Regenerative Medicine Summit

On 12 December 2011, UCS and the Science Office of the Italian Embassy in London hosted the international summit on Regenerative Medicine - a major global conference on the topic of regenerative medicine.

The summit, held at UCS’ landmark Waterfront Building in Ipswich, comprised of world-leading scientists along with major legal and political figures from Europe and beyond. Speakers included Charles Sabine, NBC war correspondent, who spoke inspirationally and from the point of view of the patient. His story set the scene for those that would describe how we might bring new therapies into the clinic.

Leading scientists such as Professors Chris Mason (London), Ellena Cattaneo (Milan) & John Martin (London), also spoke of the technical and political challenges associated with the development of these new medicines. George Freeman MP described the requirement for efficient fund raising and the ways in which the government wish to support the industry.

The Summit was also attended by Italian dignitaries such as Minister Stefano Pontecorvo, Italian Embassy in London, Salvator Roberto Amendolia, Scientific Office, Italian Embassy in London and Ignazio Marino, President, Italian Senate Committee on NHS. Both the European Medicines Agency and the EU Commission contributed to the meeting.

When organs and tissues are destroyed by disease or trauma, the ideal treatment of such is replacement with living tissue. Regenerative medicine involves the application of a wide range of new technologies including stem cell technology, tissue engineering, medical devices, drug delivery, genetic engineering, imaging and cell tracking. Driving all of these efforts is the fact that stem cells can form all or most of the cell types in the body. In principle, can be generated in huge numbers for use in making medicines at the scale required to treat a globally relevant disease.

Stem cells, however, are only one part of the regenerative medicine solution. Amazing advances have been made in the development of materials that will protect and direct the activity of new cells placed in the body and non-invasive imaging techniques are soon to be capable of tracing cells used to repair a tissue as well as informing scientists of what the cells are doing and how healthy they are.

Enormous progress has been made in our understanding of stem cell function in the last decade, yet there is significantly more to be done. Translating this understanding into therapeutically feasible products will require concerted effort and partnering between academic, medical and industrial bodies, in combination with supportive government regulations and funding.

Professor Brendon Noble, Head of School Science, Technology and Health at UCS, said: “We were very pleased to work alongside the Science Office of the Italian Embassy in London to host this event. The question of how we can develop this emerging industry is particularly relevant at this time. As a key area of both research and training provision for UCS, it presented an exciting opportunity for us to contribute to the development of collaborations and innovation at an international level, especially as the new masters courses we are developing will help to provide essential workforce training that will be required to take this new industry forward over the coming years."

Read the EuroStemCell report on the international summit|

Below are copies of the delegate presentations provided during the summit.

Charles Sabine

Layman’s Perspective|

Dr. med. Christian K Schneider

A European approach to stem cell therapy regulations|

Francesca Pampinella

The Telethon support to stem cell research|

Ignazio R. Marino

An Italian Perspective|

Professor John Martin

Regenerative Medicine for heart disease|