Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells Technologies

According to the report of Public Relations and International Affairs of council for Development of Stem Cell Science and Technologies, the forty-second meeting of the working group of knowledge-based companies of the headquarters with the presence of Dr. Hamidieh, secretary of the council and with the presence of more than 40 representatives of active companies In the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine was held on December 7, 2021 at the Vice President for Science and Technology. In this meeting, in order to receive financial support from the council, technologists from different companies presented 5 technological and infrastructure projects.

At first, Dr. Nik Farjam from Tanya Plast Technology Company presented the project "Production of different types of petri dishes, flasks and cell culture plates". The purpose of implementing this plan is to use Iran's competitive advantages to produce these products and present them in international markets, as well as to prevent the outflow of currency for the import of these products. Also, since the production of these products in Iran facilitates the price and availability of a wide range of products, the implementation of this plan can help increase the quality and quantity of research in this field, and finally after achieving these goals in the market, this plan can also meet the interests of the company's investors.

Then, Dr. Abbas Zadegan from Raven Sazeh Company presented a project entitled "Establishment of a maternity products refinery to extract primary and secondary biological products for use in various medical and research fields." The history of using maternity products, including the amniotic membrane, in research and treatment, especially in various surgeries, dates back to more than a hundred years ago. Today, this biomaterial, which is mainly disposed of as biowaste in the country, has established its position in regenerative medicine in such a way that many companies around the world are processing and mass-supplying this biomaterial. Other valuable products include cord blood, which transplant of its grew greatly in the 1980s and 1990s.

After that, Dr. Soltani presented the project "Making a scaffold based on allografts to regenerate cranial bone tissue using 3D printer technology." Dislocation of the skull bones is usually due to severe head injury, but it can also be due to secondary causes and neurosurgery, for example. Compression craniotomy or removal of the tumor, infections, especially osteomyelitis and congenital anomalies can cause these types of defects. In certain cases, cranial defects can be very extensive or involve damage to nearby tissue. On the other hand, atmospheric pressure on the defect has a direct effect on intracranial structures and causes symptoms such as headache, confusion, and irritability. Repairing cranial defects is the main goal of protecting the lower cranial tissue, reducing pain at the site of the defect, improving the appearance and reducing the patient's anxiety.

As the fourth project of the representatives of Xiwan Biotechnology Company, Rojeh presented the project "Production of artificial meat in the laboratory". Due to the importance of nutrition in the world and the need for red meat as one of the most consumed foods, the livestock industry is developing and expanding, which has become a major challenge for the sustainability of the feeding system as demand and oversupply of products It causes irreparable damage to the planet, so many scientists are looking for new ways to produce human food that, in addition to meeting human needs, do the least damage to the environment. Hence, it seems that modern methods of biotechnology can not only transform the meat industry but also the production of other food products such as milk, egg whites, gelatin and fish.

After that, Dr. Rouzei from Fam Tan Azma Company presented the project "Design and production of molecular diagnostic kits for infections after transplantation by the Real Time PCR multiplex method". Post-transplant infections can be classified as one of the effective factors in transplant rejection and sometimes death of the transplant patient. Therefore, rapid detection of infectious agents such as Cytomegalovirus, BK Virus and Epstein-Barr Virus is effective in promoting treatment and preventing deaths due to post-transplant infections.

Then, Dr. Abbas Zadegan from Raven Sazeh Company presented a project entitled "Launching the supply chain and industrial production of exosomes from stem cells for therapeutic and pharmaceutical purposes." Stem cell-derived exosomes can be successfully used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and hypertension. The purpose of this project is to set up a supply chain and industrial production of exosomes from stem cells for therapeutic and pharmaceutical uses, and considering that future clinical studies require the effective use of exosomes in various diseases based on the specific structure of each individual molecules in personal medicine. This plan can be an effective step in this process.

After that, Dr. Vahidi from the Stem Cell and regenerative Medicine Center of Kerman presented a project entitled "Lyophilized Mesenchymal Stem Cell Kit". The use of protective nanocomposites can improve the proliferation and viability of mesenchymal stem cells after lyophilization without causing adverse effects on the membrane. Therefore, this approach can be used to extend the storage time of stem cells with the lowest cost and simply used these cells for various purposes.

Then, Dr. Shahabi from Alma Gene Fara Tajhiz Company presented a project entitled "Making a bead-based tissue homogenizer (homogenizer)". There are various techniques for homogenizing different human, animal, plant, bacterial, and fungal tissues, including mechanical, enzymatic, and liquid nitrogen techniques. Today, this expensive device facilitates this process and allows the use of this technique to homogenize and separate cells from several different tissues simultaneously. Using glass or steel beads of different sizes from 1 mm glass with PBS buffer for bacterial or fungal samples or very soft tissue such as adipose tissue to 5 mm steel beads with PBS buffer for Hard tissues such as bone or 2 mm steel beads with PBS buffer combined with collagenase for hard tumors such as breast tissue tumors. But the most important result is to obtain single-celled cells for a variety of experiments.

It should also be noted that after presenting each of the plans, some of the attendees, and especially the investors, the representatives of the accelerators present at the meeting, presented their views on the issues raised.