The Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering at Indiana University School of Medicine led by director Chandan Sen, PhD, is leading in the field of regenerative medicine, and with the hopeful collaboration with guest speakers invited to speak at the ICRME, he hopes to help bridge the gap even further.
Recently, the ICRME hosted Jatin Patel, PhD, an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Researcher Fellow at The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute where he leads the Vascular Regeneration Group. Prior to joining UQDI, he completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research.
Mervin Yoder, MA, MD, the Director Emeritus at Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering, explained that Patel’s talk described the research he and his team are doing with blood vessel cells that line the endothelium—the lining of cells in the inner coating of the vessels. They have discovered that there are specific cells that can replace and repair damage to the inside of those blood vessels.
This research that Patel is working on can help the ICRME improve on current technology that can benefit Hoosiers, as it can help stem the need for amputations caused by diabetes.
Using knowledge gained through Patel’s work, ICRME could improve on the tissue nanotransfection technology in finding better and more specific markers to target for cell regeneration, improve on the engineering approach to tissue regeneration, and create more accurate information.
“Indiana is almost in last place where we have way too high of an amputation rate, and we have to find ways to lower it for Hoosiers,” Yoder said. “This is a step forward, along with all the other things we’re doing to find ways to regenerate the vasculature that has been so badly damaged in diabetes.”
Yoder explained that many diabetic patients in the state suffer from diabetic ulcers. Many of those patients who have ulcers are at high risk for amputations. In many cases, the underlying cause for diabetic ulcers and amputations is the limbs suffering from inadequate blood flow—something that the research from Patel and the technology of the ICRME could help solve.
