Regenerative medicine – new treatments for an ageing society
21 March 2006
Austria
The life expectancy of people in the industrialised world is constantly increasing. This is leading to a rise in diseases typically associated with old age, such as organ failures, chronic diseases of the joints and age-induced diabetes. In the case of many diseases, the patients are able to survive as a result of an organ transplant, but a continuously rising demand for donor organs stands in contrast to a stagnating number of transplants available. The European agency which coordinates the supply of donor organs (Eurotransplant) was only able to help about one in every four patients on the waiting list in 2000. In order to be able to continue to maintain the quality of life of these people in the future and to counteract the explosion in costs in health care, medical research must develop new treatment strategies.
Regenerative medicine is a relatively new area of research which relies on the results of various disciplines. In regenerative medicine, damaged organs, tissue or cells are replaced by biological implants – tissue engineered in vitro – or else the body's own regenerative and repair processes are stimulated. Researchers from the Helmholtz Association are developing materials, procedures and systems for regenerative medicine that can be used for tissue engineering and for organ replacement systems. Furthermore, the Helmholtz Association is bringing together the basic research in this field with technical applications and clinical trials.
Professor Axel Haverich, Director of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hanover Medical School (MHH) presented examples of clinical applications, which include the treatment of articular cartilage defects and severe burns as well as plastic surgery. In the future it is also expected that the treatment of cardiovascular diseases will be improved through the implantation of biotechnologically engineered heart valves, vessels and cardiac muscle tissue.
The particular characteristics of biomaterials and their use in regenerative medicine were explained by Professor Andreas Lendlein. Lendlein is the programme spokesperson for regenerative medicine at the Helmholtz Association and heads the Institute of Polymer Research at the GKSS Helmholtz Research Centre in Teltow near Berlin. The researcher has developed special, body-degradable biomaterials with a “shape memory”, which are needed for the growing of artificial tissue or for the development of biohybrid organ systems such as an artificial liver or kidney.
The potential of artificially engineered tissue, from the development of biohybrid organs to the process of regeneration of tissue in the body, was described by the biomedical researcher Augustinus Bader. He is Professor for Cell Technologies and Applied Stem Cell Biology at the Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the University of Leipzig.
Dr Jean-Michel Baer, Director of the EU Commission Directorate for Science and Society, discussed questions relating to ethics, risks and faked research in research as seen by the EU.
Regenerative medicine is a relatively new area of research which relies on the results of various disciplines. In regenerative medicine, damaged organs, tissue or cells are replaced by biological implants – tissue engineered in vitro – or else the body's own regenerative and repair processes are stimulated. Researchers from the Helmholtz Association are developing materials, procedures and systems for regenerative medicine that can be used for tissue engineering and for organ replacement systems. Furthermore, the Helmholtz Association is bringing together the basic research in this field with technical applications and clinical trials.
Professor Axel Haverich, Director of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hanover Medical School (MHH) presented examples of clinical applications, which include the treatment of articular cartilage defects and severe burns as well as plastic surgery. In the future it is also expected that the treatment of cardiovascular diseases will be improved through the implantation of biotechnologically engineered heart valves, vessels and cardiac muscle tissue.
The particular characteristics of biomaterials and their use in regenerative medicine were explained by Professor Andreas Lendlein. Lendlein is the programme spokesperson for regenerative medicine at the Helmholtz Association and heads the Institute of Polymer Research at the GKSS Helmholtz Research Centre in Teltow near Berlin. The researcher has developed special, body-degradable biomaterials with a “shape memory”, which are needed for the growing of artificial tissue or for the development of biohybrid organ systems such as an artificial liver or kidney.
The potential of artificially engineered tissue, from the development of biohybrid organs to the process of regeneration of tissue in the body, was described by the biomedical researcher Augustinus Bader. He is Professor for Cell Technologies and Applied Stem Cell Biology at the Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the University of Leipzig.
Dr Jean-Michel Baer, Director of the EU Commission Directorate for Science and Society, discussed questions relating to ethics, risks and faked research in research as seen by the EU.