Cell therapies can only be used for treating diseases if there are enough cells of therapeutic quality. Research of the research team of Dr. Aleš Hampl was acknowledged by the Minister of Health for solving the project entitled “Epithelial Tissue Engineering: Cells and Protocols for Regenerative Medicine”. The project used human pluripotent stem cells to produce functional somatic cells and to develop strategies for the treatment of certain vascular and lung diseases.
Partial goals of the project were to gain knowledge about the behaviour of stem/progenitor cells of the epithelial lining of the lungs and blood vessels, the biochemical composition and biological properties of natural and artificial extracellular matrix, methods of their preparation and manipulation outside the organism (ex vivo) and the abilities of stem/progenitor cells to protect their genetic information from damage.
The findings, which were published in a total of ten articles in scientific journals, fundamentally contribute to progress towards the creation of artificial tissues and organs, which can be used in the future to study the etiopathogenesis of diseases, to search and test substances with therapeutic effect, and possibly also produce human tissues and organs. Apart from scientific articles, one of the results is being prepared for application in the form of a patent protected procedure. As the third form of the results of this project, there are: i) series of human airway epithelial cell progenitor lines, ii) three independent human embryonic stem cell lines, and iii) series of human induced pluripotent stem cell lines prepared from different somatic cell types (skin fibroblasts, vascular endothelial cells, peripheral blood white blood cells), all of which are available to potential research partners. "We anticipate that in the near future, the main users of the results of the project will be workplaces focused on preclinical development in the field of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug development, toxicology and other related areas. It can be expected that in addition to the research team, the results of the project will be used by teams in research centres of medical faculties, hospitals, institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, or biotechnology companies ", Dr. Aleš Hampl explains other activities related to the project outputs.
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are new medical disciplines that are only now entering the phase of possible practical use. It is expected, that these new medical disciplines will enable the treatment of diseases for which this has not yet been possible with current procedures. Examples include diabetes, retinal diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, extensive trauma, and more. In order for this to happen, however, it is necessary to gain extensive theoretical knowledge about cells, especially the so-called stem and progenitor cells, which are responsible for the development and lifelong regeneration of the organism. Based on this knowledge, procedures that will allow the properties and behaviour of these cells to be managed efficiently and safely have to be established. In addition, all this must be done under conditions that cannot endanger the health of the future patient. The implemented scientific research project falls into this area of research and development.
The project titled Epithelial Tissue Engineering: Cells and Protocols for Regenerative Medicine was supported within the competition of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic in the second public competition in research, experimental development and innovation announced under the Programme to Support Medical Applied Research in 2015 to 2022. The project was implemented from April 2016 to December 2019 with a budget of approximately 20 million CZK. Collaborators of Dr. Hampl were Drs. Irena Koutná and Zuzana Koledová. The main Minister of Health Award for Research and Development in Healthcare for 2020 was presented to five research projects. Other five projects then received the recognition of the Minister of Health.
Brno Ph.D. Competition Talent, which annually supports promising male and female natural sciences and engineering students, brought joy to the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University this year. Among the 25 selected students who received an extraordinary scholarship of CZK 360,000 for three years, six PhD students from this faculty succeeded.
Amidst the hustle and bustle and fatigue of the end of the year, there is an opportunity to pause, reflect on the achievements and step into the next year with gratitude and hope.
