What is Regenerative Medicine? – Center for Regenerative …

Transcript Stephen J. Russell, M.D., Ph.D. Deputy Director Regenerative Medicine Translation

Stephen J. Russell, M.D., Ph.D.: Regenerative medicine is a very broad, new approach to medicine which uses the advances in stem cell technology, primarily, to advance clinical care. And what that really converts into is that instead of treating chronic diseases with drugs that have a short-term effect, and that need to be continued long term as a consequence, we can think in terms of regenerative medicine of solutions to problems.

If you think about what kind of illnesses people get, most of them are a consequence of degeneration or aging. I mean, as you go through life things stop working properly, so, you know, your eyesight begins to fail, your hearing begins to fail, you start to get problems with your joints, your muscles become weak, your heart begins to fail, your liver, your kidneys, everything, as you get older, is more likely to stop functioning correctly. And regeneration is the exact opposite of this degenerative process. I mean, the whole idea is to try and restore organs and prevent the deterioration.

I see regenerative medicine as the new surgery. I mean if you go back over Mayo Clinic's history, we were built on the brilliance of the Mayo brothers' surgery. We're seeing some real opportunity in certain specific areas that we're focusing on at this point in time. One of those is diabetes. I mean we do know that if we transplant a pancreas or if we transplant islets, the part of the pancreas that produces insulin and senses glucose, we can cure diabetes. There simply are not enough pancreas transplants available or islets available to be able to serve the need of the population because diabetes is common. So that's where regenerative medicine comes in as a way to generate islets from other cell types, generate islets from the patient's own skin cells or whatever, and so we really see that as a major opportunity.

Regenerative medicine is a game-changing technology with the potential to offer definitive, affordable health care solutions that treat the underlying cause of diseases, rather than only manage disease symptoms.

Regenerative medicine itself isn't new the first bone marrow and solid organ transplants were done decades ago. But advances in developmental and cell biology, immunology and other fields have unlocked new opportunities for the Center for Regenerative Medicine to refine existing regenerative therapies and develop novel ones.

To repair the root causes of diseases, the center takes three interrelated approaches:

Stem cells have the ability to develop through a process called differentiation into many different types of cells, such as skin cells, brain cells, lung cells, and so on. Stem cells are a key component of regenerative medicine, as they open the door to new clinical applications that can heal the body from within.

Center for Regenerative Medicine teams are studying a variety of stem cells, including adult and embryonic stem cells. Also being studied are various types of progenitor cells, such as those found in umbilical cord blood, and bioengineered cells called induced pluripotent stem cells. Each type has unique qualities, with some being more versatile than others.

Many of the regenerative therapies under development in the Center for Regenerative Medicine begin with the particular patient's own cells. For example, a patient's own skin cells may be collected, reprogrammed in a laboratory to give them certain characteristics, and delivered back to the patient to treat his or her disease.

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