Leading the Regenerative Medicine Revolution
Tel Aviv University’s new Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine will accelerate research and training in this promising field and will incorporate it into mainstream medical practice.
A developing, innovative area of science, regenerative medicine aims to develop therapies that can regrow, repair and heal tissues and organs damaged by age, disease or trauma. Based on the manipulation of stem cells or their derivatives, these treatments could decrease reliance on organ transplants.
The new center was initiated by Sami Sagol, TAU Honorary Doctor and Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, and his wife, Tova, and is being supported by the Sagol family.
There is great promise in the field of regenerative medicine. For example, researchers at TAU’s Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology successfully engineered 3D human spinal cord tissue and implanted it in lab models with chronic paralysis. The results presented a success rate of approximately 80%, and researchers are preparing for the next stage of the study, which will focus on clinical trials in human patients. Researchers hope that in several years, these engineered tissues can be successfully implanted in paralyzed individuals, enabling them to stand and walk again.
Despite the dramatic potential of this field, regenerative medicine technologies have not had many practical applications until now because the process of transforming research findings into approved treatments is lengthy and complex. The Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine hopes to transform potential into reality and expects to make regenerative medicine a central part of the medical studies curriculum and research milieu.
Students in the Sagol Center will study in PhD and MD-PhD tracks focused on regenerative medicine with the support of dedicated fellowships. In parallel, the Center will provide research grants and cutting-edge equipment to facilitate discoveries. It will also secure the recruitment of Prof. Benjamin Dekel, a physician and scientist from the TAU Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical Center and a leading expert in the field, to head the initiative.