8^th International Conference on Tissue Science and Regenerative Medicine September 11-12, 2017 Singapore

Research in the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering track involves the investigation and development of materials and structures to improve the quality of life for patients. These materials—which may be synthetic, natural, or cell-based—are intended to assist in the diagnosis of pathology or injury, monitor condition, and improve or restore normal physiological function in the human body. Biomaterials science is the study of materials and their interaction with biological environments, and tissue engineering is the application of engineering and life sciences toward development of a biomaterial to restore, maintain and improve tissue function. Research in this inter- and multidisciplinary field involves collaborations among engineers, surgeons, materials scientists, biological scientists, chemists, dentists, and veterinarians in academics, industry, government and the clinic.

Regenerative medicine is the branch of medicine that develops methods to regrow, repair or replace damaged or diseased cells, organs or tissues. Regenerative medicine includes the generation and use of therapeutic stem cells, tissue engineering and the production of artificial organs. Regenerative medicine seeks to replace tissue or organs that have been damaged by disease, trauma, or congenital issues, vs. the current clinical strategy that focuses primarily on treating the symptoms. The tools used to realize these outcomes are tissue engineering, cellular therapies, and medical devices and artificial organs.

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics. First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.

Tissue engineering along with regenerative medicine can be used to create ‘Scaffolds’ in the human body. These scaffolds are used to support organs and organ systems that may have been damaged after injury or disease. So what is tissue engineering? ‘Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physico-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions’. This is most commonly achieved through the use of stem cells. Stem cells are unique types of cells that are undifferentiated. So the main focus of creating these constructs is to be able to safely deliver these stem cells, and create a structure that is physically and mechanically stable so that these stem cells can differentiate. Scaffolds are of great importance in clinical medicine. It is an upcoming field, and usually associated with conditions involving organ disease or failure. It is used to rebuild organs and return normal function.

Tissue repair and regeneration following injury or disease are often thought to recapitulate embryonic development by using similar molecular and cellular pathways. In addition, many embryonic tissues, such as the spinal cord, heart, and limbs, have some regenerative potential and may utilize mechanisms that can be exogenously activated in adult tissues. For example, BMP signalling regulates nervous system development, and SMAD reactivation plays a critical role in adult nerve regeneration and repair in animal models of spinal cord injury. While similar molecular pathways are utilized during embryogenesis and adult tissue regeneration, recent reports suggest the mechanisms by which these developmental programs are reactivated and maintained may vary in adult tissues. Adult fish and amphibians have a remarkable capacity for tissue regeneration, while mammals have a limited regenerative capacity.

Biobanking play a crucial role in biomedical research. The wide array of bio specimens (including blood, saliva, plasma, and purified DNA) maintained in biobanks can be described as libraries of the human organism. They are carefully characterized to determine the general and unique features of the continuous cell line and the absence or presence of contaminants, therefore establishing a fundamental understanding about the raw material from which the biological product is being derived and maintained. Biobanks catalog specimens using genetic and other traits, such as age, gender, blood type, and ethnicity. Some samples are also categorized according to environmental factors, such as whether the donor had been exposed to radiation, asbestos, or some other substance that can affect human genes.

Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. Bone marrow transplant is the most widely used stem-cell therapy, but some therapies derived from umbilical cord blood are also in use. Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells, and to apply stem-cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions. Stem-cell therapy has become controversial following developments such as the ability of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, to create stem cells using somatic cell nuclear transfer and their use of techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells. This controversy is often related to abortion politics and to human cloning. Additionally, efforts to market treatments based on transplant of stored umbilical cord blood have been controversial.

There are more than 200 types of cancer, including Breast cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, Prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Symptoms and Treatment varies depending on the type of Cancer. Some people with cancer will have only one treatment. But most people have a combination of treatments, such as surgery with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. The Anticancer therapies include Surgical therapy, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant therapy, Neoadjuvant therapy, Palliative therapy, Immunotherapy, Hormonal therapy, Radiotherapy, Nutritional therapy, Phototherapy. Phototherapy / proton beam therapy is the most advanced among all the therapies. All Anticancer agents act by disturbing cell multiplication or normal functioning, DNA synthesis or chromosomal migration, and by blocking or changing RNA and protein metabolism.

Gene therapy aims to transfer genetic material into cells to provide them with new functions. A gene transfer agent has to be safe, capable of expressing the desired gene for a sustained period of time in a sufficiently large population of cells to produce a biological effect. Identifying a gene transfer tool that meets all of these criteria has proven to be a difficult objective. Viral and nonviral vectors, in vivo, ex vivo and in situ strategies co-exist at present, although ex vivo lenti-or retroviral vectors are presently the most popular.Natural stem cells (from embryonic, hematopoietic, mesenchymal, or adult tissues) or induced progenitor stem (iPS) cells can be modified by gene therapy for use in regenerative medicine.

Immunotherapy is treatment that is designed to harness the ability of the body’s immune system to combat infection or disease. Immunotherapy might produce an immune response to disease or enhance the immune system’s resistance to active diseases such as cancer. Sometimes referred to as biological therapy, immunotherapy often uses substances referred to as biological response modifiers (BRMs). The body usually only produces small amounts of these BRMS in response to infection or disease, but in the laboratory, large amounts of these BRMs can be generated in order to provide a therapy for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and other illnesses. In cancer immunotherapy, certain parts of the immune system are used to fight cancer in several ways. Some biological therapies are designed to boost the immune system generally, while others help train the immune response to specifically target cancer cells. Immunotherapy may be used alone or in combination with other therapies, depending on the type of cancer a patient has.

The grafting of a tissue from one place to another, just as in botany a bud from one plant might be grafted onto the stem of another. The transplanting of tissue can be from one part of the patient to another (autologous transplantation), as in the case of a skin graft using the patient's own skin; or from one patient to another (allogenic transplantation), as in the case of transplanting a donor kidney into a recipient. Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transported from a donor site to another location.

Tissue culture, a method of biological research in which fragments of tissue from an animal or plant are transferred to an artificial environment in which they can continue to survive and function. The cultured tissue may consist of a single cell, a population of cells, or a whole or part of an organ. Cells in culture may multiply; change size, form, or function; exhibit specialized activity (muscle cells, for example, may contract); or interact with other cells.

The tremendous need for bone tissue in numerous clinical situations and the limited availability of suitable bone grafts are driving the development of tissue engineering approaches to bone repair. In order to engineer viable bone grafts, one needs to understand the mechanisms of native bone development and fracture healing, as these processes should ideally guide the selection of optimal conditions for tissue culture and implantation. Engineered bone grafts have been shown to have capacity for osteogenesis, osteoconduction, osteoinduction and osteointegration - functional connection between the host bone and the graft. Cells from various anatomical sources in conjunction with scaffolds and osteogenic factors have been shown to form bone tissue in vitro. The use of bioreactor systems to culture cells on scaffolds before implantation further improved the quality of the resulting bone grafts. Animal studies confirmed the capability of engineered grafts to form bone and integrate with the host tissues. 

Researchers are expanding their understanding of identified adult stem cells, which include blood-forming, brain, skin and skeletal muscle stem cells, while working to isolate stem cells for the lung, liver, kidney, heart and other tissues. This work is providing the basis for ongoing preclinical and clinical trials of organ and tissue regeneration from healthy adult stem cells.With the capability of self-renewal, pluripotency and differentiation, stem cells have been believed to be useful for treatment of a wide variety of diseases in the future, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, baldness, blindness, deafness, wound healing, amyotrophic lateral-sclerosis, myocardial infarction, muscular dystrophy, osteoarthritis rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and diabetes. Amongst the applications, a number of adult stem cell therapies have already been practiced clinically. As an example, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has been successfully applied to treat leukemia. In addition to cell replacement therapy using stem cells, organ transplantation has been successfully practiced in clinics for organ failure of the liver or kidney

Translational science aims to apply biomarkers discovered in preclinical research for predicting potential clinical outcomes. At the same time, data generated in clinical trials can be used to enhance early stage discovery by suggesting potential safety and efficacy tests for animal models and in vitro experiments. Translational research relies on a continuous stream of knowledge between multiple silos and disciplines that requires close monitoring and consistent semantics. The systems biology approach developed by Thomson Reuters provides integrated databases and comprehensive tools well suited for translational research.

Aging is an accumulation of damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs. If any of that damage can be repaired, the result is rejuvenation. There are at least eight important hormones that decline with age: 1. human growth hormone (HGH); 2. the sexual hormones: testosterone or oestrogen/progesterone; 3. erythropoietin (EPO); 4. insulin; 5. DHEA; 6. melatonin; 7. thyroid; 8. pregnenolone. In theory, if all or some of these hormones are replaced, the body will respond to them as it did when it was younger, thus repairing and restoring many body functions. In line with this, recent experiments show that heterochronic parabiosis, i.e. connecting the circulatory systems of young and old animal, leads to the rejuvenation of the old animal, including restoration of proper stem cell function. Stem cell regenerative medicine uses three different strategies: 1) Implantation of stem cells from culture into an existing tissue structure, 2) Implantation of stem cells into a tissue scaffold that guides restoration, 3) Induction of residual cells of a tissue structure to regenerate the necessary body part.

“Regenerative medicine” describes a set of innovative approaches to the treatment of illness, injury, and disability, focusing on the growth, replacement, and repair of cells, organs, and tissues specific to the health needs of particular individuals. The extraordinary breadth of application of this approach is clear from an enumeration of just a few areas of regenerative medicine research, such as stem cells, including embryonic stem cells, pluripotent stem cells produced by genetic reprogramming, and multipotent stem cells from non-embryonic tissues; techniques for stimulating endogenous cell growth and repair for the kidney and pancreas in diabetes, or for digits and limbs injured as a result of trauma; and the growth of replacement tissues and organs, for example, blood vessels, hollow organs like the bladder, and even solid organs like the heart. This enormous diversity of applications, all currently in various stages of research and development, stems from a multidisciplinary research orientation incorporating genetics, informatics, basic research into the structure, mechanics, and development of different tissues, and creative production techniques. Despite its enormous promise, however, at this time regenerative medicine’s many applications constitute a very early step along the road to effective treatments.

There are strong pricing pressures from public healthcare payers globally as Governments try to reduce budget deficits. Regenerative medicine could potentially save public health bodies money by reducing the need for long-term care and reducing associated disorders, with potential benefits for the world economy as a whole. The global market for tissue engineering and regeneration products reached $55.9 billion in 2010, is expected to reach $59.8 billion by 2011, and will further grow to $89.7 billion by 2016 at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4%.  It grows to $135 billion to 2024.