Regenerative medicine of tissues and organs (RegMedTO)

Innovate patient care by interdisciplinary connections

In our view, interdisciplinarity is essential for innovation in patient diagnostics, prevention and care and having this in place will contribute to improving health and healthcare. RegMedTO researchers from a wide range of disciplines are divided over more than 18 departments and all four divisions of the LUMC. They include clinician- and basic scientists from many disease areas, together with innovative bioinformaticians, ethicists, bioengineers, molecular biologists and immunologists, all supported by experts from the LUMC’s core facilities.

For successful regenerative medicine, proper definition and validation of cells, tissues, and organs is vital. Equally important is adherence to regulatory procedures when transitioning to clinical trials. RegMedTO researchers are actively involved in identifying the regulatory and other procedures that need to be correctly followed to move to clinical trials. Leveraging the LUMC's existing expertise, promoting collaboration with Academic Pharma, Immunology and the Cardiovascular Theme can expedite implementation.

RegMedTO beyond the LUMC

Our research in the LUMC is part of a vibrant life science & health ecosystem that focuses on regenerative medicine. Locally, regenerative and technological innovations for drug development are part of the profile of the Leiden BioScience Park. Also nationally, regenerative medicine is a focus area of the Dutch Science Agenda (NWA). We actively collaborate with our partners in Leiden, the Netherlands and abroad through collaborative networks such as the Dutch Transplant Foundation, RegMedXB, hDMT, Medical Delta and reNEW. These and other connections keep us at the forefront of cutting-edge science in the regenerative medicine ecosystem, and provide access to breakthrough technologies, systems and platforms for our LUMC RegMedTO researchers.

Regenerative Medicine

The human body has the natural ability to heal itself after injury: skin cuts, broken bones, and even damaged organs like the liver can regenerate and repair themselves. However, not all tissues or organs have this capacity. Regenerative medicine aims to enhance or develop alternatives to self-repair mechanisms, replacing or restoring damaged cell-, tissue-, or organ function caused by disease, injury (including treatment-induced damage such as in cancer), and aging. This will bring new solutions for patients affected by a wide range of medical conditions. The work in this subtheme is centered around two approaches: cell therapy and gene therapy.

Disease modeling

This subtheme focuses on stem cells, microphysiological systems (MPS), or Organs-on-Chip that many research groups at LUMC use to create heart, kidney, brain, lung, bone, muscle, liver, eye, ear, blood vessels, and skin models. In many cases, genetic diseases have been captured by these models and research is underway to find gene or drug therapies to treat these.

Transplantation

LUMC is a leading center for transplantation. In our Transplantation subtheme, we build on a long and successful history of bone marrow and organ transplantation and strong transplant immunology expertise. Our main goals are: to assess and optimize donor organ, tissue, and cell quality before transplantation (1); to develop new strategies of donor and recipient targeted intervention (2); and to improve patient outcomes for waitlist and post-transplant (3).

For Business

If you would like to collaborate or seek specific expertise and don’t know where to start, please contact us, and we will connect you.

Contact

Email: RegMedTheme@lumc.nl

For PhDs and Postdocs

In case you’re looking for a PhD or Postdoc position in Regenerative Medicine in the LUMC, please reach out to the project ambassadors directly.

In case you don’t manage to get in contact with the project ambassadors or if you have any general questions, please reach out to the RegMedTO management team. You can also get in touch when you are near the end of your contract and interested in opportunities elsewhere.

Information on mandatory, highly recommended and other relevant but not mandatory courses is presented here. You can browse through all the known courses. You can filter for courses relevant for the 10 LUMC Research Themes, and you can also search using keywords. Information such as the number of study credits (EC), the course duration, study year, website and background information are provided when known. Feedback on missing courses, incorrect or outdated information is welcome.

A selection of courses specifically tailored for Regenerative Medicine of tissues and organs can be found here.

Contact

Email: RegMedTheme@lumc.nl

For Students

We encourage students to contact project ambassadors directly for internship opportunities. We generally recommend a minimum internship period of 6 months since learning about  cell culture technology for the research requires significant training time.

In case you don’t manage to get in contact with the project ambassadors or if you have any general questions, please reach out to the RegMedTO management team.

Contact

Email: RegMedTheme@lumc.nl