research, but they are also contributing to stem cell research as a whole. Just last year, "a UC Davis team has received a $4.4 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to develop a stem cell-derived airway transplant to cure a difficult, life-threatening problem known as severe airway stenosis" (Website 11). UC Davis is one of the most influencial medical researching schools that has made strides in stem cell and regenerative medicine research.
All across the campus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, research is focused on stem cells and regenerative medicine. Clinical trials are emerging from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the research of tissue regeneration. The University was the first to successfully culture non-human embryonic stem cells from primates in 1995 and went on to be the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Since then, groups have focused on musculoskeletal, neural, and cardiovascular regeneration. Since heart and vascular disease is the number one cause of death in the world, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's center for regenerative medicine and stem cell research is contributing to saving lives of those who have heart failure and many other debilitating diseases.
The Stanford institute for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine was the first to start studying stem cells in the 1980s when scientist, Irv Weissman's lab at Stanford was the first to isolate stem cells using high speed cell sorters that were developed at Stanford. Being the first to start studying stem cells, the Stanford school of medicine was also the first to discover and isolate cancer, brain, and tissue forming stem cells in the 1990s. Using all of this new knowledge, the Stanford school of medicine has went on to become one of the front-runners in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
Innovators and their Impacts
Regenerative medicine technologies are used by doctors, scientists, companies, and schools for the purpose of research and healing every single day. Patients' lives are saved all over the world because of treatments made possible after years of research by scientists and schools like the ones listed below.