Together, U.S., Swedish researchers accelerate stem cell research

In fiction, opposites are the point of the story – a spark happens when they attract, igniting a massive explosion of emotions, creativity, consequences and magnificent lessons learned. In stem cell research, similarities are the point.

When it comes to translational medicine – bringing scientific discovery to patients as better, improved treatments – similarities create a spark that leads to creative frisson, driving medicine and technology forward.

Yanhong Shi, Ph.D., is collaborating with Swedish researchers on developing stem cell treatments for neurological diseases.

On Thursday, City of Hope – in partnership with the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden – is hosting the third biannual symposium and meeting of the International Translational Regenerative Medicine Center.

The center was established by Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope and Karolinska Institutet to accelerate the pace of translating research and scientific discovery into improved treatments for patients. Through the center, researchers from City of Hope and Karolinska Institutet collaborate on stem cell research and technologies, utilizing both institutions’ strengths with on-site manufacturing facilities, state-of-the-art research laboratories and excellent clinical trial programs.

Karolinska Institutet has four prominent networks involving translational and regenerative medicine: the Developmental Biology for Regenerative Medicine, Strategic Research Program in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, the Human Regenerative Map and the Wallenberg Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

City of Hope has nearly a dozen research departments that dovetail with the Institutet's own programs – including Cancer Biology, Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Research, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Molecular Medicine and Neurosciences, among others.

Each institution hosts one of the biannual meetings in rotation. Thursday's symposium on City of Hope’s campus will include updates on scientific collaborations currently under way, as well as presentation and discussion of promising new areas of research and technological development in stem cell and regenerative medicine. Current research projects cover a broad range of diseases, including leukemia, multiple myeloma, neurological disorders and cardiovascular conditions.

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities, with a mission to contribute to the improvement of human health through research, education and clinical practice via its internationally recognized hospital and treatment center. Since 1901, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has selected the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

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