Regenerative Medicine (REMEDIC)

NEWS

The REMEDIC programme officially ended on 30 April 2013 and no more activities or grants are anymore funded.  The last event to be organised within the REMEDIC activities is the following:

The first European Interdisciplinary Summit on Cell-Based ATMPs is to be held at the Billroth-Haus in Vienna, Austria, from May 02 - 03, 2013. The meeting is supported by the Research Networking Programme REMEDIC (REgenerative MEDICine) funded by the European Science Foundation.
The 2-day European Interdisciplinary Summit on Cell-Based ATMPs will bring together leading academic experts in the field of cell-based Advanced Medicinal Therapy Products, European and national regulators, company representatives, representatives of tissue banks, but also young scientists. The meeting will provide a forum for the in-depth assessment and discussion of the challenges involved in the development, application and marketing of cell-based ATMPs in this dynamic and fast moving field. Special emphasis will be placed on regulatory issues and safety models.

The meeting will cover the following topics:

•    Ethics and Economy
•    Treatment Algorithms and Reimbursement
•    Manufacturing Challenges
•    Non-Clinical Models
•    Safety Models
•    EU Funding
•    Interdisciplinarity and Education
•    Clinical studies and Quality Assurance
•    Roadmap 2020 for ATMPs

More information is available on the website .

Summary

Regenerative medicine, a rapidly evolving and exciting field, can be defined as the process of creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissue or organ function lost due to age, disease, damage, or congenital defects. This can be done through a variety of approaches including the replacement of tissue function with synthetic constructs (artificial organs) and using cellular therapies such as stem cells or genetically modified cells to generate new tissues and organs.

Recent advances in stem cell technologies, including for example the ability to induce human pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, mark a new era for regenerative medicine. Stem cells have an almost unlimited proliferation potential accompanied by an ability to differentiate. Thus, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs – that give rise to the various blood cell types, including neutrophils and erythrocytes) and mesenchymal stem (or stromal) cells (MSCs – that give rise to many cell types, including adipocytes and chondrocytes) form an essential element in regenerative (or reparative) medicine, including guided regeneration.

As our knowledge advances, the frontiers of regenerative medicine are rapidly expanding. Regenerative medicine provides new insights in areas including cellular proliferation, effects of humoral and matrix signalling on cells, angiogenesis, tissue remodelling, naïve and adaptive immunity and other basic processes in cell biology. Still, regenerative medicine is in its infancy and to advance progress in this important field, national funding agencies from 14 European countries have joined forces to launch a cross-disciplinary Research Networking Programme, REMEDIC, to identify where the frontiers and future needs are in this complex multidisciplinary high-technology field, by networking researchers and clinicians across Europe.

Aims

1. To facilitate the exchange of ideas and know-how across disciplines in the area of mesenchymal (stromal) and other stem cells;

2. To review the regulatory laws, rules and standards governing the use of regenerative medicine;

3. To map the unmet population, academia and company needs in regenerative medicine and the current R&D resources (e.g. instruments, analysis techniques);

4. To assist researchers in the field of regenerative medicine in preparing cross-disciplinary coordinated research projects.

* For detailed information on the image shown above, please use the reference indicated in the REMEDIC Brochure, pg 2.

Duration

Five years, from May 2008 to April 2013 (06-RNP-128).