HOME / OUR MISSION / ABOUT REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

In its strategic planning for research, UHN, one of the largest healthcare providers in Canada, identified four Priority Platforms. Each of the Platforms represents the development of leading-edge programs that begin as worthy ideas and transform over time into Centres of Excellence. One of the platforms is Regenerative Medicine.

Regenerative Medicine encompasses the development of biomedical treatments at the cell-level, thereby creating an innovative set of solutions for widespread health problems. The impact of the promotion and development of a Regenerative Medicine program extends to a number of areas of health care, including Diabetes, Heart & Circulation, Neural & Sensory Science, Transplantation.

Regenerative medicine is a general term used to describe a range of newly emerging genetic and cellular based therapies designed to repair or replace diseased, damaged or defective cells, tissues and organs in the human body.

It is the most exciting and fastest growing sector of medicine in Canada and around the world. In general, regenerative medicine utilizes therapies developed from products naturally occurring in the body, such as genes, proteins, antibodies, growth factors, hormones, cells, tissues, stem cells and other biomaterials.

Research to date has centred on four main areas:

• Tissue Engineering, Transplantation and Rejection - developing replacement organs and better methods of transplantation

• Cellular, Molecular and Drug Therapy - safe methods of gene therapy for diseases such as cancers and Fabry disease, and new protein-based drugs and methods of drug delivery

• Cell Signaling and Functional Connections - understanding how cells communicate and how this goes awry in diseases such as Parkinson’s and muscular dystrophy

• Developmental Biology and Reprogramming - using stem cells to generate new tissue to replace lost functions e.g. insulin-producing cells in diabetes, new nerves in spinal cord injury

Together these therapies have the potential to change the face of medical care, and hold great promise for enhancing the health and improving the quality of life of millions of people with conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, organ failure, spinal cord injury, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS and others.

The McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine was established to create a critical mass of basic and clinical research expertise and resources that would enable UHN to achieve global impact in the way that these diseases and disorders are treated.

Research at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine is currently focused within several core programs, including: heart, diabetes, transplant, spinal cord injury and intestinal function. Through the application of new and emerging regenerative medicine technologies, we believe that more efficacious and less risky medical interventions can be developed in each of these areas.

For more information on Regenerative Medicine, visit www.mcewencentre.com

More in this section:

• Our Mission (Overview)
• The Trek to the North Pole
• The Team
• Heart Disease
• Heart Failure Program
• Exciting Successes & Firsts
• About Peter Munk Cardiac Centre
• About University Health Network

PRINT • HOME