Tip Sheets
Lasker Initiative: Research Forum on Regenerative Medicine, 2007
Regenerative medicine is a multidisciplinary field of research, bringing together biology, medicine and engineering, to find ways of using stem cells to repair, replace or regenerate damaged tissues and organs in the body.
In November 2007, the Lasker Foundation convened a forum at Stanford University for discussing ways to advance regenerative technology, focusing on engineering solutions. Attendees included leaders in the fields of stem cell biology, nanotechnology, applied physics, bioengineering, biocomputation, chemical biology, and tissue engineering.
Fast Facts
- Regenerative medicine makes use of things that occur naturally in the body: cells, genes, proteins, antibodies, growth factors, hormones, and other biomaterials
- The use of stem cells in bone marrow transplantation is a well-established example of regenerative medicine
- In the United States, an estimated one person in five reaching age 65 will receive temporary or permanent organ replacement therapy during his or her remaining life span.
- More than 98,000 Americans are on waiting lists to receive donated organs
Economic Analysis
Regenerative medicine holds promise for both improved health care and economic savings. In 2001, the reported annual direct costs of organ replacement were about $350 billion worldwide. This figure includes the cost of therapies, such as kidney dialysis, that keep people alive; implanted replacement devices; and organ transplants.
Source: Lysaght, Michael J. and Reyes, Joyce. "The growth of tissue engineering." Tissue Engineering 7 (2001): 485-49
Since August 2001, President George W. Bush banned most Federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. This has led states to establish their own stem cell research programs. For a discussion of state-sponsored research see:
The New Federalism: State Sponsored Funding of Stem Cell Research, an ebriefing from the New York Academy of Sciences:
The Future
Participants in the Lasker Research Forum on Regenerative Medicine identified these steps toward progress:
- Taking full advantage of the therapeutic potential of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cell transplantation, and make it a more accessible treatment for cancers and autoimmune diseases
- Identifying reliable methods to differentiate embryonic stem cells to specific tissue types such as neurons, bone, liver, pancreatic islets, or heart muscle
- Deriving new embryonic stem cell lines without the use of human oocytes or embryos
- Developing systems biology methods leading to personalized medicine, where therapies can be tailored to the patient
- Developing technologies to grow tissues in culture, freeze and store stem cells for future use in therapy, track molecules within cells, and track stem cells in vivo
Issue: Multidisciplinary Research
The Lasker Initiative focuses on bringing together stem cell biologists and "technologists" to move the field of regenerative medicine ahead and help it to realize its potential to treat human disease and disability. Multi-disciplinary efforts are needed in order to find bold and novel solutions to the vexing challenges facing regenerative medicine.
Resources
Regenerative medicine basics
NIH Report: Regenerative Medicine
NIH information and links on stem cell definitions, policy, and ethics
AAAS Policy Brief: Stem Cell Research
Data on organ donation and transplantation