Regenerative medicine (RM) encompasses an emerging field of specialty medicine with the goal of replacing, engineering, or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs lost or injured due to age, disease, or congenital defects to restore or establish normal function.
Deeper dive
While a form of this medicine has been around since the 1950s — think organ and bone marrow transplants — the rapidly aging population is putting more pressure on science and medicine to keep people healthier longer and to develop permanent solutions for people with life-threatening conditions.
Scientists are creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissue or organ function lost due to age, disease, damage, or congenital defects by stimulating previously irreparable organs to heal themselves. They’re also growing new tissues and organs in the lab and replacing them when the body can’t heal itself. Lack of donated organs means thousands die on waiting lists every year before a match is found. According to the NIH,
- Tissue-engineered skin is now commonly used to treat burns, for diabetic ulcers, and for skin replacement.
- A tissue-engineered bladder, derived from a patient’s own cells, can be grown outside the body and successfully transplanted.
- Tissue engineered products help with bone and connective tissue growth, replace damaged knee cartilage and are being used in heart bypass surgery and to treat cardiovascular disease. Stem cells are culled from sources including bone marrow, embryos, umbilical cords and adult tissue. Clinical trials are underway with the hope of curing or treating many previously incurable conditions like macular degeneration, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and blood disorders.