Regenerative Medicine is a new approach to healing that allows doctors to grow and regenerate organs and tissues. The therapies can cure many diseases that were once considered incurable.
Regenerative medicine converges biomedical research, innovative technology, and patient care to heal damaged tissue and organs. It includes cell therapy, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and other interventions that restore lost function.
Chronic Pain
If you suffer from chronic pain from a sports injury, degenerative condition, or other source, you don’t have to rely on risky pain medications that provide short-term relief. Instead, you can use regenerative medicine techniques like stem cell therapy or PRP injections. These treatments promote new tissue growth in the affected area and offer long-term relief.
Stem cells are specialized cells in your bone marrow that can transform into any cell in your body. When injected into the treatment site, they stimulate damaged tissue to heal faster. These treatments are particularly useful in treating pain conditions with limited blood supply, such as plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis.
Regenerative medicines tap into your body’s natural healing processes and offer personalized approaches, non-invasive treatments, long-lasting results, and reduced reliance on pain medications. If you’re ready to find a more permanent solution to your pain, contact a specialist in regenerative medicine today.
Heart Disease
The human heart has the least regenerative capacity of all tissues and organs, leaving us vulnerable to chronic heart disease. Our research aims to change that.
Regenerative medicine uses healthy human cells to heal damaged tissue. These are obtained from the patient or a donor. They can be injected, implanted, or cultured.
Scientists are using stem cells to develop new therapies for heart disease. They are experimenting with cells that reduce scarring after a heart attack and can grow into working cardiomyocytes, the heart’s muscle cells. They also are developing a gel that can deliver gene therapy to help the heart form more blood vessels. This treatment will benefit patients who have chest pain from coronary artery disease and who do not respond to stent therapy or coronary artery bypass surgery (coronary grafting). This approach could help prevent the need for heart transplantation in the future. It also reduces the need for life-long medications and expensive devices to treat heart failure.
Diabetes
More than 38 million Americans live with diabetes, a chronic condition that affects the body’s ability to use glucose. Diabetes leads to serious complications such as heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, retinopathy, blindness, neuropathy, gastroparesis, and amputation.
UF researchers use stem cells to develop new ways to treat and prevent the disease. They’re studying ways to protect insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and block the immune system response that kills those cells.
Stem cell therapy could transform diabetes management by replacing lost insulin-producing cells and improving the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar. This type of treatment is a promising avenue for people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Organ Transplants
UF researchers are collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University to advance research into bioprinting organs that could reduce dependence on donor organs and the need for life-saving immunosuppression. This will also alleviate the transplant waitlist and allow more patients to find hope for a cure.
Most diseases and injuries can be treated by addressing symptoms, but the underlying tissue or organ damage remains. Until recently, surgery and replacing damaged tissues or organs were the only ways to restore function.
Regenerative Medicine uses cell-based therapies, biomaterials, and growth factors to replace or repair damaged tissue or organs, whereas the current clinical strategy focuses on treating symptoms.
