April 16, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State University has established a partnership of experts who will work together to discover novel treatments to accelerate wound healing and rehabilitation for patients. Ohio State’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies was created to further develop the research programs in these respective fields.
The center’s opening was announced during the recent 2012 international Translational to Clinical Regenerative Medicine Wound Care Conference, which was held at Ohio State.
“Every day, we work together toward our common mission of improving people’s lives through innovation in research, education and patient care,” said Dr. Steven G. Gabbe, senior vice president for health sciences at OSU and chief executive officer of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
“By leveraging existing partnerships and utilizing the expertise of our clinicians and research faculty, we will deliver cutting-edge health solutions to our patients.”
“The Center allows a partnership with multiple colleges at the University, and will enhance development of innovative therapeutics that will help us improve the healing of chronic wounds and salvage extremities threatened by low blood flow and diabetes,” said Dr. E. Christopher Ellison, Robert M. Zollinger Professor and chairman of Ohio State’s Department of Surgery.
Dr. Chandan Sen, associate dean for translational and applied research in The Ohio State University College of Medicine, is director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies.
The Center is a collaboration of seven different colleges here at Ohio State: the College of Medicine, the College of Engineering, the College of Dentistry, the College of Nursing, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Pharmacy.
Along with Dr. Sen, the Center’s leadership includes key faculty from the above colleges and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Battelle, the world’s largest, independent research and development organization, is also a partner. Battelle has a long history of science and technology leadership in health research and extensive experience in helping private companies and government agencies develop new treatments.
“Battelle has deep experience in helping our clients rapidly evaluate and select drug candidates that have the most promising potential to be successful in clinical trials and launched into the market,” said Barbara Kunz, president of Battelle Health & Life Sciences. “We look forward to working with Ohio State as we lend our translational science expertise to this collaboration.”
“Ohio State has major pockets of expertise in tissue engineering, stem cell biology, wound healing, imaging and experimental therapeutics,” Sen said. “We will defragment our strengths, work with industry partners and foster team-science based initiatives towards delivering major solutions that will improve people’s lives and launch Ohio State as a major player in this emergent field of medicine.”
Regenerative medicine is a relatively new area of funded research for the National Institutes of Health and the government has a Center for Regenerative Medicine.
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