A Blueprint for Translational Regenerative Medicine

The last few decades have produced a large number of proof-of-concept studies in regenerative medicine. However, the route to clinical adoption is fraught with technical and translational obstacles that frequently consign promising academic solutions to the so-called “valley of death.” This review is intended to serve as a blueprint for translational regenerative medicine: we suggest principles to help guide cell and material selection, present key in vivo imaging modalities and argue that the host immune response should be considered throughout therapeutic development. Finally, we suggest a pathway to navigate the often complex regulatory and manufacturing landscape of translational regenerative medicine.

Keywords

StemCellInstitute

Journal Title

Science Translational Medicine

Journal ISSN

1946-6234
1946-6242

Volume Title

12

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Publisher DOI

https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaz2253

Rights and licensing

Sponsorship

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) (146281)
Department of Health (via National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)) (NF-SI-0616-10011)
Medical Research Council (MR/S005528/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/R015724/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/R015635/1)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_12009)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_17230)

J.P.K.A. acknowledges support from an Arthritis Research U.K. Foundation Fellowship (21138) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) (MR/S00551X/1). T.J.K. acknowledges the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual European Fellowship (Grant Agreement No. 746980). A.C.R. acknowledges support from the Wellcome Trust Institutional Translational Partnership Award (208858/Z/17/Z). P.S.P. acknowledges funding from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/K026739/1), the MRC (MR/R026416/1), and the EPSRC (EP/R511638/1). C.M.M. was supported by the MRC-funded UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Immunomodulation Hub award (MR/L022699/1). W.L.K. is supported by the MRC/UKRI Innovate Fellowship (MR/S005528/1). V.P. acknowledges funding from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/R015724/1). R.O.C.O acknowledges support from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform “Acellular / Smart Materials – 3D Architecture” (MR/R015651/1), the Rosetrees Trust, Wessex Medical Research and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (BB/P017711/1). D.J.S. acknowledges support from a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship (FS/15/33/31608), the BHF Centre for Regenerative Medicine (RM/17/1/33377), and an MRC Project Grant (MR/R026416/1). F.M.W. acknowledges support from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/LO22699/1, MR/R015635/1, MR/K026666/1). S.J.F. acknowledges support from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Engineered Cell Environment Hub and the MRC. R.A.B. acknowledges MRC-WT funding of the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and MRC funding of the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Pluripotent Stem and Engineered Cell hub (MR/R015724/1) along with funding from the Rosetrees Trust (A1519 M654) and Cure Parkinson's Trust. R.A.B. is also supported by NIHR funding of Biomedical Research Centre Cambridge (146281). R.A.B. is an NIHR Senior Investigator (NF-SI-0616-10011) and a 23 P.I. in the MRC/WT Stem Cell Institute (203151/Z/16/Z). M.M.S. acknowledges support from the grant from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform “Acellular / Smart Materials – 3D Architecture” (MR/R015651/1), the European Research Council (ERC) Seventh Framework Programme Consolidator grant “Naturale CG” (616417), the Rosetrees Trust and the Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award (098411/Z/12/Z). The authors would also like to thank David Pan (MRC) for his input into this manuscript during the course of Phases 1 and 2 of the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform.

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