Regenerative medicine of tissues and organs
Vision and mission
Over the next 5 years, our ambition is to develop the Regenerative Medicine theme to deliver new therapies in Regenerative Medicine at LUMC. Clinician scientists interacting closely with, and inspired by, basic scientists will advance applications of Regenerative Medicine in tissue and organ repair. We will adapt and combine (stem) cell technologies, gene repair strategies, and potentially biomaterials for direct transfer to patients or for creating disease-specific models to understand underlying mechanisms of human disease and identify new therapies for precision or even personalized medicine.
…Vision and mission
Over the next 5 years, our ambition is to develop the Regenerative Medicine theme to deliver new therapies in Regenerative Medicine at LUMC. Clinician scientists interacting closely with, and inspired by, basic scientists will advance applications of Regenerative Medicine in tissue and organ repair. We will adapt and combine (stem) cell technologies, gene repair strategies, and potentially biomaterials for direct transfer to patients or for creating disease-specific models to understand underlying mechanisms of human disease and identify new therapies for precision or even personalized medicine.
Original and collaborative thinking
Creating ecosystems that facilitate original and collaborative thinking will support better grant proposals, publications, visibility, and overall output on the theme’s topics. This ultimately benefits patient health. LUMC clinicians being more aligned with basic scientists will optimize the valorization of our research.
For the Regenerative Medicine theme, cells, tissues, and organs for transplant and other therapies need to be appropriately defined, and their application validated beforehand. Other therapeutic strategies include drug and gene discovery based on known disease mechanisms or signaling pathways. In addition, participants in the Regenerative Medicine theme are actively involved in identifying the regulatory and other procedures that need to be correctly followed to move to clinical trials. Whilst LUMC already has experience in this area, we aim to share knowledge and expertise with other themes for Innovation at LUMC, such as Academic Pharma, to accelerate implementation.
“We have a strong profile in human pluripotent stem cell research, combined with complementary capabilities in cell production and functional readouts. We also have an excellent track record in the clinical translation of cell therapies. This means that LUMC is well-placed to deliver new models for human disease and the next generation of hiPSC-based therapy to patients.”
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About us
Christine Mummery
Christine Mummery is Professor of Developmental Biology at Leiden University Medical Center and an expert on pluripotent stem cells. She became guest professor at the University of Twente in 2015 to use stem cells in organ-on-chip models. In 2017, she led an NWO Gravity consortium to carry out this research nationally. She has also received ERC-Advanced and Proof-on-Concept grants. She is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science and Academia Europaea. She wrote the lay-guide Stem Cell: Scientific Facts and Fiction and is Founding Editor-in-Chief of Stem Cell Reports, the journal of the International Society of Stem Cell Research.
Ian Alwayn
Ian Alwayn is Professor of Surgery, in particular Transplant Surgery. He is also Head of the Transplant Surgery sub-department of the LUMC and chairman of the management team of the LUMC Transplantation Center (webpage of the Transplantation Center). He has received grants for his research from, among others, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VENI), Canadian Institution of Health Research, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation and the Dutch Kidney Foundation.
Françoise Carlotti
Françoise Carlotti is Associate Professor and Head of the Islet Research lab. Her research interests focus on investigating mechanisms underlying pancreatic beta-cell adaptation and cellular plasticity, and on alternative sources of insulin-producing cells for beta-cell replacement therapy. As principal investigator (PI), she obtained research funding among others from JDRF, the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation, DON foundation, and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes. She is a PI in the Dutch initiative RegMed XB, and in the H2020 European consortia ISLET and ESPACE.
Contact
Email: RegMedTheme@lumc.nl
Sub-themes
Cells, tissues, and organs can be used as models to study disease or used in therapies for (chronic) diseases through transplant, for instance. The Regenerative Medicine theme addresses both approaches in its research with the ultimate aim of resolving specific unmet clinical needs. Research within the theme is divided into three subthemes: Regenerative medicine, Disease modeling, and Transplantation.
The Regenerative Medicine subtheme is divided into Cell therapy and Gene therapy. Cell therapy has the ultimate goal of producing clinical-grade stem cell derivatives and using these to treat clinical focus conditions at LUMC. Gene therapy deals with the repair of genetic defects in a patient’s own cells and can be carried out using various approaches, including viral vectors.
…Cells, tissues, and organs can be used as models to study disease or used in therapies for (chronic) diseases through transplant, for instance. The Regenerative Medicine theme addresses both approaches in its research with the ultimate aim of resolving specific unmet clinical needs. Research within the theme is divided into three subthemes: Regenerative medicine, Disease modeling, and Transplantation.
The Regenerative Medicine subtheme is divided into Cell therapy and Gene therapy. Cell therapy has the ultimate goal of producing clinical-grade stem cell derivatives and using these to treat clinical focus conditions at LUMC. Gene therapy deals with the repair of genetic defects in a patient’s own cells and can be carried out using various approaches, including viral vectors.
Our Disease modeling subtheme focuses on stem cells, microphysiological systems (MPS), or Organs-on-Chip that many research groups at LUMC use to create heart, kidney, brain, lung, bone, muscle, liver, eye, ear, blood vessels, and skin models. In many cases, genetic diseases have been captured by these models and research is underway to find gene or drug therapies.
LUMC is a leading center for transplantation. In our Transplantation subtheme, we build on a long and successful history of bone marrow transplantation and strong transplant immunology expertise. Our main goals are:
- to assess and optimize donor organ, tissue, and cell quality before transplantation;
- to develop new strategies of donor and recipient targeted intervention;
- to improve patient outcomes for waitlist and post-transplant.