Research programmes at REMEDI will initially focus on the behavior of MSCs and refine techniques to isolate and grow them. More importantly, researchers will investigate the factors that induce or coax stem cells to differentiate into different cell types.

The therapeutic areas chosen, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and spinal cord injury, are areas of real clinical need, where new technology developments are likely to have a substantial impact. A central focus of REMEDI will be to bring the technologies of gene therapy and stem cell therapy together. For instance, stem cells may be used to deliver genetic material to cells (an example of a stem cell functioning as a delivery system or vector) or genetic material can be delivered to stem cells to alter their behaviour e.g. what cells they can become or where they go in the body. This initial research will take up to five years and will be followed by testing and clinical trials.

This is a long process and, as with much research, it could be some years before this research will result in treatment options for patients. However, hopes are high that REMEDI will significantly progress research in the applications of adult stem cells for cardiovascular, orthopaedic and neuronal diseases.

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cells have generated a great deal of interest because of their potential use in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. There are some dramatic examples, derived from both clinical and pre-clinical studies, which demonstrate their therapeutic value. Stem cell therapy involves the transplantation of cells into patients, either through local delivery or systemic infusion.

What Are Stem Cells?

Stem cells unspecialised cells – that is, they do are cells that do not have a particular tissue type -unspecialized cells. Under certain conditions they differentiate or change into a particular cell type (bone cells, heart cells etc.) Stem cells have been isolated from a number of adult tissues, including blood, bone marrow, fat and muscle. The fundamental characteristics of stem cells are (1) the ability to grow and divide rapidly, and (2) the ability to change, or differentiate, into cells that have characteristics very different from the original stem cell. Mesenchymal stem cells, often referred to as MSCs, are found in bone marrow.

They have the capacity to differentiate into connective tissue cells, including bone, fat, cartilage and muscle. Although these cells represent a very small fraction of the total cells in bone marrow, small numbers of these cells can be isolated from a tissue sample and grown to large numbers in the laboratory. They can then be induced or coaxed to differentiate into different cell types under specific defined conditions.