Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells Technologies

According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Amir Ali Hamidieh, secretary of the council for stem cells sciences and technologies, stated on the third symposium of Genetics and stem cells: in the past three years, more than 50 symposiums and workshops have been held by this council.

Despite a warning from the federal government about do-it-yourself gene therapy, two companies say they’ll continue offering DNA-altering materials to the public.

Every life-saving therapy or advance in medicine begins with a scientist posing a simple question, “I wonder if…?” Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) invested more than $16.4 million to help researchers find answers to questions that could one day lead to new therapies for leukemia, respiratory problems, and a devastating skin disease that affects children.

What will be the big developments in the stem cell and regenerative medicine field in 2018? Below are the top 20 predictions in no particular order. As usual, there is a combination of science and news/policy predictions.

Early evidence suggests that gene therapy developed at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will lead to broad protection for infants with the devastating immune disorder X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency

Evotec AG today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration with the Center for Regenerative Therapies TU Dresden ("CRTD") to discover novel small molecule candidates for retinal diseases. CRTD is a recognised leader in understanding the biology of stem cells to develop new therapies for neurodegenerative and haematological diseases.

Genome editing has been used to reduce hearing loss in ‘Beethoven’ mice, which carry a mutation that causes deafness in both mice and humans.

In fewer than five years, the gene-editing technology known as Crispr has revolutionized the face and pace of modern biology. Since its ability to find, remove, and replace genetic material was first reported in 2012, scientists have published more than 5,000 papers mentioning Crispr. Biomedical researchers are embracing it to create better models of disease.

When a bone breaks, medical devices and objects like screws and pins are often used to hold the pieces together while the bone heals. But this process can be extremely painful, long, and difficult. One new technological marvel might make these methods obsolete. This potentially game-changing new tool is a 3D printed ceramic implant that holds fractured bones together while turning into actual, natural bone.

Secretary of the specialized standard and calibration workgroup of the strategic technologies laboratory network stated: use of safety and environmental standards is on the agenda of activities of the strategic technologies laboratory network.