REGMEDTEACH · Spring school on regenerative medicine

Final Activity Report Summary - REGMEDTEACH (Spring School on Regenerative Medicine)

The past series of International Stem cell Schools in Regenerative Medicine aimed to promote research, research training and international co-operation in this exciting field which more than any other field of research truly can be considered as interdisciplinary. During the Marie Curie project within the 6th framework of the European Commission, supporting intensively the combination of conferences as basic theoretical education, giving new insights on the development and practical courses where the knowledge and skills have been passed laboratory-wise amongst every participant, tremendous progress has taken place in stem cell research - not always that one has been able to convert all mental extrapolations of the actual experiments into applicable ways but still with remarkable and unexpected discoveries. Regenerative medicine still stands in the front-line in medicine, unlocking the secrets of how the body generates itself. All conferences within the REGMEDTEACH project underlined the connection of having an idea, making it real in laboratories by converting ideas into experiments and transform the experimental results into the clinical application, always having in mind the large number of patient groups in need for potential stem cell based therapies. Stem cells used in cell replacement therapy do accordingly have the potential to cure severe and disabling diseases and conditions like Parkinson's disease, Chorea Huntington, stroke etc. In a time with many challenges in bringing therapeutic strategies to the patient, a series of conferences such as realised at the REGMEDTEACH project, where five conferences on the development of stem cell research were held in five different internationally well-known institutions over the past four years, showed the importance of never stop researching to always continuously receive novel and worthwhile impulses from basic science. All events offered the opportunity for many young PhD students as well as for more experienced researchers to meet, listen, discuss and interact with the most prominent scientists in the field of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. More and more stem cell based projects, with a clear focus on basic science and preclinical research, are entering a real translational stage towards the clinic and with more and more permissions granted by national regulatory authorities for initialising small clinical experimental tests and genuine clinical trials. Concluding it has to be stated that the REGMEDTEACH project had successfully created a platform for an international exchange which will persist for many years in the future in established and newly created networks with intense collaboration between individual scientists as well as laboratories and institutions.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз