Regenerative Medicine
The Future of Healing
Regenerative medicine is the process in which scientists can replace or regenerate a patient’s own cells, tissues, or organs in order to reestablish normal function. Using regenerative medicine, scientists are able to replace failing organs or to even stimulate the body’s own repairing mechanisms in order to help heal a patient. This is important because now, with these new technologies, the issue of organ donor shortages can be stopped and more and more lives can be saved using the powers of regenerative medicine.
How can Regenerative Medicine Change the Future?
What is regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine is the process of replacing or repairing human cells, tissues, or organs to fight off diseases. Before scientists started doing research in the field of regenerative medicine, most diseases could only be managed through the use of medications and medical devices. Regenerative medicine focuses on curing diseases, not only treating them. Now, with research underway, a doctor can simply replace a failing organ or create human skin cells out of a petri dish for patient use.
What were important events for the study of regenerative medicine?
The idea that the body can regenerate itself has been around since Greek mythology but starting in the mid-1900s, advances in technology allowed scientists to play around with the idea that stem cells could play a huge roll in modern medicine. Now, scientists all over the world are competing to come up with the next new way to save a life, whether that be by creating a new type of artificial organ or finding out new ways to convert adult stem cells into pluripotent stem cells.
What are the ethical issues?
Many ethical issues surrounding the topic of regenerative medicine and stem cells have become evident as technology has advanced. Although regenerative medicine is a medical field that is respected by scientists and companies all over the world, there are still issues with the cost, the amount (and diversity) of the people who can receive the treatments, and there are also problems with the research itself, especially when dealing with embryonic stem cells.
Who are the important innovators?
Scientists all over the world are doing research in the field of regenerative medicine. Each little discovery has made a huge impact in their research. Important companies, schools, and scientists doing research for regenerative medicine related topics include Cellular Dynamics International, a Nobel prize winning scientist, Shinya Yamanaka, and multiple schools and universities like UMPC, UC Davis, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Stanford School of Medicine.
