Regenerative Medicine Initiative

The Regenerative Medicine Initiative is devoted to developing regenerative and cellular therapeutics to treat devastating degenerative diseases and injury resulting from armed conflict or civilian trauma. The Initiative builds on USF's expertise in diseases characterized by cell and tissue damage, including stroke, Parkinson's, diabetes, and heart failure ans strengths as a pioneer in cell therapy. A special focus involves injury to the brain, spinal cord and other organs resulting from trauma and warfare. The goal of the Initiative is to use the most advanced regenerative technologies developed at USF to produce important therapies to meet civilian and national defense needs.

Areas of research focus include:

• The isolation and characterization of multipotent adult stem cells from bone marrow and cord blood for therapeutic value especially as it relates to traumatic injury
• Utility of cord blood cells for treatment of peripheral nerve, spinal cord and brain injuries
• Use of cord blood cells for treatment of stroke and other cerebral vascular events
• Use of cord blood cells for treatment of myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular injuries
• Potential use of cord blood cells to rescue organs of the endocrine system and the aging brain
• Properties of hematopoietic derived cells in developing rat brain
• Therapeutic value of umbilical cord blood grafting in animal models of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and San Fillipo's Disease
• Studies of adult multipotent stem cells in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and their application to disease treatment

The goal of this Initiative is support the discovery of novel therapies for traumatic injuries and disease conditions across the life span.

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