Center for Regenerative Medicine/Stem Cell

The mission of the Center for Regenerative Medicine is to use stem cells to transform medical therapy.

Stem cells are remarkable cells that can regenerate tissues destroyed through disease or injury. Somatic (“adult”) stem cells from the bone marrow or umbilical cords have been used to treat blood disorders for half a century. But somatic stem cells cannot become every cell type, so their use is limited to a small range of diseases.

In contrast, human embryonic stem cells, obtained from cultures of discarded days-old IVF embryos, are pluripotent (pluri=many; potent=power) and can generate large numbers of every cell type in the body. Clinical applications for pluripotent stem cells are just beginning to be tested, and there is a critical need to accelerate basic and applied research if stem cell medicine is to succeed in the near future

Dr. Loring’s laboratory focuses on the genetics of pluripotent stem cells, to control their differentiation into specific cell types, and to discover new ways to convert ordinary skin cells into pluripotent stem cells that are a perfect match for each individual. Personal pluripotent cells will be a tremendous resource, since they can be transplanted without being rejected by the immune system, and will be used for personalized medicine, to determine what drugs are most effective and least toxic for an individual.

Through the Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Loring is providing stem cell expertise to clinical research partners to develop therapies for specific diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer.

Funds can be designated for specific disease-related projects, for basic research in stem cell genetics, for support of young investigators, or for scientific or public education.