Overview

Regenerative Medicine Overview

Transcript
Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Director
  • Center for Regenerative Medicine

Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D.: The field of regenerative medicine is expanding very rapidly and is thought to be the core of the future of medicine as we go further into the 21st century.

Regenerative medicine is a multidisciplinary specialty. It involves all the fields of medicine and surgery, and it started, in many ways, in hematology and the treatment of blood cancers. We're now trying to move into fields such as endocrinology to treat diabetes, cardiology to treat heart failure, orthopedic surgery to treat problems of joints and bones, or neurosciences to treat diseases related to the nervous system.

We expect within the next decade to have a significantly more aged population. Many of these patients having so-called degenerative diseases are particularly well suited to treatment with regenerative medicine solutions.

Though great progress has been made in medicine, current evidence-based and palliative treatments are increasingly unable to keep pace with patients' needs, especially given our aging population. There are few effective ways to treat the root causes of many diseases, injuries and congenital conditions. In many cases, clinicians can only manage patients' symptoms using medications or devices.

In the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Mayo Clinic, interdisciplinary teams of physicians and scientists are carrying out innovative basic, translational and clinical research to develop definitive regenerative treatments aimed at fully healing damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and hope for people who have conditions that today are beyond repair.

Driven by patient needs, the center takes a comprehensive approach that involves rejuvenation, replacement and regeneration. Using various types of native and bioengineered cells, assistive devices, and engineering platforms, the Center for Regenerative Medicine is designing and developing a new generation of reparative solutions to address the needs of patients with diabetes; heart, liver and lung diseases; neurological disorders; hand, face and other injuries; and congenital anomalies.

Read more about the center.

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