Welcome to the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. We live in exciting times. A cure for diabetes, which afflicts millions of people around the world, is within our grasp. Treatments for Parkinsons and Alzheimers seem possible within a decade or two. Accidents which would have paralyzed us, like “Superman” Christopher Reeve, may become treatable in the future, and diseases like muscular dystrophy, which slowly rip children from their parents, may be reversed. Heart failure may be reversed or prevented by minimally invasive delivery of stem cells. The promise of regenerative and rehabilitative medicine is truly astounding. Such rapid advances make us feel as excited and frightened as the Americans of the last century when faced with the discovery of antibiotics and the realization that life would never be the same and that a set of killer diseases was being sidelined. Many of us may even remember those same feelings as we watched polio become a threat of the American past. Just as remarkable is that success in the laboratory, where all such endeavors must begin, will drive the clinical translation as well as the commercial activities that will lead to products.
Regenerative medicine uses a variety of approaches to address tissue/organ insufficiency including:
- The replacement of tissue function with entirely synthetic constructs (such as in artificial organs),
- Functional restoration with constructs that comprise both synthetic and cellular components (such as in biohybrid organs),
- The combination of temporary scaffolds with cellular components (such as in conventional tissue engineering), and
- Cellular therapies, including those involving adult stem cells and genetically manipulated cells (such as for the repair of damaged tissue and muscle).
To realize the vast potential of tissue engineering and other techniques aimed at repairing damaged or diseased tissues and organs, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Health System have established the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The McGowan Institute serves as a single base of operations for the University's leading scientists and clinical faculty working to develop tissue engineering, cellular therapies, biosurgery and artificial and biohybrid organ devices.
The McGowan Institute is the most ambitious regenerative program in the nation, coupling biology and engineering. Success will save lives, bring economic recovery, empower recruitment of students, engineering faculty and surgeons, and build upon the pioneering achievements of the Starzl Transplantation Institute in organ replacement.
We seek opportunities to involve other professionals in the dynamic and exciting programs of the McGowan Institute. Participation and collaboration can take many forms from full-time employment by the McGowan Institute, to collaborative research projects, to participation in our seminars and colloquia that will be posted on this web site. If you want to contribute to the development of the McGowan Institute, and to the growth of cellular and regenerative therapies, please contact the lead individuals for the focus areas listed on our web site, or direct your e-mail inquires to me.
