What Is Regenerative Medicine?

Imagine a treatment that frees a child from the daily insulin injections of diabetes, or helps a grandmother weakened by heart failure regain her independence. Imagine a treatment that helps a soldier disfigured by injuries regain his self-confidence. Imagine damaged organs regrowing and wounds healing without scars.

These therapies may sound like science fiction, but many are available now thanks to regenerative medicine.

Regenerative medicine is a new way of treating injuries and diseases that uses specially-grown tissues and cells (including stem cells), laboratory-made compounds, and artificial organs. Combinations of these approaches can amplify our natural healing process in the places it's needed most, or take over the function of a permanently damaged organ.

Regenerative medicine is a new field that brings together experts in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, genetics, medicine, robotics, and other fields to find solutions to some of the most challenging medical problems faced by humankind.